Taehyung jolted awake from his sleep when he felt something wet against his fingers.
He cranes his sore neck (probably from sleeping in a very painful position) behind to find his hands still clasped between Jimin's smaller ones. He looks up at the smaller's face, smiling at the serene sight of him peacefully sleeping while snoring softly.
Then his eyes land on a small, curled up animal beside him. It's a white cat who is, apparently, glaring at him.
The cat has a pink ribbon around its neck with a matching bow attached to it. Under the bow hung a golden heart-shaped locket which has a word engraved on it.
"Gangyang," Taehyung reads out loud. The cat lets out a low grumble at that, swinging its furry tail gently.
Taehyung chuckles and stretches out his free hand to pet the feline. The cat, getting startled, let's out a hiss at the unfamiliar human limb and scratches it.
Taehyung immediately jerks his hand back with a groan while the cat jumps down the bed and hides behind the nightstand.
Taehyung slowly pulls his other hand out of the sleeping boy's grasp before crawling towards the nightstand where the kitty is peeking from.
He crouches on his knees at a safe distance from the cat and holds his injured hand out again.
"Come here." He says softly
The kitty looks at it with big eyes then up at Taehyung's soft ones. Slowly, she crawls out of the cramped space and walks towards the outstretched hand.
The cat sniffs it for a few moments before licking gently at the small wound. Taehyung smiles and pets the cat with his other hand making her purr in content.
"There, such a good kitten. Just like your owner, aren't you? Always hissing and scowling at me but then become such an obedient little kitten at slightest my touch."
-------------
"Taetae... Please..."
Jimin barely breathes out while his gets face pressed on the ground.
His face is tattered, painted with cuts and bruises all over.
His cry of plea is only answered by a cold pair of eyes staring back at him, almost lifeless.
Jimin tries to move, to get up, but all he could do was lift his limp arm barely above the ground.
An unknown source of weight kept crushing him, pressing him harshly on the ground.
He cries out in pain, looking up towards the boy standing before him.
The cold pair of eyes did not leave his pleading, teary ones.
The arm he lifted is shaking aggressively as he tries to hold onto something, anything.
"Taetae..." He cries out.
The said boy only scoffed in response, and with one final look at the sobbing boy before him, he turns around and starts walking away.
Jimin stops sobbing, instead his eyes widens with fear, "Taehyung! No! Don't leave me!"
He strenuously attempts to get up, using all his might, but the weight above kept getting heavier and heavier, until the ground beneath him started to form cracks.
He looked back at the retrieving figure getting smaller and smaller.
"No...no!"
He pushes himself up harder and harder, as much as he can, and once he finally gets on his knees, the ground gives up.
He screamed as he fell down through the huge hole into a void of darkness.
Jimin's eyes shoots open.
He pants and looks around his surroundings. He is at home, in his room, on his bed.
His hands shoot up to his face. No cuts or bruises, instead it is wet with sweat.
His body is soaked with sweat, yet he is freezing. He shivers as he feels the cold sweat break out all over his body.
He crawls backwards until his back touched the headboard of the bed. He hugs his knees closer to his chest and buries his head between them.
Haunting and gruesome memories begin to crawl up his mind as he whimpered and trembled.
"Y-You're fine, you're fine, everything's alright..." He kept muttering, trying to control his breathing and palpitating heart.
He rocks himself back and forth, and continues muttering incoherent things until he could calm down.
Once he does so, he lies back down in a more comfortable position.
Since his mind has gone back to normal, he starts to grow confused.
He has never gotten a panic attack or a nightmare in about four years. What could have suddenly triggered it? Was it the copious amounts of alcohol he drank at the party?
Now that he thought of alcohol, he noticed the throbbing in his head, making him groan at the sudden pain.
He slowly sits up on the bed while holding his aching head in one hand, reaching towards the bedside table with the other.
He grabs the bottle of water and without pouring it in a glass first, he chugs it down directly from the copper container.
His headache did not stop but it did subside a tiny bit making him sigh out in relief.
He looked at the clock, it read 6:35 A.M. He's glad today is Saturday. It would suck to go to school with a headache like this.
It hurt so bad that Jimin swears he would never drink alcohol ever again in his life (he knows it's not true).
However, thinking back to the party now, he does not remember coming back home from the venue.
Did he pass out at some point? Did Jungkook bring him home? He doesn't remember talking to him after they split up at the dance floor.
He tries to focus more on remembering what happened.
