CHAPTER 28
JOOYOUNG / SWEET LIFE
the dorm was quiet. still.
jimin and jungkook were the only two who had backed out from joining the other boys in grocery shopping, and the apartment that they were staying in was awfully, eerily still.
despite being in different rooms, the both of them could feel the tension in the air. jimin tried everything to avoid the younger, however he had to come back to the dorm some day. it wasn't like he had anywhere else to go anyway, besides back to korea.
jungkook didn't even want to see his face. couldn't bear to. he was too angry — maybe even embarrassed, but for what? if anything it should have been jimin who was embarrassed; at least that's what jungkook thought.
of course, jimin was the one to initiate the confrontation. despite his eagerness to speak, he spent what felt like nearly an hour sitting outside his door. it took him probably about 20 minutes to even knock. when he finally did, he spoke behind the door. "jungkook."
it took a while before he got an answer back. "what is it that you want?"
"open the door, jungkook." it took even longer for him to be let inside. he stood outside with such expectation — for what felt like forever but only lasted about a minute — before he heard the boy get up from the other side. the door opened and revealed what looked like an almost dead jungkook, with the same black hood over his head and a pair of tired eyes that didn't even look up to greet him. he stood there for a second, and only blinked before releasing his grip on the knob and returning to where he was sitting before.
with jungkook seated and jimin leaning on the door frame, the two sat in complete silence. jimin grew tired of staring down at the boy, waiting for him to say something, anything. "so are we really going to just sit here and pretend like nothing even happened? are we not going to talk about things?"
nothing.
it was jimin who wanted to talk first, but at least he wanted to make an effort to. he was getting frustrated. he was left with more silence that he didn't want. both of their times were being wasted, and it started to anger him into blurting out, "look, it's not my fucking fault that the girl you like can't control herself."
by then jimin was desperate for only a mere reaction from jungkook. he didn't know if he was speaking with a forked tongue, but he knew it was out of spite. he was willing to say more before he saw the other sigh and put his face in his hands. his voice was low, quiet. "jimin . ."
"you know what?" he pushed himself off of the frame and made his way towards jungkook almost the way a bull would charge towards a red cape. "these days i really wonder if it was me who made her that way, or if she just fell right onto my lap."
jimin heard him say, "what did you say?" he could tell that he was starting to piss jungkook off, his knuckles turning white and his nostrils flaring under his hood.
"what? what are you going to do?" jimin towered over the seated boy, smirked as he spoke. jimin was coming close to jungkook as he stood up, and began to thrust out his chest. "hit me, jungkook. i dare you." jungkook pushed jimin hard, not enough to make him fall, but just enough to get him away from him. and he kept shoving him away while taking steps back, but each time he came closer. "hit me."
the younger boy shook his head hard while keeping his arms out and his hands against the other boy's chest. he managed to mumble out a, "please, i don't want to hurt you . ." that was so faint that he doubted that it was even heard. "i said hit me!"
that was when jungkook threw the first swing. it was a hard punch, harder than any he thought he could throw. when jimin fell to the ground, he looked down at his knuckles, and he didn't know whether he was hallucinating or shaking too much, but they were bruised red. he could only pull himself together for a second before jimin stood himself back up and sprung forward to swing his fists back at him.
jungkook was pushed against the wall before jimin took anything into his hands and threw it across the room. they both screwed their eyes shut, waiting for the other to start something. jungkook's breathing was heavy, but in an attempt to calm it down he pulled at jimin's shoulder to face his body towards his, and held a tight grip near his collar with the weak whisper of, "jimin, please . ." before being pushed again, but this time to the ground.
a loud howl, that was closer to a cry, came from beneath jimin's chest. jungkook didn't even notice the tears streaming down and leaving wet marks all over his face, and from jimin's too. he just kept yelling, and screaming, and crying, all the while throwing and breaking things. there was one last wail before he barely made out, "she loves you."
the younger raised his head, muttered, "what?"
"i said she loves you, jungkook." that was when he, himself, fell to the ground, and leaned himself against the wall opposite of jungkook. "but she can't stand it. can't stand you loving her or her loving you."
he laughed to himself before whispering, "so she fucks me instead."
jungkook glanced over to the boy across, and wondered how he was still smiling with the blood on his lip. he looked at his hands again, that were still as bruised, but this time he noticed the blood stains against his knuckles. "ah," jimin groaned as he swiped the blood off of his lip with the pad of his thumb. "but, you know . ."
jungkook watched jimin start to tremble, his lips quivering and his eyebrows furrowing while he was still smiling. another laugh came out. his voice was so shaky and jungkook knew it was hard for him to let out, "i love her too." his sobs came out clearer then. he tried to look stronger in front of the younger boy but all of his tears came out all at once. his voice was cracking as he said, "and i hate myself for it."
then he couldn't look at him. jungkook could only look at his red and purple hands as he let out his words like a breath, "jimin . ."
the two of them didn't even know why they fought. by then jungkook figured that jimin really did want to be hit. he was frustrated, and wanted his senses knocked back into him. jungkook felt his pain; cried as well, but not for himself. he couldn't, anyway. he couldn't feel sad for his own being, but seeing jimin let out tears that he hadn't seen in a long time made him feel a type of pain that hurt more than his own.
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a/n: friendly reminder than jimin and jungkook love each other so very much!!!
ALSO ———