i did say i'd update (:

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This dare was ridiculous.

Jimin was already displeased by Namjoon's sick, drugged-up grin. The look of utter confusion on Jeongguk's gentle features was enough to make his stomach clench— though not necessarily in a good way. Yoongi, on the otherhand, looked unbothered as another cloud of fruity-flavored smoke escaped past his paper thin frown.

He gazed down at the ground, avoiding everyones' eyes, except he couldn't ignore their piercing stares even if he forced himself to. God, people were so easily excited. Goddamn perverts.

The Park Jimin they knew wouldn't back out of a dare; he knew that just as well as they did. He chewed at the inside of his lip, his heart vibrating along with the bass rattling the basement.

Jimin didn't want to do this.

He wanted to say no. To tell Namjoon to fuck off.

But the Park Jimin everyone knew wouldn't do that.

He glanced upward, searching for Jeongguk's eyes, and luckily enough, he was staring right back at him. For someone who was about to go fuck a stranger in another room, there was still something innocent about Jeongguk's weary eyes.

There it was. That little twinkle. That little spark of reassurance that this was okay. He would be okay.

It was just a dare, Jimin kept repeating to himself, cheek stinging, heart aching. I'm not doing this because I want to.

He swallowed dryly and turned to Namjoon, forcing himself to keep his expression unfazed. "Is that so?"

"Go do it," Namjoon said smugly. "Watch them."

"You should ask Jeongguk if he's fine with it first." He murmured thickly. He jutted his chin to where Jeongguk stood, his arm now around the girl's small shoulders.

"Uh well." Jeongguk scratched the side of his neck. He blinked down at the ground a few times before looking up and finding Jimin's gaze once again. "I'm fine with it. It's just a dare."

Jimin inhaled sharply, running his free hand through his hair.

"You heard him." He could hear the ugly smirk in Namjoon's slurred words. "Go."

And he did. With one last glare at his supposed friend, Jimin flipped him off. Namjoon winked at him, making a stupid kissy face at him. At that, he rolled his eyes, snatched a bottle of vodka from one of the people he passed by, and followed Jeongguk and the girl to one of the many rooms.

Jimin hated every second that passed as he took a hefty sip, forcing every negative feeling brewing in his chest to neutralize with burning booze. 

He stumbled through the fading crowd as the hallway grew smaller, head growing fuzzy, heartbeat dulling in his ears.

Every time Jeongguk glanced over his shoulder to look at him, Jimin felt the wind get knocked out of his lungs. His knees would buckle. His heart would stutter. That sour feeling also made a cameo, putrid on his tongue, and when it did, Jimin drank again, encouraging his senses to numb.

It would be easier to deal with, he told himself, if he got wrecklessly wasted. So what if they had volleyball practice and a game the next day? This entire thing would be more tolerable if he couldn't remember any of it, couldn't feel any of it.

When they got into the room, Jimin's head was already fucking floating.

He leaned against the wall, kicking the door shut behind him as he watched the girl and Jeongguk, in a tangle, stumble over to the bed. He rubbed at his heavy eyes with his free hand, inhaling sharply as he discarded the empty bottle on the ground.

"Fuck me," Jimin slurred, blinking rapidly as his warm back pressed against the cool, vibrating wall.

Among the jumble of thoughts, bass-boosted music, and feelings spiraling into a drunk mess in his brain, he could hear the product of raunchy, hormonal sex happening right across from him.

Heavy pants. Exaggerated moans. Clothes unzipping. That wet, popping sound when lips clumsily met.

From what he remembered, Jeongguk was the definition of a hormonal teen. Or well, if he didn't remember it fully, well, he was going to get a vivid refresher pretty soon.

Jimin was fucking sweating. He swiped his palm over his forehead, down his neck, and grimaced. He tossed his head back, hissing when it bumped against the wall. Dumbass. That was what he was.

A goddamn dumbass who couldn't say no.

The girl was vocal. Painfully vocal. Like porn star vocal. Someone's been watching a bit too much hub in their free time.

And she was grabby, like if she didn't touch all of Jeongguk right then and there, she would lose it. From his narrowed gaze, he watched her shove her fingers through Jeongguk's damp hair and run her pedicured nails down his bare back.

Most of Jeongguk's hook-ups typically had that habit. Judging by how Jeongguk usually complained about it, he wasn't a fan of their touchiness.

He guessed all of them had similar reasoning: he was too good to be true.

With that, they had to touch him; it was their chance to remind themselves they were actually doing this.

But Jimin knew that they would never be able to tie Jeon Jeongguk down. It was impossible; a delusional fantasy.

