Park Jimin woke up dressed in the exact same clothes he'd gone out in: same pink sweater loose around his pale shoulders and same tight pants restricting his legs. His makeup was smudged on his face, the light eyeliner having bled into a full grunge look. The only thing he seemed to successfully take off last night were his chunky black boots and one single sock.

Jimin jolted upright, his eyes scanning his sunlit room. He had ended up in his bed, but had no idea how. Technically, it wasn't even his room; it belonged to Taehyung in Gangnam while Jimin's own place was in Apujeong a district over. But after spending so much time there over the past year, the room with its golden accents, richly stained furniture, and expansive windows felt more like home to him than his own place.

Jimin's eyes narrowed on a pile of leather near the bed, but a violent ache in his muscles distracted him from investigating it. His body hurt. Every movement caused a wave of nausea to flood through his veins, but trying to sleep more only made that sick feeling a thousand times worse. His head was so heavy and it felt like his brain was physically throbbing against his skull.

How much did I drink last night?

Something in his stomach twisted. Jimin threw the covers off his body, darting for the bathroom before his foot tripped over that pile of leather. The turbulence caused his hand to press into his lips as he ran for the toilet and threw up. A lot.

It just ... kept going. How could such a little body vomit so much? Jungkook always said Jimin was the strongest drinker out of the group of them, and while it's true it took an astronomical amount of liqueur for him to truly get drunk, Jimin wasn't sure if the title was all that worth it when he had to throw up twice as much the morning after.

His entire body froze at the thought of Jungkook. Did he - wait. Did he talk to him last night?

Oh fuck, please no. Jimin whimpered as his chest contracted and he vomited again. He was breathing heavily, hugging the toilet seat as he waited to see if any more acid colored liquid came up. When it seemed like God was giving him a break, Jimin wiped the vomit off his lips. He sat with his back to his bathroom wall in defeat, closing his eyes while his head throbbed.

A sense of absolute dread crept over him while Jimin pieced together fragmented memories from the night before. He could recall vague snippets: chatting with Taehyung in the back of a taxi, taking photos with his friends, laughing with Jungkook inside the restaurant. Then, there was the image of himself standing outside, watching a breathtaking man in a leather jacket casually extinguish a cigarette. When was that? When had Jimin been outside with Jungkook?

"Shit." Jimin said, rinsing some water in his mouth before grabbing the jacket off the ground and racing to Taehyung's room. He slammed Taehyung's door open. He couldn't remember the last time he'd truly blacked out. Which he guessed was the point but - fuck.

Taehyung grumbled and pulled his dark green bed sheets over his head as Jimin climbed in next to him.

"Mercy." Taehyung mumbled, curling in on himself as Jimin snatched the sheet away. His brown hair was a mess on his head, the white t-shirt and boxers an indicator that Taehyung had been the more sober of the two of them if he had managed to change before bed.

"Did Jungkook come home with me last night?" Jimin asked, the words escaping out of him as he threw Jeon Jungkook's jacket onto the bed. Jimin didn't need his memories to know it was Jungkook's. His friend had filled out with muscle this past year, all sharp lines and angles, but his style stayed the same.

Jimin's jaw practically dropped when Jungkook walked up to them in the restaurant dressed head to toe in black with hair crowned in rain drops. And god, the tattoos. The tattoos. When had Jungkook gotten those all inked? Had it hurt? Jimin imagined it would have. Jimin had gotten the moon cycle tattooed down his spine before leaving for Busan and had to physically hold Taehyung's hand through the whole process of it. He wanted to ask Jungkook about them but didn't know how to without making it weird. It felt too close to flirting to bring the tattoos up.

But even without the crazy fucking metamorphosis of Jungkook, Jimin would have been able to tell the jacket belonged to him in a heartbeat. It was in the feel of the jacket. The heaviness of the leather, the softness of the lining, and the scent of pinewood and cigarettes that gave it away. Jungkook always loved forest scents. Not the strong, over-masculine ones misogynistic AXE commercials tried to sell to middle school boys. No – Jungkook smelled like rain and adventure. Like the wind on the back of a motorbike or the morning mist before a thunderstorm. Like Seoul had him marked for something big.

