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“Can you stop stepping on my toes?” Jimin bites out, voice breathless and more than a little irritated. All he gets is a huff in response and Jungkook rolling his eyes. Jungkook makes a show of moving exactly three feet back, hands doing a ”Is this better?”, kind of motion, and the other groans in annoyance.
This was how the two found themselves these days. Fighting tooth and nail over everything and nothing. Ignoring each other at every opportunity, sending death glares from across the room when they thought no one was looking. Muttering insults under their breaths when someone so much as breathed the wrong way.
And it was all over a stupid sweater.
Okay- maybe it wasn’t just about a sweater, and Jungkook knew that.
Not that he was willing to admit it though.
It had started innocently enough- Jungkook borrowing a sweater from Jimin. It wasn’t uncommon for everyone to borrow clothes from each other, especially without asking. Namjoon ruffled through dressers that weren’t his own in search of mismatched socks, Seokjin borrowing a shirt out of the dryer that belonged to Yoongi, or Taehyung wearing one of the many pairs of shoes Hoseok that he almost never wore. (And if there had been a few questionable stains showing up after use, Taehyung would feign innocence almost immediately).
The point was, members had an unspoken, What’s yours is mine, and mine is yours’, arrangement that had been there for as long as they could remember. Jimin and Jungkook were no exception to that, having, in a very literal sense, shared almost everything. From clothes– underwear, to even as far as toothbrushes on the (very) rare occasion, there wasn’t anything they hadn’t shared in the years they’ve lived together.
It had been Jungkook’s day for laundry duty, a chore everyone would rotate biweekly. The maknae had been trying to pinpoint exactly who’s black joggers were whose –it was hard to tell when joggers made up about a quarter or more of everyone’s laundry– when Jungkook had noticed one of Jimin’s moved beloved sweaters. A gorgeous maroon color that had gradually started to lose its shape after being washed, worn and well-loved for so long. It was a piece of clothing Jimin had had since their early debut days, made out of acrylic fabric. Jimin had seen it in a display window on a mannequin close to the old BigHit building walking by and had bought it the same day.
Despite the sweater being worn out and slightly stiff, it felt heavenly on. It was perfectly oversized and felt like one was wearing a blanket made out of the softest of clouds.
The problem wasn’t that Jungkook had borrowed the sweater– No, no. Not at all.
The problem was Jungkook had somehow managed to rip the largest hole in the right armpit of the sweater. It had to have been some sort of world record, Jimin didn’t even know how that was possible- It started at the inner armpit and reached all the way down to the torso! Jimin remembers seeing Jungkook bending down to pick up something off the ground he had dropped, twisting in an awkward angle, and hearing the stiffness of the sweater rip.
Jimin had been peeved, provoked by exhaustion and already short tempered to begin with, and an argument had almost immediately followed. (“How is that even possible?! You can fit a whole watermelon through the hole!”, “There was already a hole in it and it got worse, it’s not like I did it on purpose!,”, “But this isn’t the first time you’ve destroyed my things Jungkook!, “Why are you so upset? It’s just a sweater- I’ll buy you a new one!”, “That’s not the point, and you know it! Why are you so irresponsible?”).
The argument got so heated that Yoongi, who heard the sudden commotion in the comfort of his room, had to intervene and almost physically had to pull Jimin away before things could get more heated. It had ended by Jungkook storming to his room, door slamming shut, and Jimin, who was close to tears from pure exhaustion and frustration.
Jungkook had carefully taken off the sweater to avoid making the hole worse than it was, and once calm enough, had searched relentlessly online for a new one. A task that had surprisingly taken more than an hour because it was hard to find the exact copy of a sweater that had been bought years and years ago.
Jungkook assumed everything would blow over in the morning. That he and Jimin would talk it out, laugh a little, apologize and all would be well. However, when he had walked into the kitchen the next morning and tried starting up a conversation with Jimin, he was only met with silent treatment.
Which is how they ended up here– endless bickering, glaring, and short-tempered arguments had persisted.
