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The living room of the dorms was silent aside from the occasional creaking from the couch where Jimin was sat, waiting for Jungkook to return from the studio at three in the morning. Normally, he would’ve given up and gone to bed by now, assuming that Jungkook had gone out with Yugyeom or something and trusting that he’d be back by a reasonable hour.
This time, however, Jimin knew that he had stayed at the studio to work himself to complete exhaustion until he either fell asleep on the studio floor or, if he was lucky, made it to the dorm’s couch. The least he could do was make sure he got to bed instead of falling asleep on their old couch that was much too small for him anyways and always left him complaining about a sore neck.
So, he waited. And waited. And waited. It was only when the door opened and Jimin watched Jungkook’s figure stumble in that he realized just how tired he actually was.
Jungkook was swaying on his feet, eyes already closing as he kicked his shoes off and attempted to walk over to the couch, nearly falling in the process. Jimin knew that he’d stayed late at the studio to go over the new choreography for hours after the others had left, even though he’d specifically said he wouldn’t overwork himself this time.
Jimin always knew he was full of shit.
And when Jungkook feels familiar hands grip his waist and a sweeter-than-honey voice in his ear, he swears he’s dreaming. He just knows that he’s going to wake up on the studio floor with a sore back and the disappointment of knowing that this didn’t actually happen. Because when Jimin’s fingers knead into his shoulders gently and something that feels like a kiss lands on the side of his head, he knows it’s too good to be true.
“C’mon, let’s get you washed up and into bed.” Jimin’s soft voice chided in his ear as they made their way into Jungkook’s room.
Somewhere between that living room and his bedroom, Jungkook’s mind goes black, exhaustion setting in. But his feet still move in whatever direction Jimin steers him in, completely on their own accord.
Eventually, Jungkook is pulled back into consciousness with a gentle voice in front of him and he opens his eyes to find himself in his room, not exactly remembering how he got there. He vaguely remembers stumbling in the front door but everything after that is a blur. That is, until he hears the same soft voice he thought he heard when he first got home.
Although, Jungkook did run into a wall on the way home, so he wasn’t exactly confident in his sleep-addled mind at the moment.
“Kookie?” Jungkook blinks blearily to find Jimin standing in front of him, small frown creasing above his brow.
He doesn’t like it. And he’s still convinced that this is all a dream. So, Jungkook returns a frown of his own and reaches a hand up to smooth out the frown on Jimin’s face with his thumb, completely oblivious to the soft look staring back at him.
“Better.” Jimin almost doesn’t catch it because Jungkook’s head has started dropping again but he hears him mumble the word quietly and watches his frown turn to a content smile.
“Okay,” Jimin smiles at him fondly before pulling at the hem of his shirt, encouraging him to lift his arms.
The shirt slid over Jungkook’s head easily, the thin material being thrown somewhere in the corner to be dealt with at a more convenient time. Because right now, Jimin’s primary focus was keeping Jungkook upright and that wasn’t exactly an easy task.
Somehow, Jimin manages to get Jungkook into a bath without waking the others, which is a miracle in itself. Thankfully, there’s enough space for Jimin to sit on the edge behind him because Jungkook was too tired to even realize he’d gotten in the water, let alone wash himself.
At some point, Jungkook had leaned into Jimin’s leg as he finished rinsing him off, cheek squished against his bare calf, thanks to Jimin’s basketball shorts. When he’d finished, Jimin helped him up and dried him off before helping him pull boxers on and wrapping the towel around his shoulders.
For a moment, Jimin watched Jungkook blink slowly and look around before pulling the towel tighter around himself.
“‘M cold.” His words were slurred and his large frame only made it a more endearing sight; nearly 6 feet tall and 175 lbs., and Jungkook stands in the bathroom in boxers with an Ironman towel wrapped around him after being bathed.
And then Jimin is chuckling softly as he rubs a hand up and down Jungkook’s back. Jungkook frowns again and looks up at him, his pout and droopy eyes making him look like a giant toddler (which he practically was).
“Come on,” Jimin grinned and tugged Jungkook into his room by his hand, the younger following without protest.
It doesn’t take much for Jimin to get him into bed, much less when he’s practically dead on his feet. But when Jimin makes to leave, Jungkook’s hand grabs his wrist. And before he knows it, Jimin is being pulled under the covers and he expects Jungkook to wrap around him like a jungle vine and hold him in place (just a guess. Because that totally didn’t happen before ).
