(it's a paradise) it's a war zone

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/15652623.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: M/M
Fandom: 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Relationship: Jeon Jungkook/Park Jimin
Character: Park Jimin (BTS), Jeon Jungkook, Kim Taehyung | V, Min Yoongi |
Suga, Kim Seokjin | Jin, Kim Namjoon | RM, Jung Hoseok | J-Hope
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Summer Vacation, Enemies to
Lovers, Sharing a Bed, Sharing a Room, Fluff, Humor, Unresolved
Sexual Tension, Park Jimin Is a Drama Queen
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2018-08-13 Words: 7,763 Chapters: 1/1

(it's a paradise) it's a war zone

by fatal (cumrich)

Summary

murphy's law states that "anything that can go wrong will go wrong." jimin could maybe
make peace with that if it didn't mean sharing a room and a bed with jeon jeongguk, the
thorn in his side, for the entirety of his vacation.

Notes

DO NOT REPOST OR TRANSLATE

i wanted to write something silly and fun since i'm not feeling great u__u i hope you enjoy
this ♡

Of all the ways Jimin thought his vacation would go, this wasn’t one of them.

“Why can’t you sleep in the same bed as him?”

“Because I’m here with my boyfriend.”

“Jeongguk’s your best friend, your boyfriend isn’t going to die ― ”

“That’s not very nice, Jimin.”

“UGH,” he screams out in frustration, arms crossing over this chest petulantly. It has no effect on
Taehyung, who’s been steadily looking more and more amused as Jimin’s blood pressure has
skyrocketed to new heights.

On the other side of the lobby, he can see Jeongguk having a similar conversation with Yoongi,
fists clenched at his sides. Except, Yoongi looks completely uninterested in anything Jeongguk has
to say.

They’d arrived at the hotel about an hour ago and had been told that instead of the four rooms
they’d booked, they would only have three due to some water damage from a pipe leak in some of
the other rooms. This would have been fine if the room they’d lost hadn’t been Jimin and
Hoseok’s.

Namjoon and Seokjin, in what Jimin will forever remember as the Great Betrayal, had immediately
agreed to let Hoseok stay with them and Jimin had been left, mouth gaping, to be pawned off to
Jeongguk and his single room.

Jimin’s attempts to sway his friends to trade with him had fallen on deaf ears and in fact, he thinks
they’re all enjoying his suffering a little too much. What kind of friends were they?

The only person on his side was Jeongguk, who’d been similarly outraged and outright refused to
let Jimin stay with him. That had only pissed Jimin off more, as if he wanted anything to do with
Jeongguk’s annoying ass.

“Serves you two right,” Seokjin says from where he’s sitting, fingers tapping away on his phone.
“Now you can finally just kill each other and spare the rest of us.”

“Hyung,” Jimin whines, rage bubbling into a whiny pout. “Seokjinie hyung, please. I don’t want to
stay with him. Can’t you switch with your favourite dongsaeng?”

“You’re not my favourite dongsaeng,” Seokjin tells him matter-of-factly, unblinking as he spares
Jimin a glance. “Hoseok is.”

Taehyung gasps from behind Jimin, who stares at Seokjin dumbfounded and possibly even more
upset. “What about me!” Taehyung yells, already barreling toward Seokjin on the couch.

“What about you?” Seokjin says dryly, an eyebrow cocked up.

“How come I’m not your favourite!”

“You’re annoying, too.”

Jimin’s plight is completely ignored and he’s left standing there, sulking. When Namjoon and
Hoseok return from the front desk, the keys to their rooms in hand, Jimin lets his dread swallow
him up in one big bite.

He’s doomed.

Their fabled first meeting had been in the middle of exam season. Jimin had been trying to study
while Jeongguk had been trying to fool around with some floozy one seat over. They were in the
quiet zone but the two of them wouldn’t stop giggling and Jimin had finally lost it and berated
them rather publicly in front of everyone else in the study area.

Jeongguk hadn’t taken kindly to being called a man whore but Jimin refused to apologise.

Things got worse when Yoongi showed up at Hoseok’s post-exam party, Jeongguk and Taehyung
in tow. Apparently, Jeongguk was Taehyung’s best friend and Taehyung’s best friend was
welcome anywhere Taehyung was welcome. Jimin had almost asked Yoongi if that meant he’d be
fucking Jeongguk, too, but he’d thankfully kept a lid on it.

Jimin had been saddled with Jeongguk’s existence since. He was everywhere.

And to make matters worse, none of their friends seemed to understand why they couldn’t stand
each other.

“He’s a nice kid,” Hoseok had said, his usual cheer mellowed out by the three beers he’d had.
“Very helpful.”

“He’s an asshole,” Jimin had spat back, grouchy and irritable. Namjoon had just announced
Jeongguk would be coming with them to Jeju.

“Can’t you two just, like, fuck each other and get this over with?”

“What?” Jimin had screeched, the alcohol induced flush in his face deepening. “Why the fuck
would I ― ”

“God, I know, right?” Hoseok had huffed, completely ignoring Jimin’s appalled stammering.
“You’re both cramping my style.”

Namjoon had started giggling after that and anything Jimin had to say was ignored in favour of
Namjoon and Hoseok tittering to each other about how Jimin needed to get laid and how they’d
heard that Jeongguk had a big dick. Wasn’t that Jimin’s type?

Jimin had stormed off to his room after that, too furious to even sleep.

In the end, Jimin’s summer vacation is ruined before it even starts.

He finds himself standing in the middle of room and staring at the one bed in quiet horror. They
can both fit on it, but that doesn’t mean Jimin wants to share a bed with Jeongguk. There isn’t even
a couch in the room - just two chairs by the one big window. The room’s smaller than the ones the
rest of their friends got, too.

