Were Dripping In It

We’re Dripping In It

Chapter 18: Dope

Jimin met Jungkook at the door of their Political Science class, he chuckled at the sight of the motorcycle helmet underneath his arm.

“Isn’t it a bit cold to be riding this morning?” Jimin asked, following behind Jungkook as they made their way inside the classroom and walked up the steps to the back of the room. A row of girls giggled as Jungkook passed in his black leathers and wind swept hair.

“It actually wasn’t that bad this morning,” Jungkook dismissed, placing his helmet on an empty seat and sat down next to it. That was only half a lie, it was freaking cold to ride in but Namjoon’s sultry eyes on him as he left had been worth it.

Jimin eyed Jungkook’s smirk as he sat down next to him, “Namjoon-hyung left in quite a hurry last night, anything you want to tell me Kookie?”

“Nope,” Jungkook answered, pulling out his notebook and phone. There was a message from Namjoon on the screen, Jungkook opened it and smiled at the words ‘If you get any sexier, I think you might kill me’ with a burning hot emoji at the end.

‘I thought you were into knife play, guess I’ll have to table that’ Jungkook sends with a pouting face, snickering under his breath as the professor stands at her desk and calls the class to order.

‘I’m in the middle of a meeting, baby. Don’t give me ideas.’ Namjoon texts back with a prayer hands emoji.

‘I’ll take bondage off the list then,’ Jungkook sends back, ignoring Jimin’s kick to his ankle as he stares down at his phone. He glances up to see the Professor only just starting to get her slides organized on the screen, so he takes his time getting his pencils out.

‘Jungkook,’ is all Namjoon sends back in reply. Jungkook bites his lip to stop his giggles at his boyfriend’s distress.

‘Have fun in your meeting, I have class now’ Jungkook types, adding a kissy face at the end before closing his phone and tucking it into his inside jacket’s pocket.

Jungkook spent the rest of class listening to the professor drone on and on while taking his notes and trying to ignore the suggestive looks he was getting from the row of girls in front of him. There was one girl in particular, with long blonde hair, that kept trying to catch his eye.

Jungkook desperately hoped that Yoongi’s jeweler was fast, cause it seemed like he needed those couple rings just as much as Namjoon did.

The bell rang and people were out of their seats before the professor could even call out the assigned homework for the day. Jungkook stuffed his notebook into his backpack and pulled his phone out again, he had a message from both Namjoon and Yoongi.

He opened Namjoon’s first and snorted at the reply of ‘I’ll deal with you tonight’ to his last text. He sent a quick ‘Looking forward to it’ with an angel emoji before opening Yoongi-hyung’s message.

‘Your rings will be ready tomorrow and you need to give me your stage set for next week, you have performances on Tuesday night and Saturday.’ Yoongi said with his usual cat emoji at the end of his message.

Jungkook didn’t feel that he was up to a full performance of dancing and singing, but he did have a few songs that could just be sung. He sent Yoongi his two selections before moving to stand with Jimin to leave.

“Excuse me,” a sweet voice muttered just as Jungkook was standing from his chair, he looked up to see the blonde girl smiling shyly up at him. Jimin snickered behind him, the bastard, as the girl blocked their path towards the stairs.

“Can I help you?” Jungkook asks politely, picking up his motorcycle helmet from the chair and swinging his backpack onto his shoulder.

The girl giggled, “I’m Kim Soyeon.” She bows slightly with her introduction.

“Jeon Jungkook,” he replies, bowing even shallower to her. “Is there something I can help you with?”

Soyeon smiles widely to him, “I’ve seen you perform at D-Town, it was amazing! Have you always been into dancing?”

“Thank you,” Jungkook says politely, glancing at the clock on the wall. “I’m sorry, I can’t chat, I have another class to go to.”

“Oh,” Soyeon’s expression drops and she scrambles to pull out a post-it note and write her number on it. “Maybe we can meet up after one of your performances?”

“Sorry,” Jungkook says, raising his hands apologetically, not taking the offered piece of paper. He smiles gently at her fallen face, “I don’t think my boyfriend would appreciate that, he’s kinda claimed all of my free evenings. Did you have an interest in performing at D-Town?”

Jungkook asks the question with innocence, as if he doesn’t know why she’s asking to meet up with him. Ignoring Jimin’s snort behind him as he stares at Soyeon’s small shake of the head before heading down the stairs to join her friends.

“It’s never a boring day with you, Jungkook-ah.” Jimin teases, sliding over to his shoulder as they watch the huddle of girls leave the room.

Jungkook sighs, glancing down at the post-it note that was dropped to the floor before stepping over it and walking down the stairs. “I hate upsetting people.”

“It’s not like you’re wearing a sign that says ‘Come try your shot with me’.” Jimin scoffs, punching Jungkook’s shoulder as they exit the classroom. “Who would you rather upset anyway? Your actual boyfriend or some girl from class?”

