a/n: Merry Christmas everyone!!<3

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Jungkook's POV

“You have to come, too!” Jimin said. He purposely made himself sound whiny. The er knew exactly how cute he was when he was doing that.

“I don't know. They're not my usual company. I don't even know if I fit there.”

“Don't worry. There won't be many people and Cara's friends are all nice, they'll like you! And I promise that I'll stay by your side okay?” Jimin answered and gave me his puppy eyes. I sighed.

“Alright, I'll come. But if I end up being a socially awkward outcast there, I'm forever gonna blame you for dragging me there.” I said and put on a dead-serious expression. Jimin laughed and bumped his shoulder against mine.

“Oh come on. You're not that bad!”

“Shut up.” I said and laughed, too. I wasn't as excited to go to that get-together at Cara's as Jimin seemed to be. It was probably more of a booze party than anything else.

Jimin and Cara had been spending more time together lately and it was bugging me a little, but I couldn't exactly tell Jimin that.

When the evening of the party rolled around I was quite late, because I was so nervous about having to socialize with strangers that I spent hours deciding what to wear and contemplating if I should actually go. Jimin had already started to send me messages asking where I was and when I'd be coming. I had the feeling that he was already not sober anymore. In the end, I decided to go and did my best to look cheerfully when one of Cara's friends that I only knew by sight opened the door and let me in.

“Oh, you must be that kook-guy. Cara told us someone else was gonna come.” the boy said and let me in.

“Yeah, my name's Jungkook.”

“Nice to meet ya.” the boy said and then motioned towards a room that was already clearly filled with music and voices and then added: “The others are over there.”

I got more nervous again when I approached the room and the noises got louder. When we both entered the room I automatically scanned the room for Jimin or Cara, but I couldn't see them. The guy that had opened the door briefly introduced me and then plopped down on one of the sofas. I awkwardly looked around for a free space and sat down, too. One of the others immediately handed me a drink.

“Uh, thanks.” I said and took the drink. “Where's Cara?”

“Jimin and her went out to get more booze a while ago. Don't know what's taking them so long.” the guy said and a girl joined the conversation by saying: “Oh I can imagine what's taking them so long.”

A few people laughed. I felt a knot form in my stomach and then downed my drink in one shot.

Several drinks later I was fully immersed in a drinking game with a few of the others when the door opened and Cara and Jimin returned with some alcohol in their hands. They were greeted with loud cheers. I quickly turned my attention back to my drink.

“Jungkookie! There you are!” I heard Jimin say and then two arms wrapped around my neck as he hugged me from behind.

“Yeah, I'm here.” I mumbled. Jimin sat down next to me and then Cara also noticed me.

“Jungkook, you came!” she said. It was clear that she had already drunk quite a bit. She slung her arms around me and I briefly responded to the hug before she let go of me.

“What the hell took you so long?” a guy asked. I saw Jimin smile a little sheepishly. I felt like puking. Jimin and Cara joined the drinking game. Jimin bumped me a few times and tried to talk to me, but I was pretty much ignoring him. It wasn't even that hard. I was angry. And I didn't even really know why. A few drinks ago maybe, but at that point I was just too focused on the feeling.

A while later I was comfortably sitting on the couch, halfway lying on it and I felt like I was gonna fall asleep any second. When I noticed a shadow I looked up and saw Jimin looking at me with a conflicted expression. He bit his lip.

“Guys, I think I'm gonna leave and make sure Jungkook gets home. He looks like he's about to fall asleep.” I heard Jimin say.

“He can just sleep here.” Cara said.

“No, I think it's better if I bring him home.”

“Well, okay then.” Cara said. Jimin pulled me up from the sofa and then Cara passionately hugged Jimin goodbye. I looked away. I mumbled goodbyes when we left the room to go outside. When the cool air of the night hit me I sobered up a little.

“You don't have to walk me home. I can go alone.” I said and started walking.

“I don't think so.” Jimin said and grabbed my arm to stop me from walking.

“Why?” I whined.

“Jungkook, you're walking in the wrong direction.” Jimin said and chuckled. I blushed a little and started walking in the opposite direction. Jimin caught up to me and walked next to me. After a few moments of silence, Jimin said: “So, it looked like you socialized quite well.”

“Well, I pretty much had no other choice. You weren't there.”

“Yeah, we were almost out of booze already, so Cara and I went to get some more and you weren't there, yet.”

“Whatever.” I mumbled.

“By the way, what the hell took you so long?” Jimin asked. I just shrugged and didn't answer. For a while none of us said anything until Jimin broke the silence.

“Is everything okay?”

“Sure. Why?” I said.

“You were a little weird back there.”

“What do you mean?”

“You pretty much ignored me.”

I just shrugged again. I wasn't really in the mood to discuss my mood and the reasons for it. Jimin grabbed my arm and stopped me from walking. He stood in front of me.

“Could you answer please?” he said sounding a little upset.

“I didn't ignore you.”

“Yes, you did!”

“Alright. So what?” I said. I knew I was being mean, but I couldn't help it.

“So what?” Jimin repeated and looked at me indignantly. “What the hell, Jungkook?”

I was getting embarrassed then and looked down.

“What's going on with you today? What happened?” he asked.

“Nothing.” I said, brushed him aside and kept walking. Jimin caught up, but didn't stop me from walking again.

“Is it because of me? Are you angry that I wasn't there when you arrived?”

I didn't answer.

“Jungkook!”

“Leave me alone!” I said unnerved. Jimin stopped walking, but I just went on.

“You're unbelievable!”

“Goodnight!” I yelled.

“Goodnight!” Jimin yelled back annoyed. I walked home alone.

Taehyung's POV

The next few days Hoseok seemed a little distant. Well, I mean, it's not like we were super close normally, but I still noticed a slight change. He still silently greeted me and said goodbye, but he was keeping to himself apart from that. I was wondering whether it was because of what had taken place in the yard. Contemplating about that was at least distracting me a little from thinking about my now EX-boyfriend. My mood was still gloomy most of the time, though.

One day during class the teacher assigned partner-projects and because he was too lazy to build new pairs he just said that we'd partner up with our tablemates.

'Great.' I thought. ' So now we can awkwardly do a project together. Well, he'll probably let me do all of the work.'

I noticed Hoseok draw in a breath when the teacher announced it and he looked over at me. He then cleared his throat.

“Uhm, well, when do you want to work on the project together?”

“I don't know. Do you have any free periods during the next few days?” I answered. He thought for a moment.

“No, so far none.”

“Okay, how about we just meet up after school today?”

“Sure. Your place or mine?” Hoseok said and we both ignored the weird innuendo that lay in that sentence.

“We can go to my place if you want.” I said. He shrugged.

“Okay. Let's meet at the entrance after the last period.”

“Okay.” I said and then packed my stuff to get to the next class. It had probably been the most normal conversation we had ever had up till then. It felt weird to act so normal around each other, but on the other hand it felt new. It felt good.