It's one in the morning and Jungkook is cleaning his room.

He's cleared the floor, stacked up empty food containers in the trash, wiped the questionable stains Jimin left on his table, and now, at a loss of what else to do, is standing on top of his chair and dusting cobwebs off the ceiling.

He could do his laundry. He has a heck of a lot of laundry. But spending so much time in the bathroom would mean he'd be at risk of running into someone, and taking his usual shower is already scary enough.

He runs out of cobwebs and fiddles with his duster. What to do next?

It's one fifteen. Not that late, by his standards. But he's done with his homework and is in no mood to study, and his room is already freaking clean. Where was Jimin and his ability to cause mass destruction when he needed him?

He's struck by a strange image of Jimin and Taehyung running along corridors causing general ruckus, and Jungkook running behind them and cleaning everything up.

He just needs something to do. His room is too empty, his mind won't shut up, and his hands have a nervous shake in them. He taps the duster against his thigh, surveying the small room for anything else that could possibly need his help.

Mopping the floor would require water. That meant going outside, which meant it was out of the question. Why couldn't he have an attached bathroom. Why couldn't he be rich. Why couldn't he be a normal human being who didn't avoid the local water supply for fear of human interaction.

He flops down on his bed, rolls over, and stands right back up.

Finally, at a loss, he texts Taehyung.

are you awake?

The reply is immediate.

yah.

He hesitates a bit, like he always does before risking weirding out one of his only friends.

can I clean your room?

Luckily, Taehyung understands him. Jungkook must have done something incredible in a past life to deserve him and Jimin, because he sure as hell didn't do anything in this life.

sure, he replies. ill make noodles.

Jungkook opens the door slightly and peeks outside. No signs of life. The coast is clear.

He dashes out, down two sets of stairs, and knocks on the door of room 201. Unsurprisingly, it's Jimin, and not Taehyung, who opens the door.

"Kookie!" he exclaims, dragging him in. "Want to clean my room, too?"

"That's suicide," Taehyung calls from his position on the couch. He's immersed in some game on his phone, Jungkook is slightly touched that he paused to respond to his text message instead of just swiping away the notification.

"My room's not that bad," Jimin says, but he looks doubtful himself. Then he looks at Jungkook more seriously. "Are you sure you want to clean?" he asks quietly. "We could always play video games or something."

Jungkook shakes his head. He feels the need to be productive - he's found that when he's in this mood, leaning too close to panic, wasting time or trying to have fun only makes things worse. He needs to make himself useful somehow.

"Alright," Jimin says, clasping a hand on his shoulder. "I'll help."

He doesn't, not really, but he trails behind Jungkook for the next hour, pulls out an incredible array of embarassing clothes from wherever Taehyung stashes his laundry, and laughs hysterically at his tastes. Taehyung is unperturbed and sits stone faced throughout.

Jungkook clears the floor, clears the tables, dusts every piece of furniture Taehyung owns till it sparkles. He focuses on Jimin's laughter. On Taehyung's shouts of despair as he loses level fourteen over and over again.

His hands start to lose their nervous shake.

To be fair to himself, Jungkook is not the least social person on his dorm floor. That award goes to room 513, who they'd actually suspected dead once and called the warden to ask them to check. Jungkook has never seen his face, and doesn't even know his name. The only sign of his life that Jungkook has ever seen is, sometimes when he walks down the street back to the dorm, there's a faint light in the window of 513, and he gets the feeling he's being watched.

He usually ignores it, averts his eyes, and keeps walking. He doesn't know what comes over him today, but he raises his arm in a half attempt to wave.

Maybe it's a sense of empathy. He knows what it's like to have no friends. Whatever the reason is, he ends up with his hand raised awkwardly, alone in the middle of the street, looking ten times more ridiculous than he does on a usual day.

Nothing happens for a moment, and then, abruptly, the light in the window turns off. He isn't sure if it's shock or shame that rise up in him first, but they both mix together in a horrible mess. He tugs his hood down lower on his head, face burning.

He should have known better.