Jungkook elbowed Jimin’s side, “You already know the answer to that, I’d never want to upset Namjoon.”

Jimin scrunched his nose, “It’s so weird for you to be calling Leader-hyung by his name, he’s older than you!”

“He told me to!” Jungkook says defensively, then scrunches his brow in thought. “Should I start calling him hyung?”

Jimin only shrugs as he opens the door for them to enter the history lecture hall. “How much you wanna bet that Namjoon-hyung might be into that?”

Jungkook gives Jimin a hard look as they sit down, Jimin only cackles in response before the bell for class rings.

The cold air whips around his body as he speeds down the busy streets towards Namjoon’s apartment. He pulls up in front of the tall black building and cuts off the engine. Pulling off his helmet he sees one of the guards that had taken Jin up to the apartment approach him. He hands him his helmet as he swings off his bike before heading inside, saying a quick ‘thank you’ to the man as he passes.

Another guard meets him at the elevator and takes them up to Namjoon’s penthouse, Jungkook leans back against the wall of the elevator as they slowly climb. When the doors open Jungkook steps through and comes face to face with his brother.

“You have a motorcycle!” Jin burst out, waving his arms around wildly as Jungkook passed him to go into the kitchen. “Do you know how dangerous they are! And in Seoul especially!”

“No! Are they? I had no idea!” Jungkook snarked, setting his backpack down on a bar chair, pulling off his leather jacket to hang on the back of it. Unfortunately, this was not the jacket Namjoon had given him, Jungkook had no idea where that one had disappeared to since he was taken by the Stray Kids Gang. He was really bummed about it, he had started to love that jacket.

“You really need to stop being a sarcastic little shit, I’m your hyung Jungkook!” Jin barked, blocking Jungkook’s path to the refrigerator.

“Everyone in this house is my hyung, Jin-hyung” Jungkook corrects, folding his arms over his chest as he stares at his brother. “Being blood related means nothing to me at the moment.”

Jin stares at him and takes a step back, “You think you mean that now, but just you wait. This choice of yours is going to bite you in the ass one day and I don’t want to be around to see it.”

“It’s already bitten me in the ass,” Jungkook glares, side stepping Jin and grabbing a banana milk from the fridge. “I’ve already been kidnapped and held hostage for leverage. And then I had to chase after your sorry ass, so really it’s bitten me twice.”

“You’ve been what?!” Jin yelped, he stared at Jungkook sipping on his banana milk, his face growing red with agitation. “When the fuck were you kidnapped!?”

“Just before we had to go looking for you,” Jungkook answered with a shrug, sipping through the little straw as he looked at his brother. “I think we need to sit down and talk about this, instead of just yelling at each other.”

Jin huffed as he followed Jungkook into the dining room and sat down across from him at the table, he crossed his arms over his chest as they stared at each other for a moment. The only sounds in the room was the slurping of Jungkook’s banana milk carton, he set it down on the table after finishing it.

“Alright hyung, I want you to give me all the reasons why you think I’m being stupid for trusting my hyungs, who I’ve known for years, and my boyfriend, who has done nothing to hurt me.” Jungkook says, waving for Jin to go ahead.

Jin scoffed, “He hasn’t hurt you yet, you mean. He will one day, I guarantee it.”

“How do you think he’s going to hurt me?” Jungkook asked seriously, if he was going to have to listen to his brother’s rant he might as well try to take him seriously.

“Namjoon has a lot of enemies, Jungkook. Obviously you know that, since you’ve already been taken by one. Considering they didn’t hurt you too badly, they probably weren’t any of his big enemies, so you got lucky. You might not next time.” Jin began, glancing over at the healing rope burns on Jungkook’s wrists. Luckily the bruise on his cheek was basically gone now.

“I don’t need to hear about all the outside forces I’ll be up against, hyung.” Jungkook cut in resting his arms on the table, not at all bothered by his brother’s eyes on his marked skin. “I want to hear your reasons about Namjoon and my hyungs, not their enemies.”

“How can you be so dismissive of it? Some of these people won’t be…” Jin started to say but Jungkook held up a hand.

“You’re focusing on the wrong things, Jin-hyung. I’m not going to continue this conversation if you won’t put that aside.” Jungkook said with a sigh. “But I’ll tell you why I’m not worried about any of Namjoon’s enemies, no matter how big they are. It’s because the next time they come after me, I won’t be helpless against them. I won’t be ignorant about the risks of being on the streets alone. And one day, I’ll be just as much of a threat to them as Namjoon is.”

“Why would you want that Jungkook-ah?” Jin asked lowly, his shoulders deflating in defeat. “Why would you want to become a part of a company that kills people? That tortures them for information, that puts drugs on the streets, and controls whether the city will eat or not. Namjoon could get bored one day and burn Seoul to the ground and build his own city in its place. Are you really going to be by his side standing on the ashes of millions of bodies?”

