Thicc as Thieves - Jikook

Chapter Twenty

Pink Dusted Suit

Jimin slid his back down the cold bathroom wall. His eyes locked with the brown wide ones reflected in the mirror. He swallowed, eyeing the heavy bags and pale skin looking back at him before pulling his knees into his chest and wrapping his arms around them.

He held on tighter, resting his heavy head on his knees worried his neck couldn't support the weight. His mind felt like it was filled with fog, grey smoke pushing against every wall, against his eyes and his nose and his ears.

Jimin wasn't sure how long he sat like that, the cold tiles scraping against his skin and his heartbeat the only sound outside of his own shaking breath. His feet cemented to the ground, his body refusing to move as time kept passing around him. There was pressure building behind his eyes but he couldn't bring himself to cry - not out of some unforeseen strength, simply from tiredness gnawing at his bones.

He didn't have any energy left to cry. Just sit. And breathe. And hold himself.

Is that what he had lost? Was it grief that was drawing his body down?

Jimin could remember another cold night, a night freshman year, where cold air gripped at his skin and cold hands cupped his own. He knew those hands belonged to Jungkook, the memory of the boy's young face and smile was there, but Jimin couldn't bring himself to keep digging.

Another memory danced across his eyes as he closed them, trying to focus on breathing without all his loose strings unraveling around him. A memory of a beautiful house with gold banners and warm lights painting a beautiful old mansion in warm light. Girls and boys dressed in the most beautiful clothes Jimin had ever seen walked in and out of the front doors where a man in a dusted pink suit stood and stared at Jimin.

The man in the suit had eyes like fire - burning towards Jimin. He could feel his spine shiver and sweat bead down the back of his neck but still his feet pushed him up towards the mansion where the word SADA was carved into the stone above the door. Jimin recognized that name, he'd seen it on the address in Jungkook's room and he could feel something sharp in the memory stab his chest when he read it.

The man in the pink dusted suit grabbed him by the forearm and Jimin was dragged inside the building. He could feel the door shut behind him like ground tearing the earth apart, causing the whole world to hear the echo. Taehyung was nowhere to be seen, Jimin realized as he could feel himself scanning for the boy. The panic in the memory felt strong but Jimin kept a calm face as if it was the single most important thing he'd ever done.

The man brushed his thumb on Jimin's arm and Jimin realized he was the only one dressed in casual clothes in the entire room. Then, there were lips on his ear whispering words Jimin couldn't focus on because his entire system was reaching for someone else. His vision was almost blind save for the thought of one boy - of one scent that clogged his nose. He was missing a piece of himself and Jimin could feel the rage pouring through his veins. Jeon Jungkook, his Jungkook, was being held somewhere in the building.

His head hurt and Jimin let the memory float away, unsure how the cold of the bathroom tile floor had triggered its return in the first place. He didn't understand it, didn't know what it meant or who anyone in that fancy mansion was, but he couldn't bring himself to get up off the floor and fight to find out. With every memory that came back, he only felt like he lost himself more.

He was just so tired.

"Jimin," The now mature voice of Jungkook said softly from the door. Jimin couldn't lift his head to see it carefully pushed open or question the way his chest bloomed with relief as if the fear from the memory of finding Jungkook had ceased. "Sweetheart, you should go to bed. It's late out. Really late, actually. Vampires are out at this point and this bathroom - very super haunted. The couch? Not haunted. Doesn't that sound better than the floor?"

Jimin curled his knees back into his chest. He heard a sigh. The door closed for a second before footsteps followed it swinging back open. There was Jeon Jungkook with a large blue blanket and a pillow tuckered under his arm.

He'd put a shirt on, Jimin noticed.

Jungkook slid down the wall and sat down next to Jimin, handing him the blanket and pillow. Jimin took it, if only to stop Jungkook from staring at him with those puppy dog eyes of his.

"Thanks." Jimin just said smally before staring at the floor. Jungkook let out a breath next to him and leaned against the wall, staring at the ceiling like he was looking at clouds passing on a bright blue sky. He flexed and unflexed those lean fingers in front of him. His tattoos like a violent night sky flashing before him.

"This isn't working out, is it?"

Jimin swallowed. He just shook his head and Jungkook pressed his tongue into the side of his cheek.

Jungkook leaned his head against the wall again. They were silent for a moment, but the silence wasn't suffocating. In fact, Jimin welcomed it. It was better than being alone.

"I know you might never get your memories back, that we might never be the same." Jungkook said, still staring at the ceiling. "I want you to know that's okay. That I understand. I want you to be healthy, Jimin. That doesn't mean returning to the you before your injury, it just means being happy."

Jimin finally lifted his head and looked at the golden flaked eyes of the beautiful boy next to him who handed him the soft blanket. "At the end of our freshmen year of college, you had this choice to make between having the world handed to you on a platter or spending it with me. You told me then that you chose me, like I was some random Pokémon and you the trainer. It was cheesy but...it meant a lot. So, as a friend, I choose you too. I never said it then, but I want to make it right and say it now. As nothing more than a friend. I want to support you however you need, if you'll have me."

Jimin didn't say anything in response. He just leaned his head on Jungkook's shoulder and curled up into him on the bathroom floor. Then, Jimin stretched out the blanket so that it tossed over Jungkook's lap to share it as Jimin cried.

And that was that. But it was enough.

"I like that." Jimin finally said after a long while. "The friends bit."

Jungkook smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.

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A/N:

How's everyone doing? I came back to my semester and honestly all I'm thinking about is summer.

What do we think of the new cover? Do we like the older one more?

- Vio