He remembers cutting the cake, drinking Jackson's handmade beer, drinking more alcohol, seeing Taehyung with-
He felt a pang in his chest at the thought of the blue haired boy. More memories flooded his brain, not the ones he was looking for.
He gave up on reminiscing, instead he gets up and decides to take a warm shower.
After the shower, he felt more refreshed and his headache also somewhat stopped.
He decides to change the sheets, which were soaked in sweat and smelled awful. That is when he hears a faint ringing, it was his phone.
It couldn't be in his room; the sound is too faint. He exits his room and runs downstairs as the ringing gets louder and louder, until it stopped.
"Damn it!" He cursed, searching on the sofa, under the pillows, on the shelves, but no luck.
He was about to search in another room when he hears the ringing once again. He follows the sound until he looks behind the sofa to find his discarded jacket.
He picks it up and sees his phone ringing on the ground, the caller ID read
Jungkookie.
He quickly receives the call, realising that the younger must have called thousands of times before already.
Jimin winces when the younger boy's voice boomed through the phone,
'Hyung! Where are you!? Why weren't you picking up the call? Do you know how worried we were?'
"Kookie, calm down, Hyung's fine. I'm at home."
'You're at home? I thought you were too drunk to go home. Did you drive? Wait, your car is still here and the keys are with me..."
Jungkook's voice trailed off.
"I honestly don't know how I got here. I was definitely drunk as fuck since I don't remember anything. I also had a killing headache when I woke up." Jimin grumbled.
He heard some shuffling in the line and then an incoherent scream which sounded awfully familiar.
"JIMIN ARE YOU OKAY WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU-"
Jimin flinched and immediately moves the phone away from his ear so his eardrums don't burst.
"Hobi Hyung, I'm fine. Nothing happened to me so don't worry." He said, calmly.
Then he heard some more shuffling then Jungkook's voice could be heard,
"Ugh Hyung why did you push me? You could've just asked me for the phone like a normal person."
It appears that he wasn't talking to Jimin so he stayed silent and listened to his friends' conversation.
"Oh, I'm so sorry baby Kookie did I hurt you?" Hoseok cooed in a teasing voice.
Jimin chuckles, both of them know that the youngest does not like to be treated as a baby anymore.
"Ugh you guys are seriously annoying! Fine! Just talk to him. I'm leaving."
Jimin hears Hoseok laughing loudly and wheezing out small apologies.
Jimin also started laughing and luckily, his headache is completely gone now thanks to his friends constantly bickering.
"Jiminie, I think our Maknae here needs some banana milk to cool off. Talk to you later!"
Jimin giggled again when he heard Jungkook's voice from the distance,
'FUCK OFF I DON'T EVEN LIKE THAT ANYMORE!'
'Alright Jiminie, I'll be hanging up now. I'll see you tomorrow since I badly need some sleep right now! And Jungkookie will bring your car later.'
"Okay Hyung, take some rest."
'Yeah, I will, but I've to handle our maknae first.'
Both of the friends laughed at that then the call was disconnected after Jimin muttered a small 'bye'.
He looks at his phone to check on the notifications he missed. Some were from social media, his classmates who attended the party tagged him in their posts.
Some were random pictures from Jungkook and Hoseok that they took in the party. Jimin smiled as he scrolled through the pictures.
Then he saw a message from V.
1 unread message from V
I fed your cat.
Sent 5:38 AM
Jimin felt his heart drop at that. What does he mean by that? He fed Gangyang? Did he come he here? Does that mean he was the one who brought Jimin home?
Confused, Jimin decides to inquire.
What do you mean?
Did you bring me home?
Delivered 7:03 AM
Jimin saw that there was another unread message, but it is from an unknown number.
1 unread message from Unknown
Had fun with you
last night. Hope we'll
get to know each other
more. I'm Andrew btw.
Sent 6:00 AM
Now, Jimin remembers. He did meet Andrew last night. They talked and danced together, Jimin must've given him his number at some point.
Jimin blushed at the memory of them slow dancing to a romantic song.
He also remembers downing countless amounts of alcohol and the warning Andrew gave him.
Then he vaguely remembers walking with Andrew and everything is a blur after that. But if Andrew took him home, how come Taehyung fed his cat?
Jimin felt the throbbing pain in his head begin to resurface and decides to just think about it later.
Not wanting to be rude, he turns his phone on again to reply to Andrew's text.