Jungkook leaned back in his chair and tapped his finger against the wooden table as he thought over his brother’s words.

“Does that put it into perspective for you, little brother?” Jin asks, leaning forward to catch Jungkook’s eye.

Jungkook raises his eyes to his brother, “Yes, it does.”

Jin started to smile but froze when Jungkook continued to speak.

“It may seem cold to you, but I genuinely could care less for the people of Seoul. When I was on the streets for three weeks, no one looked twice at me or stopped to help.” Jungkook said coldly, standing to his feet as he looked at his brother. “You weren’t home when mom kicked me out. You never seemed to be home after getting back from killing dad’s murderer, you jumped to the conclusion that I had ran away. I didn’t! I came back for two weeks while you were gone and waited for you to come back! But you didn’t! No one helped me until I came to Yoongi-hyung’s door. I’m going to stick with them hyung, they’re the only ones that have given a damn about me since they met me!”

Jungkook left his brother in the dining room and headed up the stairs to Namjoon’s bedroom. He opened the door a bit surprised to see the man lounging on the bed, Namjoon looked up and blinked as Jungkook shut the door behind him.

“Hey baby, how was…” Namjoon grunted as Jungkook flung himself on top of Namjoon, sending them tumbling down onto the mattress.

Jungkook wrapped his arms around Namjoon’s neck and settled his legs on either side of his waist. “I’m abandoning my brother, he doesn’t listen to me.”

Namjoon hummed as he wrapped his arms around Jungkook’s shoulders, “You have another hard talk with your hyung?”

“Not my hyung anymore,” Jungkook grumbled against Namjoon’s neck. “Just an idiot that my mother gave birth to.”

Namjoon chuckled and ran a hand through Jungkook’s hair, “Have you had dinner yet, baby?”

“Does banana milk count?” Jungkook asked, lifting his head to look at Namjoon and place a kiss onto his cheek.

“No baby, it doesn’t.” Namjoon replied, placing a kiss on Jungkook’s lips. “What do you want to eat?”

Jungkook hummed in thought, “Grilled Pork Belly sounds just about right, right now.”

“Then that’s what my baby will get,” Namjoon said, placing another kiss on Jungkook’s giggling lips as he moved them off the bed to order some food into their room.

We’re Dripping In It

Chapter 15: My Time

“So, what exactly happened to the Stray Kids Gang?” Jungkook asked as he moved about the kitchen, making some dinner while Namjoon sat at the counter working on some paperwork with his dark rimmed glasses perched on his face.

“Hmm,” Namjoon hummed in question, his hand not faltering from his steady writing as he listened to Jungkook repeat his question.

“I mean, how did you guys put a stop to them so easily? They seemed like a big group,” Jungkook said as he rinsed some chicken breast in the sink before setting it in a marinade sauce to soak while he worked on chopping some vegetables.

Namjoon chuckled, “They were actually relatively small for a company, only a hundred lackeys in all. And that included the eight that made up Bangchan’s Inner Circle. As to what happened to them, well Tae was relatively tame honestly. Nothing our doctors couldn’t fix, most are being integrated into our outside territories. None can be trusted in Seoul.”

Jungkook nodded as he pulled a cutting board out and started slicing some bell peppers, “Is that what you do with most gangs? Integrate them into yours?”

“Unfortunately no,” Namjoon states firmly, flipping a page over to start filling out the back. “The Stray Kids Gang was a bit of a special case, there was only a handful of men within it that was truly on Bangchan’s side. We were trying a new method of infiltration with them, instead of outright fighting the company head on we slowly replaced their men with our own.”

“Then if most of the men were yours, why were you so mad at Han when he was starting to turn on you?” Jungkook asked, moving to chop some green onions next.

“Han was the closest to Bangchan, one of his most trusted at the time, he had been undercover the longest. When he started to show signs of turning against us, we needed to move fast. He could have revealed our entire operation to him.” Namjoon explained, running a hand through his hair. “It wasn’t Bangchan knowing that worried us, it was our methods getting out. If even one man got word to the underground about our operation, we’d never be able to use it again. And there are much bigger companies we would need to use it on. The Stray Kids Gang was a test for that method.”

“What did you do with Bangchan? He obviously wouldn’t have fallen in line easily.” Jungkook pointed out, shivering slightly at the memory of the man’s cold eyes.

Namjoon nodded, “You’re right, he wouldn’t. Which is why we have him locked-up in the Voyage house.”

“Weren’t you just worried about Jin-hyung escaping that place,” Jungkook asked, pointing his chef’s knife at Namjoon as he spoke. “How do you know he’s not going to escape?”

Namjoon smiled serenely at him, unbothered by the sharp object pointed at his face. “Because Bangchan is not Seokjin, thank goodness, he hasn’t had the type of training that your brother has. And Seokjin knows that house like the back of his hand, he could escape in his sleep.”