Jimin didn’t deserve this. He’s a good person. He pays his taxes and helps the elderly cross the
street. What more did the universe want?

“Look,” Jeongguk starts, a scowl on his face that he represses with a big sigh, eyes closing. “The
situation is what it is,” he says, fixing Jimin with a level look. His voice is carefully neutral.

Jimin’s eyes narrow. “I’m not dumb, I can see what the ― ”
“So,” Jeongguk interrupts, rather loudly, tone sharpening. “Can we just...call it a truce? For now?”

“Uh ― wha ― ”

Jeongguk’s looking at him rather expectantly and Jimin’s left floundering like a fish, completely
unprepared for this twist. He stands there, gaping yet again. This day was beginning to be too
much for him.

And it’s not like he can say no, can he? He can’t let Jeongguk think he’s better than Jimin or
something! Jimin’s jaw clenches at the thought of how smug and self-righteous Jeongguk would
act if Jimin says no now.

“Fine,” Jimin says, taking in a big breath. “Sounds reasonable.”

“Is that a concept you’re aware of? Being reasonable?” Jeongguk asks, a smile settling on his face.

“Is this your idea of a truce?” Jimin accuses, already ready to throw all thought of being the better
person out the window.

“It’s called teasing,” Jeongguk tells him. He drops his bag on top of the bed, taking the side next to
the wall and leaving Jimin the side with the window. Jimin had thought he’d have to fight for the
window side. “Friends do that sometimes.”

“I didn’t agree to be your friend,” Jimin snaps.

“Okay hyung,” Jeongguk says, catching Jimin off guard again. Jeongguk never called him hyung.
“I’m gonna go shower before we head out.”

He disappears into the bathroom after that, clean clothes in hand. Jimin stares at the closed
bathroom door, can’t seem to jump over all the hurdles suddenly popping up in is path fast enough.

Eventually, he stops staring blankly at the door and collapses into the bed. It was going to be a long
week.

They head to the beach first and it’s fun, uneventful in that Jimin and Jeongguk keep to opposite
ends, their friends always a buffer between them. They don’t get into any nasty fights and well,
maybe a truce wasn’t such a bad thing.

Jimin’s a little buzzed, can’t keep the goofy smile off his face as they stumble back to their hotel.
Taehyung and Seokjin are both belting out some ballad, lyrics horribly garbled but it makes Jimin
laugh anyways.

“You and Jeongguk behaved,” Yoongi comments, offhand. He’s letting Jimin cling to him for
support, maybe a little more drunk than he’s willing to admit. Jimin squeezes his arm, head resting
on a bony shoulder. The angle’s all awkward but Jimin didn’t care. Draping himself over Yoongi
was in his best friend duties.

“We made a truce,” Jimin mumbles, stifling a yawn.

“Did you now?” Yoongi drawls, the amusement evident in his tone.
It clicks in Jimin’s head all at once and he lets out an annoyed huff, swatting at Yoongi. “This was
your idea, wasn’t it? God, you get yourself one boyfriend and now you’re meddling in everyone’s
business, huh?”

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“For now.”

“You really hate him that much?”

“I don’t hate him,” Jimin mutters, glancing over at Jeongguk. He’s got his hand stuffed in the
pockets of his shorts, black hoodie drawn up and over his head. There’s a lazy smile on his lips as
he watches Seokjin and Taehyung bicker with Namjoon over whether or not Atlantis was real.
“He’s just annoying.”

“Didn’t he apologise for the exam thing?”

“So?”

“So stop being such a brat,” Yoongi admonishes, reaching to pinch Jimin’s nose. He whines,
jerking away and manages to lose his balance entirely. Jimin doesn’t go down without Yoongi
though, dragging him into his fall and they both end up in a pile of bruised egos.

“I fucking hate you,” Yoongi grumbles, rolling off of Jimin, who’s erupted into a fit of giggles.

When Jimin glances over at him, Yoongi’s smiling, helped back up by Hoseok. Jimin’s surprised
to find Jeongguk’s hand offered to him and even more surprised when he takes it. Jeongguk yanks
him up in one go, Jimin stumbling into his chest and he squeaks on impact, blushing hotly.

He hadn’t expected Jeongguk to be that strong.

“T-thanks,” Jimin stutters, pulling away quickly. He doesn’t look Jeongguk in the eye, can’t.

“No problem,” Jeongguk says, voice a little rough from disuse. He’d been quiet the whole night
and Jimin wonders if that’s because of him. The thought makes him feel bad, the hot feeling in his
belly turning sour.

Maybe he should be nicer to Jeongguk.

“Didn’t know you were such a klutz, Jimin-sshi,” Jeongguk smirks, leaving Jimin standing in the
sand to go over to Hoseok.

Or maybe Jimin should just chop Jeongguk’s head off.

“Big breath,” Namjoon instructs, helping to brush some of the sand clinging to Jimin off of him.
“In and out.” Jimin follows his words, fingers uncurling from the fists he’s made. “There we go.”

“He’s such an ass,” Jimin hisses, nearly stomping his foot into the ground like a five year old.

“You give him too much of a reaction,” Namjoon says, his smile fond and indulgent. He wraps an
arm around Jimin’s shoulder and they set off back in the direction of the hotel, the stars hanging in
the sky above them. “I think he just likes riling you up.”

“Well he can suck my dick!” Jimin exclaims out angrily, glaring at the back of Jeongguk’s head.
Then he pauses, realizing what he’s just said. “In the mean way. Not in the ― I don’t want him to
―”
“I know, Jimin.”

Jimin’s back at square one.

