♠︎ nine

CHAPTER NINE

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♠︎ YOU

"No fucking way."

"Yes fucking way," you laughed, seeing the shock on your best friends' face over video call. "I swear."

"I cannot believe it," Nia shook her head, rolling over on her bed and holding the phone in front of her. "You've made some sort of sex pact with Jeon fucking Jungkook?"

"It's not a sex pact, Ni," you rolled your eyes at her. Nia was by far the more dramatic of the pair of you. She had a tendency to exaggerate. "It's a favour. He said he wants to become more dominant in the bedroom, so I said I'd help him."

"Why would he wanna do that?" she speculated, and then her eyes widened with realisation. "I bet it's for a girl."

"That's what I thought," you agreed, resting the phone on the bed as you spoke. "Which is fine. At least I get some dick out of it."

"Yeah, it's been a hot minute for you, huh? Have you even seen anyone properly since-"

"Yeah, yeah, we don't need to go there," you cut her off. "I'm leaving it in the past, okay?"

"Right, sure," Nia tutted as though she didn't believe you, but didn't press it any further. "Anyway, I hope you know I'm really fucking jealous of you on your celebrity holiday with your new fuck buddy. Are the other guys there? Yoongi's there, right?"

You didn't miss the way her lip tugged in between her teeth anxiously as she said this final name.

"Ni," you warned her, your voice softening a little.

"Oh don't start, I know! I know, okay, you don't have to give me that stanky pitiful face," Nia rolled her eyes at you. "I'll get over it. I just need time."

The words made your heart ache. 

Since you were all in school together, Nia had been head over heels for your grumpy feline friend. You, Yoongi and Nia had all been in the same class. It had started as a teenage crush, and progressed into something way deeper as you became adults, only for her to be crushed when he came out to you both a few years ago. You were nearly certain that Yoongi had absolutely no idea about Nia's infatuation with him, and it was this that hurt Nia the most. 

It hurt you too, because Nia was a beautiful person who deserved happiness. She was thick and dark-skinned, eyes like burning caramel and a mane of ebony curls, plus a vicious wit that could slice a guy in two. She was a fiercely loyal friend, and when she decided you were one of her trusted people, she gave you everything. She'd certainly done it for you.

If Yoongi was interested in women, you were nearly certain he'd be interested in her. 

But he wasn't. And so Nia had been trying to move on.

"Have you been seeing anyone recently?" you asked now. "I thought you said you were having a hoe season this summer."

"I know, but it just requires so much damn effort, girl," Nia complained, throwing her arm out over her bed theatrically. "Not to mention the fact that there's literally zero decent men in Daegu. The last guy I went out with wouldn't shut up about how many luxury cars he owned. Like... bitch, get a fucking grip."

You grinned. This was more like Nia. "You're just too picky," you shot back.

"Well, it's alright for you to say, Miss I'm-About-To-Suck-The-Hottest-Dick-In-Korea," she retorted. "Wait, have you seen his dick yet? Is it big?"

"No, I haven't and I am not telling you about it when I do," you said through gritted teeth, well aware that someone could be listening in to this entire conversation through the door.

"Yes you are," Nia smirked. "You won't be able to resist. You'll be so dickmatized you'll call me immediately. Still moaning and shit."

"Shut the fuck up," you told her, but you were already giggling at the thought of it, the two of you descending into laughter as a soft knock came on your bedroom door. "Come in!"

It was Jimin, who poked his mop of ash blonde hair around the door to ask if he could enter.

"Gotta go, Ni," you said, moving to hang up as you waved Jimin into the room. "I'll talk to you later okay?"

"Keep me updated!" she shouted in farewell. "And make sure you relax your throat when you suck his-"

The phone bleeped as you disconnected the call at lightning speed.

"Jiminie," you grinned up at him breezily, trying to ignore what Nia had said. "What can I do for you?"

But Jimin simply raised an eyebrow. "Dinner's ready," he said coolly, before he asked - "Who was that?"

"My friend Nia," you explained, standing from the bed and waving a hand around at the huge bedroom. "She's very jealous of all this."

"She sounds it," Jimin said, his voice loaded with something unspoken. The silence was thick and awkward with what he'd heard on the phone.

"Look, Jimin-"

"It's Jungkookie, isn't it?" he guessed correctly. "The one you need to practice your throat relaxation skills for."

You nearly choked on your own spit, wondering exactly how much of the conversation he had caught. Jimin smirked.

"I figured," he sighed, flopping down onto your bed. "You two haven't stopped sexing each other with your eyes since you got here."