“I suppose that is the difference between them,” Jungkook murmured in agreement, returning his blade to the cutting board to chop some lettuce. “Does it bother you that I’m questioning your decisions about these things?”

Namjoon’s pen paused and he looked at Jungkook seriously through his lenses, “No it doesn’t, it honestly makes me happy that you feel like you can challenge me about these things. Even if you don’t understand all the reasons why I’m doing it, but that’s only because you don’t have all the information like I do. I hope it's not too bold of me to say, but I want you to be my partner Jungkook, not my subordinate when you join my company. I’ll always want to hear your opinion on things.”

Jungkook felt his cheeks heat with pleasure at Namjoon’s honesty, he smiled softly as he gazed at the man across from him. “I’ll continue asking then, you’ll get sick of my questions eventually.”

“Never,” Namjoon promised, smiling back before returning to his paperwork.

Jungkook chuckled as he placed all of his chopped vegetables into separate bowls before pulling the chicken out to chop it into small, bitesize cubes. “What exactly is involved in the training for your crew?”

“It’s actually pretty similar to military training,” Namjoon started to explain but paused when a thought occurred to him, he looked up at Jungkook. “Have you done your military service yet?”

Jungkook shook his head, meeting Namjoon’s gaze. “I’ve been waiting for my letter to arrive for the last two years, but it hasn’t.”

Namjoon clicked his tongue, “Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. If you end up at least starting our version of boot camp before you leave for your service, you’ll be more than prepared for it.”

Jungkook nodded as he placed the cubed chicken back into the marinade and started washing his hands. “Did you do your military service already?”

Namjoon nodded and chuckled at Jungkook’s quiet murmur of ‘no wonder you’re so buff’. “I completed it as soon as I was of age. While my company doesn’t control anything to do with the military, you could say we have a certain influence to speed things up. Most of my men go through their military service immediately after passing our training, we don’t need them being called to serve in the middle of a mission.”

“Would you do that for me?” Jungkook asked, wiping his hands on a dish towel before starting to pull out various pots and pans.

“If you’d like,” Namjoon said softly, pulling a different stack of papers over to him. “I can start the process of claiming your records from them tomorrow. Even if you choose not to go through our training, you can at least choose when you will serve your military time.”

“If you keep doubting that I’ll go through on becoming part of your crew, I’ll throw this knife at you.” Jungkook threatened, pointing the chef knife at him.

“Violence is very sexy on you, baby.” Namjoon chuckled, not even glancing up from his papers. Jungkook rolled his eyes as he continued making their dinner, he was just starting to heat the oil after starting the rice maker when Jin walked into the kitchen.

Namjoon didn’t even glance at the man as he sat down in the stool next to him and started looking over the papers across the counter.

“You’re still fighting the drug cartels, Namjoon-ah, it’s been two years.” Jin scolded, flicking through various papers with his crooked fingers. The cast on his left wrist not hindering his movements at all. “They still won’t come to an agreement.”

Namjoon hummed as his pen continued to flow over the page in front of him, “They haven’t liked our changes to the contract they’ve given us.”

“Too many loopholes to benefit them, I guess.” Nodding when Namjoon hummed in agreement. “Why aren’t you just plowing them over and demanding their cooperation?”

Namjoon gave Jin a swift look before returning his gaze back down as he flipped another page over.

“Ah, I forgot.” Jin hummed in amusement. “You’re a pacifist, would rather try and talk to them for two years instead of just beating them bloody.”

Namjoon rolled his eyes and set his pen down, fixing a look at Jin. “Do you know how well connected the NCT Gang is?”

“Here we go again, I have not missed your lectures.” Jin muttered under his breath, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared at Namjoon.

“They are the largest and oldest drug dealers in history, most of the drugs around the world come from them. They have the largest underground manufacturing plant in the world. If I knew where it was, I’d have their operation in my hands before they could blink.” Namjoon states coldly, placing his linked hands on the counter. “It’s their most guarded secret, one I’m determined to know. So yes, I’ll continue arguing with their silly little contracts for another two years until they tell me.”

“What? Has Hoba lost his touch?” Jin scoffed, unfazed by Namjoon’s cold eyes. “Just sicc your big brother after him, I’m sure he’ll find their ‘secret lab’ in no time.”

“He’s tried, like I said it’s well hidden. There hasn’t been a record of its last location for fifty years.” Namjoon countered, sighing heavily as he dragged a hand down his face. “That's why I’m even entertaining their negotiations in the first place. Hobi needs more time to find it so we can make our move against them.”

Jungkook listened to all of this while he fried the chicken in the hot oil and sauteed the vegetables in some butter and spices.

“You make it sound like it's some lost treasure from a pirates movie,” Jin scoffed, rolling his eyes as Namjoon goes back to his paperwork. “Yah Jungkook-ah, are you sure you’re making that sauce right?”

Jungkook leveled a look at his brother over his shoulder, “Are you sure you’re allowed to judge my cooking skills? Don’t you have some soul searching to do, or maybe some meditation?”