Everyone was currently in the dance studio. It wasn’t early, currently only being 9:47, but considering the seven of them had been here since six in the morning, and practice had gone on a little too late the night before – even for their standards – they all were more than tired. With their latest album releasing in only a few short months, and what was going to be their hugest comeback yet, sleep was a short-lived luxury.
No one was really feeling this practice, and that was evident. The room reeked of sweat, and faintly of expensive cologne . Limbs felt more like noodles than actual body parts, and the usual precise and sharp dance moves were more than a little sluggish. Even Hoseok, who was leading the current dance practice and always in top form, wasn’t as enthusiastic.
The music starts back up after a brief pause of adjusting positions and going over a few specific dance moves of Dionysus. Just as ’when the night comes, tumble tumble tumble’ blares through the speakers with the synchronizing beat, Jungkook bumps Jimin's shoulders, which is followed by a death glare.
Unfortunately for them, Seokjin had just barely missed it from the corner of his eye, and almost immediately stopped dancing to turn his head around. A groan of annoyance escaped his lips. Everyone stopped dancing one by one, the beat still booming strong over the speakers.
“How long are you two going to keep acting like this?” He bites out, eyebrows twitching and a scowl in place. Seokjin was in no mood to play parent. This was ridiculous. The music cuts off, and Jimin throws up his hands.
“I don’t know- Maybe if Jungkook-ah wasn’t so clumsy we could actually get through this routine.” Jimin says through gritted teeth.
Jungkook rolls his eyes. “Maybe if you weren’t so sensitive to, I don’t know, everything in the world, we could actually act like adults instead of school children”, he shoots back with a glare.
“Oh, I'm the child here? I’m not the one who destroys almost anything he can get his hands on!”.
“I already ordered you a new one- and said I was sorry! I’m not the one who can’t admit when he’s being such a dick!”.
“Don’t talk to me that way, I’m still your hyu-” Jimin is abruptly cut off by Taehyung speaking up. “Guys. Please stop arguing- It’s been days. We’re all tired..”, He turns his head briefly to look at a clock and groans, a hand going up to rub at his eyes tiredly. “We still have another hour and a half of practice.. Can you just knock it off until then?”, Taehyung makes the mistake of looking directly at Jimin, who takes immediate offense.
“Me?” He gasped, and Jungkook would have laughed at how comical he looked if he didn’t want to strangle him so badly. Taehyung looked nervous. “That wasn’t directed just at yo-”
“This is ridiculous- the one time I make a mistake ends with you losing your mind! You are so frustrating!”
“At least I can get through practice without messing up a routine every two seconds!”
“I barely even touched you!” Jungkook exclaimed, growing more and more frustrated.
“You just bumped into me, and yesterday you made me trip! And I’m the frustrating one he-”
“Okay- Enough!” Namjoon's voice cuts off the arguing, and Jimin’s mouth snaps shut.
“I can’t deal with this now. We’re finishing early.” Namjoon decides, rubbing the bridge of his nose and exhaling slowly, trying his best to not lose his temper. “We’ll stay an extra hour for afternoon practice to make up for the lost time.” He says firmly and groans of protest are the only response he gets. He pays no mind to them as he walks over the huge wall of mirrors to collect the few belongings he brought with him, the others following his suit shortly.
Namjoon looked like he was ready to rip his hair out. Seokjin looked done, Yoongi’s expression didn’t give much away and Taehyung looked annoyed. Hoseok was not happy, cursing silently under his breath.
Jungkook is the first to gather up all his belongings and walk– well, more like storming out of the dance studio, with Jimin glaring daggers after him. He eventually leaves following Taehyung and Namjoon, the two talking about going to a convenience store nearby.
Hoseok leans in towards slightly sweaty Yoongi, who was resting a room temperature plastic bottle of water on his neck as if it would magically cool him down. “Why couldn’t they go back to ignoring each other like the other day? I don’t know if I can listen to them being at one anothers throat for much longer..” he trails off with an exasperated sigh.
Yoongi snorted in response, now resorting to drinking the water with long gulps. “I can’t believe all of this is over a sweater.”
