Chapter Text
Never let it be said that Park Jimin is not a supportive boyfriend. He stood, and will stand, through every single one of the life-changing decisions Jeongguk has ever made—either it be the color of his bedroom walls or the change of course of his entire future career. He loves Jeon Jeongguk more than any words could ever describe and he knows – he feels – that the feeling is very, very mutual. There is no reason why he shouldn’t be supportive; there is no reason why he should be scared. Jeongguk is his, he is Jeongguk’s—for all eternity or however long the stars will allow.
Never let it be said that Park Jimin doesn’t trust his boyfriend, either. But, well, he is just a human…and that boy, Kim Yugyeom, needs to learn to keep his damn hands to himself. “You’re being paranoid,” Taehyung says over the phone, all the way from Seoul, while Jimin paces back and forth his room chewing his thumb after complaining about how “incredibly annoying” Jeongguk’s new best friend was. He knows Taehyung’s busy and everything, but there is no one else he can talk to about this. His parents would brush him off and his stupid younger brother is also friends with the stupid Yugyeom and…and Jimin feels alone. It’s the first time he’s ever felt alone in as many years as he’s known Jeongguk.
“Jeongguk would die a thousand painful deaths for you, you know that,” Taehyung chuckles over the line and Jimin rolls his eyes. Of course he knows that, that’s way beside the point. He tells Taehyung as much and he can practically feel his friend’s roll of eyes from here, but he supposes that’s fair. It is ten o’clock at night of a Saturday and Taehyung is in college – surely he’d rather be doing something, anything, else than to listen to Jimin’s petty relationship problems. “What is the problem, then? Because I don’t get it. So Jeongguk is friends with the kid, what else?”
“It’s Saturday night, Taehyung-ah, and do you know where I am?”
“Crazytown, District of Jealousy?” He can hear Taehyung trying to control his giggles. It really wasn’t that good of a joke. Jimin grumbles under his breath, but decides to humor the kid with a light snort – he’s earned that chuckle by listening to him complain for the past hour, he supposes.
“No, I am in my bedroom, in my house, talking to my best friend who’s in Seoul, because…because my stupid boyfriend is at a party,” Jimin regrets the stupid as soon as it’s out, but he is mad, he is not taking it back. Again, Taehyung groans over the phone and Jimin knows he is just a step closer to being left hanging on the line by himself. “At Yugyeom’s stupid party, that is.”
“Didn’t he ask you to come? Because I’m pretty sure that…forty-five minutes ago, you mentioned that Yugyeom invited you to come as well.”
Jimin stops chewing his thumb only to smack his hand lightly against the desk in his bedroom. “Because he knows I won’t come! I can’t come, it’s too pathetic. It’s a high school party and I’m in college and…”
“And you’re fucking a high school senior. Don’t be stupid, Park Jimin, you’re not too cool for school,” a second for the joke to hit, another second of silence as he waits for Jimin’s giggle. It doesn’t come – Kim Taehyung didn’t earn that joke, thank you very much. Jimin hates him. “Look, all I’m saying is that you have no reason, zero, none to be jealous because Jeongguk would never do anything.”
“I know.”
“But if you’re so concerned about this Yugyeom kid stealing your man or something, go to the stupid party. Don’t just stay home and sulk while Jeongguk is out there celebrating his last year of school or whatever.”
Jimin stares at his desk – a bunch of papers due Monday, his laptop paused on a choreography video he has to learn by Tuesday, flashcards for a test just later that same week…then he thinks of Jeongguk, completely oblivious to Yugyeom’s advances, to his lingering hand on his arm, to the way he smiles at his boyfriend, his man like Taehyung put it. “I hate you, you know that, right?”
Taehyung laughs loudly over the phone.
“You’re going to a high school party.”
“I’m going to a high school party.”
*
Now, it’s not that Jimin is boring but he was never much of a presence in the party scene when he was in high school and if he’s been to three parties in total in his two years of college so far, well, that’s a stretch. He knows he should have fun—his parents themselves are always telling him that—but Jimin is too focused on his obligations to really go for it. He has many lectures to watch, many books to read, practical dance classes to attend, he has to volunteer at the church’s homeless shelter every Sunday and he also teaches ballet for little children every Thursday and Friday. In between all that, he also has to attend to Jeongguk’s needs, help his brother with his school work, his mother around the house and his father at the shop, every giving chance.