Jin blinked, “Have you always been this sassy?”

Namjoon snorted when Jungkook simply stuck out his tongue as an answer before turning back to the stove top.

“How long do I have to wear this?” Jin asked as they sat down at the dining room table, lifting his leg to show off the ankle monitor on it.

“Until I can figure out how to wipe your memory of all the secrets you know,” Namjoon says with a smile, popping a piece of fried chicken into his mouth.

“You can’t put my brother into a coma, Namjoon,” Jungkook scolds before stuffing his face with a scoop of rice, humming happily as he chews it.

Jin blinks as he raises a scoop of food to his mouth, he looks over at Namjoon in shock. “You let him talk to you like that?”

Namjoon shrugs, “Why shouldn’t he? He’s my boyfriend, he can talk to me any way he likes.”

Jin opened his mouth then shrugged, stuffing his mouth with his scoop of food as he looked between the pair. His eyes narrow as he watches them pass small bowls of food to each other and as Namjoon opens a bottle of water for Jungkook, placing it in front of him before opening his own.

“You two,” Jin cuts in, making the couple look over at him as he points his chopsticks at them, “are way too cozy to have only dated for three weeks, what gives?”

Jungkook stared at his hyung in confusion, “I have no idea what you mean hyung.”

Jin narrows his eyes and opens his mouth to say something but the sound of the doorbell cuts him off.

“You don’t have a door, we came in through the elevator.” Jungkook says in confusion, looking over at Namjoon.

“It’s the intercom bell,” Namjoon explains, but doesn’t get up to see who it is. A moment later, Jimin comes around the corner. “You have the code Jiminie, why did you ring the bell?”

“Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t interrupting anything.” Jimin says slyly with a shrug, moving into the seat next to Jungkook and waving off the offer of food from him. “You asked to see me Namjoonie-hyung.”

Namjoon nodded, leaning back against his chair. “I want you to tell Jungkook what you found out about his BioChem professor.”

“Oh him,” Jimin says with an eye roll. “He was a real creep, Jungkook-ah, I don’t know how you put up with him.”

“I didn’t exactly have much of a choice,” Jungkook muttered, stuffing a piece of fried chicken into his mouth.

“Well he’s a class A creeper in more ways than one. His ‘tutoring’ session he tried to have you come to, was a cover for luring his students to his house.” Jimin explains, pulling out his phone and handing it to Jungkook. “He buried all of his victims under the foundation, most of them have been missing for the past few months but there are older bodies too. He’s been at this for a while.”

Jungkook swallowed thickly as he scrolled down the list of names and faces of the victims of his professor, some were young. Too young to be college students. “What did you do to him?”

Jimin hummed happily as he recounted, “I hung him by his intestines from his chandelier, then left an anonymous tip to the police. I think he finally died by the time they arrive on scene, whether it was from the blood loss or the choking we’ll never know.”

“It was probably the blood loss,” Jungkook says, setting the phone down and leaning back against his chair. “I assume you cut more than just his stomach to get to the intestines, shock would have entered the body as the blood left him. He probably wouldn’t have even felt his lack of oxygen.”

Jimin blinked, “I’ll remember that for next time then.”

Jungkook hummed as he tilted his head up to the ceiling, resting his head against the back of the chair. He crossed his arms over his chest, “If we find out another one of my professors is secretly a serial killer, I’m quitting school on the spot.”

Jin looks over at him, “You really think joining Namjoon’s company is going to be safer than staying at school?”

“Did the word safer come out of my fucking mouth, hyung?” Jungkook asked, not even moving to see the man blink in shock. “No, I don’t think it’ll be safer or easier or whatever the fuck you think I’d think it is. But at least I’d be informed upfront on who is trying to kill me and who isn’t.”

“Technically it would be safer,” Jimin cuts in, laying a hand on Jungkook’s shoulder. “You have the most powerful man in all of South Korea at your beck and call. Only the truly stupid would try and lay a finger on you.”

Namjoon placed his hand on the table top, offering it to Jungkook. Jungkook places his hand into it without hesitation, dropping his head to look at him. “No one can do anything to you without your permission, but if it’ll make you feel safer, I can have Hobi give you some light training while you are still at school. As much as I would love to hide you away from the world, I can’t. You might not have any family on the outside that would report your absence, but the school would. That’s one of the reasons why I want you to finish this semester.”

Jungkook nodded, “I didn’t even think about that. If Hobi-hyung has the time, I’d like for him to train me a bit.”

“He’ll make time for you,” Namjoon promised, placing a kiss on his knuckles. “Jimin, can you keep an eye on Seokjin?”

Jimin nodded as Namjoon led Jungkook out of the room, up the stairs, and into a pair of double doors at the far end of the balcony walkway. Jungkook doesn’t even glance around the large room, as soon as he clocks the large bed, he shuffles over to it. He kicks off his house shoes and scoots inside the covers, laying across the mattress on his stomach.

