Fake || a kth and jjk ff

|| four ||

When Jungkook woke, he was sure his head was going to split open with the pounding headache he had. This was why he never drank, not even at the fancy corporate parties his mother brought him to.

It took him a second to orient himself. He was lying on his stomach, his cheek pressed against a soft pillow. When he pried his eyes open, he was surprised to see the familiar scene of his old bedroom. His vision was blurry, but he could make out the faint outline of a familiar bulletin board hanging on his gray walls. He'd hung up the board the summer before his first year of high school, with the help of his already graduated hyungs, Namjoon and Hoseok. He made sure to fill his board with the memories he wanted to remember. But after five years, most of the people he had taken pictures with were long gone on their own way. A pang of regret and inferiority flooded him.

Jungkook had never really fit in at school. Part of the problem was that he was almost never in school, thanks to his mother. His mother never seemed to tire of trying to turn him into some kind of mini-me. Even in high school, when he said he'd rather waltz around school naked than torture himself at one of his mother's business parties, his mother did what she'd always done to his protests—she ignored them.

But one morning, when he and his mother were locked in a standoff over some meticulously planned party at a country club, his father intervened. He told his wife that she had tried for over a decade to sway Jungkook over to the corporate life, but it clearly wasn't working. Then, he had advised Jungkook to pack everything he needed for an overnight camping trip with him and his adopted brother Jimin.

Camping hadn't been part of his plans. What he wanted was to have fun with his hyungs, who he rarely saw since they left high school. But Jungkook couldn't say no, and ended up going.

To his surprise, he loved it.

He wasn't sure why. He was never really an outdoorsy person, but he began to cherish the monthly trips with his father and brother. It really brought them together.

This irritated his mother to no end, and in fact, it drove a deeper wedge in their relationship. That wedge became a gulf when Jungkook moved to Seoul for university and following that, a job at a nonprofit organization that helped the needy. At the time, he had only done it as an act of rebellion. While he loved his job though, it cost him his relationship with everyone back at home.

And now, here he was, not knowing the answer to the pressing issue of how he had even got here from the station.

It came back in a rush. Boarding the train. Drinking soju. Stealing Mr. Kim's drink—a big mistake. Blabbering to him about the train attendant and his ex-fiancé.

He squeezed his eyes shut in embarrassment. He'd made an utter fool out of himself.

He sat up. At least he wouldn't see the man again. Why did it matter if he thought Jungkook was crazy? Besides, there were bigger problems at hand.

Shaking his head, he tried to clear it. Instead, it spiked a new wave of pain. He needed to focus so he could figure out what he missed. The last thing he remembered was closing his eyes to sleep. But if he was in his room, his family must have found him somehow.

His mother was going to kill him. It was a wonder she hadn't done so already, especially in this state.

Jungkook glanced around the room and found his old digital clock on the black nightstand. It read 6:08. The sun was streaming through the blinds, but it was summer, so he had no idea if it was morning or evening. He supposed it didn't matter. One way or another, there would be hell to pay.

Sliding off his bed, Jungkook moved to his door and cautiously cracked it open. Voices floated up from downstairs, one of them clearly his mother's. Since his mother never woke up before seven if she could help it, it had to be evening.