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Old Friends

Jimin's mind was cloudy but blissfully empty. He sat at his kitchen table, staring at the papers in front of him, and sighed, slumping on the table. The clock on the wall ticked slowly, filling the silence as Jimin sat, breathing slowly.

The knock at the door interrupted the slow, lazy flow of the fog in his mind, and he stood up, walking into the entryway and pulling it open.

"Hi," the young man on the other side said. "It's, uh, been awhile."

Jimin tilted his head, leaning against the doorframe and running his eyes up and down the young man's body. A soft smile, light brown hair, strong build. "Who are you?" Jimin mumbled.

"It has been a couple of years, huh?" the young man pulled out his phone, popping the case off and withdrawing a faded polaroid photo. "Here."

Jimin took it, frowning at the figures. It was him, young, fresh-faced, and smiling like he didn't have a care in the world. Next to him was a familiar young man, a face he'd avoided thinking about since freshman year.

"Kim Seokjin?" he said, looking back up.

Without another word, Seokjin opened his arms and wrapped Jimin in a hug, pulling him onto the front step.

"My baby said you were having a hard time," he said. "I've missed you."

Stunned, Jimin wrapped his arms around the elder omega, sighing softly. "I missed you too, hyung."

"Want some food?"

Jimin shrugged, wincing as Seokjin rested a hand on his side. "Been kind of tired."

"That's fine," Seokjin said. "Mind if I come in?"

Jimin shrugged again. Seokjin gently guided him back inside, closing and locking the door, and hummed when he saw the bottle of pills sitting on the kitchen table.

"That's a pretty heavy dose."

"I know," Jimin said, then added without thinking, "Getting headaches sucks."

Seokjin laughed, ruffling his hair. "What does he do, check in every morning?"

"Almost," Jimin said, watching the young man spread different snacks and foods over the table. The snacks buried his homework, pushing it quickly out of his mind. He wondered halfheartedly what Yoongi was doing. Going back to his pills after his lapse in self-control had doubtless confused the alpha.

He was afraid. He didn't hide from the fact anymore, but that didn't change the fact that he wasn't ready to face Yoongi yet.

"Joonie was like that, too. Wouldn't leave me alone." Seokjin's voice took on a whiny air, and he jutted his lip out, waving his head side to side in a mocking manner. "Hyung, I love you~! Did you eat today? Hyung, there's this great book~! Oh, did you take suppressants? I read they're bad for your health!"

Jimin laughed despite himself. "He just wants to see me."

Seokjin grinned, then reassumed his former manner and began to tickle Jimin. "Omega~ I have no idea who you are~ send me a picture~?"

"Yah!" Jimin laughed, squirming away. "He's not like that!"

"Give him long enough," Seokjin promised. "Alphas are whiny, emotional, needy little sh*ts. You think you've cuddled long enough, but no, he could go for another hour! I ain't got time to cuddle all day!"

Jimin laughed, back-hugging Seokjin as his hyung turned around, holding a package of ramen in each hand and still ranting. "I missed you, hyung," he said.

Seokjin wrapped an arm around Jimin's shoulders, half-turning in his embrace. "I missed you too, sweetie," he said. "I wish I'd tried harder to keep in touch."

Jimin shrugged. "You're here now."

"I'm here now," Seokjin agreed. "Let's make some bomb-a** ramen!"

Jimin let himself be sucked into the activity, laughing and talking with his hyung as they busied themselves with devouring all the snacks Seokjin had bought, both dancing around negative events to find jokes and nice things to talk about.

They were halfway through their third bag of potato chips when the pain hit.