He’s staring at the bed. The one bed.

Suddenly, it doesn’t look big enough and Jimin’s contemplating how rude it would be to make a
pillow wall between the two of them.

“I’m not going to eat you.” Jeongguk’s voice carries over from the bathroom door, startling Jimin
into action. He jerks toward the bed, face flushing. Jimin had showered before him, sobering up
under the spray of the water.

“I know,” Jimin snaps, yanking the blanket off the bed and just as he gets in, he sees a very half
naked Jeongguk standing in the little hallway to the bathroom and the hotel room’s door. His eyes
hone in on the ink swirling up Jeongguk’s right forearm. Jimin’s seen the tattoo close up before,
the snake hidden in peonies, fangs out and ready to pierce.

This is, however, the first time he’s seen the metal bar through one of Jeongguk’s nipples, heat
winding in the pit of his belly as Jeongguk dries his hair with his towel. He’s wearing nothing but a
pair of sweats, hanging low on his hips, slim waist on display.

Jeongguk is...hot.

There’s no other way to put it despite Jimin’s best efforts. He looks like one of those Greek statues,
rippling muscle and hand carved abs, the cut of his jaw too sharp to be real. It’s annoying.
Jeongguk’s annoying.

And it’s not that Jimin’s been blind to how good-looking Jeongguk is but rather that he’s always
been too wound up around him, his next quip always on the tip of Jimin’s tongue. Jeongguk gets
under Jimin’s skin in the worst way ― an itch he can’t scratch. But they’re trying to be civil right
now and well, Jimin wants to go to sleep, not have a dick measuring competition.

He draws the blanket right up to his chin, back very purposefully to Jeongguk’s side of the bed.
Jimin doesn’t want to see him climbing into bed but that doesn’t mean his heart rate doesn’t spike
up when the bed dips. When Jeongguk settles down under the blanket, Jimin’s brain very
enthusiastically points out that he’s only a few centimeters away and that there’s nothing separating
them.

His abs flash behind Jimin’s eyes and he nearly throws the blanket off, ready to storm out of the
room and just sleep on the floor of Namjoon’s room. He lets out a breath he doesn’t know he’s
holding when Jeongguk flicks the flight off, the room disappearing into darkness.

Jimin very resolutely tells himself that he’s still drunk and that finding an attractive person
attractive isn’t wrong. Just because Jeongguk is easy on the eyes, doesn’t mean Jimin liked him. Or
even tolerated him. It wasn’t a crime to find someone hot. Er, attractive.

Even if that person was Jeon Jeongguk, Jimin’s arch nemesis.

Okay, maybe arch nemesis was a bit of a stretch, especially when Jimin also described the barista
at his favourite coffee shop who always worked Saturday mornings his arch nemesis, too. How
could one person get his order wrong that often?

Jimin’s not sure how long he just lies there, staring out the window, unable to fall asleep. His brain
doesn’t want to shut off, a blaring alarm of Jeon Jeongguk going off in head on repeat ad infinitum.

Of course Jeongguk wouldn’t let him sleep!

He turns over onto his back roughly, heart lurching in his chest when he realises how close
Jeongguk is to him. His mouth goes dry, eyes widening as the moonshine fans itself over
Jeongguk’s face.

Jimin forgets how to breathe, the room dissolving into nothingness as Jimin’s eyes trace the curve
of Jeongguk’s nose, the jut of his cheekbones. His arm’s curled up and tucked under his head,
bicep bulging, and Jimin turns away just as quickly as he had turned over, face flushing.

The embarrassment lulls him to sleep, heart hammering in his chest.

As Jimin lies there, heart in his throat, all he can think about ― beyond Jeongguk’s collarbones
― is how cruel the universe is. Not only did he have to share a room with Jeongguk but now, here
he is, essentially drooling over the arm he’s turned into a pillow. An arm that belongs to one Jeon
Jeongguk.

Jeongguk’s other arm is draped over Jimin’s waist, locking him in. Their legs are even tangled
together. Was Jimin’s life a soap opera? Was this a hidden camera?

The worst part is how Jeongguk’s half-pinning Jimin to the bed, body leaning into him. Jimin had
tried nudging him away but Jeongguk slept like a rock, dead to the world. Potentially, he was worse
than Yoongi.

He contemplates just shoving Jeongguk off, screaming at him for causing this mess but Jimin
doesn’t know if he’ll be able to live with the knowledge that they had woken up like this, entangled
into each other. They still had to get through five more nights of this.

It’s as he’s contemplating how to tug Jeongguk’s arm off of him that Jeongguk goes very still next
to him. Jimin immediately closes his eyes, feigning sleep as naturally as he can. Jeongguk doesn’t
move, and Jimin thinks his heart is hammering loud enough for the neighbours to hear.

“Shit,” Jeongguk mutters, voice rough with sleep. For awhile he just lies there, very still and Jimin
does his best to keep his breathing as steady and even as possible. But then he’s pulling his arm off
of Jimin, realizing that Jimin’s sleeping on the other one. Jimin feels the mattress sink down as
Jeongguk leverages himself up, his free hand squeezing under Jimin’s head gently. Jeongguk pulls
his arm out from under Jimin with the same care, setting his head down on the pillow gingerly.

He rolls off of Jimin, taking the blanket with him and Jimin’s left half uncovered. Jeongguk curses
again, crawling out of bed. Jimin thinks he’s left, but then the blanket’s being fixed, Jeongguk’s
hands tucking Jimin in.
Jimin’s heart squeezes tightly in his chest, something hot squirming in his belly. He thinks he
imagines the hand that brushes his hair aside, fingers curling into a fist.

