"and it's out!"

jungkook hit refresh on his phone just to verify that his latest single really had been posted and shared to all his socials. a picture of him taken a month before graced the news of it, begging people to see past a tattered image and waltz into his new world.

tae gripped the boys hand reassuringly, staring sweetly at the sight in front of him.

after hours of cake and snacks and splatters of paint on carpet that he would clean tomorrow, sat four boys and a tiny toddler who was snoring just as gently as jungkook did. namjoon and jin claimed to be too old for the floor, figures curled up against each edge of the couch but hands intertwined.

the only two left awake were the newly reacquainted, in their own world.

"i'm not going to look at it or monitor it or make any comment on it! i am going to let it be entirely organic." jungkook spoke the words more to himself than to anybody else but tae nodded along anyways.

"i think that's a good plan."

"and whatever happens, it will be what it will be! fate or whatever, maybe i'm meant for the background now. i could do what namjoon does!" the younger boy was talking a mile a minute, his hands shifting nervously in his lap, ever so slightly bumping his daughter who only burrowed herself deeper into the pillow that she had sprawled over him.

"for not wanting to dwell, you're rambling!" taehyung held a grape up, filling his man's mouth with food as a distraction from the stress, "why don't you try to get some sleep? it's late- or early!"

both glanced out the oversized windows, the sun peeking over the edge of the city like a spotlight. jungkook had almost forgot what the sunrise looked like when it wasn't cascading over hills of natural foliage and instead, coating a city that was already booming. how desperately he wanted to walk around and be a part of it, "do you actually mind staying with jiwoo? i'd like to go for a walk around the city quick- before it gets too late in the day!"

"are you sure?" the older let his digits wrap around his boyfriend's wrist cautiously, nervous as he pondered if a morning stroll meant more than that.

"just a walk, okay?" jungkook let his lips fall onto tae's forehead, shifting his daughter to the lap of a person who she had grown fond of in a short period of time, "i'll be back within the hour!"

taehyung could only nod, hoping he was safe. hoping that he was making wise choices, good ones, that he knew what he was doing-

the fact of the matter was jungkook had survived years without him; he had to trust that.

the youngest slipped through the front door, a hooded black jacket covering his overgrown hair, shielding a majority of himself from anyone who might recognize him. he knew where he was headed- the address engraved in his mind, the one he had looked up just days before.

he had verified it with a mutual friend, and then verified it with the web, and then verified it with a source that he had to pay a lot of money too. he had checked and rechecked and mapped out the walk, shocked at how close park jimin lived to him.

had he known, maybe he'd gone sooner but, it wouldn't have been beneficial. the rage was too fresh, anger still clouding any point of rationality. the world was different now, brighter, the ground dusted in gold as he thought about the scene he had just left- it was beautiful and serene. it filled him with joy that was beyond what his life a year ago could even imagine.

and the thought of going home to it was enough to guide his hand to the door, pounding ever so slightly and waiting for the familiar shuffle of small feet on the other side. in a whirl of cotton candy pink, jimin's head popped out, as shocked as a deer in headlights to see the person in front of him that he never expected to catch a glance of again.

"jungkook?"

"hi stranger." the younger tapped his toes against the carpeted cement in the hallway, wondeirng how long it would be before jimin asked him in- maybe he never would, "how're you?"

"fine, and you?" the tension could be cut with a knife, thick with the fog of a relationship that never could have been.

"i'm good."

they stood in awkward silence, neither glancing directly at the other.

"are you going to let me in or not?" jungkook couldn't help himself, antsy to get the words from his chest.

"c- come in... i- i- i guess!" jimin let his eyes fall to the boys clenched fist, nervous that he was about to get beat up- both physically and emotionally.

"i'm only here... for closure!" jungkook reassured the older before scanning the contents of an apartment he had never been too, "what we did was wrong and what you did to expose it was also wrong but, it was for the best. i'm the happiest i've ever been right now- sometimes you just need a push."

"a push?" jimin huffed, a bit annoyed at the fact that jungkook seemed to be pinning all the blame on him in the moment, dismissing the emotion of their affair and disregarding it entirely.

"a push." he repeated, the familiar glassy orbs a sight for sore eyes, he couldn't deny that the boy in front of him was beautiful. a pang of nostalgia luring him in but the reality of the situation pulling him back, "why did you do it?"

"do what?" so he was going to play dumb.

"why did you release all that stuff about us and about me and-," jungkook gulped down the forming sob, "i thought you were my best friend."

jimin seemed to retract at that, embarrassed by a confrontation he hadn't expected, "it was selfish."

"well, i know that but why?" the younger did his best to not raise his voice or a threatening fist, something he had been known for in the past.

"i thought..." it was clear how uncomfortable the pink-haired boy was, a bead of panicked sweat across his forehead, "i knew you didn't love jennie, and i thought, that you loved me."

his words fumbled on top of one another, thoughts of long forgotten feelings toppling out onto the floor, "and i thought by telling everyone we were together and by telling everyone the true you, that maybe we could be more."

the silence was suffocating, both staring anywhere but at each other and internally jimin wanted to say more. he had a mountain of things that had been left without a home, eating away, his stomach turning every morning as he remembered sleeping next to jungkook. the reality of loneliness was bleaker than expected.

"i'm so sorry jungkook." the final phrase was barely a whisper, only audible to the space between them.

jungkook pressed his lips together, a thin line of contemplation, he pondered for a moment, "so, you did it out of love?"

jimin popped an eyebrow, "wh- what?"

"although selfish, you did it because you loved me and you wanted us to have a fair shot?"

"y- yes, exactly." his hands drifted over one another, pulsing and writhing about, he wondered where this was leading.

jungkook only hummed, making the moment between them feel infinite. it was evident the gears in his head were turning, replaying every trace of what had been written of him that came from the words of his former friend. the sex on the way to award shows while the wife showed up in a separate car, the copious amounts of empty booze bottles found in the bathtubs of shared hotel rooms, and of course the ever personal details about the life of his daughter and how she came to be. everything shared was more personal than the last, private portraits of him half asleep with a baby on his chest, passed out on the sidewalk of a penthouse that didn't belong to him, of course an arrest that featured a giant black eye which his pr team had paid good money to keep out of the magazines- it was all splashed about everywhere because of park jimin. jungkook's private matters had become a spectacle that never needed to be.

"can we sit?" jimin pointed to the couch, "can we catch up?"

he had read the room wrong, at least partially. the younger shook his head and retreated to the door, "it's important for my recovery that i forgive you and that i let what you did go. please know i don't hold any animosity but i also hold... no love for you anymore. no trust. how could i?"

the question was fair, the feelings- jimin knew but it left him empty. he wanted to be that love and trust and that light for jungkook again, a man who had swept him so far off his feet, he no longer knew up from down. he mustered the only sincere words that he could, "i hope you're doing well now."

jungkook laughed, thinking over what a silly phrase that was coming from a man that had tried to ruin him. but he had to say his piece and leave. he had to let go. and he was well now, his eyes sparkling, skin drenched in color and vibrancy that had once been drained by exhaustion. he was happy and loved and light on his feet- inspired even. he glanced at jimin once more-

"best i've ever been."