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"What are you doing?" Jungkook appeared at Namjoon's side. The younger was decked out in his performance outfit, whilst Joon was still in his t-shirt and joggers,
"I'm helping Mimie study," the elder replied, deciding not to comment on the deja vu he was experiencing from the conversation.
"You're not ready, hyung. Help her after you change-,"
"I have plenty of time, now go away, you're distracting us." Joon insisted; Kook pouted slightly. There had been a time before when Namjoon would do anything JK asked just to see him smile. Mimie seemed to have taken over that role recently.
"You should get ready, Joonie, don't make yourself late," she voiced, convincing the elder to go mostly because he was so shocked that she and JK had actually agreed on something. Meanwhile, the maknae left sulking because his hyung and blatantly ignored his advice but accepted the same advice from Mimie.
After Joon left, Jimin came over to offer any assistance he could. Jiminie had been a good student as far as Mimie had been told, so she happily accepted the assistance whilst it lasted. However, once he was gone, JK was back and he now had the look in his eye that never led to anything good in Mimie's experience
"What do you want?" she deadpanned almost the second he sat down, but the boy remained silent, flicking through the pages like he understood every word which pissed Mimie off to no end. "Could you please just let me study?"
"I'm doing something nice for you here," his tone was almost mocking but his expression was serious,
"Oh really? what's that then?"
"I'm helping without you having to ask." he returned, like that was the most obvious thing in the world. She took the bait though,
"You're not really helping though, you're just reading the book I need."
"Well if you'd let me breathe I would have asked you some questions, tested your knowledge, you know- like last time..."
"Last time?" Hobi queried from further along the table, having tuned the pair of you out until then. "You have studied together before?"
"Yeah," JK with a smug expression
"Once," Mimie saved quickly, not wanting Hobi to get the wrong impression.
"Then I dropped her home, what's the big deal?" Jungkook continued somehow making a fuss and playing the whole thing down at the same time.
"The big deal is you two being able to spend an extended period of time alone without killing one another." Hobi laughed in disbelief, watching the pair avoid eye contact whilst attempting to brush the moment off.
"We're not animals, hyung, you make us sound so uncivilised," Jungkook frowned, forgetting about his plan to get Mimie worked up.
"Could have fooled me-," Hobie tried to retort but the moment was interrupted.
"What are you two still doing here!" Jin frantic tone filled the room from where he appeared in the doorway. "We're on in ten seconds, move it!"
"What is she doing here?" Sihyuk sighed seeing his niece at the end of the Bangtan line up, looking equally as sorry as the maknae beside her.
"She's the reason they were late," Sejin explained during the boy's dressing down. Mistakes on stage were one thing, but nearly missing a live performance because they weren't paying attention backstage was another and in Bang PD's book it was unacceptable. Mimie didn't like being blamed for what happened earlier, but at the same time, she wasn't about to call Jungkook out in front of his boss. Plus it was part of the agreement with Joon that she wouldn't bring her issues with Jungkook into their work lives, if she did she wouldn't be allowed free reign in their dorms anymore and her visits would have to be management approved like the rest of the members' friends and family. She already got away with far too much because she was Sihyuk-nim's niece.
On the other hand, Jungkook was waiting anxiously for Mimie to defend herself. After all, she had been quietly studying in the corner, he'd been the one to bug her. Why wasn't she telling them that? Even after Sejin gave her a warning strike she held her silence, what game was she playing? Why was she taking the fall for this? What could she possibly hope to achieve? Jungkook planned to ask her exactly that the moment they were dismissed after receiving a lecture on maintaining professionalism, but Sihyuk had asked her to stay behind so he didn't get the chance and instead he spent the rest of the day dwelling on the thought. It even kept him up a little into the night until he decided that his inner turmoil was exactly the messed up psychological warfare she'd been hoping to achieve.
"Mimie-ah?" Hobi spoke up on the car journey home that night after most of the ride had been silent other than the quiet radio.
"Mmm," she barely acknowledged, keeping her heavy eyes closed,
"Why did you let Sejin blame you for us being late to the stage?" a soft smile spread on her face as sleep began grabbing hold of her,
"Cause it doesn't do any damage if it's my fault. I might not get along with Jungkook, but this is your career and I'm not going to mess with that."
J-hope decided not to question her motives any further. he was perfectly content with the answer she'd given, plus she was drifting off to sleep anyway and anything else she said would likely be incomprehensible- most of the things she says in her sleep were. For the remaining ten minutes he just let her lightly doze beside him, only waking her up because they'd arrived at her house and he didn't know where she kept her key, or which room was hers, so he couldn't put her to bed like he would have if it were one of the members sleeping in his passenger seat. He walked her to the door though and gave her a big hug before she vanished into the house because Hobi hugs were healing and she'd taken quite the beating for Bangtan earlier.
"Now you really do have to stop fucking with her, Jungkookie," Yoongs determined after Hoseok returned and relayed, to the members, the new information he'd gotten from Mimie.
"She gives just as good as she gets," the boy defended, although they did have a point Hyemi had really covered for him today. It had been his own fault for trying to wind her up whilst she was peacefully minding her own business- he wouldn't admit that though.
"Does she? Because recently it's been all you messing with her and her having to clean up the mess you've created," Hobi's words were a little harsh but they rang true to an extent, only heightening Jungkook's defences. He was starting to feel as though his hyungs were turning on him. Maybe he had gone a little far with the painting, but her date had been fair game, and he'd never asked her to take the blame for him being late.
"She hates me just as much as I hate her." Jungkook sank a little in his seat, he'd already had one lecture today, he didn't need another from his teammates. "Nothing is new about it. When she stops being so annoying, maybe I'll stop messing with her."
In the corner, Namjoon listened to the conversation without offering a word himself. There was no winning for him in the current situation. Mimie really hadn't done anything wrong today, so his instinct was to defend her, but Jungkook was his baby brother. More than that, Jungkook idolised him, so his words carried extra weight with the maknae; he didn't want to risk their bond by appearing to side with Mimie. How could he possibly favour one over the other? No, he couldn't comment. Not when he knew that Jungkook didn't mean any real harm and that Mimie was perfectly capable of getting her own back.