Jimin would know if something was Jungkook's with his eyes closed. He knew Jungkook with his eyes closed. So how the fuck did that jacket end up on his bedroom floor?

"Taehyung." Jimin said, hitting Taehyung on the shoulder again which caused his best friend to cry mercy again. "I can't remember shit. Did Jungkook and I - did something happen last night? I'm freaking out. Why is his jacket here?? You promised you'd stop me from doing anything stupid." Taehyung mumbled and so Jimin decided to switch tactics. "If you don't tell me right now then I'm going to vomit all over your bed with you still in it."

Taehyung frowned, trying to swat him away. "Jimin." He said, though it sounded more like 'juh-mim' when muffled by his pillow. "I bet it's fine. Must sleep. Please go. No vomit."

"Fuck." Jimin said, his head starting to race. "Fuck." He repeated, reaching for his phone, and leaving his useless heap of a friend to rot in bed. His finger hovered over Jungkook's contact, and the anxiety he tried to drink away last night rose up his chest again. He missed when calling Jungkook felt like the most natural thing in the world. The last phone call Jimin had made was when he'd invited Jungkook to go out with all of them. The last time he'd called before that was – he couldn't even remember.

It wasn't like Jungkook ever called him either, but that wasn't fair to blame him for even though Jimin felt some type of way about it. But that whole complicated mess of emotions wasn't one his hungover body wanted to poke with a ten mile stick, so he swallowed it down and compartmentalized it like he did whenever he thought of Jungkook or that night the younger boy had confessed to him.

Another number lit up his screen instead of Jungkook's and Jimin's heart stopped for the thousandth time this morning. He looked up at his ceiling with an eye roll. "Is this fun for you?" He asked as if God was listening and might shudder from the sass.

"What do you want?" He answered the call, voice sounding as tired and stressed as he felt.

"You left your notebook at my place." Lee Taemin's voice flooded back. "I was cleaning, and I guess it got lost under my bed. I'm coming up to Seoul in a couple weeks if you want it back. I think you wrote notes on our choreography in it. Some bad drawings too, I was trying to figure out if the second page is supposed to be a foot or a hand."

Jimin wondered how many more swears he had left before his body imploded. "Taemin. This could have been a text."

Taemin scoffed. "Right. I thought we were past the whole 'rival' thing. I can throw it out if you don't want it. Minho just mentioned you might like it back."

"No, it's fine. It's fine. I'll grab it when you come up." Jimin said. "Is Minho coming with?"

"Why? Don't want to be alone with me, Jiminie?"

Jimin rolled his eyes so hard Taemin could feel it over the phone. Taemin and Minho came to Busan as friends, though Minho wasn't a part of the BNDC dance program. Jimin met Minho at a bar and his friendship with the boy was what initially forced Jimin to humanize Taemin. That and the fact that Minho and Taemin both smoked cigarettes which reminded him of Jungkook.

"I just like Minho more than you." Jimin retorted.

"Oh ouch." Taemin feigned hurt and the two ended the call with a rushed goodbye. Jimin tried to shake Taemin's voice off him like the ex rival was snow on his shoulders. He didn't like the idea of Taemin coming within ten feet of Seoul.

This was - well, not his morning to say the least. Jimin sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands, trying to press the memories of last night somehow back into his mind through his eyes. Jimin had been back in Seoul for a total of - what - three days? How had so much already exploded around him?

"I'm alive." Taehyung said, walking into the room like he'd risen from the dead. "You look as bad as I feel though."

Taehyung sat down and leaned his head back before he stretched his legs out – equally rotting next to Jimin.

Taehyung hit Jimin in the leg by spreading his knee. "Ya. I got out of bed for you, princess. What were you asking me?"

"What do you remember of last night?" Jimin said with his eyes still closed.

"I remember you threw your phone in the bathtub when I got you back home and I fished it out for you. We took so many photos outside the restaurant too on my phone. I got some of Hoseok I don't remember taking. And hmm." Taehyung rubbed his eyes and Jimin looked over at him. "You and Jungkook left the table at some point."

Jimin's heart started to fucking race. "How long were we gone? Where did we go?"

