Bonfire night | Jikook College au

Three days until Bonfire night

"Hoseok's coming over tonight!" Taehyung heard his roommate scream as he ran past where he was sitting on the bed into the bathroom. The blonde-haired boy tapping away on his phone glanced up to see the back of Jimin dashing behind the door, he immediately hopped off the bed and flung the door the toilet door open, causing Jimin (who was using said toilet) to shriek loudly and cover himself up. "Taehy-" the raven-haired boy started but was interrupted by his best friend shouting at the top of his voice like a maniac. "WHO THE HELL IS HOSEOK?" Jimin, realising Taehyung wasn't planning on leaving anytime soon to let him do his business, pulled his trousers back up again and made his way to the sink.

"He's a friend I met today, he's really nice you'll like him, I swear!" all Taehyung did in response was run his hands through his hair, a habit he'd often do when he was stressed, and Jimin immediately knew why. "Tae...you're still my best friend." the blonde was staring at the ground in minor distress, but when Jimin said those words his head lifted, his eyes wide like a puppy watching his owner hold out a treat for him. "Then I can't wait to meet Hoseok," Taehyung mumbled wandering out the bathroom to sit on his bed again.

For the next few hours, Jimin and Taehyung dawdled around the house trying to make it presentable. They fluffed the pillows and made the beds, something which they rarely did, then moved the television from in front of Taehyung's bed to the middle of the room to be facing the side instead of the foot, he had the bigger bed so the pair would just sit on there to watch it- but they figured Hoseok and his roommate weren't exactly at the cuddle stage of their friendship yet. They ordered four pizzas, all with different toppings and laid them out on the desk that was between the heads of their beds.

The door knocked exactly on time; half past six. Taehyung ran to throw the door open excitedly, he absolutely loved meeting new people. There stood two men, one had pink highlights and a bright smile plastered on his features, matching the description Jimin had given for Hoseok, the other was around the same height and had maroon hair, he looked less pleased to be there but was still smiling.

Taehyung welcomed them into the dorm, where Hoseok tackled Jimin in a large bear-hug, and his roommate stood there unsure of what to do. "Meet Seokjin, " Hoseok grinned when he'd finally let go of Jimin, the raven-haired boy offered his hand to shake the taller's and had to admit he was slightly taken aback by how soft his hand was. Taehyung coughed loudly, blatantly signalling he wanted an introduction.

"Meet Taehyung, " Jimin sighed, humouring his best friend. Both of the two guests said 'hi!' brightly and the group of boys realised that the atmosphere between the four of them was natural, the prospect of it being awkward was something they were all dreading. "What kind of pizza did you get?" Seokjin exclaimed when he spotted the boxes laid out on the desk, Taehyung bounded over to them, an act that proved very difficult with four boys in a tiny dorm room, he beckoned for Seokjin to follow and opened the boxes to show each of the toppings. Hoseok leant over to whisper in Jimin's ear as the pair babbled away together.

"I think this is going to work."

When the door knocked later that evening the four boys jeered, thinking it was the pizza man with more stacks of food. Taehyung and Seokjin were arguing happily and Hoseok was screaming at the tv as Jimin opened the door, shocked to see a very pizza-less brunette.

"Jungkook, what are you doing here?" the younger opened his mouth to speak but was distracted by the sound of people inside the dorm.

"I'M YOUR HYUNG TAE! DON'T FORGET THAT."

"PLEASE, BEING FORGETFUL IS FOR OLD PEOPLE, GUESS YOU'D KNOW THAT THOUGH, HYUNG"

"I didn't realise you had company..." Jungkook breathed out, visibly agitated. "Just some friends..." Jimin smiled limply, deflated to see the stress cast across his crush's face. "What's wrong, Kookie?" the dancer's brain immediately froze when he realised what he'd called Jungkook. Thankfully, the taller smiled at the nickname, not one of the smirks or lad-like chortles Jimin had seen his old friend exhibit when they'd occasionally passed each other on campus, but a real, organic smile.

"I haven't been called that since we were ten years old, " Jungkook mused, leaning against the door frame with his arm. Jimin felt himself blush knowing he'd made the younger happy, but he said nothing- wanting Jungkook to tell him why he was upset. "My brother came round..." the brunette explained and Jimin immediately understood. Jungkook and his older brother, Namjoon, had had a rocky relationship as far as Jimin could remember.

Jungkook had always felt overshadowed by his brother's success at school, which was made worse by the incessant bullying he'd received from Namjoon's friends, which his brother did nothing to prevent. Back then Jungkook had had few proper friends, all his life Jimin was lucky enough to have Taehyung as a best friend, but Jungkook had been a child who had hung out with a different group of children every day until middle school. Even though Jungkook was the most popular boy now, with students fawning over him on the regular, he never had that one kid who he'll remember as his closest friend before his teen years, which hadn't been a problem back then although he couldn't survive like that now.

"Do you want to come in?" Jimin offered to motion for Jungkook to come in, which he did, sheepishly. "I know we haven't really been friends, or spoken properly,- since we stopped going to the same school...but all my other friends idolise Joon and when we were little you were always on my side." the raven-haired boy nodded, secretly flattered. "Well, " he smiled, trying his best to be welcoming and warm as he knew how upset Namjoon could make Jungkook.

"You know Taehyung, of course, and this is Hoseok and Seokjin, our friends. I found out Hoseok takes dance class today and Seokjin majors in..." he trailed off, realising he didn't know enough about the eldest to successfully help Jungkook get to know him.

"Nutrition." Seokjin finished for him, through a mouthful of pizza. "I'm Jungkook, " the brunette almost whispered, showing a shy side of himself that Jimin hadn't seen since first-school, a side he thought had ebbed away based on Jungkook's bad-boy persona which had been greatly adored all over the college. "Nice to see you, hyung," he said, nodding in Taehyung's direction. Jimin couldn't deny the term struck a pang of guilt through the boy's stomach, Jungkook hadn't called him that in almost ten years.

The four boys sitting across the bed, leaning against the wall with their legs hanging off the edge, shuffled down to make room for the pair to squeeze on the edge. Jimin squashed between Hoseok and his crush whilst Jungkook was almost falling off the foot of Taehyung's bed.

"Do you need to stay with us for a while?" Jimin whispered into the brunette's ear, so no one else could hear. Jungkook nodded, not breaking his stare on the tv screen, but squeezing Jimin's hand swiftly, to make his appreciation clear.

'he didn't mean it that way, he didn't mean it that way, he didn't mean it that way.

For god's sake Jimin, get a grip."