You looked at him, incredulous. Sexing each other? With your eyes? 

Never.

"Don't know what you're on about," you said with a sly smile. "I've been playing it cool."

"Yeah, right," Jimin scoffed. "Maybe in front of him. I see the way you look at him when his back is turned."

"Well, he has a very nice... back," you replied, before realising what you'd said. 

Jimin grinned up at you where he leaned back on your bed.

"We used to fuck, you know," he said eventually, still calm and casual. "Me and him."

"Oh," you said, genuinely surprised, but not bothered by it. "I didn't know he was bi."

Jimin simply nodded, but was otherwise silent. In a weird way, you could totally see it. Jimin was slender and mischievous, always ready with a sly wink or a not-so-innocent grin. Jungkook was the opposite - broad, muscular, and direct. They made a good pair.

A horrible thought came to you, an inkling about why Jimin was bringing this up. 

"Is that going to be a problem for you, then? If we do..." you trailed off. You didn't mean it unkindly. You were genuinely worried about whether this was going to hurt Jimin, if he felt something for his youngest friend.

But he was already shaking his head. "Oh god, no. Don't worry. Me and Jungkookie are cool. We don't actually fuck that often. Sometimes he just gets all worked up about something and then he needs some outlet to unleash his frustrations on."

"That outlet being your ass?" you asked cheekily.

Jimin grinned up at you, waggling an eyebrow. "It's a blessing and a curse, trust me," he said, standing up again. "You gonna come down for dinner?"

You nodded, glad this strange but enlightening conversation was over. "Yeah, give me five?"

"Sure," he said, heading for the door. "And by the way, we're doing shots tonight. You owe me for stealing my fuck buddy."

"You can fuck him too, you know," you rolled your eyes at him. "I don't care."

But Jimin just grinned knowingly. "Right," he replied. "As if that boy has thought about anything but you since he got here."

This offhand comment made your cheeks a little warm. You pushed the thought down as Jimin made his way out, moving to your closet to find something to wear to dinner.

"Oh, by the way, in case your friend is still wondering," Jimin turned to you at the door, giving you a deceptively innocent smile. "His dick is huge."

With that, he was gone, and a shiver ran down your spine.

Your cheeks were now burning red, and you sighed.

Well, shit. 

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Dinner was uneventful.

It's what happened after dinner that kept you awake that night.

The problem was Jimin. He was insistent on the shots, and you had cheerfully agreed to doing them, knocking back a few after you'd all eaten. Thankfully, you could handle your alcohol, though you could feel the buzz of tipsiness in your veins as shot after shot of rum went through them.

Jimin, however, could not handle it. 

"Let's play truth or dare!" he announced to the group who were gathered around an outdoor semi-circular fire pit after your meal. 

Hobi and Jin had since arrived, and you were wedged in between Jin and Namjoon, with whom you'd been having a thoroughly interesting discussion up until Jimin's interruption. On the other side of the circle sat Jungkook, Taehyung, Hobi and Jimin, with Yoongi somewhere in the middle.

You were trying to avoid that side of the circle altogther. Jungkook, lit only by the burnished orange flames of the fire, looked downright delicious in all-black, and you were afraid your controlled persona might slip if you were left alone with him tonight. You knew that the sunscreen incident had wound him up, and you were excited to see what might happen if you pushed any more of his buttons.

Catching the eye of the man sat next to him, however, turned your excitement to anxiety almost immediately.

"No," Yoongi groaned at Jimin's idea. "That game is for twelve year olds."

But Jimin simply eyed Yoongi with a beguiling stare. "Min Yoongi, I know you're not afraid of a little game of truth or dare."

Yoongi tutted. "I'm not afraid-"

"Sure you're not," Jimin cut him off, his voice brazen and confident. It struck you suddenly that you very much liked drunk Jimin. "It's okay, hyung. Just admit it. You're too chicken."

"Damn, who's the brat now?" you muttered to Namjoon under your breath, both of you laughing quietly as you saw Yoongi's stare harden at Jimin's provocation. Jungkook looked over, glancing between Namjoon and you, but you were too focused on Yoongi and Jimin to give him attention.

For a moment, neither of them said anything. Jimin gazed with a raised eyebrow across the fire at Yoongi, who simply gazed back, unwilling to be the one to break first.

"Fine," Yoongi spat eventually, making Jimin grin triumphantly. "Truth or dare it is."