Taehyung frowned. "I think you guys just went outside. He was talking with Hoseok first and then you and him yapped one-on-one for like an hour after."

"Shit."

"Why? Do you think he said something to you?" Taehyung asked, suddenly more alert.

"I think I'd remember If he had said anything. I'm more worried I said something."

"Why would you be worried about that?" Taehyung asked, suddenly propping his brows up. Then parted his lips in an oooh. "You think you said something bitchy."

"What? No, of course not. I'm not bitchy Tae, I'm sassy. There's a difference."

"Are you worried you flirted, then?"

Jimin paled. "Jungkook and I talked months ago, remember. He's moved on and happy."

"But the first thing you asked me today was if Jungkook came over and slept with you – "

"I don't know! Why do I have his jacket then? Taehyung, I – I can't let that happen. Everything is already so fucked between us and we only just started to talk to each other again. What if I screwed that all up by sleeping with him because I can't cope with Busan right now? What if I'm some monster and couldn't keep my own feelings in check and now he snuck out of here and I just have this jacket as a symbol of shame."

"Jimin. You didn't sleep with him. Jungkook gave you the jacket because you were cold. I remember that much because I asked you about it after you walked back inside and Jungkook went home. Even if you flirted with him, you were beyond drunk and he was pretty much sober so I don't think he would have taken it seriously. Plus it's more complicated than that between you two. I mean, have you talked to him yet about what you told me last year?"

"No. And I never will. It'd be cruel to tell him I liked him before I left." Jimin said, the words punched out of him. Because in truth that was the heart to what had been so awful about the situation. Jimin had never once considered that maybe Jungkook liked him back. He thought the whole thing was hopeless, that they were just friends, and so he'd signed the contract legally tying him to a different city. Jungkook had been too late and then blamed Jimin for it. Like it was Jimin who was heartless for leaving and not Jungkook for - it didn't matter. It was in the past.

"But he left early?" Jimin asked.

"Pretty early, yea." Taehyung said with a shrug. "I think he was just overwhelmed. Jimin, you're overthinking it. I bet it's fine. Just call him to check in." Taehung said, clapping Jimin on the thigh. "I'm gonna order us some hangover soup and we can debrief the call when it gets here? You want that bone broth from Serendipity again?"

"Yes. Want to call him with me?" Jimin pouted, needing Taehyung to stay near him in case he said something stupid on the phone call. The first month in Busan had been brutal. It was like his body was processing a breakup without ever spending a day in a relationship with Jungkook, but the reaction was so violent that it terrified him. He thought distance was what would be healthier for both of them - but all it did was make things a thousand times more awkward.

Taehyung shrugged. "Unless you want to call Jungkook with me while I shower, then no."

Jimin looked at Taehyung for a long second. "Actually, wait yea. I'll sit on the toilet while you shower so you can hear it."

"Very normal thing to do."

Jimin scoffed. "Well, if my phone was in the bathtub last night maybe it was a sign."

"Even more normal logical conclusion."

Jimin stuck his tongue out and Taehyung followed. He watched his friend go back into his room and listened to the shower turn on before he got brave enough to pull up Jungkook's contact a second time. Jimin moved onto Taehyung's bed instead of the bathroom for socially acceptable moral support.

"You know I can't hear from in here, right?" Taehyung yelled from the shower, having left the door open to the bathroom.

"Jimin?" Jungkook's very much awake voice came through the phone. He always sounded so golden to Jimin. Someone whose soul was definitely on its first round of life, eyes always wide soaking in everything around him. The way he talked reflected that wonder, always marveling at whatever Jimin did or said. He did a similar thing to their hyungs. Maybe it was just Jungkook's personality, maybe he thought everyone he met was that amazing.

Jimin was too hungover to really untangle the nuances of it right now.

"Hey." Jimin said, wondering why his heart was racing so hard. This was just Jungkook. His friend since forever. "Hey. Um, Jungkook I'm so sorry to throw this on you but I fully blacked out last night and Taehyung said we talked for a while. Did I – did I say anything or do anything I should apologize for? I have this awful feeling I did something embarrassing, but I just can't remember at all. I'm really sorry if I said something dumb and hurt you."

