It was hard for Jungkook to watch his two childhood friends to be separated and Taehyung doesn’t look like he's taking it well. With his gaze on his shoes, as if it was more interesting than Jimin in front of him, Jungkook could tell he's trying hard not to break down in the middle of the airport.

Jimin made the first move and pulled Taehyung into a soft embrace. Jimin was also the first one who cried and clung to Taehyung like his life depended on it (which probably is the case, at this point).

Jungkook couldn’t hear it but it looked like Jimin is whispering something to Taehyung. Something that is only to be shared between them.  

Taehyung buried his face on Jimin's shoulders. Throughout the years, it can’t be denied that Taehyung had been growing taller than Jimin. The height difference made the angle look awkward, but neither of the two seemed to mind. As Taehyung wrapped his strong arms around Jimin to pull him closer, Jimin's jacket starts to get soaked and that was Jungkook's cue to look away and let them have their privacy.

No one in the airport paid them mind, as if it was an ordinary occurrence already.

(Everyone was either in a hurry, talking to their phone, or sleepy. There are parents trying to stop their children from whining and there are people looking at their phone as if they’re about to murder someone.)

Jungkook stood next to his father awkwardly, he doesn’t have any idea what to say since they weren't exactly close with each other. They only started acting like an actual father and son when his father found the application form hidden in his room.

He was already formulating goodbye greetings or a goodbye speech to his father. Maybe some thank you message to go along with it, when he heard his father talk.

"Here, I’m sorry I couldn't get you a new one." He handed something to Jungkook. It was his red flip phone, complete with the phone charms he collected throughout the years and his charger. "The battery is drained, you should charge it when you get to Seokjin's place and send me a message."

"Are you sure I can still use this?" Was the first thing that Jungkook asked.

"Of course."

Jungkook eyed the phone for a few seconds before he kept it in his pocket. His goodbye and thank you message already forgotten.  

The announcer mentions their flight number for the last time, saying that it will be leaving soon. It took Jungkook's every ounce of strength to pull Jimin away from Taehyung.

"Hyung, we need to leave."

And Jimin lets go of his lover, with red teary eyes and red nose. Jungkook felt a strong sense of sadness wash over him as he realized that Jimin will be leaving the love of his life, and he'll be leaving the town with heavy feelings to his family.

Suddenly, Jungkook felt scared. He felt scared of the change that he will be experiencing. He felt scared of leaving the town where he grew up and break the sense of normality in his life.

He needed to grow up. He thought. Even if that means leaving something behind.

-x-

When they arrived at Seoul, Jimin's eyes are still red and his face is bloated. Yoongi picked them up in the airport instead of Seokjin.

"Seokjin-hyung has morning class and he needs to get ready for it. He can't afford to miss it because of a major exam."

Jungkook nodded and he let Yoongi take his and Jimin's luggage’s. "What about you, hyung?"

"I don’t take morning classes."

Yoongi drove them to jimin's dormitory first, he offered to help the younger boy to unpack but Jimin refused.

(“I’ll be fine.” Jimin insisted as he carried his heavy bags with him out of the car.

Yoongi looked unimpressed as usual and Jungkook had a frown on his face.

“At least let me help you get those bags to your room.” Jungkook made an attempt to grab one of Jimin’s bags but the older male pulled it away from his reach.

“I said I’ll be fine. Just leave.”

“Hyung…”

“I’ll be fine.” He insisted. At this point, Jungkook isn’t sure anymore if Jimin was still talking to him or he was just convincing himself that he’s fine even though he looked far from it. “Jungkook, listen. I’m really tired right now and I know you’re tired too. When I get to my room I’ll just sleep the day off and hold off the unpacking for a week. I’ll give you a call if I need help, alright?”)

Yoongi drove Jungkook to his shared apartment with Seokjin (The ride was quiet. The older male didn’t dare to question what was wrong with Jimin).

It was only thirty minutes of awkward silence and ride when they reached the apartment. It’s nothing elegant. Just a typical five story building with a broken elevator.

(“It’s been a week and my place is in the fifth floor. It’s a ing torture.” Yoongi complained when he lifted Jungkook’s box.

“Isn’t your family wealthy? You can afford a better place.” Jungkook blurted out without actually thinking. He regretted it the moment the words left his mouth.

Yoongi stopped and dropped the box when they reached the third floor and Jungkook got scared that the older will leave him there.

“Huh… you know?”

“Know what?”

“I never told you anything about my family.”

“That,” Jungkook said, this time he carefully chose his words, “my father mentioned a family friend who owns a music producing agency and I figured you’re from that Min family.”

Yoongi picked the box up again. “Seokjin-hyung doesn’t like the idea of me helping him financially, he reasoned it was something about taking me for granted.”)

As soon as they got all Jungkook's things in the place, Yoongi threw himself on the couch.

"This place has two rooms but we actually only use one. you can take the other one, it was originally Seokjin-hyung's room."

Jungkook ignored the heavy feeling in his stomach because that meant the two slept together in the same room every night. That shouldn't matter. They're...lovers, boyfriends, dating, and they live in the same place. It's not a big deal.

"Thank you…" The younger boy murmured under his breath. He's not sure if Yoongi heard but he couldn't bring himself to care. He pushed his belongings to the spare room.

He only unpacked half of his things, he'll save the rest for tomorrow. He's too tired to do anything else so he lied down in the bed in the center of the room. He sniffed the pillow and it smelled like Seokjin. Not the fake scent of Seokjin that the older male used to cover up the smell of cigarette. It smelled like his hyung who took care of him, lazy nights of Seokjin watching him overnight, lullabies, breakfasts, tutoring, and cuddles. It smelled like home. It smelled like Seokjin.

