Enchanting | Jikook

3

The cool morning air greets him as he leaves the coffee shop through the back door, it's still mostly dark, sunlight only slowly starting to creep over the horizon. A lanky figure moves to his left, putting a phone in a back pocket of pants that are too tight to let Jimin still feel tired. Jungkook peels himself off the wall he was leaning against, and just casually starts walking next to Jimin while he takes up his course towards the subway station.

"What do you want." Jimin asks. He doesn't bother letting it sound like a question. He wants to go home and sleep.

"Well, to be honest," Jungkook starts stretching his stupidly long arms over his head while they walk,

"I wanna take you to a hotel and fuck you until noon or something, but I'm getting the vibe that you're not really on board with that, so I'm gonna respect that."

Jimin closes his eyes for a few seconds. This is just terrific.

"Charming," he just says.

They come to a halt in front of a red light, and Jimin throws him an annoyed look. "Listen, Juancock, Taehyung is a very good friend of mine. He's important to me. Maybe you should be aware of that before you try to ask me out."

Jungkook barks out a laugh. "I wasn't asking you out. I was trying to get laid. I don't do dates."

Right. Jimin just rolls his eyes with a dismissive gesture. Judging by Jungkook's words, that might be true, but giving Jimin his number and waiting outside the coffee shop at five in the morning sounds like a lot of effort for just that. Still, Jimin guesses it might not have been for asking out purposes in the end. He guesses it might not have been about him at all. And Jungkook is about to confirm that guess.

"How's Tae been doing?"

The question is airy, like he's just trying to make conversation while they cross the street. Jimin snorts. "Wouldn't you like to know, huh."

Jungkook snorts, too. "Okay," he just says quietly. "Well, I'm glad he's got friends like you now who care about him."

Jimin squints at him. He kind of sounds like he means it, somewhere in there, but he also still sounds aloof and like an asshole, and if he's being completely honest here Jungkook is starting to confuse him. Which just pisses him off even further. Jimin isn't about to play guessing games with this pathetically mysterious loser.

"Why'd you friend-dump him?" he asks bluntly.

That seems to catch Jungkook by surprise. He turns his head a little to look at Jimin, raising his eyebrows, and then he almost walks into a lamp post. Hands still in his pockets, he staggers a little, long legs regaining his balance and he looks like he's fucking dancing, like it's not embarrassing to him at all, tip-toeing back into place right next to Jimin. Fucker.

"What did he tell you?" he asks back.

"That he has no idea," Jimin just says, hoping he isn't saying too much here. "Says it came out of nowhere."

"What, he didn't even venture a guess?" Jungkook isn't looking at him anymore. He's watching the sky, idly, but Jimin doesn't buy it.

"I just told you he doesn't have a clue. He just thinks you're an asshole, and he's obviously right."

Jungkook's jaw sets. Jimin watches him grit his teeth for a second, then he turns his head away even further, looking into the other direction. They walk past a playground, eerily empty in the dark, before Jimin rounds a corner and takes the steps underground to the subway, almost expecting Jungkook to lose him because he's still looking away, but Jungkook stays right beside him.

The subway station is empty save for them, it's quiet here, and weirdly bright after walking through the dark above them. "His mom told me to back off," Jungkook says.

"What?" Jimin actually stares at him now, unsure whether he should laugh or not. Taehyung doesn't talk about his parents much, but this still sounds off.

There's a grin on Jungkook's lips now that's so bitter that Jimin can almost taste it in the back of his throat, like the coffee he never orders.

"I dunno how she found out that I'm into dudes, but she doesn't want me turning her son into a filthy homosexual."

Oh.

Jimin doesn't waste a second not believing him, he somehow just knows that Jungkook is telling the truth, and it's making his stomach turn and his throat constrict. He doesn't want to feel sorry for Jungkook but he kind of does.

"So you've been his friend for, what, years?" he says, watching Jungkook intently now. Jungkook watches the empty tracks.

"Taehyung told me about you four, you were a good team. You went through shit together and you're letting his mother end it like that without, I don't know, fucking telling Tae? Talking it through with him, coming up with a solution? You, Mister leather jackets and roaming the streets every night, who got himself arrested for god knows what, are too scared to take it up with his mom?"

"I got arrested for stealing a dog."

Jungkook says quietly. He goes on before Jimin can voice his confusion, though. "I'm not scared for myself, okay? I'm not chickening out because I think she'll kick my ass."

He shoots Jimin a quick look, pausing just long enough for Jimin to realize the implication he's trying to make. "You haven't met her, have you?"

"No," Jimin says slowly, the burning in his stomach now almost unbearable.

"She doesn't do it often...but she does hit him for reasons that he has no control over," Jungkook says, making Jimin stiffen.

"She's just... not nice. I don't want him to get in trouble, it'd get really ugly, and I don't wanna be responsible for it." He huffs a quiet, helpless little laugh.

"I was gonna wait until he moves out from there before I tell him about everything, but then you had to come along and get mad at me without ever actually talking to me."

"You can't blame me for that," Jimin blurts out, cursing himself for it immediately afterwards. This isn't the right time to get defensive.

"I don't," Jungkook says calmly. Then he jerks his head to the right a little, towards the unmistakable sound growing louder. "There's your ride."

So their conversation ends there, and Jimin can't do anything but get on his subway train and feel dumbfounded. He stands between tired people going to work, stares out the window where Jungkook still stands, hands in the pockets of his worn out leather jacket, staring right back. As the train moves out of the station, Jimin remembers that he threw his number into the trash.

to be continued...