Jungkook was quiet for long enough that Jimin worried the call had ended. "We just caught up." Jungkook answered, sounding caught off guard. "You wanted to walk me to the subway and then I said that might not be the best idea because you were pretty drunk. We talked about hanging out sober some time though if you still want to do that?"

Jimin sighed with relief so hard it physically hurt. "Omg, no yea I would love that. I'm heading to the opera house tomorrow to check it out. I got offered a position in their junior ensemble, so I wanted to see the space. Want to come with? I can give you your jacket back then?"

Jungkook laughed. "Yea, I would love that. Just text me the time an address, I'll meet you there."

"We can do Hoseok's after?" Jimin offered. "He texted about having everyone over to watch the new Drag Race season?"

Jimin felt Jungkook tense over the phone. "I might have work at night, but if I manage to get it off I'll come with."

Jimin frowned. "Yea, yea of course." He said. Right, maybe it would be too much to spend the entire day together? "God I was so worried I said something embarrassing to you, you don't even know. I saw your jacket at my place and just – "

Jungkook laughed on the other side of the line and Jimin soaked in the bright sound of it. "No, don't worry." Jungkook stopped, like he debated adding something, but then said: "Nothing embarrassing at all. We just talked, really. I'll see you tomorrow?"

Jimin grinned. "Yea. Tomorrow." He said and they lingered on the call for a second before Jimin finally ended it. Taehyung walked out of the bathroom then, soaked hair pressed to his forehead with a toothbrush in his mouth and a towel around his shoulders. He raised a brow at Jimin who just grinned back.

"Well?" Taehyung said through the toothbrush and Jimin's grin widened. He didn't do anything embarrassing, his friendship was intact, and he didn't drunk yell or flirt at Jungkook. He'd deal with Taemin coming to Seoul a different time. Kumbaya all around.

"You seemed buddy-buddy with Hoseok." Jimin said to switch the topic and Taehyung rolled his eyes, spitting the toothpaste out of his mouth in his sinking and rising it before coming back, plopping down on the bed next to Jimin and watched their soup travel its long journey on the delivery app towards their house.

"Now Hoseok and I are actually just friends. But did you see Namjoon's arm over Seokjin's shoulders last night?"

Jimin turned on his side, propping himself up on his elbow. "YES. I remember that. Do you think they're – you know..."

"Fucking?" Taehyung finished and Jimin blushed. He was gonna say dating, but that worked too.

"I mean, there's no way, right." Jimin said and Taehyung snorted.

"What did Jungkook say on the phone?" Taehyung kept his voice light, but Jimin could see the concern in his friend's face.

"He asked to hang out tomorrow. Said that we didn't really talk about anything while I was blacked, just that we should hang out sober sometime. I told him about Hoseok's for after."

"Want me to come with to the first part? We could probably spin it since I'm coming to Drag Race."

Jimin shook his head. "It's fine. I think it's good I hang out with him alone. So, I can prove to myself that everything is good, you know?"

Taehyung nodded, but he didn't look convinced. "If you need an out anytime tomorrow just call. I'll make something up." Taehyung said then looked down at Jimin. "Jimin. What happened to your other sock?"

"What?"

"You have one sock."

"I honestly don't know."

Taehyung laughed again, lighting hitting Jimin's foot with his one as they laid on the bed. "I can't believe you and your one sock are really back."

"Honestly, me too." Jimin said. "Can't believe it's already been so chaotic. Taemin also called me." Jimin said, hushing his voice like he was telling a secret. Which, in some ways he was. He'd alluded to Taemin to his friends every now and then and shared dramas while he was in the thick of it about the situationship, but Taehyung was the only one who knew all the details.

"What." Taehyung said, blinking at Jimin. "That's..bold of him. Wasn't he the one to end things with you?"

"Yea. I mean, there was never a label to really end, but he did tell me to fuck off the last time I saw him and then hooked up with our teacher. So. You know. There's that. But, apparently he's coming up to Seoul in a couple weeks." Jimin said back quickly and hushed like his ex-rival from Busan might be lurking around the corner. "I mean, what do I do? Do I meet him? On one hand he's one of the only people that knows what they put us through in BNDC."