He hears the soft footsteps of Jeongguk’s feet padding away and it’s not until he catches the click
of the bathroom door that he opens his eyes, sucking in a deep breath. Jeongguk’s side of the bed is
unmade, his pillow indented from where his head had been resting.

The room is too quiet; Jimin can hear the blood rushing past his ears.

It feels like he can’t swallow around the lump in his throat, his mind completely blank as he lies in
the silence, unwilling to make sense of anything. Jimin can’t get his heart to stop shaking, hand
pressing over his chest.

By the time he gets himself to roll out of bed, Jeongguk’s done in the bathroom. They nod at each
other in silence, and Jimin rushes into the bathroom, eager to get away from all the confusion
festering in the room.

Sure, he didn’t hate Jeongguk but Jimin definitely didn’t ― he didn’t want this either. Whatever
this was.

They’re at a gamgyul orchard because that’s the kind of place you visited when you were friends
with Namjoon. He’d booked the visit himself, excited to pick some fruit and ask the farmers a
million and one questions. Jimin thinks it’s all very cute, and the orchard is very pretty, but he can’t
appreciate any of it.

His eyes keep being pulled to Jeongguk, as if suddenly starving to see him, stomach twisting itself
into even more knots with every glance.

He can’t focus, his brain just looping that morning over and over again in his head. It feels like his
skin is still burning from where he’d touched Jeongguk, the ghost of his body still pressed tight
against him.

Jimin’s chewed his bottom lip sore, hands wringing together as he trails after everyone else. Every
now and then, he’ll linger by one of the trees, plucking a leaf off a branch only to pick it apart.

This truce was causing him more grief than just bickering with Jeongguk on a daily basis did. Jimin
huffs irritably as he throws the remnants of his torn up leaf onto the ground, hands wiping on his
oversized striped shirt.

“You’ll give yourself wrinkles if you just scowl all the time,” Hoseok says to him, startling Jimin
out of this thoughts. He hadn’t even realised Hoseok had hung back to fall in step with him.

“I’m not scowling,” Jimin defends, latching onto Hoseok’s arm.

“Uh huh,” Hoseok says, a hand running through his hair. “Why’re you moping?”

“I’m not moping either!”

“You haven’t tried annoying Yoongi-hyung once this morning. It’s not like you.”
“Maybe I didn’t want to annoy Yoongi-hyung this morning,” Jimin retorts, knowing what a weak
argument it is. Hoseok’s responding snort is telling enough of how believable Jimin is.

“Did you and Jeongguk fight?” Hoseok whispers, concerned and conspiratory.

“No, we didn’t fight,” Jimin grumbles, letting Hoseok’s arm go. He doesn’t want to talk about
Jeongguk or any of the weird, conflicting feelings swimming through his head.

“Oh,” Hoseok says, surprised. Then his brows furrow together and he fixes Jimin with a confused
look. “What’s wrong then?”

“Nothing’s wrong!” Jimin exclaims, shoving Hoseok away. He can’t keep the pout off his face,
happy that he’s at least got his oversized sunglasses on to hide his eyes. Hoseok only purses his
lips.

“Fine, be stubborn then!” Hoseok snips, arms crossing over his chest, nose in the air.

Jimin finds himself laughing, a hand coming up to hide his giggling. “Hyung,” he whines,
squeezing his hand between Hoseok’s side and his arm to loop their arms together. He leans into
him, head plopping against his shoulder. “If something was wrong, I’d tell you first. You know
that.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” Hoseok argues but his tone has softened. “I always have to worm everything
out of you.”

“Well,” Jimin starts, unsure really of what he wants to say. “I’ll come tell you when I’ve figured it
out.”

Hoseok glances at him, eyes narrowed. He catches Jimin’s gaze, follows his line of vision to where
Jimin’s attention is fixed on Jeongguk several feet away, his camera to his face as he snaps
photographs of Namjoon. Jimin flushes, caught red-handed as Hoseok’s mild annoyance
transforms into something mischievous and knowing.

“Oh, I see what the problem is,” Hoseok grins, wickedly gleeful. “Loverboy’s not paying attention
to you, huh.”

“Loverboy? ” Jimin exclaims, horrified, slapping Hoseok’s back. It does nothing to get Hoseok to
stop snickering, eyebrows waggling at Jimin suggestively. “What the hell are you going on
about?”

“You shouldn’t play coy, Jimin,” Hoseok grins, his hand gripping Jimin by the wrist to tug him in
Namjoon and Jeongguk’s direction. Jimin’s immediate reaction is to dig his heels into the ground
but he nearly ends up toppling forward when Hoseok just continues to pull on his arm.

“Hyung!” Jimin screeches, catching everyone’s attention and the burn of embarrassment that runs
through him when he realises everyone’s looking at him has him giving into Hoseok entirely. His
face is beet red as he stumbles into Hoseok, already planning to make a mess of Hoseok’s luggage
for being such a demon.

“Namjoon, Jiminie wants a basket to pick some gamgyul, too!” Hoseok yells, taking the half-full
basket from Namjoon and offering it to Jimin. “And I’ll take these,” he adds, grabbing Jimin’s
sunglasses and wearing them himself before he disappears with a wave toward Seokjin.

Jimin’s left standing in front of Namjoon and Jeongguk, the former of whom is looking at Jimin
warmly. “You could have just said you wanted to pick the gamgyul, Jimin.”
“I ― ” Jimin starts, staring at the basket of fruit and contemplating if he could aim one right at
Hoseok’s head. “Uh…”

“Jeongguk just wanted some close ups of the fruit,” Namjoon says when Jimin offers nothing of
intelligence, glancing back at Jeongguk. “We good?”

