parallax | jikook

Part title

Yugyeom shook his head, a little wobbly. He was on his fourth drink. "I feel sorry for you, man." The rest of them made apologetical noises too. Jungkook barely swallowed a snort.

He took another shot of the funny-colored liquid in his hands. Jungkook had asked the bartender to give him anything, just make it strong, and he hoped it fucked him up quickly.

Yugyeom launched into a story about his own significant other. "We're doing okay, it's not nearly as bad as Mark and Jackson." One of those guys was his roommate, Jungkook had surmised. "I'm either kept up by sex one night, fighting the other. I haven't slept in weeks. I wish I got my own place like this guy over here." He nodded towards Jungkook.

Jungkook grunted. "It's alright. I moved in today but I forgot to pay the bills so my electricity isn't working."

"Not used to the single life, huh?" Mingyu asked, tactless.

Jungkook stiffened. He was glad the lighting was sparse enough to keep them from seeing each other clearly. "It's alright."

Jaehyun, the newest guy at the office, raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Rough breakup?"

"It was a while ago." Jungkook was ready to go. He didn't want to talk about this, not with these guys. He didn't want to talk about it period.

"What happened?" Jaehyun pressed.

Mingyu chimed in, "It was the pretty blond guy, he came around the office sometimes back when they were still together, like, last year."

"He was such a catch. I'm sorry, man," Yugyeom tipped his glass at him, looking apologetic.

Jungkook didn't want their pity. He downed another shot glass and stood up abruptly. "See you guys Monday."

-

It was almost midnight by the time Jungkook got back to his apartment, and he could not wait for the long weekend he had off. His suit was clinging to him in all the wrong places and his briefcase was cutting off circulation at his wrist. Jungkook's head ducked as he scrolled through his Twitter feed—it was 11:42, god it was late—and he found his way to the elevators, dreaming of his bed.

Suffice to say, he didn't get to it. As Jungkook stepped in, he was abruptly flooded with the feeling that something was off: a buzzing in his ears, the faint crackle of electricity in the air, the world bleeding around the edges. As the doors shut, he felt a terrible lurch, one that was something out of childhood nightmares about dying in a freak elevator shaft accident.

One more blink, and Jungkook found himself gripped in a terrifying free fall. He landed before he could scream, in his apartment—but it was daytime, and it was his old one, and Jimin was right in front of him.

-

"Can you move into the hallway?" Jimin asked sweetly, and that in and of itself made Jungkook reel. Jimin was here, he was talking to Jungkook, no trace of the venom he had in his voice when Jungkook last spoke to him.

"Sorry?" was all Jungkook could blurt out.

Jimin giggled, and it still stirred in Jungkook's chest the way it always would. "You're in my way, with that box."

Only then did Jungkook look down and realize he had a large cardboard box in his arms—fuck, he was wearing some casual t-shirt shorts combination too. "Where am I? What's happening?"

Jimin shot him a look over the box he just hefted into his arms, half amused and half concerned. "Are you okay? You're in our new apartment, Jungkookie, and you should be helping us move in, if you aren't too busy standing around in my way."