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The first thing Seokjin sees when he wakes up is curly, orange hair and a row of very straight, white teeth. He yells and jerks forward, knocking his head against the stranger's, which makes the headache inside his skull radiate over the expanse of his entire head.
"Ow." He swallows painfully, mouth stale and tacky. He squints through sleep muddled eyes at the thin stranger, now howling with his head in his hands.
"Who-who are you?" Seokjin squeezes out, one palm pressed up to the throbbing spot on his forehead that he prays to god won't ruin his perfect bone structure.
The boy stands up, and Seokjin sees that he's dressed in heart-patterned pyjamas and a graphic tee featuring a Tyrannosaurus rex with a bow tie. The boy bounds over to him, a red smudge in the middle of his forehead.
"Kim Taehyung," he says amicably, hands poised on his knees and head leaning to one side. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to-" Seokjin repeats. He sits up, bones popping like bubble wrap. The boy leans away, eyebrows raised and face innocently befuddled. "What? What am I-"
"You're good looking," the boy comments in an off handed manner, eyes flicking up and down Seokjin's figure.
“I know,” Seokjin says automatically before looking down at himself. To his abject horror, he finds himself in a large, beige hoodie that’s definitely not his own, over what thankfully are his black boxers.
"How..." he mutters, a sudden vertigo taking over him. He closes his eyes and leans back against the couch, trying to sort out the hazy memories swimming around his head.
He can vaguely recall Namjoon, raising a glass with a toothy grin. Then another glass, and another, and then they met some other people, Namjoon's friend and his friends. Maybe they danced, just a little, and someone was laughing with hands on his body and something feathery on his collarbones - Seokjin shakes his head, banishing the thoughts. He reaches to the collar of his shirt to pull it down slowly.
Numerous purplish bruises dot his collarbones, and Seokjin gulps, hard.
There's a whistle and Seokjin looks up to find the boy, mouth in a circle and eyes following the hickeys on his skin. Seokjin lifts the shirt back up quickly.
"Some night," the boy inflects, and Seokjin can't figure out for the life of him if he's mocking him or not.
Seokjin squirms, "I - did you - did..."
The boy crooks his head, blinking at him.
"I mean... did we..." Seokjin runs a hand through his hair and finds it in complete disarray. "Forget it."
The boy, Taehyung, Seokjin remembers, frowns and stands up straight. "Did we screw?"
Seokjin sputters, hands curling into fists on his thighs.
Taehyung regards him again, curiously, and shouts at the top of his lungs, "Park Jimin!"
Seokjin jumps three feet into the air, hands spasming uncontrollably.
"Jesus Christ on a -"
"Jimin!" Taehyung wails, sounding uncannily like a fire alarm, and Seokjin presses his hands to his ears.
Another boy bounds into the living room suddenly, managing to stub his toe on the low table in the process. A plate clatters off and he grabs his toe, jumping on one foot, face contorted in extreme agony.
Seokjin unclogs his ears to hear Taehyung snigger jovially while Jimin lets out a stream of curses much too nasty for his small built and round face.
There a quite distinct lilt to his words, an evocative accent of a sort, and Seokjin's reminded of swooping hair and an unbuttoned dress shirt. He points his hand at the boy, still poised on one leg like a stocky flamingo, and exclaims: "I know you!"
Jimin stops mid curse, now staring at Seokjin, and Taehyung looks to him to cheerfully ask, "Oh, is he yours, Chim?
Jimin shares a short look with Taehyung before looking back at Seokjin with narrowed eyes.
"Nah. Hey, didn't Hobi hyung bring him home?"
"Ho-Hobi?" Seokjin squeaks.
Taehyung hums and joins Jimin, who’s staring holes in Seokjin's face.
"He does seem to be hyung's type," Taehyung says, and Jimin nods along.
"I don't -" Seokjin whispers. "I don't know who that is."
Taehyung's gives him a crest-fallen expression, mouth drooping and eyes watery.