“Yeah hyung,” Jeongguk smiles, angling his camera at Jimin. “Thanks.”

“I’m gonna see if we can get another basket.” Namjoon points over at the tour guide who’s been
winding them through the part of the orchard open to the public. He ruffles Jimin’s hair as he heads
over. “Happy picking, Jiminie.”

“Thanks hyung,” Jimin mumbles, can’t help but smile at Namjoon’s sweetness. He hears the
shutter of Jeongguk’s camera, head whipping to look at him.

“Who said you could take pictures of me?” Jimin scowls, glaring at the dumb smile on Jeongguk’s
face. He’s staring at the camera screen, glancing up at Jimin only when Jimin throws a handful of
leaves at him.

“You look pretty,” Jeongguk says, like its nothing, surprising Jimin. His eyes are so big and sincere
as he says it, too, but Jimin can’t read his expression otherwise. He opens his mouth but nothing
comes out, cheeks burning pink.

Jeongguk snaps another picture, point blank. He reaches to brush a stray leaf out of Jimin’s hair,
smiling at Jimin before he wanders off back to their friends. Jimin’s stupefied.

What the hell was he playing at? Jimin whips around, ready to give Jeongguk a piece of his mind.
He didn’t like mind games and whatever Jeongguk was doing, he didn’t appreciate it.

But he finds himself swallowing down his spike of rage, Jeongguk’s laughter drowning out Jimin’s
annoyance. Taehyung’s doing a silly dance in front of the camera for him, Yoongi watching a few
steps behind.

For the first time, Jimin wonders why he’s been so adamant in rejecting Jeongguk from his life
when everyone seemed to adore him. Somehow, he’d convinced himself that Jeongguk had
everyone fooled and now…

Jimin lets out a groan of frustration, grabbing a gamgyul from the tree nearest to him and yanking
it off the branch. He continues picking, furiously grabbing fruit and dropping it in the basket, too
angry to think straight.

By the end of their tour, the basket is overflowing with gamgyul and Jimin’s arms hurt.

“May have gone a little overboard there, Jimin-ah,” Yoongi teases, staring at Jimin’s basket.
Taehyung’s trying to cajole Seokjin into giving him a piggyback ride but Seokjin is steadfastly
ignoring him.

“At least I helped pick,” Jimin retorts back, tongue sticking out.

“Yeah and now you can’t even carry the basket,” Yoongi points out, smug and offering no help to
Jimin at all.

“Do you ever get tired of being an ass?” Jimin asks, already fed up. “Or is it that being an ass is
the only personality you have?”
“Ouch,” Yoongi winces but Jimin just stomps past him, miserable and irritated. He feels bad when
he’s at the orchard’s entrance, shoulders drooping when he admits that he’d gone too far. It only
worsens his mood but before he can turn around and go apologise, Jeongguk’s blipping onto his
radar.

“Here,” he says, taking the basket out of Jimin’s arms without another word. Huh?

“I can carry it fine myself!” Jimin exclaims, ready to yank it back into his arms but Jeongguk just
hums at him condescendingly and walks away. Jimin actually does kick at the ground this time,
near ready to pull his own hair out but instead he sucks in a deep breath and resolves to go
apologise to Yoongi.

Jeongguk be damned.

Jimin doesn’t like haunted houses.

He doesn’t like haunted houses and right now, quite frankly, he doesn’t like his stupid friends
either.

“Aw, cheer up, Jiminie,” Taehyung smiles, trying to push Jimin’s scowl into a smile. He slaps
Taehyung’s hands away and glares harder, annoyance only growing when Taehyung just laughs.
“So cute.”

“Ugh, go away,” Jimin grumbles, dreading having to go through the house. It looms ominously in
front of them, not a single window lit through with light. He was going to fall on his ass before
anyone managed to scare him.

Hoseok, the lucky bastard, had pretended he had a stomach ache from something they’d had at
lunch and managed to weasel out of being dragged here. When Jimin had offered to stay behind
and keep him company, his friends had pretty much picked him up and thrown him over their
shoulder.

Jimin resolutely doesn’t think about how Jeongguk probably could do that.

“Okay, so we can go in two groups of three,” Namjoon explains, handing everyone their ticket.

“Why can’t we all just go in together?” Jimin asks, trepidation rising.

“Max group size is four.”

“Oh, okay,” Jimin mumbles. This just means he has fewer people to hide behind.

In the end, because the universe hasn’t stopped laughing at him yet, Jimin goes in with Taehyung
and Jeongguk. They’re nice enough to let him be in the middle, Taehyung taking the lead rather
fearlessly and Jeongguk bringing up the rear.

Jimin’s heart is already in his throat and all they’ve done is made their way up a set of stairs to the
entrance and despite his posturing that he’s not scared, Jimin knows he doesn’t have anyone
convinced.
“It’ll be fun, Jiminie,” Taehyung grins and Jimin pulls himself up to his full height, head held high.

“I’m not scared.”

“Right,” Jeongguk’s says from behind him as Taehyung nods indulgently.

Before Jimin can tell them both to fuck off, the door they’re waiting in front of opens. Jimin
swallows. Everything on the other side of the door is pitch black. It takes a nudge from Jeongguk
to get Jimin going, Taehyung having already disappeared into the darkness.

For the first little stretch, nothing happens. Jimin’s heartbeat is all he can hear, footsteps small and
uncertain as he follows after Taehyung. Not that he can see Taehyung. Really, Jimin has no way of
even knowing if his friend is still even there.

They’re supposed to be following a red light marked on the ground but Jimin’s so tense he can
barely be bothered. It takes Jeongguk’s gentle nudging to keep him going, the hard press of his
chest now a permanent fixture as Jimin leans back into him.