He is busy. He likes being busy. He likes accomplishing things, feeling exhausted at the end of the day because he’s done so much. He does not like this. The noise, the crowd, the craziness of it all. Jimin hates the lingering glances as he walks by, the way people come up to him as he tries to walk past them like they don’t know that he is in a relationship with their classmate. He rolls his eyes as he gently pushes another girl from him, saying he is not interested, and finally makes his way through the crowd of people dancing.
Jimin has absolutely no idea where he is, but someone is handing him over a drink and he is shaking his head profusely, trying to be heard over the music. “Jeon Jeongguk?” He almost shouts to the poor boy with the bowl cut who’s handing him over a tall drink of whatever. “Do you know him?” The boy nods his head yes, points to a row of stairs that lead to the second floor of the giant house and walks past Jimin once he realizes this isn’t going anywhere.
Jimin sighs to himself as he, again, has to walk past the mass of people to get to the damn stairs but he confidently marches up to the second floor, doing his best to ignore the many couples scattered all up the path in many different stages of undress. Jesus Christ.
“Jimin-ssi?” The familiar voice startles him as soon as he is up there, and he turns quickly to the sound of it with a small frown. Yugyeom. “Oh, hey. I didn’t know you were coming. Guk said you…”
“Well, Jeongguk was wrong,” Jimin says as sweetly as he possibly can, flashing the younger boy a smile. “Where can I find him, please?”
Yugyeom looks puzzled for a moment but he snaps out of it quickly enough, gesturing behind himself with a thumb. “I’m…going there now, so just, uh, follow me?”
Jimin nods. The younger takes off in front of him and he follows down the hall to where a lone door is open, the room dark but with loud sounds of laughter coming from it. Jimin frowns when he walks in and notices the smoke, the little circle of people sitting on the floor passing around a joint. Jeongguk is the one holding the thing when he walks in.
“Jiminie?” Jeongguk’s smile grows a second too slow, but Jimin can only assume it’s due to the weed. He doesn’t mind it—he is no saint, absolutely not a judgmental person, and he’s actually tried it himself with Jeongguk, a year back when he first got into college. But that was the two of them, in Jeongguk’s bedroom, giggling to themselves as they passed back and forth a blunt that Jimin’s new friend, Hoseok, had given him. This was different. “Hi, hello! You didn’t tell me you were coming.”
Jeongguk is up to his feet as soon as he says that, walking over to Jimin and wrapping an arm around him. Yugyeom snatches the joint from Jeongguk’s hand as he passes them to sit down in the circle. Jimin fists the front of Jeongguk’s shirt and pulls him into a short kiss. “Fuck, you look hot,” is the first thing Jeongguk says when they pull away from the kiss. He eyes Jimin up and down, from the black leather pants to the blue jacket he’s wearing, the smudged eyeliner and the messy brown hair swept off his forehead.
Yeah, so maybe he put on some effort. It’s nice to hear it from Jeongguk, though.
“Thank you, baby,” Jimin smiles softly at the taller male, giving the front of his button-up a gentle tug so their lips can meet. It’s short and sweet, but Jeongguk tastes of smoke and beer, and Jimin finds himself swiping his tongue over his bottom lip gently. “You taste different.”
“I didn’t know you were coming,” he licks the seam of Jimin’s lips slowly before stealing another kiss, deeper and hotter this time. It’s nice and familiar, and maybe it’s the smoky air in the stuffy room that’s getting to him, but suddenly he can’t really remember why he was mad in the first place.
“Well, I was invited, wasn’t I?” Jimin rolls his eyes, chuckling low in his throat. Jeongguk grins weak, lazily, leaning over to steal another kiss, hands already roaming up Jimin’s back, but they’re being interrupted by a loud call of Jeongguk’s name.
Both boys turn in the direction of it, and Jimin recognizes Yugyeom’s voice before his eyes even set on him. “Guk-ah, are you playing?” He asks, gesturing to the center of the circle where a bottle lays now. “Truth or dare.”
It’s childish and it’s ridiculous, but a couple of minutes after that, Jimin finds himself sitting in the stupid circle, laughing as he watches people’s turns to do silly dares and answer silly truths. He has a bottle of beer in his hand that is courtesy from one Jeongguk’s friends and, look, he isn’t even that mad at Yugyeom’s existence anymore. It’s a pleasant night and they’re just friends having fun, there is no need to be jealous.