He hears Namjoon shuffle behind him for a moment before joining him on the bed. Jungkook sighs as Namjoon lays against his side, his heavy, warm weight across him like a weighted blanket. Namjoon presses his forehead against the back of Jungkook’s neck, his breath hits his skin with a warm waft sending goosebumps down his spine.

Jungkook lays his hand over Namjoon’s on his stomach and closes his eyes. As he drifts off to sleep the last thing he feels are Namjoon’s lips against the back of his neck.

Ended up writing my own fic based on my own dialogue prompt 😂

Dialogue prompt:

Character A: I would never put bruises on your knees like he does, sweetheart.

Character B, with a confused look on his or her face: I work in a dog kennel, these bruises aren’t for anybody!

Character A stares in disbelief before shuffling off awkwardly.

To de-stress after a long day at work, or just a long day in general, I like to listen to ASMR videos; especially ones that are meant to help you fall asleep. But I recently just found a Japanese ASMR YouTuber and I have never had a better experience before!

Brain completely off. Only good sounds and good vibes here ☺️

Writing a fic when you're uninspired:

*writes half a sentence* *checks tumblr; no updates* *checks discord; all servers; no updates* *goes back to doc* *re-reads last three sentences* *removes last half sentence written* Hmm I want some tea ... *makes tea* *checks tumblr again; one new post* *checks discord; all servers; no updates* *checks four latest opened tabs* *remembers an old fandom you haven't thought of in years; goes to AO3 to see if there are any good fics for it* *opens three new fic tabs* *remembers that you're supposed to be writing* *writes a sentence* I'm kinda hungry ... *checks cupboards and fridge for snacks* *remembers that it's ten pm and you shouldn't snack at this hour* *remembers that you made tea; it is now cold* *drinks cold tea* *re-reads last three sentences* *checks tumblr; no updates* *checks discord; all servers; no updates* *in desperation, checks twitter; it is a cesspool of evil so you check tumblr again; one update* *reblog* Hmm, I have too many tabs open ... *opens a random tab; it is a 70K fic with 1K worth of tags that you last visited three months ago* *reads fic* Four hours later: ... I should go to bed. *closes doc* Total words written: 44

We’re Dripping In It

Chapter Interlude: Daydream

Hoseok found Jin clutching his head and bowed over the dining room table as he left his office from a meeting. He caught a glimpse of Jungkook’s back retreating up the stairs and disappearing into Namjoon’s room. He looked back at Jin and sat down in the chair next to him, clearly the brothers had another spat.

Hoseok leaned back in his chair and waited for Jin to speak. He was just starting to think of what he should order for dinner when Jin spoke up.

“I didn’t know he was on the streets, she didn’t tell me.” Jin whispered hoarsely, into his hands. He pounded his fist onto the table in anger. “She lied to me!”

“That seems to be your mother’s M.O. at this point, I’m sorry to say.” Hoseok murmured, ignoring the glare that Jin threw his way. “Why weren’t you there Jin? Why weren’t you home to watch over your brother?”

Jin sniffed and looked back down at the table, “We were broke, dirt broke. Mom was still using, it was draining any funds we had from her retirement and from what dad had left us. I barely had enough to send Jungkook to school in Seoul and afford his travel there, but I was making it work. I took as many jobs as I could, I stayed out of company business but it wasn’t enough. So, I started taking the odd job from any company that would hire me. I was working to feed him when he ran away to live in Seoul.”

“He didn’t just up and leave, Jin. He was kicked out. He probably didn’t even know what you were doing for him.” Hoseok said softly, looking over at Jin’s slumped form.

“I know that now, I didn’t then.” Jin said softly, his hands slumping on the table top. “All this time, I’ve been thinking that you guys corrupted my little brother. Not that you saved him from much worse.”

“I told you that I kept my promise Jin, I kept him safe and trained him while he was with me, secretly of course. But all the credit goes to Yoongi-hyung and Tae, they’ve taken the most care of him. They’ve treated him like the son they can never have.” Hoseok says, laying a hand on Jin’s shoulder.

“I don’t know what to do now, Hoba. How do I mend this?” Jin whispered, looking over at Hoseok with shining eyes.

“Be there for him now,” Hoseok says softly, brushing a hand through Jin’s hair before resting it against the back of his head and scratching the short hairs there. “Don’t fight with him about his choice about being here, he’s already made up his mind. Get to know him, spend time with him, and listen to him. He’s a good kid, he’s got a big heart. If you show him how much you care about him, he’ll let you in. It’s just going to take some time.”

Jin sighed and leaned his head against Hoseok’s shoulder, “It’s not fair how good you are with words.”

Hoseok chuckled and placed his arm around Jin’s shoulders, “You can blame Joonie for that, you need to have a way with words to compete with him.”

Jin chuckled hoarsely and laid a hand on Hoseok’s stomach, “I’m going to have to apologize to everyone, aren’t I? I’ve been a bastard this whole time.”