Maybe it was easy to get into Jeongguk's pants, but his heart? Fuck that.

Jeongguk suddenly yelped. Ouch. Jimin whistled through his teeth right as Jeongguk pulled her hand off his back.

"Don't." He could hear Jeongguk's raspy voice cut through the thick atmosphere. He watched him pin her arms down on the pillow, her giggles making his stomach twist— nauseating.

Jimin let his eyes fall shut, willing to melt into the shadows as the rest of their clothes came off. He wondered if he should celebrate the fact he wasn't getting turned on. Well, he shouldn't be turned on anyway. It was his best friend. Sure, he found him fucking attractive but who wouldn't?

All of this was mad boring. Jimin could barely bring himself to watch. Hell, he might even fall asleep at this rate. Namjoon wouldn't know as long as he got out of there, right?

But suddenly, the wonderful sex noises came to a stop. In its place was muttering. Jimin cracked an eyelid open, peering over at the bed. Luckily he wasn't flashed by Jeongguk's bare ass. The guy had the decency to at least wear pants.

"Why are you guys quiet?" Jimin murmured, jutting his jaw at the two, who were now looking at him.

They exchanged a look between them.

"Stop that," Jimin snapped, a little edged. "What's going on? Do your shit already."

"You sure you're fine watching?" The girl was the first to speak. Jimin wanted to scoff but he bit it back, his teeth sinking down on his bottom lip.

"Yeah," He replied curtly, hoping the venom lathered in his tone would get her to shut up and go back to doing what she was doing.

"But—," He immediately cut her off.

"—I said I'm fine," Jimin explained cooly. "Either you go back to fucking my friend so we can get this dare over with, or we can all call it quits."

Thankfully, Jeongguk wasn't looking at him. If he was, Jimin wasn't sure if he would be able to tell her off with him judging him. Not that it mattered, or anything. Jeongguk has witnessed him act like an asshole before on multiple occasions, but there was just something about this situation that made the idea of that unpleasant. 

"Jeongguk say it," The girl whined, pawing at his chest like some bratty kitten. Even just thinking of that made Jimin want to vomit.

"Jeongguk say what?" Jimin mimicked in the same whiny voice. His head began to throb, the brilliant consequences of his actions beginning to kick in.

Jeongguk swallowed and climbed off the girl so he could sit on the edge of the bed. He scratched the side of his neck, his adam's apple bobbing. Jimin eyed him intently, watching his bare chest rise and fall before Jeongguk ran a hand down his face.

"She wants you to join us."

What now?

Out of all the dumb things people have asked him to do, this was definitely something else.

"Please Jimin," She said, propping herself onto her elbows. Jimin made the mistake of looking at her. He inhaled sharply, refraining from letting his gaze flit down to her exposed tits.

"Wouldn't it be fun?" She teased her bottom lip between her teeth and batted her goddamn lashes at him. Unfortunately, he could barely register it with the fog crowding his head.

"Fun," Jimin repeated, throat growing tight. When people labeled things as fun, usually it was a mutual feeling. Fun things were supposed to be light and entertaining!

What wasn't fun? Having a goddamn threesome at some shitty party with his best friend!

He glanced over at Jeongguk, begging him to help him out of this, but all he got was a shrug.

"It's up to you," Jeongguk said. "Do you."

Part of him was a little disappointed Jeongguk wasn't defending him or anything, but at the same time, Jimin supposed he was also at fault for not expecting this. Jeongguk was probably too horny out of his mind to understand the gravity of this lovely choice!

Eventually, Jimin stopped giving a fuck.

They were all drunk out of their minds. It wasn't like any of them were going to remember it the next morning. Plus it wasn't like he would have to touch Jeongguk, right?

Before he knew it, he was walking up to them. He scooted next to the girl on the bed, wondering if he was really going to do this. His lack of judgement in this situation wasn't the most admirable, but he was just going with it.

Fuck that. The consequences came later.

He leaned down to kiss the girl, but much to his own surprise, she clamped her palm over his mouth.

He raised an eyebrow at her, only to watch her lean over and bring Jeongguk closer. Both of them were basically hovering over her, and that spark of mischief in her almond eyes wasn't pleasing Jimin at all. In fact, it was acting like some sort of anti-viagra.

"What?" He mumbled, a little annoyed.

"Not me, him." She pointed at Jeongguk, who looked equally surprised. "Share the love, right?"

"Share the love," Jimin repeated. He let out a scoff, too loosened up to care. What kind of hippy bullshit was that?