“It’s been a really long week… and it’s only Wednesday," Seokjin cuts in, who was currently tying his shoelaces and cringing slightly at the fact it was only Wednesday. “At least we have the weekend off… Though, I don’t know how we’re going to get through that if they keep this up. I might be the one clawing at someone's throat next."
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Everyone had gone off to do their own thing, they did have about an hour and a half to kill before they had to group back up for a quick recording session. Jungkook wasn’t sure what everyone was up to either- he knew that Seokjin and Yoongi were in their own respective studios. He assumed Hoseok was with one of the choreographers to go over a dance routine, and he guessed everyone else had gone to grab some real food that weren’t protein bars that tasted like stale cardboard.
Jungkook would have tagged along if he hadn’t stormed out of the practice room so abruptly. He hated this so much. It was stupid. He knew how childish he and Jimin were being. Jungkook knew deep down that the others probably felt the same way. He felt guilty that they had been the reason practice was being postponed. Jungkook hated that this silly feud was getting out of hand, now starting to affect the rest of the group.
Last week, things had been normal. Jimin and he were just being themselves; play-fighting, causing slight mischief with Taehyung when given the opportunity, and comforting each other when things got a little too much. It was uncanny how much tension could build up in such a short amount of time.
With a heavy sigh and an even heavier heart, Jungkook shuffled through the music on his phone, trying to shake away any intrusive thoughts that threatened to linger. He’d ended up in the gym the company had in the building, wanting to blow off some steam before he would inevitably have to be in the same room as Jimin again.
Once he found a song that he could get lost in, some song by The Weekend, he slid his headphones on and made a beeline for the treadmills that were in the center of the gym. He paid no attention to anyone he passed by. He hopped onto the machine, putting his water bottle and phone down on the flat surface of the treadmill. Jungkook felt... Tired. Oddly tired, despite it being pretty early in the day. He brushes a slightly uneasy feeling off, chalking it up to nothing to worry about and presses the big red start button.
Jungkook started with a jog to warm up, turning the settings higher to a light sprint a few minutes later. Soon enough he’s running- he can practically hear the way his feet smacked against the bottom of the treadmill, and his own slight panting despite the music of a rap beat blasting through in his ears.
Jungkook hated fighting. He hated it. But he couldn’t understand why Jimin was so angry. They borrowed each other’s stuff all the time, and he swears it was already there to begin with! It wasn’t like he had meant to rip that large of a hole. It had been days, and it felt tension was only getting worse.
He knew it was more than that, just the sweater. A part of it was because Jungkook has done this before- the last time having been dropping one of Jimin’s airpods down a sewer and not being able to retrieve them. But that hadn’t caused nearly this much angst between them.
Jungkook knew that he should have been more careful, he knew he should have stopped wearing it when he noticed the hole. It wasn’t his and despite everyone sharing everything more times than not, there were limits.
Jungkook also knew that maybe, this was just their way of dealing with the stress that came with being idols. Arguing so much to the point of just barely forgetting how much one’s muscles ached, and how tired they all really were.
Jungkook knew the other part of it was because of the comeback. Everyone had to be at the top of their game, and everything had to be perfect. The release of their album was no less than a month away- And was going to be immediately followed by the release of music videos and tour dates and eventually long, long days spent traveling country to continent for promotions and concerts and endless days of achiness and pitiful sleep.
Exhaustion was a familiar face.
No one would ever, ever change it for the world. Bangtan had worked so hard and for so long to get where they were. No one would ever take what they did for granted.
The endless days of hardly any sleep, almost having no personal or social life outside of work and each other, working themselves to the brink of collapse.. They did all of that and so much more just to be able to stand where they were in the industry. And really, Jungkook could not wait to get back out on tour. He couldn’t wait to see ARMY again. Really, he couldn’t.
But Jungkook had a hard time appreciating everything when he couldn’t enjoy it with all the people he loved the most. Things have been so awful lately.
He had been awful. To Jimin, to his hyung’s. He had a bitter feeling thinking back about how disappointed they were earlier.
To himself even. But Jungkook wasn’t sure how to go about resolving this conflict, because Jimin could barely look at him without a glare.
Jungkook hoped things could be fixed.
