YOU BEFORE I KNEW | JIKOOK ✔

3. POST-PARTY DISASTER

With a pounding head, Jimin lays restlessly in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He has no idea how some people can fall asleep when it's as noisy as it is, or how they can stay asleep. All that he can hear is blaring music and the blatant drunken sound of young adults. All it does is make his head spin and the throbbing pain between his eyebrows worsen.

Reaching for one of his pillows and slapping it over his face, he releases a disgruntled groan of frustration. If he can't sleep, then he's going to try and get some of his work done. He's typically good at focusing when his classmates are rowdy so this shouldn't be much different.

He climbs out of bed in a loose pair of basketball shorts and a baggy shirt, unzipping his backpack that he had thrown into the corner. He pulls out his binder and his textbooks, situating them at his desk. He keeps the light off but turns his lamp on and grabs a pencil, opening up his homework for the weekend.

English. The subject has always been a struggle for him and in fact his grade in said class comparatively to his others is glaring. Not to mention that there's something incredibly off about his teacher. Just thinking about the way he talks to him and touches him carefully but inappropriately makes his stomach twist.

Following a frustrated sigh, Jimin rubs at his tired eyes with balled fists. He scans his paper and notices a little scribble that Taehyung had left behind. He wonders about everything; from Taehyung's sexuality to secret-keeping. But what eats away at him the most is whether or not he's doing okay. He still hasn't gotten a reply to the text he sent around an hour ago and it worries him. He's even tried calling but of course to be met with nothing other than a voice-mail.

As soon as the tip of Jimin's pencil hits the paper, a thud on his door makes him jump and it breaks. He has heard rattling against the knoorknob quite frequently over the last half-hour but nothing like this. And it pisses him off royally.

Coming to the conclusion that nothing is going to get done tonight, he places his broken pencil down and hears yet another thud. Staying put is probably the best course of action but Jimin is beyond livid and can't fight the way his legs carry him toward the bedroom door.

"I said if you put your hands on me one more time, I'm going to kick you in the fucking balls!" Jimin shouts as he opens the door.

"...I'd like to keep them intact." Jeongguk is holding his hands up in surrender with raised brows.

Whatever Jimin is currently feeling right now, it's an amalgamation of things and yet it can't be explained. He wants to hit something very badly and the closest thing to him is Jeongguk. But he holds back and just when he's about to close the door, the brown-haired boy places his foot in front of it.

"I swear to God, Hyung. I am not in the mood. I am five seconds away from punching you in the face." Jimin's scolding hot eyes narrow in recession.

"As long as it isn't my crotch." Jeongguk voices over the chaos unfolding behind him.

Jimin's chews on his bottom lip contemplatively, struggling with restraint. His balled fist quivers by his side and Jeongguk looks it over, smirking.

"What do you want? Shouldn't you be hooking up with some guy or something?" the teenager intones.

"And shouldn't you be at Taehyung's, Min?" Jeongguk retorts, leaning against the doorframe.

"I told you that something happened and I had to come home. Stop being nosy. You call Jin Hyung a toddler and yet you're acting no differently than he is. And you're even sober. Why are you sober?" Jimin notices that people are looming in the distance, watching.