"Oh, Hoseokie hyung will be so sad."
Seokjin waves his hands, despair levels increasing from mild to extreme at the growing wetness in Taehyung's eyes. "I'm sorry, please don't be sad. I -"
Jimin coughs, and Seokjin looks to him to find him biting hard into his lower lip. He looks a little like he's trying to contain a laugh, and Seokjin's apologies wither on his lips, replaced by a confused, "What?"
"Oh, wait, drat," Taehyung exclaims, and Seokjin looks back to find him with a perfectly dry expression, not a single tear in sight. "Hobi hyung didn't come home yesterday. He split with the grumpy blond, remember, Jiminie?"
"Oh, yeah," Jimin agrees good-naturedly, an equally pleasant grin on his face. "What's his name again?"
"Pepper or Cinnamon or-"
Jimin claps. "Suga!"
Taehyung lets out a lilting laugh and moves over to share an enthusiastic high five with Jimin. Meanwhile, Seokjin sits on the couch, gaping at the two of them.
"Alright." Jimin leans back and crosses his arms over, rumpling his plain tee. He gives Seokjin a long look, and Seokjin feels a strange urge to push his chest out and suck his stomach in.
"How old are you?"
"I'm - I'm twenty five," Seokjin says weakly, the entire situation making him feel a little light headed.
At the same time, Taehyung beams and says, "Hyung!" while Jimin asks: "Are you rich?"
Seokjin gapes at both of them. Jimin raises his arm and mimics looking at an invisible watch, and Seokjin whispers out: "Not - not particularly."
Jimin huffs and looks away, and Seokjin can't shake off the weird feeling that he's been brushed off.
"He's not yours then, Tae."
Taehyung gives Seokjin a slightly pitiful look and nods, tapping his bare foot on the linoleum. Jimin looks down his nose then, a quiet realization shining in his eyes.
"Were you - Were you planning on pretending that you were a one night stand and then burgle us?"
Taehyung turns his head slowly, eyes rounding like coins. Suddenly, he throws his arms around Jimin, craning his neck to press his head onto Jimin's shoulder. "You can't abduct Jiminie!"
"No, I..." Seokjin's mumbles, feeling like he's going to be sick very soon. "I'm - I'm not stealing or abducting anyone, really, just give me my pants and I'll be out of here, I swear-"
"Aha!" Jimin roars, and Taehyung jumps up next to him. "Not so fast! That's my sweater you're wearing, you burglar!"
"I'm sorry, I really-" Seokjin lifts the sweater, trying to get if off him in a panic. "I'm giving it back now, I'm sorry, I swear I-"
He gets stuck inside it, just a lot of cotton and limbs and his nerves and is that high pitched noise laughter?
"What's going on?"
It's a new voice, and Seokjin feels a sharp jolt in his stomach. He stares through the brown fabric and thinks, faintly, oh god, they keep multiplying.
The shirt is suddenly yanked back down, and he resurfaces to see a young boy, hair in a dark swoop, disheveled and sticking to one side. He looks down at Seokjin, dark eyes framed with smeared eyeliner and skin shiny from sleep.
"Hello," the boy says, slowly, a hint of shyness in his voice. "I mean, good morning."
There's that familiar accent. Another pang in his gut and Seokjin remembers the voice in his ear, a small smile on his lips and eyes shining with mirth.
Jeongguk gives him an uncertain look, tongue darting to lick at his lips.
"Do you - do you remember me? I'm -"
"Jeongguk," Seokjin finishes for him. The look in Jeongguk's eyes softens and he gives him a tiny smile.
"Yup, that's me," Jeongguk leans away, and Seokjin notices the dress shirt, a couple of buttons undone. "You - Are you thirsty, hyung?"
Seokjin swallows thickly. His gaze flickers behind Jeongguk for a moment, and he finds Jimin and Taehyung still clinging to each other, observing the exchange with bulging eyeballs.
"A - A little."
