dissolve. ✓

THIRTEEN

just because jeongguk didn't want to heap all his relationship woes on his dad did not mean he didn't want to bitch to someone, so he found himself laid out on jimin's bed with his legs tossed over his and his head dangling backward over the edge.

"taehyung is just so damn frustrating," he said with a groan that he was willing to admit might have been a little melodramatic. "i mean, i'm getting serious mixed signals here."

jimin hummed absentmindedly, turning a page in the thick book he had propped up on jeongguk's calves.

"and!" jeongguk said, an empathetic wave of his hand setting the whole bed to bouncing and earning a huff of exasperation from jimin. "and he never seems to leave my house! or when he does, i have no idea where he's going or what he's doing. i mean, if he doesn't want to see any of us and baekhyun's not in town anymore, then what? he's just gonna hole up in my spare bedroom and never see anyone ever? what is up with him?"

"you know, for someone who's supposed to be his soulmate, you're being surprisingly obtuse," jimin said flatly.

jeongguk levered himself upright with some difficulty just so that he could make sure jimin saw his expression of indignation. "what? he's being weird! how am i supposed to make sense of this? one minute he's being an asshole, the next he's all caring and nice and shit, and then boom, he's back to being a total dick again! he's like the living embodiment of that stupid katy perry song!"

jimin snorted, closing the book with a roll of his eyes and tossing it onto his bedside table. then he leveled jeongguk with a look and raised an eyebrow. "and that's surprising because...?"

jeongguk made an inarticulate noise of frustration. "because i'm supposed to be able to understand him, and i don't!" he said. "i'm his soulmate, aren't i? i should get this, or at least get where he's coming from. i guess i sorta understand the nightmares and all the other stuff, but this? what kind of shitty soulmate am i if every other thing he does baffles me?"

jimin frowned at him.

"jeongguk, it's been three days," he said chidingly. "and you've both been through a lot. it's not surprising that you didn't click instantly. these things take work. you're his soulmate because you're capable of understanding the things about him that no one else can, no matter how much they try, the parts that come from the very specific type of trauma you've both endured. but you have to know that what you're up against now doesn't stem from that."

"what do you mean?" jeongguk asked, fighting the urge to pout and also that little bit of jealousy in the back of his mind because someone else knew his soulmate better than he did and that wasn't fair. but jimin had been taehyung's soulmate for years, and it was perfectly logical that he would know him inside and out, would have no trouble deciphering his strange behavior. they were born soulmates, after all, and he would probably always be a better match for him than jeongguk would, no matter what their name-marks said. he was trying really hard not to let himself be bitter about that.

"i mean that it's not exactly a new problem," jimin said with a shake of his head. "He was doing this kind of thing long before the whole episode. see, here's the thing about taehyung-"

"oh god, yes, please. give me the gospel of taehyung, you glorious and eminently helpful creature, you." jeongguk would take any scrap of wisdom jimin could offer him if it meant he was less likely to let taehyung down.

jimin smacked him in the leg, but he was fighting a smile; he'd been smiling since he showed up, actually. jimin had taken one look at him and pulled him into a hug without further explanation, but jeongguk didn't need one. he knew he hadn't been doing well lately and had looked it—sleep deprivation and weight loss from lack of appetite would do that to a person, especially with a cherry topper made of anxiety, paranoia, and possibly hallucinations—but two nights of real sleep and a few full meals must have done him a lot of good for jimin to be able to see it on him right away.