"Kiss him," She said, her eyes gleaming with arousal. For what exactly? Jimin didn't know. He wasn't so sure how he was feeling about feeding into her weird fascination with homosexuality.

"Kiss me Park." Jeongguk wasn't fucking helping.

"Oh fuck it." No point in arguing. Jimin sighed, reaching over to cup the side of Jeongguk's neck, his breath hitching when his fingers met his burning skin.

He stared him down, wondering what his best friend was thinking. He had to be against this. There had to be some sort of repulsion within him, and yet, there wasn't. Jeongguk's dark gaze darted to his lips. He was toying the idea in his mind. He had to be.

He wasn't sure how he got to this point. The longer he spent in this room, the foggier his head became.

It was like he was being lifted higher and higher into the stratosphere. It was suffocating being this high, knowing that the fall would be equal in pain.

Although, the moment his lips met Jeongguk's, he was hit with a burst of clarity.

It was a quick peck, but electricity flowed through Jimin in a split second, like a perfectly connected circuit. Like a broken wire in him had been fixed, and his senses were awakened, feeling everything and nothing in between.

He was electrified. His shoulders eased, and when his lips met Jeongguk's again in another sloppily wet collision, Jimin felt like some sort of drug was being slipped right into him.

He let his fingers sink further into the curly mess of Jeongguk's dark locks. His lips slid over his, easily without any effort. Jeongguk tasted like liquor, and he drank him all up, eagerly, like he was deprived and finally found oasis.

After that, Jimin sank back into his daze, and the rest of that night became a fucking euphoric blur.

❥❥❥

Regret. Shame.

That was all Jimin felt the next day.

"Fuck," He groaned as the water from the communal showers dripped down his bare body. "Idiot."

He slammed his fist against the tile, letting the hot droplets pelt down his shoulders, his face. His hair plastered over his eyes. Everything stung. His skin was red—raw and angry.

No matter how much he scrubbed his body, it couldn't erase the evidence. His kiss swollen lips and mussed hair. The hickey trail down the curve of his shoulder blade. The ache in his lower back.

The white bodily-fluid between his legs when he woke up.

God, Jimin couldn't hold his head up properly without the sweet, pounding reminder of a reckless hungover threatening to make him pass out right then and there.

He turned off the shower and tossed a towel over his head, trying to silence everything: his unsteady heartbeat on the verge of palpatating, the mental screaming in his brain.

To think he would forget everything from that night.

Unfortunately, he couldn't. Not when the pieces were all laid out in front of him the next day. 

Park Jimin was a fucking idiot.

A fucking idiot who slept with his best friend.

❥❥❥

"You look distracted." His coworker said as the two of them restocked the shelves— one of their many tasks to kick off during their night shift.

"I had a long day," Jimin replied, resting his head over his knees, which were pressed close to his chest.

"I can tell. You suck at shelving more than usual," Taehyung said. "You're lucky I like you enough to help you."

"Mhm," Jimin muttered, rubbing his weary eyes. His head still hurt like a bitch. Today just wasn't it.

Luckily for him, he didn't see Jeongguk at all today. When he came back from his horribly humbling shower, he crashed at his dorm and passed out just in time for his night shift at the nearby convenience store.

If anyone was trying to talk to him, Jimin didn't know. He didn't bother charging his fucking phone.

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Talk about what?"

"You look awful," Taehyung said, crouching down to his level. Jimin lifted his head, meeting the boy's gaze behind those thick glasses frames of his.

"I always look awful." Jimin leaned against the shelve behind him. He cracked a lazy smirk at him.

Taehyug chuckled softly and patted his knee. "Not true. I'm kidding, you know. You always look great."

"Stop flattering me," Jimin said. Taehyung didn't say anything in response. Instead, he reached his hand out for Jimin to take, unable to stifle the grin that stretched across his lips.

Sighing, he took his hand and got up to his feet. He watched as Taehyung pushed his glasses back up over the bridge of his nose and got back to doing their work— or well, Jimin's work that he poorly did, and Taehyung happened to enjoy picking up his slack.

He wandered off to go get something to drink. He fished out an apple juice bottle from one of the big fridges, mentally setting a reminder to pay for it later at the front of the store. Jimin came back to where Taehyung was finishing up, and he watched him silently, nursing his juice close.

Kim Taehyung was his coworker's name. The both of them have been working together for a few weeks after getting hired around the same time. They kept each other company late at night, and apparently he also went to the same school as he did.

Taehyung didn't like talking about it, but he did like running his mouth about other things. Innocent things like cartoons, anime, and the like. It was a change of pace from what Jimin was used to.

