He was expecting it be Taehyung when the door chimed and he heard his name coming from the front of the store but he was met with the sight of a beaten Namjoon. He was carting several bottles of soju to the register and though he was limping, his voice didn’t betray any of the pain he had to have been in.

“You need to go to the hospital. Right now.” Jin wondered if all of his friends would take turns showing up in front of him in need of help. He also began to re-evaluate his choice in friends if they thought it was acceptable to ignore him for months but show up only wanting to be nursed back to health.

“If I go to the hospital Yoongi can find me.” That stopped Jin in his tracks.

“You fought with Yoongi? I’m calling him right now.” Yoongi would never get this mad at Namjoon unless it was for a damn good reason. He began to take Yoongi’s side in this, especially as Yoongi was the only one willing to maintain a friendship with Hoseok living in their place. He already had Yoongi’s number pressed in when Namjoon’s hand covered his screen.

“Yoongi is looking for me. He didn’t do this.” If possible, this made him even more incredulous.

“So you’re running away from home?”

“God dammit, Jin, stop putting words in my mouth. I knew it was a bad idea to come here. I just wanted some soju and got mixed up with a bad lot. I’m crashing in Yoongi’s studio since I know it’ll be the last place he’ll think to check while looking for me. I don’t want to have to explain everything to him.” He rubbed at his eyes but it just made a streak of blood appear on his nose from his hands.

“That’s disgusting.” He bypassed Namjoon without touching him and made his way to the front of the store before switching the sign from open to close. He pressed a few digits in his phone and called his boss before plucking some first-aid equipment from the shelves. Eyes followed him as he made his rounds but Namjoon stayed quiet until Jin bagged up the first-aid supplies.

“The soju too.” Jin merely put the bottles behind the counter and came back to where he was standing before he began rounding everything up. His voice when he spoke next was the most deadly thing Namjoon had ever heard.

“You’re going to follow me through the back without touching anything that will get me fired. Then you’re going to board the next bus with me and we are going to my house and eventually Yoongi will show up. I won’t call him but he, unlike you, values my friendship and I’m sure he’ll want my help in rounding you up. I’m going to tell him exactly where to come and I will then watch him explode on you for running off and making him worry. By then, you’ll be patched up and won’t smell like the bottom of my shoe in the middle of a summer day and you’ll have someone there who will stop him when he attacks you for being so goddamn reckless with your life. Sound good?” Namjoon was frozen to the spot during the whole lecture but his attention was rapt and he was nodding before Jin finished. “Good.” Jin then his heel and swept into the back room, knocking the light switch to off violently, with Namjoon following in his lead. He watched silently as Jin locked the doors and trailed after him all the way to his house.

“I’ve never been here before.” Jin snorted.

“You’ve never bothered coming over since Hoseok invaded.”

“I guess that’s fair. I’ve never seen you so upset.”

“Well then it’s a day of firsts for you because I’ve seen you looking worse.” Jin snapped and Namjoon made his way over to a bar stool in the kitchen. He had only been seated for a moment when Jin grabbed his wrist and marched them into the bathroom. It was spacious but Namjoon felt babied and this space that so clearly screamed Jin suffocated him. “You’re going to hop up on the counter and let me see the damage.” Jin laid the bag on the counter beside him after he had followed the instructions but then he disappeared for moment.

“Where are you going?”

“I have more medical supplies in my room. Sit tight.” When he came back, he was clutching a bag that was bigger than his torso. It slightly resembled a large purse but Namjoon stifled his laugh because he knew it would hurt and he was also slightly worried for Jin’s mental health. He didn’t handle stress well and Namjoon had never seen him get so demanding before.

“You really don’t have to do this for me.”

“Yes, I do. You know I can’t just let my friends walk around looking half-drained and not do something about it. Part of me thinks this is just your way of getting my attention again and attempting to get back into my good graces without actually saying sorry for being an .”

“You never cursed before.”

“Are you going to keep doing that?” He pressed into Namjoon’s side slightly and saw the wince that accompanied it. “You need to take off your shirt. Some bruises dip down into it and I’m sure you sustained rib injuries if that’s how you respond to a simple touch.”

“Where did you learn all of this?”

“Out of necessity.” He refused to think about Jungkook when Namjoon was here in front of him. No need to get mad over multiple things at once and he knew there was nothing else he could do to help Jungkook. “How did this happen?”

