MY FANFIC SETTLEMENT

time bomb

Jeongguk stretches his arms out, yawning as he rolls over to the other side of the bed.

He bumps into Jimin who's still peacefully sleeping beside him, the morning sun illuminating the side of his face, accentuating the golden tone of his skin.

He blinks a couple of times, eyes adjusting to the light, and he shamelessly stares at him — yeah.

Jeongguk could really get used to this. Jimin's face is puffy with sleep, strands of hair messily falling over his forehead, eyelashes fanning across his cheeks and then — Jimin's eyes barely open and he looks up at him, lips spreading into a smile as he buries his face back into the pillow.

"Stop staring," he mumbles, voice deep and raspy, cracking around the edges.

Jeongguk's cheeks flush and he pulls the covers all the way up to his chin, looking away. He feels a little exposed, but Jimin just looks — he looks so fucking cute, it's impossible not to stare.

He'd be crazy not to.

"I'm not staring," Jeongguk huffs, deliberately looking up at the ceiling. "I was just checking to see if you were awake."

Jimin chuckles into the pillow and then pulls back, pressing his hands together and tucking them right underneath his cheek.

He looks so _ young, _ Jeongguk thinks, even more so now that he's all hazy with sleep.

"Mmm, you were definitely staring," Jimin says, still smiling. "S'okay, though. I like it when you stare."

Jeongguk clears his throat and keeps looking up at the ceiling, his cheeks still red with embarrassment. His mind goes back to last night, when Jimin appeared at his door — eyes all big and he looked so fucked out and almost _ broken — _ and it makes Jeongguk's heart ache all over again.

He'd been so inconsiderate, so irresponsible — which would have been somewhat fine and excusable if he was still a teenager, but he was thirty fucking years old. It shouldn't have had to come to the point where Jimin needed to seek aftercare, Jeongguk should've provided it already.

Thing is, it didn't even occur to him. Not for a split second — because he was so far up his own ass to even consider that Jimin — he's human too. It's like some sort of epiphany or revelation dawned upon Jeongguk, like it needed to come to _ that _ for him to realize that no matter how intimidating and rigid Jimin may be at times, or in Jeongguk's opinion, most of the time — it didn't matter.

He still should have been considerate enough to at least ask, without assuming anything.

Jeongguk still feels kind of bad about it, but it is what it is. He and Jimin had fallen asleep all tangled up together and honestly, Jeongguk could really, _ really _ get used to that.

It just felt... right. There was no other way to put it.

"I'm sorry about, uh," Jeongguk breathes in, eyes still focused on the ceiling. "Last night. I'm really sorry about last night. I know I've apologized already and you said it was fine, but I want you to know that I really mean it. I do feel bad for not realizing that you need it. The aftercare, I mean."

Jimin blinks up at him, brows slightly furrowing and he inches a little closer to Jeongguk. He almost looks confused for a second, features soft and delicate until his eyes go a bit colder, his jaw tightening.

The sudden shift catches Jeongguk off guard and Jimin's piercing gaze sends chills right down his spine, making him squirm a little.

"It's fine," Jimin says seriously, corners of his lips curling even though the smile doesn't reach his eyes.