A chilling laugh echoes around them, and then something’s grabbing at Jimin’s foot and he’s
screaming as loud as he can possibly go. He’s pretty sure he’s headbutted Jeongguk in the chin but
if he has, Jeongguk hasn’t said anything. Instead, his hands are on Jimin’s waist, rubbing softly at
his sides and keeping him going forward.

Taehyung’s laughing ahead of him, “Jiminie, come on, there’s still more to go.”

It feels like they’re in the haunted house forever, adrenaline and Jeongguk’s solid presence the only
things keeping him going. At one point, the walls start closing in on them and Jimin clings to
Jeongguk the whole time, later unwilling to let go of his arm. That doesn’t last long when someone
grabs at him from behind and he’s jumping a foot into the air to Taehyung’s laughter again.

They come out holding hands, Jimin’s weight resting against Jeongguk’s side. He lets Jeongguk
lead him back outside, trying to bring his racing heartbeat down, only starts laughing when his
brain finally accepts that he’s out of any immediate danger.

Taehyung’s telling everyone how much Jimin screamed and Jimin finds himself laughing along,
doesn’t realise he’s still gripping Jeongguk’s hand tight in his own until Seokjin smirks at him,
eyes lingering in the space, or lack thereof, between Jimin and Jeongguk.

Jimin lets go immediately, stepping away, eyes wide as he shoots a quick glance at Jeongguk. He’s
expecting some kind of snide remark but it never comes. Instead, Jeongguk just gives him a once
over, and quietly asks, “You okay, hyung?”

He nods mutely, doesn’t trust himself to say anything, heart in his throat.

For the rest of the night, Jimin stays glued to Namjoon and Seokjin’s sides despite the way his
stomach bursts into butterflies every time he thinks of his hand in Jeongguk’s.

By the fifth morning of waking up curled up in Jeongguk’s hold, Jimin gives up on not enjoying
the sensation. He even burrows in a little deeper, sleepy and too exhausted from all the circles he’s
thought himself into to really put up much of a fight against his love of cuddling. At this point,
cuddling with Jeongguk didn’t even seem that bad.

He always pretends to be sleeping when Jeongguk wakes up, Jeongguk’s gentle hands maneuvering
him around so he can sneak off into the bathroom. This morning isn’t any different save the brush
of Jeongguk’s knuckles against the high points of his cheeks.

Jimin’s not sleeping on his arm for once, so Jeongguk just lies there next to him, watching him
sleep. He has half a mind to tell Jeongguk what a creep he’s being but well, Jimin’s not sure he has
a leg to stand on when he’d spent five minutes yesterday trying to count every individual eyelash
fanning across Jeongguk’s cheeks.

Eventually, though, Jeongguk climbs out of bed and Jimin sucks in a shuddering breath, staring at
the empty space Jeongguk’s left behind on the bed. He can’t make sense of anything lately, can’t
ignore the way his attention gravitates toward Jeongguk in everything they do.

They’d gone to a market the day before and Jimin had tagged along with Yoongi and Taehyung
despite the fact that he prefers shopping with Hoseok and Seokjin. Taehyung had been tugging
Jeongguk toward a booth and Jimin hadn’t been able to help himself, had ignored the quirked
eyebrow Yoongi had thrown at him.

At one point, Jeongguk had even stood between Jimin and some creep that wouldn’t stop ogling
him. His heart had nearly burst out of his chest when Jeongguk had leaned over Jimin’s shoulder to
look at something, voice rumbling through Jimin as he’d asked the stall owner how much some
trinket cost.

Even now, Jimin can’t stop thinking about it. For the most part, they stayed out of each other’s
way but every time their paths crossed, Jimin was left dumbfounded. He’s only known Jeongguk
some five months, his entire opinion of him based on his first impression of him.

Now, the Jeongguk Jimin had met so many months ago and the one who’d let Jimin steal beef off
his plate two nights ago seem worlds apart. His head’s a mess.

And it didn’t help that Yoongi had been so cryptic the night before. Jimin had sat curled up next to
him by the pool, the rest of their friends scattered to different corners.

“You’ve been quiet,” Yoongi had said, their fingers laced together. Jimin was busy tracing the the
veins along the back of his hand, occasionally letting his finger drift up Yoong’s forearm.
“Everything okay?”

“Why does everyone think something’s wrong?” Jimin had huffed, too tired to really be annoyed.

“Who’s everyone?”

“Hoseok-hyung.”

“Mmm,” Yoongi had hummed, shifting in his seat. “You haven’t goofed off as much as you
usually do.”

Jimin had shrugged. He knew he’d been off most of their vacation, mind preoccupied with
Jeongguk and it was annoying how Jeongguk seemed entirely unaffected, happy to carry his
camera around everywhere and film or take pictures.

“You ever wonder why Jeongguk agreed to a truce?”

“Uh, because we’re on vacation and it’d be annoying for everyone if all me and Jeongguk did was
fight.”

Yoongi had snorted. “You think you don’t bicker all the time when we’re not on vacation.”

“It’s different,” Jimin had insisted, sitting up properly. He’d found himself glancing over at
Jeongguk again, the hoodie he’d been wearing now discarded. He was shirtless underneath, the
black ink of his tattoo drawing the attention of some of the other patrons.

“Why don’t you like him?”

“I ― ” Jimin had no real answer to that. “I dunno. He’s annoying.”

Yoongi’s expression had morphed into something bordering on exasperation. “Hating someone’s
guts doesn’t mean you have to harass each other all the time. And if you really found each other
annoying, you’d steer clear of one another more.”