For one, Taehyung didn't like to curse. Two, he avoided vulgar things like the plague. Unlike Jimin, he spent his nights trying to beat Super Mario levels and binging his favorite show— not getting stupidly drunk or high at shitty ragers just to feel something.

Jimin didn't think innocent people like that existed, but he supposed he was just used to the wreck of careless teenagers he surrounded himself with.

Bad people gravitate around bad people.

Good people like Taehyung were smart and responsible and just... didn't.

But don't get him wrong: Taehyung was a good change of pace. Usually, he didn't like to deal with people during hangovers, but there was something about Taehyung was that was comforting enough to keep Jimin grounded.

He didn't have to intoxicate himself to be on his level; Taehyung was strangely sobering.

And with all honesty? Jimin didn't think he deserved his company.

"Wanna hear a joke?" Taehyung joined him when he was done, and the two began their short walk back to the front of the store.

"Do I really want to?" Jimin's brows scrunched together.

"What do you call a blind dinosaur?"

"Oh god." Jimin got behind the counter, sitting himself down on the little stool. Taehyung was already a giggling mess as he walked over toward the broom leaning against the wall.

"A do-you-think-he-saw-us," Taehyung cackled. He snatched it off the rack and moved to the middle of the store.

"That's awful," Jimin said, but he couldn't help but snort. "Your jokes fucking suck."

The goofy grin on Taehyung's lips was unfaltering. "No they don't. You still laughed."

"They fucking suck," Jimin repeated, taking a sip of apple juice, unable to hide his own grin.

"Sure they do," Taehyung said. "And watch your language, by the way."

"Watch your language by the way." Jimin mimicked him and absolutely failed to do a solid impression of his voice. At that, Taehyung rolled his eyes and went on to do his job.

That was another thing about Kim Taehyung— his voice was deep. Incredibly deep. It didn't match him at all, either. Not with the way he presented himself.

Actually, Jimin wondered if he did that on purpose. Dress badly. Kim Taehyung wasn't that much of an eye sore, to be fair. It was more like he just didn't care. If he wore better fitting clothes, did his hair, and maybe did some better skin-care, he would have girls at their school falling at his feet.

Jimin didn't comment on that though. He wasn't that much of a judgmental asshole, and he genuinely appreciated this kid's company.

He was a fuck-up, but it didn't mean he wanted to fuck everything up.

"Wanna watch something tonight?" Taehyung asked when he was done brooming.

Thankfully he didn't talk his ear off. That was another thing about him that Jimin appreciated. He knew when silence was appropriate. Some people in his life didn't have that kind of social awareness.

"Watch what?" Jimin raised an eyebrow at him.

"I wanna rewatch Jujutsu Kaisen." Taehyung pulled up a stool next to Jimin behind the counter. "I think you'd like it. Especially Gojo. I fricking love Gojo."

"Mm, pull it up." He didn't have to say it twice, for Taehyung was already scrambling to open his phone.

"You're gonna think it's great! There's a lot of characters you'd like and the plot is—,"

Before Taehyung could finish his sentence, the store bell jingled. Both of their heads swiveled in perfect unison to see who was the lost soul that chose to enter at such an ungodly hour, and there, right before Jimin's eyes was the last person he expected.

Jeongguk.

His entire stomach dropped the moment their gazes met.

Why the fuck was he here?

"Who's that?" Taehyung asked, his nose scrunched as Jeongguk looked aimlessly around the store once they broke eyecontact.

"Nobody important," Jimin mumbled underneath his breath. He hopped off the stool and snatched his jacket from the counter, already feeling Jeongguk's intense stare following his every movement.

"I don't like his vibe," Taehyung whispered. Jimin inhaled unevenly, running his fingers through his hair. If only Taehyung knew who he truly was, he assumed he would probably say the same thing about him.

"I'm gonna take my break," He said, ignoring him.

"Alright?" Taehyung sounded confused, but that wasn't what Jimin was concerned about.

He needed to get Jeongguk out of here— and fast.

If they were going to talk about what happened, there was no way he was going to let a guy like Kim Taehyung know what went on behind closed doors.

❥❥❥

and so it begins! HTH has a different
vibe compared to HTT for sure. while it
is shorter, it deals with different, more
darker topics than HTT. it's not in depth,
but it definitely covers some tough stuff.
as for the smut, i won't detail most of it.
i feel i should give you a heads up there.

so, how do you guys feel so far? let
me know! let's chat about it haha

love you guys lots and thanks for
being patient!! 💛 mela