“You’ve always been a bastard,” Hoseok chuckled when Jin smacked his stomach in response. “An apology would be nice, but I would have a conversation with everyone. They need to hear your side of the story, they’ll understand.”

Jin hummed, “I’m sorry, Hoba. I shouldn’t have left the way I did.”

“I knew you weren’t going to stay Jin,” Hoseok sighed, placing a hand on top of the one laying on his stomach. “It didn’t make it hurt less when you did, but after killing your father’s murderer I knew you wouldn’t stay.”

“I’m sorry for just leaving a note though, I should have said goodbye properly.” Jin sighed at the memory of his sudden departure all those years ago, Hoseok hummed in acknowledgement. “Did you ever find your birth parents?”

“I did,” Hoseok sighed, leaning his head back against the wooden chair as Jin settled over his chest. “They’re dead in a ditch somewhere, drug overdose. Serves them right.”

“You don’t mean that,” Jin scowled lightly, intertwining their fingers over top Hoseok’s toned stomach.

Hoseok scoffed, “They sold their son for their drug addiction, then promptly died of an overdose from those drugs. Karma killed them, I’ve had enough time to be thankful for it.”

“Are you still having any episodes?” Jin asked softly, running a thumb across Hoseok’s knuckles.

Hoseok hummed, “Not often, I’m more determined than ever to help Namjoon take control of the drug cartels. I don’t want any other parent to have to deal with what mine did when they brought me home. I don’t want anyone else to grow up with the lasting effects.”

“Are you going to shut them down, once you have them?” Jin asks, making a confused noise when Hoseok makes a negative one.

“I wish we could, I wish we could just destroy all the drugs across South Korea, but people will just get them from somewhere else. We can’t stop that, but we can stop the mass produced junk from getting on the streets.” Hoseok explained gently, running his other hand up and down Jin’s shoulder. “Right now, the stuff that’s being put on the streets is killing people. Namjoon and I want to put a stop to that, we want to make sure that the doses are controlled and as safe as they could be.”

“You can’t stop all of the corruption.” Jin pointed out lazily.

“No, but we can sell our better product at half the price. We’ll run the rest of the dealers out of the country.” Hoseok chuckled, picking up one of his legs to stretch it over the seat of another chair.

Jin hummed, “So, what’s been going on between you and Jimin? I sense tension.”

Hoseok frowned and looked down at the crown of Jin’s head on his chest, “Tension? Do we seem angry with each other?”

Jin scoffed, Hoseok could practically feel the eye roll against his chest. “Not that kind of tension, Hoba. Sexual tension, you dummy.”

“Oh,” Hoseok murmured. “Right that, Jimin and I have only really started flirting with each other for the past two years. I’ve been hesitant to start anything with him, because of the kind of company he came from. I saved him from it and he needed time to heal from his past. Yoongi-hyung and Tae have helped him a lot with that.”

“Don’t wait too long Hoba, he’s not going to wait around forever. And he’d be a fool to let you slip away, like I did.” Jin sighed, removing himself from Hoseok’s embrace and started moving out of his chair. Hoseok reached a hand out and grasped Jin’s, he looked down at the man in question.

“I didn’t slip away, Jin, you just haven’t caught up to my pace yet.” Hoseok said, standing to his feet, he leaned forward and placed a kiss against Jin’s cheek. “Get some rest, we have work to do tomorrow.”

Hoseok slipped his hand out of Jin’s and walked up to his room, he caught a glimpse of Jimin’s door swiftly closing and sighed as he passed it. Pausing in front of the door he whispered, “Come talk to me when you’re ready, Jimin. I don’t need miscommunication on both sides.”

He moved to walk past to his room but stopped when the door swung open. Jimin glared at him, his face streaming with tears.

“What the hell do you mean by that?! It seemed pretty obvious what you meant!” Jimin whispered hoarsely, clutching the door knob in his hand with white knuckles.

“Did it?” Hoseok asked, stepping towards Jimin with a challenging look. “Then you weren’t listening hard enough.”

Jimin scowled and moved to shut the door in his face, Hoseok hesitated for a second before slamming his palm against the door and pushed himself into Jimin’s room. He let the door swing closed behind him and got into Jimin’s space.

“Are you going to listen to me Jimin, or are you going to continue jumping to conclusions?” Hoseok asked softly, his nose brushing lightly against Jimin’s. He caught Jimin’s fists in his hands and pushed him to the bed, forcing him onto his back onto the mattress and straddling his waist. He planted Jimin’s hands above his head, holding tight to his wrists as the man struggled underneath him.

“Jimin,” Hoseok scolded, dodging a headbutt from him. “Be reasonable here.”

“You’re the one pinning me to the bed!” Jimin grunted indignantly, thrusting his hips up to try and flip them over but was unsuccessful.