The group erupted in chatter and laughs, seeing Yoongi's grumpy expression only darken further at how victorious Jimin looked, as he placed an empty soju bottle on the drinks table next to the firepit. 

"We'll start from TaeTae and go round," he indicated drunkenly round the circle. "I have a list of dares on my phone, and you have to do it to whoever the bottle points to. Or else, you get a truth."

And before anyone could object, he was spinning the bottle. 

It was fairly harmless to begin with. Every dare seemed to involve alcohol, which meant by the time it got halfway round to Yoongi, everyone was sufficiently inebriated and collapsing into rounds of laughter every few minutes. Yoongi's dare was to do a body shot, and when the bottle came to a slow halt in front of Jimin, nobody was surprised. Jimin himself waggled his eyebrows suggestively as he pulled up his shirt and leaned back, holding the half-empty bottle of dark liquid out to Yoongi.

But Yoongi was unfazed. He stepped over to the circle, poured the rum onto Jimin's toned abdomen, and stooped to lick it in one clean, bold stroke. 

Then he sat back down, as if nothing had happened.

Jimin, Taehyung and Jungkook were falling about in laughter at their hyung, and even you giggled at him. Only he could lick rum off Park Jimin and be entirely unfussed about it. 

Before you knew it, it was your turn, and Jimin was holding up his phone to display your task - GIVE SOMEONE A HICKEY. 

"Bring it on," you announced confidently, the rum in your system diluting any sense of embarrassment, as the boys continued to laugh at your arrogance.

When Jimin span the bottle, you caught Jungkook's dark gaze once more across the firepit. The alcohol was making desire rage through you this evening, the fire in the pit stoking the one in your belly, and you knew it was going to be him. You'd known it the moment you saw the word hickey.

So as the bottle stopped, you were already rising to move over there - until you glanced down at it.

And it was pointing at someone else entirely. 

"Oh," you let out in surprise, blinking at the bottle, as though it had just slapped you across the face. It may as well have.

"Shit," Taehyung finished for you, gazing down at the mouth of the bottle that pointed directly at him. 

Jimin was entirely oblivious to your hesitation. "The bottle has spoken," he declared. "Get ready TaeTae."

"I, um..." you said, unable to finish it, mind racing through the alcohol-fugged haze to find some excuse, any excuse, not to do this. You'd been avoiding him since he arrived yesterday. You'd barely spoken two words in conversation. And now you were supposed to go over there and give him a hickey?

There was no denying he looked good. He always did. He'd opted for a simple white t-shirt and wide camel trousers, which complemented his grey-blonde hair beautifully. Not to mention, only one day in, the sun had already begun to kiss his skin and turn it a gorgeous shade of honey. 

But that wasn't what was making you nervous. It was everything else. 

Frantically your brain scrambled for a get-out clause. You couldn't do it. You just couldn't. Not with him.

"I can't get a hickey. I have a video interview tomorrow," Taehyung said eventually, and if it weren't for everything that had happened, you would have hugged him for this, whether it was true or not.

"Nothing a little makeup can't fix," Jimin dismissed, pointing at Taehyung and gazing at you. "It's kissy time, bitch."

"No, Jimin-ah, I'm serious," Taehyung replied, firmer now, and Jimin seemed to sense that he wasn't going to win this one. "Can't she just do a truth instead?"

"Okay, fine, just kiss him on the cheek," Jimin gave in, rolling his eyes. "But you both have to do a shot afterwards."

You nodded, eager to seize this opportunity while you could, seeing the relief on Taehyung's face too. A kiss on the cheek wasn't ideal, but it was better, and you stooped down to him quickly, pecking his soft cheek to oblivious applause from the other boys. No one seemed to sense how uncomfortable you both were, or the ache in your heart as you did it. 

Only Jungkook and Yoongi didn't react, and you felt both of their eyes on you as you took the shot of rum from Jimin, wincing as it went down. 

You sat back down to find Yoongi by your side, laying a hand on yours.

"You okay?" he asked you, in a low murmur that the others couldn't hear - not that they cared, they were continuing with their raucous dares. 

"Yeah," you breathed, squeezing his hand gratefully. All of a sudden, the heat of the flames was far too overwhelming, and you were too drunk, too overstimulated to deal with being around people for much longer. "I think... I'm just gonna go get some water."

Yoongi nodded, helping you up as you stepped out of the pit on shaking legs and hurried back towards the house, unnoticed by all of the other members who were now falling about laughing at Hobi's tuneless rendition of a children's nursery rhyme complete with dance moves. None of them were paying enough attention to see you go. 

Except one. 

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