The simple act ruins his mood for the rest of the day. Jimin and Taehyung aren't back yet - probably at someone's party, because the two of them have actual lives. Jungkook is left alone to mope over his text books, watching the words swim and dance and somehow spell out, without ever changing, the fact that he would rather be anywhere but here.

He isn't actually sure what he's doing in college besides losing a heck of a lot of money. His grades are average at best, his final project has exploded on him twice already, and even people as low as himself on the social scale, also known as the owner of 513, want nothing to do with him. He probably could have made a better living if he'd ignored his parents, said to hell with engineering, and lived on the streets singing to passersby.

He'd also be sort of homeless, and sort of bankrupt, but his short, miserable life would have at least been worth it. He envies Jimin sometimes. Jimin follows his dreams with all of his heart, and would never settle for a course he didn't want. He's a dance major, and in his free time he sings and does theatre. His parents never tried to convince him otherwise because his passion is the kind you can't ignore.

On second thought, he envies Jimin all the time. Except when he's drunk and hungover and quietly pleading for Jungkook to get rid of the entire world and be quick about it.

Taehyung, on the other hand, doesn't have dreams, but not in the same way as Jungkook. He's content with his lot - a zoology major, computer game enthusiast, and owner of the most incredible music collection Jungkook has seen in his life. He doesn't want to be a singer, or a musician. He doesn't feel that urge to create. Music is less of his passion and more of something that has wormed his way into his entire life, so thoroughly that he feels no need to do anything about it besides listen and feel intensely with the volume turned way up.

Jungkook wishes he could be like that. He wishes being an audience could be enough.

He also sort of wishes he knew more than two people to compare himself to.

He shuts his book on Fluid Mechanics, feels guilty, and opens it up once more. Then he shuts it again. Then he spins it around on the table for a lack of anything better to do. He's running on three hours of sleep, only one meal, and a shit load of frustration, so he does the rational thing and decides he wants ice cream.

He tries texting Taehyung, but there's no reply - they're probably still out. He'll just have to do this himself. He reaches for his wallet, reconsiders, and grabs his entire backpack instead. For some reason his backpack is an excellent means of camouflage. It's almost freezing outside - his plan seems less rational by the second - so he pulls on a jacket and shoves the hood over his head.

im going out for ice cream, he texts Taehyung, with a sort of pride. It's two in the morning, he has class at eight, and he isn't even sure if he remembers the way to the twenty four hour department store.

He hopes he's going in the right direction. He checks the window of room 513 from the corner of his eye, and sure enough, the light is on again.

He makes it to the department store in one piece. That accounts for something.

The cashier is a college student as well, and he looks too awake for this time of day - what is it now, two thirty? He has his feet thrown over the check out corner, which Jungkook doesn't think employees are supposed to do, but the guy doesn't seem disrespectful. Just comfy.

"Hey there!" he smiles when Jungkook comes in. It's contagious, and he smiles back, albeit a bit awkwardly. He shuffles over to the cooler and stares through the glass, feeling his earlier excitement come rushing back when he looks at all of the flavours.

"You're here for ice cream?" the guy at the counter asks, a bit awed.

Jungkook gives him a sheepish look. "Yeah?"

The boy laughs. He has a nice laugh, the kind that makes everything else in the world seem a good deal brighter. He doesn't make Jungkook feel embarassed at all.

"I can't say I'm surprised," the guy continues, talking way more than the average cashier. "I've done a lot worse in my first year. At least you've come to a place that's actually open at two AM - my friends would knock on closed pizza stores and stuff. You are in your first year, right?"

Jungkook nods.

"Thought so," and without the usual derogatory comment about how he still looks like a high school kid, the boy just flashes him another smile.

He's narrowed his choices down to chocolate chip and butterscotch. He wonders for a moment about buying something for Taehyung or Jimin, but it would melt by the time he got back, plus they've probably eaten more than enough by now.

Chocolate chip, or butterscotch? Chocolate chip, or butterscotch?

Gah, why is his life so hard.

"Tell you what," the cashier says. "Pick one, and I'll buy the other. We can have half each."

Jungkook stares at him. "I - really? You don't mind?"

