You felt light. 

For the past few days, your heart had been a rough knot pushing against the inside of your chest, and it now felt as if it had come untied. There was an incomparable feeling of warmth and comfort that hit you when you first opened your eyes, finding Jimin's face in front of you.

Sometimes, you sat down in an uncomfortable place, or couldn't sleep in a particular position. The feeling that overcame you was like that of falling asleep anyway—of being in a shitty situation, but managing to find a patch of sunlight in the most desolate garden. Hope.

You felt hope.

"How long are you going to stare at me?"

You flinched momentarily, before exhaling and lightly hitting Jimin's chest. "Jeez, you scared me."

"That was my intention, yes." He yawned, a sleepy, smug smile on his face. "You deserve it, though."

With a deep breath, you smiled and lay back down into the pillows supporting you. Your neck and spine creaked when you tried to move, and your mouth felt horrible and dry, but you barely cared. You were in a good place, and you weren't going to move on anytime soon.

"What do we do now?" Jimin questioned, placing his palm against your bare back in a gentle caress. "I've never really had to talk to someone after sex, in a serious-relationship way, so I'm a little lost here."

"I'd tell you, but I'm just as bad at this as you are."

"True, that."

"How about we brush?" you suggested suddenly, the stench emanating from your mouth hitting you like a ton of bricks. "God, I forgot to brush last night."

"I think your mouth smells because of my—"

"Please." You smiled, scrunching up your face, and placed a hand on his chest, pushing him slightly away from you. "Not round three."

Jimin laughed. The first sunbeams of the day filtered through the window and caught in his hair like light in spiderwebs, making it shine. You held your breath.

"I can't believe that," you said at length, looking at him with pure affection in his eyes.

Jimin's heart constricted in his chest as he noticed the way you were looking at him. So this is why domestic stuff was so popular with his friends. "Believe what?"

"That you look like that."

He smiled evenly. "You know what I can't believe yet?"

"Hm?" You felt lazy again—well, no, not exactly lazy. You felt utter comfort, right there in his arms, after a few hours of undisturbed sleep.

"That Taehyung fed you that bullshit." His face dropped. "Do you think he was lying, or—"

"I don't know," you said softly, tracing an invisible pattern into his chest. "I don't think I'll ever know. And weirdly, I'm okay with that."

A slow smile bloomed on his features, making him glow, like light coming out through a crack. "What now?"

"We talk."

"Uh-huh," he mumbled, closing his eyes and pressing his forehead to yours. Your breath was soft, unmatched with his, but it felt like a ballad, setting him at peace. "Why else would we be here?"

|

"Why are we here?" Taehyung raised an eyebrow as he watched Jimin slide his hands into his pockets. "Do you two want to beat me up or something?"

"Well, I'd love to." Jimin glared at the boy. "But no—I have no clue why we're here either."

The dark-haired boy frowned before turning to the third party present in the empty room. "Did you do this on purpose, Jungkook?"

The boy in question didn't respond immediately, letting his face set into a calm expression. "It was urgent."

"You could've called me separately," Jimin muttered. "I don't want to be here with him."

Taehyung rolled his eyes. "What are you, five?"

"Don't underestimate five-year-olds."

"So you're admitting you are five years old."

"What? No," Jimin said, indignant, frowning at Taehyung. "No, I didn't—wait. What? You—" he cut himself off, scowling. "You're so annoying."

"Are you bullying me, Jimin?" Taehyung asked, raising his eyebrows in an expression of irony. He placed a hand over his heart, feigning hurt. "Do you have a crush on me?"

"You little—"

Being completely absorbed in their argument, the two didn't notice Jungkook slyly slipping out of the room until the door slammed shut. 

Their heads whipped to the door in simultaneous surprise. They rushed to open it, and yet after multiple attempts, it did not budge. 

Jimin sighed, pulling at the handle one last time. "No use. The bastard must have locked it."

"You fight like children!" Came Jungkook's voice from behind the door, his barely held-in laugh audible in his voice.

"And what's wrong with doing something like children?" Jimin hollered back.

The dark-haired boy growled lowly. "I'm going to kill him."

"I'm with you on that one." The blonde grumbled.

They both paused as they looked at each other, before bursting out laughing. 

"I still don't like you," Jimin said as his laugh faded out slowly, hands on his knees. "Just because I laughed that one time doesn't mean we're suddenly friends."

Taehyung snorted, a surprisingly inelegant sound for him. "Sounds like you want me to beg for it."

The blond smirked, nose wrinkling in half-disgust, half-amusement. "For a supposedly charming guy, you sure do have a lot of kinks."

"You just assumed I didn't have them."

"That's not funny."

"Yeah. Sorry." Taehyung shrugged, then frowned as a thought occured to him. "Wait, no, I'm not."

Jimin dropped to the floor in a squat, suddenly overcome. "I can't believe Jungkook locked us in here," he said mournfully, looking at the floor with Shakespearean sorrow in his eyes. "Do you think we can sue him?"

"I'm not a law student, but I don't think you can."

"Great." Jimin exhaled through his teeth, blowing his bangs away from his face. "Now what?"

The two remained silent for a long moment. Now that the moment of faint mutual distrust and dislike of Jungkook had faded, neither had any idea what to say. Jimin was still not pleased, but didn't want to provoke himself again. Taehyung, for the first time in some time, found himself at a loss of words.

Ah, damn it, Jimin thought. So did Taehyung, but a cleaner version.

"You know what?" Taehyung asked, amusement unfurling across his features like a scroll, shaking his head. "Let's talk."

||

And that's it! The final chapter of How To Be A Hoe!

Next up are a couple of special chapters I wanted to post for you guys - they may involve fluff, or some intense shit, but they're definitely going to be...insightful, so to speak.

And woah, I've reached almost 1K followers too-thank you so much, kittens!

Love,
Manx  

191224: htbah just won two fiction awards for best fanfiction and best overall story, and i'm at a loss for words, perhaps even more so that these two. how could i ever repay this enormous debt? the fact that you guys gave this book a chance despite its vaguely disturbing title, read through it by being immensely patient with my lame ass, and actually decided to vote for it thousands and tens of thousands of times???? i can't process this???

thank you so much. this is the best early christmas present i could ever ask for. when i was barely a writer on this platform, i used to look at stories with a thousand reads with awe. there was a time i saw a single paragraph have over a thousand comments and was so impressed i took a screenshot of it. and the fiction awards? they were WAY above my level.

now i have millions of reads and thousands of amazing readers to be thankful for—i've had paragraphs with multiple thousand inline comments and now have not one but two fiction awards (one of them for best overall !!) and yet never quite feel like i belong. i always thought it was an accident, a mistake that i ended up in the big leagues with all of these amazing authors. i don't think i'll EVER stop believing that, but i still get so surprised when i see my own account.

even if i fade out someday, even if i don't always meet your expectations, thank you. from the bottom of my icy heart, thank you. so much. i don't deserve you, and you deserve much better than me, but thank you.

love,
Manx.