Thanks for showing up :)
I had lots of fun too
Seen 7:05 AM
It was as though the boy was waiting for Jimin to reply, Andrew texted back immediately.
It was my pleasure ^-^
I also wanted to ask
if you're down to hang
out tomorrow...
We should get to know
each other more!
Sent 7:05 AM
Jimin thought about it for a moment. Jimin was drunk the last time he talked to Andrew and he does not remember anything he said at all.
So technically, Andrew is still a complete stranger to him.
But curse Jimin for considering it just because Andrew is probably the hottest person he has ever seen.
Now, Jimin knows he shouldn't trust anybody so soon after meeting them only because they're attractive.
But Andrew is just a teenager in the second year of high school. The worst he can be is toxic, and Jimin knows his boundaries.
So, after contemplating and evaluating the pros and cons, he finally decides to accept the date. It's not like Andrew explicitly mentioned that it's a date, it could be just a normal hangout between friends.
Nonetheless, Jimin decides to test the waters a bit.
only if it's a date
Seen 7:07 AM
Jimin hopes his tone came off as playful and he didn't seem like a desperate creepy twink looking for some action.
Thankfully, Andrew's reply came to prove those suspicions wrong.
We'll see ;)
Sent 7:07 AM
Jimin felt his cheeks heat up while reading the message. He may be delusional but he has a hunch that this might be the one.
Before he could type anything else, his phone died and he was met with his blushing reflection on the screen.
He cursed but decides it was for the best if he wants to come off as cool and not freaking out from inside.
He sighed out and hoped for the best.
-----------
"Let me get this straight, you met a guy just yesterday and invited him at your birthday party." Jungkook says, skeptically, and Jimin nods.
"Then he showed up at your birthday party, you got drunk and probably seduced him?" Jungkook cringed at his own words, imagining the things Jimin could have done.
"I'm not sure about the last part, Kookie. It's just a suspicion. I barely remember anything." Jimin pouted, wincing when his character died again in the game while Jungkook mumbled a 'gotcha' in triumph.
"But you didn't even tell me and Hobi Hyung about this dude before accepting his little date!" Jungkook looks at him with a genuinely offended expression.
At that, Jimin's pouty face crumbled into a sad frown as he looks down like a hurt puppy.
"I'm sorry, Kookie... I wasn't thinking straight at the moment. I should have told you and Hobi Hyung the moment he asked. Forgive me?"
Jungkook broke character at that. How can he be ever mad at his angelic Hyung? Not that he'll ever admit it but it's not fair at all.
"Aish Hyung! You know I can never stay mad at you, and I'm sure Hobi Hyung isn't either. But I'll forgive you only on one condition-"
"No kook I'm not buying another album of IU-"
"LET me finish."
Jimin shut his mouth and ushers the younger to continue.
"First, you will show us what this Andrew Tate guy looks like-"
"For fucks sake he's not Andrew Tate-"
"SECOND, I will be the one who does your makeup and third, Hobi Hyung will choose your outfit." Jungkook concluded.
Jimin hums, not too worried about the conditions.
"At least you're not the one choosing my outfit." Jimin mumbled.
Jungkook gasped dramatically at the statement.
He abruptly stands up from the couch and points a finger at Jimin, "You peasant, how do you even have the audacity to insult The Great Costume Chooser-"
"Costume Chooser-?"
"-who made you look breed-able enough to land you a potential mate. Oh, the ungratefulness makes me choke on my own tears." Jungkook hid his head behind his hands in distress while Jimin sat unfazed, waiting for him to finish.
"That was poor acting, zero stars." Jimin speaks up once he deemed the younger was done with his little show. "I suggest you stop reading those mediaeval fanfictions and start reading some real books instead."
Jimin rolled his eyes when Jungkook held onto his heart in pain, and unlocked his phone to scroll on TikTok but his eyes landed on the text notification from a certain someone.
2 Unread Messages From V
No shit
Sent 1:48 PM
You're heavy as fuck
Sent 1:48 PM
Jimin scowled at the asshole's texts. If Jimin was so heavy for him then why did he even bring him home.
Didn't know you were this weak, Kim
Nobody told your fragile ass to bring me home either so stop whining
Seen 1:50 PM
Definitely not whining as much as someone did last night
Sent 1:50 PM
Jimin's smug face crumbled at that. What could he have done? Last thing he wants to do is to embarrass himself while being shitfaced in front of his sworn enemy and give him all the materials he needs to humiliate Jimin further.