Jimin is so caught up in something silly Jeongguk said to make him laugh that he doesn’t realize it’s someone’s else turn already. Yugyeom. He is talking to them—he is talking to Jeongguk.
“Truth or dare?”
A simple, innocent question.
“Dare,” Jeongguk grins widely.
Of course he said dare. His Jeonggukie would never settle for something as weak as truth. Jimin sips on his beer with a grin, shaking his head as he waits for Yugyeom to tell Jeongguk to go scare the freshmen who’ve snuck in the party, to shave his left eyebrow or something equally dumb – because all the dares have been nothing but dumb so far.
But he doesn’t.
“I dare you to kiss me,” is what he says.
Jimin’s jaw drops, Jeongguk squeaks out a “what?” and everyone else fall silent. Yugyeom just stares like he’s waiting for him to do it.
“What the fuck did you just say?” Jimin finds his voice after a minute too long of silence. “Tell me. What did you just say?”
“Oh, relax, it’s a game,” Yugyeom rolls his eyes. “Everyone’s had to do shit they don’t want.”
Jeongguk shakes his head quickly next to him, forcing a chuckle out of himself. “Yeah, no, it’s not happening. Say something else.”
“Why not? You agreed to play. It’s a game,” Yugyeom shrugs a shoulder, Jimin stares holes into his skull. The room is so tense that even the weed in people’s systems isn’t enough to make it less so. Jimin wants to kill him. “Are you going to do it or no—”
Park Jimin has never hit a person in his life. He doesn’t even know how to throw a punch.
Jimin finds himself launching across the small circle, sending his fist to collide against the kid’s nose. There is a hand pulling him back, a few loud shouts, someone is tossing him against a wall. It’s not Jeongguk, it’s one of Yugyeom’s friends. Jeongguk is frozen for all of a second before he runs towards Jimin, pulling the guy from him, tugging his wrist as they run out of the room, down the stairs, through the crowd of people, out of the party.
“What the fuck did you do?” He shouts once they’re out in the open, night air freezing the tips of their noses. There are a few people scattered all over the driveway of Yugyeom’s house, some staring, some too drunk to give a shit. Jimin is still panting, jaw dropped as he stares down at his own bloody knuckles like he can’t believe what happened. There is blood on his knuckles. Yugyeom’s blood. He feels sick. “What did you do?!” Jeongguk shouts again.
“He—he wanted to kiss you, I…”
“And did you think I was going to do it, hyung?” Jeongguk is still shouting. Why is Jeongguk still shouting? Jimin wants to cry. His eyes are blurry with tears. “God! You don’t—you don’t punch people, Jimin, that is not you.”
Jimin reaches out for him, Jeongguk scoots away.
“Is that why you came here tonight? Is that why you’re always so angry when Yugyeom is around?” Jeongguk runs a hand through his dark hair, pulling at the strands in the frustrated way he always does when he is angry. “Do you think I’m cheating on you or something?”
Jimin shakes his head ‘no’ many times, but Jeongguk isn’t looking at him right now.
“He said…he wanted to…” He stutters, reaching out for Jeongguk again. He grips his wrist, Jeongguk turns to him.
“It was a game!” He shouts. “A stupid game, yeah, but a game. I wasn’t…I would never kiss him, Jimin.”
Jimin sobs. His face is wet. Jeongguk is still shouting.
“Please, you have to…”
“No, you have to go home and—and think this shit through. I’m going inside to tell Yugyeom that you’re sorry, and I’ll meet you out here in a minute,” Jeongguk pulls away, already turning on his feet to walk inside. Jimin panics, reaching out to tug on his elbow, sharply turning him in his direction. Jeongguk is red in the face when he turns. “What? Are you going to fucking punch me, too?”
Jimin can see it in his face—he regrets it the moment the words are out. But it hurts, it hurts like hell, it hurts like it’s never hurt before. After everything they’ve been through, after all the promises, all that’s happened…Jimin sobs. He pulls his hand away from Jeongguk.
“Jiminie, I didn’t…I didn’t mean that, I…”
Jimin doesn’t hear. He turns on his feet and he runs down the street as fast as his feet will allow him. Jeongguk shouts his name once, twice, but Jimin is already too far to hear now.