The boy scratches his head, somewhat self conscious. "Why would I ever mind eating ice cream?" he asks. "You look sort of lost, and ice cream at two AM is the kind of feat you can't afford to have disappointments in."

The world really does seem like a better place. He's still a bit awkward - the idea of sharing ice cream with a stranger is unexpected for him - but the boy is honestly the nicest person he's met since...

...it's not like he's met a lot of people...

...probably since Jimin.

He pulls out a cup each of butterscotch and chocolate chip ice cream and places them on the counter. The boy starts to check them out, and Jungkook finally catches the name tag on his uniform. Jung Hoseok. He holds out enough money to pay for them both, but Hoseok waves him away. "I'm the older one," he says. "What kind of hyung would I be if I don't pay for myself the very first day we meet?"

They decide to eat outside, on the steps. It's still freezing, and he's going to have a terrible cold tomorrow, but right now he's positively giddy with happiness, just sitting there eating with Hoseok.

Hoseok is talkative, and doesn't expect Jungkook to talk more than he wants to. Jungkook learns that he's a dance major as well, and likes working in a department store more than he should. He's three years older than Jungkook, likes rap, poetry, and the colour yellow. He says the name Jimin sounds familiar, but he isn't sure if they've met. He doesn't eat much of the ice cream, letting Jungkook finish the most of it.

When they finally part, it's three thirty, and sleep is more like a dream. Jungkook checks his texts as he walks.

ice cream at this hour? Jimin has texted him, even though Jungkook had texted Taehyung and not him.

dont get kidnapped, was all Taehyung had to say. And a bit later, did you get kidnapped?

He smiles at that. I think I made a friend, he sends.

The result is too many messages for him to process, and both Jimin and Taehyung leave the party early. For no good reason, because by the time they make it back to the dorms, Jungkook is dead asleep and impossible to interrogate.

His classes, as expected, are hell. And he does end up with a cold. He's sitting close to the wall, in one of the middle rows of the lecture hall, and his eyes refuse to stay open. Eventually he gives up , makes a horrible pillow out of his books, and falls asleep.

When he wakes up, the hall is empty. A glance at his watch tells him that his class ended more than an hour ago, that he's missed his next lecture, and that no one had cared to wake him up - not even his lab partner, who had been sitting right behind him.

He panics for a moment - his next lecture won't be over yet, should he risk barging in halfway through? Risk all eyes on him, the professor's questions, and maybe his anger?

He decides it isn't worth it. His attendance can suffer for a day. And the next time his lab partner forgets to bring a pencil, Jungkook won't give him his for sure. (A weak plan. He knows better than anyone that he'll just hand it over by reflex.)

He realizes with a sinking feeling that he's missed attendance in his first class as well - he'd slept through roll call.

He curses loudly, because the room is empty and he needs to curse, but it doesn't make him feel better. His attendance is sloppy as is - he's overslept too many times. He does this thing where he thinks sleeping for only an hour or two each day is a good idea, and then finally crashes and misses a whole day by mistake. It's foolish and is going to ruin him, but sleep doesn't come easy to him unless he's overworked enough to pass out.

There's nothing left for him to do but sit around and wait until it's time for him to head to the lab. He sets an alarm on his phone, turns it up to full volume, and falls asleep on his books again. It's far from comfortable, but it'll do.

Two hours later, his alarm blares Heartbreaker and he wakes with a start.

The lecture hall is full. Full, with an entire class of people he doesn't recognize and an extremely pissed professor staring at him, with his alarm still blaring.

He doesn't think he can sink much lower.

"Well," Jimin says, and Jungkook can tell he's trying not to laugh, he isn't being very subtle about it, "You have to admit that it's sort of..."

"Hilarious?" Taehyung offers, and cracks up. Jimin's mouth twitches, like he's constipated or worse, and then he cracks up as well.

It stings. Jungkook should be laughing as well, but he can't bring himself to. He's mortified, and the sheer terror he'd felt when a hundred hostile faces stared at him still hasn't faded, leaving all of his nerves on edge. He'd been told off by the professor he didn't recognise, who'd sent him to a professor he did recognise, who told him off in front of about six other professors. Jungkook doesn't feel like he'll be able to leave his room ever again.