Shut it
You're bluffing
Seen 1:51 PM
You don't remember?
How you were whining
Like a bitch in heat
Begging for my cock
Sent 1:51 PM
Jimin felt his cheeks heat up at the words. He cursed himself for being turned on by the derogatory words said by his enemy through text.
Though, I am a man of honour
I don't fuck drunkards
You can rest assured
Unless you actually want it to have happened
Sent 1:51 PM
As a matter of fact, I don't.
Not everyone wants to fuck you every chance they get
And about me being a nuisance, I apologise for any inconvenience your bitchy self couldn't handle
Seen 1:52 PM
Apology accepted
And don't worry little guy
I have managed to handle you quite well
I specialise in handling whiny little things
Sent 1:52 PM
"Fucking asshole. Thinks he's at the top of the world or something." Jimin grumbles out loud making Jungkook whip his head back at him.
"Look I may be dramatic but I'm surely not an asshole and I definitely don't think I'm at the top of the world." Jungkook pouted.
"No, not you. It's Taehyung."
Jungkook frowned, "You have his number?"
"Duh, I'm paired with him for the dance fest." Jimin said without looking up from his phone.
"What's he saying?" Jungkook asked, looking over Jimin's shoulder to see the texts.
Jimin quickly turned his phone to the side, "Hey! You don't have to look at it! He's just saying the same crap he always does."
Jungkook raised an eyebrow at him but Jimin just shoved him away.
"Jimin Hyung, is everything alright? You're acting weird. Is he saying something mean?" Jungkook asked in a low voice. All playfulness in his voice is now replaced by concern.
Jimin sighed and placed his phone down on the coffee table.
"It's not that, Kook. He is saying some dumb stuff but that's how it normally is. I'm acting weird because of the hangover. You know how cranky I get right?" Jungkook nods.
"So, I may have voluntarily picked up a fight with Taehyung to blow off some steam" Jimin said, giggling which also made Jungkook giggle in return.
"Still Hyung, you know that I'll break his bones if he says something shitty, right?" Jungkook said, showing fist and flexing his muscles making Jimin laugh.
"Of course, Kook. I know you'll protect Hyung all the time. Oh, you're all grown up now." He cooed, squishing the younger's cheeks. "I remember how you'd cry when you were a little kid, all round and squishy."
Jungkook removed the older's hands from his cheeks and whined, "Hyung we've talked about this. Don't remind me of that time."
Jimin only cooed more in response, going on about how the cute the younger was in his childhood days.
----------
Jimin waves at Jungkook while the younger walked down the street, returning the gesture.
Jimin goes back inside his house after the maknae had turned a corner and left his sight. He sighed out once the door was closed.
It was nice when his friends come to hang out with him at his house or when he goes out with them. It just gets too lonely with his parents always going on business trips or staying out late.
Don't get him wrong, he really loves his parents and the house, and he appreciates the efforts his parents put into giving him a comfortable life...but sometimes he'd wish he was a normal boy from a middle-class family where he'd have dinner with his parents at the dining table every night.
His parents, in reality, are never home for more than a handful of hours before they're gone again. They promised that they'll be back late at night tomorrow but he knows that they'll be gone again after resting for a few hours.
In short, they wouldn't have the time to even talk to him.
Jimin sighed again and plopped on the sofa. What's the point of thinking all this? He knows his parents do all this for him. He should appreciate it like always.
However, these thoughts still stay somewhere in his mind with a little pain in his heart.
His phone chimes somewhere.
He blinks and tears his gaze away from the wall he has been staring at for a while now.
He looked around for his phone, picking it up once he found it laying on the other side of the sofa.
The screen lit up, displaying a text message over the wallpaper of him with his parents from when he was a little kid.
He opened the chat to look at it properly.
V
Hey
You free at 8?
Sent 7:28 P.M.
Jimin bit his lip and glanced at the time.
Maybe... for a while...he could...
Yeah
Come over
Seen 7:28 P.M
escape.
~
A/N: Hello everyone! I'm back with another update after forever. But I'm finally done with my final exams and now I can rest, and write and read as much as I want! I can't believe this book reached over 13k views, I never expected to gain so much views but I'm very thankful. I hope the story has been interesting so far. Lots of thanks to the patient readers keeping up with my pace. I'll definitely come back with another update soon. Don't forget to comment your opinions about the story so far. Take care! I love you guys!