“I got into a fight.” Jin paused and collected himself so he wouldn’t get snappy again.

“I need specifics.”

“You don’t need anything really if you’re going to sic Yoongi on me later. Just listen to it then.” Even when he was shaking with anger his hands remained steady, trying to patch up and clean the worst of the damage.

“I don’t know why I assumed any different.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Namjoon hissed as he flushed out a particularly nasty wound. Jin heard one of Namjoon and Yoongi’s joint songs go off from the other room and he hastily put down his stuff and rushed to answer it, both out of embarrassment for his ringtone and so he wouldn’t have to explain why he was upset with Namjoon.

It was Yoongi and probably the quickest conversation they had ever had. He didn’t let Yoongi explain, instead opting to cut to the chase so he’d finish with Namjoon before the mint-haired man got ahold of him. “He’s at my place.” The line clicked dead and he silenced his phone before pocketing it and making his way back to the bathroom.

“Looks like I’ll know sooner rather than later.”

“It was Yoongi?” Namjoon felt a ball of lead settle in his stomach. He already knew it was.

“Yeah. Better sit still so I can finish making you look pretty before he gets here.”

“You might as well just leave me like this. Yoongi will inflict some more.”

“You know as well as I do he won’t do any such thing.”

“Are you guys close now?” Jin felt it was an odd way to turn the conversation but he answered anyway.

“We’re closer than we were. Not as close as I thought you and I were though obviously it was more permanent.” Jin meant the words to sting as much as the medicine.

“Hoseok and I aren’t together anymore.” Everything clicked in Jin’s head at that and he dropped the swab and backed towards the door. The temperature of the room seemed to drop several degrees.

“So you drop me and expect to come running back as soon as your boy toy has finished playing with you instead? Not as in-charge as you had hoped?” A sneer didn’t belong on Jin’s face and Namjoon longed to make it go away. Everything about the man in front of him was different than he remembered but he couldn’t even blame Jin. He was the one who did everything he was being accused of.

“I didn’t mean to come running back. I told you I was just going to stay at Yoongi’s studio.”

“So you were going to make your best friend freak out about someone else walking out of his life? Or did you forget you were the one who made Jimin leave in the first place?” Jin knew Namjoon blamed himself for it and though he didn’t think it was a fair assessment and Jimin had done it to himself, he wanted to hurt Namjoon and that was how to do it. “Are you just so jealous of everyone in his life you want to shove everyone and everything away? Is that why you asked how close we were? You were planning on alienating me from him as well? Go ahead! him up even more than he already does to himself or did you forget his crippling anxiety or depression problems? I guess you are more willing to put the images of him in the hospital out of your mind and make this all about you again.” Jin slammed the door behind him but then laid his head against it. What he really wanted was to just go to bed and put this all in the past. He hated that Namjoon brought this side of him out. Jungkook made him sweet and Yoongi made him feel appreciated and loved while Namjoon made him hate himself. He didn’t understand why he could even love a man that brought out this side in him. “I hate you Namjoon.” He felt tears falling down his face when the door opened and a rush of air hit the back of his neck. Arms wrapped around his middle and he felt Namjoon try to pull him closer but he broke out of the embrace.

“Jin, please, you know I don’t mean it like that. I didn’t mean any of it to be taken like that. I love Yoongi like a brother.”

“I know. I don’t care. Feel free to use the house like your own until he gets here. I’m going to go cool off in my room.”

“Jin…” He trailed off sounding hopeful and Jin rounded on him, ready to start yelling, but he was stopped with a soothing hand on his face. “I couldn’t be around you because when Hoseok accused me of liking you I couldn’t say I didn’t without lying to him.” And all of a sudden Namjoon was kissing him and he stilled. It only lasted a moment before Jin backed up against the far wall and brought a hand up over his mouth.   

“You’re ing kidding me.” Yoongi was there in the doorway with his lip caught in his teeth, the way he always did when he was pissed off. Jin exploded. He smacked Namjoon with all of the force he could muster and then shoved him back into the bathroom before storming back into his room and slamming the door so hard the walls shook. “You’re determined to piss everyone off tonight aren’t you, bastard?” Yoongi was seething but he offered a hand to Namjoon to help him up before going over and collapsing on the couch. “Start from the beginning and make it good or I’m coming to make that black eye even worse after killing Hoseok.”