"I'm sorry," Jimin says, trying to hold his laughter in. It only makes him look constipated again. He lasts about seven seconds before he cracks up once more.

Why can't he take these things easily like everyone else? Why does the slightest thing make him want to die of shame?

All of the students in the classroom had been fourth years. They'd all wanted to know the same thing: who the hell was he, where did he come from, what the heck did he think he was doing. Some of them, like Jimin and Taehyung, had found it hilarious and started laughing as well.

For so many terrible moments, Jungkook had been the absolute center of attention, and there had been no way for him to escape.

He usually finds Jimin's and Taehyung's laughter calming, soothing, but now it just makes him sink deeper into himself and want to disappear. The nervous tremor starts in his hands and there's a block in his throat that he doesn't want to test for fear that he'll start crying.

"Kook-ah?"

Taehyung's voice comes from so far away. Jungkook looks at him, and sees that his smile has completely disappeared. He isn't laughing. Jimin is frozen as well.

"I'm sorry," Jungkook says, and he really is. "I know, I know it's supposed to be funny, but -"

"Oh, shit," Jimin says, and it's only then Jungkook realises that he's crying.

Jimin tries his very best to drag Jungkook into bed with him to sleep, but Jungkook can't. He's wide awake. He slept well through his classes today, it'll probably last him another three days.

As soon as Jimin leaves, he starts on his homework. There isn't much of it - he's anything but a procrastinator - and it ends fairly quickly. The problem is the classes he's missed today. He'll have to ask someone for notes, and finding that someone is always a mess.

He's awake, done with his homework, and can't clean an already clean room. But he needs to keep busy, so, finally, he digs out his poster colours and starts to paint.

His art is messy and nervous, with occassional streaks in the wrong direction, colours mixed wrong, and fingerprints over the paper, but it gives him something to do at least. He paints abstract ideas, tiny bits of things put together. Jimin's smile. The ice cream he shared with Hoseok. Taehyung's love for his dog. Music.

To anyone besides himself, it would look like a reasonably pretty disaster.

He ends up with paint all over his clothes, arms, and face, drying over the hairs on his skin and making it feel cracked and horrible. He has to wash it off, there's no doubt about it. And for that he has to risk going outside again.

He peeks outside the door. There's no one. The coast is clear. He makes a quick dash to the restroom, but, to his dismay, there's already a guy at the basins, dunking his head under the flowing tap. His hair is dark, and he's almost unhealthily pale. Jungkook has never seen him before.

His eyes are closed, so Jungkook starts to backtrack, but suddenly he notices him and stands up straight. His eyes are harsh, almost hostile. The tap is left running.

"Don't run away on my account," the boy says in a low voice. He gives Jungkook a short once over, mainly the paint on his clothes, and a wry smirk spreads across his face. "Looks like we're all weirdos up here," he drawls, and Jungkook has no idea what he's talking about.

He flattens his bangs down against his forehead self consciously. The other boy goes back to ignoring him, dunking his head back under the tap. Whether this is an alternative to showering, or some kind of self torture (it's freezing, for hell's sake), Jungkook has no clue. Quietly, he shuffles over to the basin furthest from him and starts to wash the paint off his hands. He doesn't want to roll his sleeves up higher than he has to, so he ends up getting his clothes too wet.

"Art student?" The guy asks, eyes still closed.

"Engineering."

"That's unexpected."

"Yeah," Jungkook agrees, and then feels like a fool. "And...you?" He remembers to ask.

"Music major," the boy says shortly, oblivious to how Jungkook's lungs just do a one eighty degree flip.

"Oh," he says.

They don't speak after that. To be honest Jungkook has no clue who he is. Probably one of the friends of the third year next door - he brought home someone new everyday. When he's done scrubbing the paint off of himself, the stranger seems to be done with...whatever it is that he's attempting as well. Jungkook delays a bit to avoid walking next to him, pretending to rub a spot off of his shirt. When the guy disappears out the door, he deems it safe to follow, and ends up trailing along the corridor about seven feet behind him.

To Jungkook's surprise, he doesn't stop at the door of the third year next door.

He stops at door 513, and lets himself in.