“Fine, then you can just listen while I hold you still.” Hoseok sighed, adjusting his weight to keep Jimin’s legs from kicking him. “I’m not choosing between you and Jin.”

Jimin froze and stared up at him in confusion, “What do you mean by that?”

Hoseok wished he could scratch his nose in embarrassment, his cheeks felt hot as he looked down at the comforter and not at Jimin’s confused face. “What I feel for the two of you is different. I don’t like you in the same way that I like Jin and vice versa and I’ve never been one to… settle with just one person. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Hoseok glanced back at Jimin’s face blinking at him as he tried to process what he was hinting at. Then it clicked and Jimin deflated on top of the bed.

“Does Seokjin know that? About you?” Jimin asked as Hoseok slowly released his hold on Jimin’s wrists.

Hoseok scratched the back of his head, “Yes, it came up in conversation once, but I wasn’t with anyone when he came the first time around.”

Jimin hummed and placed his hands on Hoseok’s thighs that were still on either side of his waist, “What exactly happened between you and Seokjin? I know he left after killing his father’s murderer but you guys seemed close just now.”

Hoseok sighed, “Nothing really ever happened, we just bonded easier than the others. I trained him before Namjoon did, but it never led to anything. Jin was too focused on finding the man that killed Jang-ssi and I needed to keep my brother from burning himself to the ground.”

“What did Seokjin mean when he said you have episodes?” Jimin asked, tilting his head as he looked up at the man.

Hoseok blinked for a moment, “Haven’t I told you that my birth mother took drugs while pregnant with me?”

Jimin blinks back at him and scrunches his brows, “No! I didn’t even know you were adopted!”

“Oh,” Hoseok murmurs, giving Jimin a sheepish look. “Namjoon’s parents found me in a rival company's warehouse, my birth parents sold me for their drug addiction. I had withdrawal symptoms as a baby and while growing up. They aren’t as bad now, I’ll only get them if I’m not sleeping well or I’m under too much stress.”

“So how did Seokjin find out?” Jimin asked, clutching his hands on Hoseok’s hips.

Hoseok shrugged, “I told him, it helped us bond. And then he witnessed some of my seizures, it was a very stressful time then. I’m thankful for it though, it helped me keep Jin under control. He listened to me better than Namjoon and Yoongi, especially after seeing me like that.”

Jimin nodded in understanding and his gaze returned at a teasing one, “So, when you say that you feel differently for each of us, what do you mean by that?”

Hoseok scratched the end of his nose and looked away from Jimin’s sultry eyes underneath him. He mumbled incoherently as Jimin started running his hands slowly up Hoseok’s chest.

“What was that? You were mumbling,” Jimin teased, sliding his hands up to Hoseok’s shoulders and suddenly flipping them over so that he was on top and straddling Hoseok’s waist.

Hoseoked looked anywhere but at Jimin’s teasing face, “I’m not sure what you want me to say, Jimin.”

Jimin hummed as he settled over Hobi’s pelvis, running his hands up and down Hobi’s chest. “I want you to tell me what you feel about me and Seokjin, and how you want us to move forward.”

“Well, I like both of you. I’m attracted to both of you,” Hobi mumbled, catching Jimin’s hands before they wandered lower on his stomach. “But I don’t want to pressure either of you into a relationship with me if both of you hate each other.”

“I don’t hate Seokjin, I barely know him.” Jimin countered, twisting their fingers together. Smiling when Hobi finally meets his gaze, “And he can’t be that bad if you were willing to share your past with him. I’m willing to see where it goes with the three of us, if Seokjin is willing. This needs to be an agreement between all of us.”

Hobi nods in agreement, “What do we do if Jin isn’t willing to try?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Jimin says with a shrug, before leveling Hobi a very serious look. “I can share you with him, Hobi, but only him. I understand your preferences, but we’re not immediately looking for another person if Seokjin doesn’t agree.”

“I know that, Jimin, I didn’t mean it like that.” Hobi assured him, pulling him down to hold him against his chest. “I’ve usually joined someone else’s relationship, not start my own. I was shocked how long I liked Jin for, then you came along and the feelings for both of you just grew, even in his absence. I’d never try to force you into a relationship with someone else. It’s Jin for us, or no one.”

Jimin hums happily as he settles across Hobi’s chest, tucking his legs between the other man’s. “You have good tastes in men, I must say. Have you seen how hot that man is, damn I would have jumped his bones if you hadn’t.”

Hobi snorts as he reaches over and turns off the lamp, bathing the room in darkness. “Trust me I know, try sparring with him some time. It’ll take every level of self control you have after hearing the sounds he makes while being tossed onto the mat.”

“I’ll spar with him tomorrow then,” Jimin says cheerily, pulling the comforter over the top of them. He smiles as Hobi’s chest shakes with his sunshine laughter, closing his eyes and tucking his face into the man’s neck as he starts to drift off. The smell of Hobi’s vanilla body wash soothing him into a gentle sleep.