“How am I supposed to avoid him if he’s everywhere?” Jimin had snapped, attempting to pull his
hand out of Yoongi’s. Yoongi had only held on harder, drawing closer to Jimin.

“I know you’re not this clueless,” Yoongi had said, muttering something else under his breath that
Jimin hadn’t been able to piece together. He’d refused to give Jimin anything else and they’d both
ended up falling asleep there.

Jimin does have a conclusion in mind about why Jeongguk is being so nice to him but it isn’t
anything he’s willing to accept. It’s easier just shoving everything into the same corner of his mind
and telling himself that he only had one more night of this damn vacation left.

They spend their last full day in Jeju lounging on the beach, the book Jimin had brought with him
finally in his lap. He’d spent the better half of his morning waist deep in the water playing with
Taehyung and Seokjin.

He’s almost done the chapter he’s on when Jeongguk flops down onto the towel next to him.
Seokjin had carried one of those giant umbrellas out onto the beach, instructing Namjoon to carry a
second. They’d laid out all their towels under the shade but Jeongguk’s was decidedly not next to
Jimin’s. He’d lied down next to Jimin on purpose.

Jimin ignores him ― or well, he tries. Jeongguk’s just in his swim shorts, chiseled body on display
again and Jimin’s eyes strain from trying to sneak glances at him as discreetly as possible. His
attention is especially enraptured by Jeongguk’s nipple piercing, the only other piercing Jimin had
seen on him besides the ones in his ears.

“Did it hurt?” Jimin asks, surprising even himself, nodding at Jeongguk’s piercing. He ignores the
blush in his cheeks as Jeongguk glances from Jimin to his own nipple.

“Not really,” Jeongguk answers, looking back at him. He lifts himself up onto an elbow, body
angled toward Jimin. “Why? You want one?”

Jimin’s eyes widen as he shakes his head. “N-no. I don’t like needles.”
Jeongguk’s laughter is soft, his grin lazy as he looks at Jimin, the sharpness in his eyes betraying
his otherwise benign expression. “That’s too bad.”

Jimin’s brows furrow, lips pursing together in confusion. “How come?”

“Hmm, nothing,” Jeongguk replies, returns to lying on his back, hands bracing his head as his eyes
close. Jimin’s eyes drink in the sight of his biceps flexing with a thirst he’s ashamed of, forcing
himself to look back down at his book.

“You can’t just say that and then say it’s nothing,” Jimin mumbles, wonders if Jeongguk will keep
talking to him. He squeezes the page he’s on between his fingers, watches the page wrinkle from
his sweat.

“They’d look good on you.” Jeongguk’s voice is low, a heat curling in his gut at the words.

“W-what would look good on me?”

“Nipple piercings.”

“Oh,” he says dumbly, heartbeat thudding to a stop in his chest. All the blood rushes to his face
and he swallows, glancing around himself. Yoongi’s snoring on his other side, the rest of his
friends in the water save Namjoon, who’s looking for crabs. “Thanks. I guess.”

Jeongguk only hums and Jimin sneaks a glance at him, lip caught between his teeth. His eyes are
fixed on Jimin, an intensity in them that catches Jimin off guard. He doesn’t know what to do with
Jeongguk, with himself. Jimin’s lip drags out from under his teeth.

It was now or never.

“Um,” he starts, looking back down at his book. The words swim together on the page and Jimin
can’t read a single one. He feels queasy. “I wanted to say sorry.”

“For what?”

Jimin makes a frustrated noise, but swallows his pride, Yoongi’s exasperated look flashing behind
his eyes. Things were easier, more fun, when Jimin wasn’t looking for reasons to get into fights
with Jeongguk.

“For everything, really. I’ve been...an assohole and I mean, it wasn’t really fair of me to refuse to
give you a second chance.”

Jeongguk doesn’t say anything and Jimin glances back at him, finds surprise written all over
Jeongguk’s face, like he can’t believe that Jimin’s owning up to being an ass. He pushes himself
up, and Jimin can’t look away.

“Thanks,” Jeongguk finally says, a smile spreading across his face. “I’m sorry, too.”

“Wow, that only took you five months.” It’s Yoong’s drawl, words half garbled with sleep.

“Hyung!” Jimin whines, swatting at his belly. Yoongi ‘oofs’, curling into himself, but he’s
laughing and it pulls Jimin in, too, even as he whines about how annoying Yoongi is.

For the first time since their whole vacation started, Jimin feels light, like some invisible weight
he’d been carrying around has fallen off his shoulders.
 ♡

Jimin wakes up with a throbbing headache, the bed completely empty.

He can barely open his eyes, hands rubbing at them as he blearily blinks to wakefulness.
“Jeongguk?” he croaks, but there’s no responding answer.

Jimin forces himself up, squinting as he looks around the room, hand reaching for his phone on the
nightstand next to him. It’s past ten and their flight back to Seoul isn’t until later that evening so
he’s wondering where Jeongguk’s disappeared off to.

He manages to get himself out of bed and into the bathroom, drinking straight from the tap despite
the metallic tang of the water. Last night comes back to him in chunks as he’s standing in the
shower, rubbing gunk out of his eyes.

They’d all gotten drunk on the beach around a bonfire, and Jimin distinctly remembers needing to
be carried back to the hotel. He blanches when he realises it was Jeongguk who had piggy backed
him and then curses out loud when he remembers throwing his arms around Jeongguk happily.

Jimin stumbles back into the room, thankful that Jeongguk isn’t there. He didn’t have the
forethought to grab clean clothes, still half wet from this shower. Their room is a mess of dirty
laundry and all their things are scattered around haphazardly. Packing was going to be a bitch.