Jeongguk gives him a tiny nod. He turns over quickly and rounds the counter, opens a drawer to take out a glass. He's tall, Seokjin thinks. He looks somewhat too young but he's handsome, Seokjin can't deny that, the broad shoulders and slender waist tapering down to narrow hips and did they really -
He snaps his head to the side immediately to look at Taehyung and Jimin.
Taehyung gives him a sly smile and Seokjin thinks that yes, he's definitely noticed.
Jeongguk comes back and hands him the glass. Seokjin accepts it gratefully and drinks like he's never tasted water in his life. As soon as he downs it his tongue and throat feel sandpapery again, but he gives the glass back with a small "Thank you."
Jeongguk nods, shifting the glass from one hand to another. An awkward silence.
"I - Jeongguk-ah," there's a small intake of breath from behind Jeongguk. "I need to ask you something."
Jeongguk eyebrows furrow slightly, hands freezing up.
"Um, sure."
Seokjin flicks his eyes to the Siamese twins to the side. "Privately?"
Jeongguk's brow smoothens, and he turns around to wave his hand and order the guys to "Get lost".
Jimin lets out an affronted noise, blubbering something about being disrespected, but allows himself to get pulled off into a room by Taehyung.
Jeongguk turns back around, a grim turn to his lips.
"They're eavesdropping, of course. There's no getting rid of them, not really."
"They're-" Seokjin digs for a word, and ends with a stilted. "Lovely."
Jeongguk gives him an apologetic look.
"They're terrible, I know. They don't usually wake up this early, I don't know what got into them."
Seokjin nods like he knows what Jeongguk's talking about. He swallows again, dry tongue grating along his palate. There's one question that he absolutely needs to ask, but instead, he asks: "Whose - whose sweater is this?"
Jeongguk averts his eyes.
"You spilled something on your shirt when we were in the club, so I-" he cuts off, biting into his lower lips. "Sorry, that's creepy, right?"
"No, no!" Seokjin says, a little too enthusiastically, and earns a surprised look from Jeongguk. "I mean, it's nice. Thank you. You're - nice."
Jeongguk lets out a small laugh, and Seokjin thinks that he's going to dig a grave and lie down in it if he blushes because of this overly tall teenager.
The more he looks at Jeongguk the more he thinks that he's not the culprit, which is both relieving, because he's doesn't think he'd ever fool around with someone this young, and mortifying, because if not him, who else?
"Jeongguk-ah," Seokjin starts, and Jeongguk gives him a serious look. "Did you help me get here?"
"Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you, sorry. Your friend, Kim Namjoon hyung? He kind of disappeared and you - you wouldn't tell me where you lived."
Seokjin blinks up at him. "You're really nice."
Jeongguk laughs again, the smile lighting up his entire face. Seokjin gathers up his remaining courage and pushes onwards.
"And when we came here, we..." Seokjin drops off and Jeongguk cocks his head, eerily reminding him of Taehyung. “The two of us... slept?”
Jeongguk shifts on his feet, one hand scratching at the side of the face. There’s a weird sort of moment, and Jeongguk gives him an abashed look and Seokjin gets it.
"Not the two of us, as in, together, but more like, in the same place, but separately, apart, in different rooms, we,” Seokjin feels heat climb up to his cheeks, and readies himself to begin shovelling that hole. He takes a deep breath and finishes weakly: “We went to sleep.”
Jeongguk wrinkles his nose, mouth pressed together like he's holding in a giggle.
"Yup. After I helped you change. The pants, though, I think you took off yourself."
Seokjin folds his hands over his lap and continues, a little frantic.
"And in the club, what - what did we do?"
Jeongguk gives him a weird look.
“I mean,” a note of hysteria starts to creep into Seokjin’s voice. “I mean, the two of us, not-”
Jeongguk snorts and then coughs a little, raising one hand to stop Seokjin.
“We danced. Not much, because you kept, um, spilling your drink and, ah, elbowing other people." Jeongguk looks up, eyes bright with amusement. "I think that's mostly it."