"How do you feel about it?" Taehyung asked carefully, looking around the room like he was trying to find the same beautifully lean, tan, dancer. "About seeing him again?"

"I don't know. We ended things on a wild note." Jimin replied, thinking back to the absolute chaos of Busan National Dance Company. It felt like a different life, a different version of himself.

"Did you guys ever fully date?" Taehyung asked.

"No. That's why I don't get why he won't just let it go."

"Do you have any feelings for him?"

"No." Jimin said. Which was true, but Taemin was - complicated. Just as Jungkook had Madison. God, right. Jungkook had moved on. Jimin needed to internalize that soon. He added it to his mental list of therapy to-dos right next to kill Taemin and Burn BNDC to the ground. "I think I just needed something to cling onto in Busan to get through that program. And something to prove I made the right choice going there. He was at the top right with me so we got the full brunt of it."

"Yea, you said the dance teachers there were starving you guys right?"

"That was only the start of it. 5 am to 9 pm we're dancing or doing conditioning and no food until we got it all right. It feels like a fever dream. Taemin and I were a mess. Sometimes I feel like we're still competing against each other to see who's more miserable and other times it's like we have this solidarity in being the best performers that program has ever seen. I've never interacted with him outside of that environment- so who knows what it'll be like to see him."

"Who makes you more nervous? Taemin or Jungkook." Taehyung snorted.

"Who makes you more nervous? Hoseok or Jungkook?" Jimin fired back.

"Why would Jungkook make me nervous?" Taehyung frowned.

"I don't know, you seemed really tense whenever I bring him up. Did something happen between you guys while I was gone?"

Taehyung was silent. He looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "No, we just grew apart."

"Yea, I feel that." Jimin sighed. "You won't tell anyone about BNDC right? It wasn't all bad." Jimin said, mainly because he was the one who needed it to be a good experience. It had to be worth the sacrifices he'd made to go in the first place. Had to be worth walking out on Jungkook. It was why he couldn't talk to him this whole year - how could he talk to someone he cared about so much when he'd left him for something so much worse? But then again why had Jungkook waited till so late to say something? Then flipped it like Jimin was the one being cruel. He had questioned Jimin's career and his dreams in anger as if Jimin could just drop out of a legal contract -

Again. It was complicated.

Taehyung gave him an 'obviously' look and Jimin replied with a grateful smile. "Let me know how tomorrow goes." Taehyung said. "I was thinking to reach out to him too."

"Yea." Jimin said with a long sigh. "We can debrief after at Drag Race if he ends up having to work."

"I'll make margaritas for it." Taehyung said as a promise.

Jimin smiled in response and Taehyung popped up saying the soups were delivered and he'd grab them from the front door. The second Taehyung left the room, Jimin ran a hand down his face, Since returning from Busan, he felt like years had past instead of just one. Everything before it a world away and every one of his friends somehow a little different now too.

It was like Jimin was in this loop of playing catch up since he'd come back. Taehyung was now distant with Jungkook which was crazy since the three of them used to be inseparable, Yoongi was now for some reason Jungkook's go-to friend when the two of them used to never hang out one on one. Then, Namjoon and Seokjin were a step away from dating which was new and Jimin swore he remembered seeing Hoseok and Jungkook argue outside last night too. Hoseok doesn't argue with anyone.

Had Jimin changed too? How much had Jungkook? Could they go back to how they were before Jimin left Busan or had they changed too much to be close like that again? 

Jimin sighed, guessing he'd answer all that tomorrow. But knowing that no matter what at least Jungkook and him were figuring their new dynamic out together. A part of him knew they should talk about the night everything exploded, but he didn't mind navigating it slowly. For now he had to focus on getting through the week without more of his life drowning in chaos. Tomorrow, he'd compartmentalize his feelings and have a good day with Jungkook. An actual good, sober, day with one of his best friends, and then watch Drag Race at night with the rest of his found family. What could possibly go wrong with a plan as simple as that?

_________
A/N:
As always, sorry for any grammar or spelling errors!! I tried to catch all of them but sometimes with chapters as long as this they slip through.

- Violette