Maybe Seokjin would sleep in this room sometimes. The room still holds a heavy scent of him it’s unlikely that he doesn’t use this room sometimes. Maybe he sleeps here when he and Yoongi gets into a fight or some minor disagreement.

(Deep in his mind, his hopeful delusional mind, the younger hoped that there will be nights where the couple will have a minor disagreement and Seokjin will drag his legs to this room and sleep next to Jungkook to get some good night sleep. Jungkook slapped himself for hoping such thing.)

He took out his phone and charged it before he let sleep tale over him. He dreamt of being back home with Seokjin.

He doesn’t know how long he slept but he was woken up by Yoongi who shook his shoulder until he made noises that signaled that he’s awake.

"Kid, I need to go to school. I left some food for you in the fridge. Just reheat it if you’re hungry."

Jungkook rubbed the sleepiness away from his heavy eyes. "Okay, thanks."

"Don't expect anything from it.” A shrug. “I don't really cook so it doesn't taste as good as Seokjin's but it should be edible."

"You don't really have to cook for me. I can order a take out."

Yoongi huffed and rolled his eyes. "I just felt responsible and Seokjin would kill me if he found out I made you eat some greasy take out."

"Sounds fair."

"Well, I guess that's that. You should also practice your piece for the audition."

"...oh. right."

"You came here for that, right?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Good. I'll see you later."

And the older male left his room, closing the door gently.

Jungkook stared at the ceiling, half expecting to see the same ceiling that he was used at looking back at home. instead of seeing the familiar cracks and stains on the ceiling, he saw something completely foreign and it made him feel uncomfortable. He’s here now. There’s no turning back. He’s away from his home and he needed to get used to this.

He closed his eyes and fell asleep for the second time.

When he opened his eyes, he heard noises from the kitchen. He got up, his head instantly hurting from sleeping for the whole day. He didn’t even bothered to check the time as he walked out of his room, not without tripping on his bag on the floor. He recovered from the embarrassing fall and let his feet drag him to the source of the noise.

There, in the kitchen, was a tall boy with his back turned to the doorframe. The said boy was humming an unfamiliar song as he washed dishes and constantly checked the food on the stove. Jungkook stared at him without making his presence known.

Soon, his stomach let out an angry growl and that caught the boy's attention.

The boy-- Seokjin stared at him with wide eyes. "Oh." He murmured before he broke into a grin. "I know you're coming but I wasn’t expecting that it would be real."

Jungkook tilted his head.

"Well, your parents... I didn’t expect them to let you go."

The young boy was surprised with what he just heard. He expected Seokjin to greet him with ‘welcome to my place’ ‘how was your trip?’ or any generic greetings that people normally throw at each other when they receive guests.

"Oh... it's just my father who let me go. My mom kind of doesn't know."

Seokjin was quiet for a while. His face blank before he smiled again (Jungkook would miss the blank expression if he blinked). "You probably haven't eaten breakfast or lunch yet. The food Yoongi left for you was untouched."

"Sorry...I didn't even know it's this late already."

"It's fine, I know you're tired." He smiled before he motioned for Jungkook to sit on the chair in the dining table in the middle of the kitchen. "Sit. I can tell you're starving. I'll reheat the food in the fridge. The food I’m cooking won’t be ready until dinner."

Once the food was in front of him, Jungkook immediately dug in. He didn't care even if it's tasteless. A food is a food to the stomach of a starving man.

Seokjin sat across him, he's not eating (although he said that he just ate but knowing seokjin, he never rejected any food so it didn’t convince Jungkook).

"Hyung, are you sure you're not going to eat?"

"Kookie, I'm fine."

"What time is it?"

Seokjin checked his phone. "It's five in the afternoon."

"Okay and normally you would be munching on sweets or junk foods at this hour."

The older male chuckled. "You know me way too well."

Jungkook swallowed his food (and swallowed the thorn and lump in his throat that’s making him choke his own words because Kim Seokjin is in front of him). "Of course," he said.

Of course, he knew. He spent his whole life observing him, it would be a shame if he doesn't know.

"Of course, I know. You're kind of like a pig."

Seokjin’s face turned red. Jungkook’s not sure if it’s from embarrassment or anger. Or maybe both. "Hey!"

That earned him a smack in the shoulder.

-x-

“Oh? You have your old phone back.” Seokjin stared at the red flip phone on Jungkook’s hand. He took a sit next to the younger male on the couch and turned his head to the show that Jungkook was watching.

“Yeah. My dad gave it back.”

The older of the two made some humming noises. “That’s good. I won’t have to worry about how to contact you if you ever get lost in the city.”

“I’m not a kid.” Jungkook made a weak protest.

Seokjin peeled his attention away from the television to give Jungkook a look. It wasn’t the motherly look, or the angry look that he gives to Taehyung when he ed something up. It was the look that he has when he’s conflicted, when something bothered him. It was the same look that he would give to Taehyung when he’s in pain and he couldn’t do something about it.

“You’re right.”

-x-

To: dad

From: Jungkook

7:08 pm

Thank you. I'll do my best.

I'm so sorry this took so long, almost a month but not exactly a month. My file was corrupted, I had to rewrite everything, and I wasn't happy with it so we get this.
Also lots of stuff happened and idk how to find inspiration to write so I ended up holding this off until...well, now hahaha.
The next few chapters will be up faster because I feel like I'm on a roll or something.

Also I'm so sorry because nothing much happened in this chapter, I think we need a breather from the angst. But lol, who was I kidding, we still got angst.