But when Jungkook shuffles down to curl into his side and tucks his head into Jimin’s side, it looks like an overgrown puppy that thinks they’re a lap dog; and it makes his heart swell.
Between the slow breaths and gentle sighs against his throat, Jimin’s struggling to keep his eyes open and almost misses the way Jungkook presses a kiss to the underside of his jaw. It’s light and chaste but a kiss nonetheless.
“Love you.” Jungkook’s words get muffled as he pushed his face into Jimin’s neck.
Without missing a beat, Jimin kisses Jungkook’s temple and leans his head on top.
“I love you too, Kookie.” And Jungkook’s positive that this is a dream.
~
The first thing Jungkook thinks when he wakes up is why the fuck is it so bright in here . The sun is glaring at him from the open blinds and it doesn’t take but a millisecond for him to decide that it’s way too warm to get up and close the curtains. With a grunt, Jungkook turns over and buries himself into his pillow- that is unusually warm today.
If he was even the slightest bit less tired, Jungkook might’ve yelled about no one respecting his personal space and why does everyone want to hug me . He wasn’t quite sure if it was the sudden realization that his bedsheets smelled like coconut - only one person in the entire dorm uses coconut shampoo, guess who - or the fact that his pillow shifted underneath his head that made him sit up fast enough that the room spun for a moment.
After the dizziness subsided, Jungkook found himself staring down at a very sleepy, very confused Jimin, eyes squinting up at him unhappily.
“What’re you doin’? Come back.” This time it was Jimin who looked like a toddler, making grabby hands up at Jungkook as he sat in shock.
With one look at the clock, Jimin groaned in exasperation and tugged Jungkook back under the covers with a surprising amount of strength. Now, Jungkook wasn’t in any position to oppose this affection - I mean, come on, it’s Jimin - but he was getting bits and pieces of the night before and he couldn’t exactly pinpoint whether they were all a dream or not.
Jimin must’ve felt Jungkook go rigid as he curled into his chest because he sighed and sat up quietly. He knew that there were blank spots in Jungkook’s memory, he just didn’t know how many. And he wasn’t going to let Jungkook panic over the missing pieces.
“Kook…”
“Why am I in my underwear? And why are you in my bed?” Jimin was sure he was already panicking if his tone was anything to go by.
“Firstly, calm down.” With one hand, Jimin rubbed Jungkook’s shoulders to gently coax him to relax and when he finally did, he pulled him down to rest his head in his lap.
“You got home late last night, even though you promised not to overwork yourself anymore,” Jimin’s pointed look made Jungkook look away with his lip tucked between his teeth, “and I help you get washed up before bed.”
“Wait. You helped me what-”
“Oh, please. Don’t get your panties in a twist.” Jimin scowled down at him without any real heat. Jungkook pouted up at him for the comment, receiving a flick on his lip in response.
“You stunk from sweating all day and I was planning on letting you sleep in.”
“Okay,” Jungkook seemed less panicked and more curious at this point, “then why were you in my bed?”
“Well, I would’ve been in my own bed but I guess someone didn’t want me to.” Jimin’s amused smirk only made Jungkook’s face burn brighter, the tips of his ears turning pink at the realisation that it was, in fact, not a dream.
“You were so tired, I’m not surprised you don’t remember everything.” Much to Jungkook’s surprise, Jimin had began to run his fingers through his hair as his voice softened, fondness sweet like cotton candy to his ears.
“I meant it though.” He looked up at Jimin, eyebrows pulled together in confusion.
“I do love you. A lot actually.” A soft, disbelieving chuckle left Jimin as he shook his head at himself.
Maybe Jungkook was scared before. Maybe he was terrified that this would never work. Maybe there was a time when Jungkook couldn’t imagine this ever happening to him.
But when Jimin looked down at Jungkook with uncertainty, his heart open like a book waiting to be read, he was all too willing to flip the pages. Time froze and the world stopped spinning. And when he finally pulled Jimin down to kiss the breath from his lungs, it felt the world was at his fingertips.
Well, at least his world was.
Jungkook decided that maybe, just maybe, this would be better than staying late at the studio. Then Jimin nipped at his lip and he decided that it was definitely better than staying late at the studio.