The thought of him and Jimin never being able to talk again without fighting hurt.
Jungkook tried shaking off his thoughts as he increased his speed but couldn’t quite get the glare out of his head Jimin had been giving him at practice, one that said ‘Get far, far away from me, don’t touch me ever again’.
It was painful to think about.
Jungkook felt weightless, and he wanted to cry a little too. A few more minutes dragged on of him running, and he found himself getting more breathless.
It didn’t take long for Jungkook to start to feel unsteady on his feet. He frowned- he could have sworn it hadn't been that long since he started running.
After some more time had passed, Jungkook paused the machine, fingers slamming on the buttons more a bit harsher than he intended, his running slowing to a walk as the machine stopped all together. He was panting heavier now- his arms were shaking ever so slightly, and he could feel the way sweat dripped off his forehead.
He slid off his headphones, the beat of some popular song by an American artist could be heard lightly before he turned them off and placed them on the treadmill. Jungkook grabbed onto the handles of the machine to try to catch his breath. He frowned, not understanding where the sudden breathlessness had come from.
The room felt like it was tilting, but Jungkook didn't have much time to process that slightly concerning fact before his name was being called.
“Jungkook-ah! There you are!” Seokjin’s voice booms through the other side of the now empty gym, cheerier than it had been earlier- farther away than it should have been. Jungkook turned to look at him, putting his hands on his thighs as he still tried to catch his breath, only earning a small chuckle in response from his hyung. “Aigo, Jungkookie- how long were you running for? I'm about to go over some lyrics with Yoongi, and then we wanted to order from that new place around the corne- ” he rambled as he walked closer towards Jungkook.
Jungkook tuned him out, dully realizing his heart felt like it was nearly pounding out of his chest.
Jungkook tried catching his breath, inhaling deeply through his nose. “I- what time is it?” He said, looking up to face the other, effectively ignoring what he had been rambling about. He exhaled slowly.
“Uhh...” Seokjin-hyung pulls out his phone from his back pocket. “Just about 10:59”, He replies, attention back on Jungkook as he slides the phone back into place.
“Oh.” Is all Jungkook says., he gazes around the gym briefly, taking more deep and slow breaths. He han’t even been running for more than half an hour. Weird. This didn't feel like the breathlessness one would get after a fulfilling workout, exhausted but leaving satisfied. As the silence grows, he tilts his head back and closes his eyes. Eventually, Seokjin noticed the way his arms were shaking.
Jin laid a hand on Jungkook's shoulder, frowning slightly. “Hey, are you good?”.
Before Jungkook could respond, the pounding of his heart turned into a sudden crushing pressure– a heavy, squeezing pain that spread across his chest. His eyes screwed shut as he took a sharp breath in and let out a small groan of pain.
“Jungkook-ah?” Seokjin-hyung moved closer, growing increasingly more concerned. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Something was wrong. What was happening to him?
“I- my chest h…hurts”, Jungkook says in a voice laced with pain, breaths shifting into unsteady pants.
Both of Seokjin-hyung's hands are now on Jungkook’s shoulders as he guides him to a nearby workout bench, helping him sit as he crouches in front of the younger.
It was getting harder to breathe. His arms felt unusually weak. Jungkook felt his hair - stuck with sweat - being brushed out of his face.
“I... I don’t know what’s happening”, he admits shakily. Was he having a panic attack? Honestly, he couldn't remember the last time he had one... But they had never felt like this. Suddenly, his eyes widens and he leans forwards, hands grabbing his chest in a useless attempt to alleviate the pain shooting up in his chest.
His heart was going to jump out through his chest and run far, far away, he was sure of that.
“Kookie? Hey- Look at me,” Seokjin snapped his fingers, trying to gain Jungkook's attention, which only worked so well. "C'mon Kook, breathe. It's okay." The older one tries to reassure.
After what feels longer than five minutes, Jungkook recalls his hyung leaving- and then he hears a voice yelling- for help? His thoughts weren’t catching up to the rest of his brain fast enough. He realizes after a second it was Seokjin-hyung’s...
All Jungkook could focus on was his heart hammering wildly and the way his fingers tingled.