Seokjin lays his hand over his chest. He blinks, feels the swell of nausea and nerves in his stomach and he's so tired, he really doesn't know what to think anymore.
"Hyung, what's this about?"
Seokjin shakes his head. "Nothing, really."
Jeongguk leans down. "Are you sure?"
He looks at Seokjin with a quiet solemnity in his eyes. Everything be damned, Seokjin thinks. He's too tired and Jeongguk too helpful for him to pass this up.
"There are - love bites all over me," Seokjin tells him in a hushed voice, words carrying a shameful edge. "I don't know how they got here."
"That's funny," a small frown in between Jeongguk's eyebrows. "I don't-"
He drops off sharply, a strange look in his eyes.
"Hyung, mind if I - see?"
Seokjin doesn't, not really, even if it's weird. He pushes the collar down again and looks away, not wanting to see the moment when he had to sully a young boy's innocence.
He feels a soft touch on his chest and whips his head back to see Jeongguk staring at his thumb with a scowl.
Seokjin gives him a dumbfounded look. "What?"
Jeongguk turns his hand around, showing him a thin trace of purple smattered across the pad of his thumb.
Seokjin looks down, and sees a clear swipe right in the middle of his "hickey". When he looks up and behind Jeongguk, he can swear he sees a flash of orange disappearing around the corner with a raucous chortle.
"What's-?"
"Hyung," Jeongguk starts, voice unsteady and wobbling and face contorted like he's moments before bursting out in laughter. "You've been punked."
His words are followed by Taehyung and Jimin, diving back into the living room while screeching at the tops of their lungs. Disbelieving, Seokjin rubs his palm against his chest and the edges taper away, the hickeys now a giant, shimmery circle.
Taehyung comes over, face red with laughter and one hand on his stomach. He pats Seokjin on the back and wheezes: "I'm - sorry."
Seokjin blinks at Jeongguk, "Were you... were you in on this?"
Jeongguk shakes his head fervently, and then mutters something under his breath. Seokjin isn't entirely sure that he's being truthful with him.
Taehyung opens his mouth. "It wasn't - you weren't - you didn't-"
His words taper off and he bends at the waist, clutching at his stomach. Jimin's on his knees behind him, punching the floor with his fist and positively howling with laughter.
Seokjin lets out a weak chuckle, leans back and closes his eyes.
He feels a dip in the couch and hears a small, cackling sort of a noise. He opens his eyes to and sees Jeongguk laughing sweetly at his misery. Jeongguk points a hand to the side, and Seokjin looks to find a small cell phone propped up on a cupboard, capturing a wide image of the entire debacle.
Grinning widely, Jeongguk says, “Smile for the camera, hyung.”
Seokjin gets hit by a sudden realization, and he rasps out, "Namjoonie... did he -”
Jeongguk smiles beatifically. "He'll be coming to pick you up soon. He also said to tell you to 'remember the Sailor Moon costume'. He said it would mean something to you."
Oh, it does mean something to him, alright. Namjoon's refering to that one time he got drunk and Seokjin convinced him to wear a Sailor Moon costume to a Halloween party, but that was years ago, that petty bitch.
Seokjin looks into the distance and then concludes, “You're not very nice at all.”
Jeongguk laughs again, throwing his head back a little. When he's done, he gives Seokjin a huge beam, hand grazing Seokjin’s bare knee.
“I did love your streetlight dance, though, hyung.” He leans a bit closer and gives him a conspiratory wink. “And also, you have a killer ass.”
Seokjin wheezes.
“How... how old did you say you were again?”
“I didn’t,” Jeongguk chirps, fingers grabbing firmly onto Seokjin’s knee. “But I turned nineteen two weeks ago.”
Seokjin closes his eyes and piles up the last layer of earth down on top of him, and thinks that it feels a little like side-swept hair, dark, black-rimmed eyes and snide laughter.
He finds that he doesn't mind it too much, after all.