It’s as he’s drying his hair with a towel that he spots Jeongguk’s camera sitting on the table in the
room. He finds himself picking it up, knows he probably shouldn’t look through it but Jimin can’t
help but think back on those pictures Jeongguk took of him in the orchard. He wants to see what
Jeongguk saw.

Except when Jimin gets the camera on and starts clicking through the photographs, he finds a lot
more of himself than he’d anticipated. Every third picture is one of him. Jimin smiling, laughing,
pouting. There’s even some of him standing by himself on the beach, staring out at the sun. He
remembers that morning, remembers letting Namjoon drag him out for a walk and Jeongguk
trailing behind them.

Jimin’s heart stutters in his chest and he’s too slow putting the camera down when Jeongguk
swings the door to their room open. For a split second, they just stare at each other, Jimin’s heart
racing, embarrassment burning through him as Jeongguk’s eyes fix on the camera still in Jimin’s
hands.

“I ― ” Jimin starts, his tongue suddenly too heavy in his mouth. He needs to apologise but he can’t
wrap his head around the pictures ― there’s so many of them, so many of Jimin.

Jeongguk doesn’t look mad but he’s striding over and taking the camera out of Jimin’s hands. It
flusters him, how close Jeongguk is, all his embarrassment rushing out of him in one breathless
sentence. “That’s a lot of pictures.”

“Shit,” Jeongguk curses, looking at Jimin quickly, and then his eyes are squeezing shut, a hand
rubbing at his face. “Shit.”

“I ― I’ll come back,” Jimin mumbles, thinks it’s better to give them both a moment to digest this
all. He sidesteps Jeongguk but doesn’t make it even a step closer to the door, Jeongguk’s arm
looping around his waist and pulling him flush against his chest.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Jeongguk’s voice is so low, rough with something Jimin
doesn’t want to identify. His fingers curl into the fabric of Jeongguk’s hoodie, eyes wide as he
looks up at him.

“I’m ― I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have ― ”

“I’m not mad,” Jeongguk says slowly, setting his camera back down on the table. He doesn’t let go
of Jimin. “I just ― This isn’t how I wanted to tell you.”

“T-tell me what?”

Jeongguk’s cheeks are tinged pink, uncertainty written all over him. He licks his lips. “That I like
you.”

It takes a moment for the words to sink in, Jimin’s belly swooping and suddenly it feels like too
much to breathe. “You what?”

“I like you,” Jeongguk repeats, knuckles brushing over Jimin’s cheek. His eyes close on instinct
and he breathes in, shuddering in Jeongguk’s hold.

“Oh.”

Jeongguk’s breath ghosts over his lips and Jimin finds himself gripping Jeongguk’s bicep in one
hand, eyes opening just enough to let him take in Jeongguk’s mouth. He traces the curve of his
cupid's bow and drinks in the mole just under his lip, and then he’s closing the gap, lips pressing
against Jeongguk’s. Jimin’s whole body seems to sing as Jeongguk holds him tighter, his other
hand cupping Jimin’s face.

Jimin clings to him, finds himself pushed right up against the table, arms winding around
Jeongguk’s neck as Jeongguk deepens their kiss, licking his way into Jimins mouth. His mind’s
gone blank, a whine escaping him when Jeongguk draws back just enough to suckle on his lip,
teeth nipping at the flesh as his tongue soothes the sting. He feels overwhelmed by Jeongguk’s
quiet intensity, moaning when Jeongguk sucks on his tongue, and just takes and takes and takes.

His mind’s a little hazy when Jeongguk pulls back to let them both catch their breath, barely an
inch apart. Jimin kisses him again, chastely, their noses brushing together and he rubs them
together, giggling as Jeongguk smiles. Embarrassment curls hot in his gut and Jimin finds himself
ducking his head into Jeongguk’s chest.

“I, um, I think I like you, too,” Jimin says, the words muffled into Jeongguk’s hoodie. He can’t
show his face to Jeongguk, not with how hot it’s burning.

“Really?” Jeongguk sounds a little incredulous but there’s a playfulness in his tone that has Jimin’s
heart doing loop-di-loops. He swats at Jeongguk’s chest, whining as Jeongguk laughs.

“I don’t just let anyone kiss me,” he pouts.

“Then I’m a very lucky guy,” Jeongguk murmurs, kissing the side of Jimin’s head and then trailing
kisses down the side of his face. Jimin goes pink with each kiss, fingers fisting into Jeongguk’s
hoodie as his heart attempts to beat out of his chest.

His breath shudders in his chest as he looks at Jeongguk, flushing under the attention. A thousand
thoughts race through his head but he can’t focus on a single one with Jeongguk right here, in front
of him.
“When were you gonna show me all your pictures of me, huh?” Jimin asks, smirking at the way
Jeongguk’s face goes red. “I didn’t even know I had my very own fansite. I thought only idols had
those.”

“Hyung,” Jeongguk pouts, pulling back enough to stand up straight. Jimin only slides back onto the
table, laughing at Jeongguk’s embarrassed expression.

“I wanna see all of them.”

“Sure,” Jeongguk mumbles, taking Jimin’s hand in his own. It’s as Jimin’s staring at their hands
that he remembers their friends, the sinking realization that they would never let him live this down
flooding through him.

“Everyone is gonna make so much fun of me,” Jimin whines, legs kicking out, and Jeongguk just
laughs, squeezing Jimin tight.

“Don’t worry, baby. I’ll tell them all to fuck off,” Jeongguk grins, thumb stroking over Jimin’s
cheek.

Jimin only blushes, swallowing down the way his heart skips a beat at the endearment. “My knight
in shining armour, huh?”

“Something like that.”

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