"So this, children," Hoseok said calmly, stuffing his gloved hands into the pocket of his over-sized down-filled coat, "is why rule three exists."

"Don't let Kim Taehyung into the liquor cabinet," Namjoon and Jimin droned in unison - Namjoon slightly more darkly than did Jimin.

Jeongguk jogged a little to catch up. "It wasn't that bad," he protested. "I think it would have been fine if Yuna and Chanmi hadn't asked him to do a whole line of them—"

"Restraint," Yoongi interjected, waving his free hand to cut Jeongguk off, "is an important skill to learn. If all your friends were settin' shots of straight liquor on fire, would you?"

"I was the only one who touched the propane torch," Taehyung mumbled under his breath. "Kookie didn't use it at all."

"My point still stands," Yoongi said, tightening his grip on Jimin's hand and tugging him in close.

Their breath fogged in the cold of the February evening as they walked home in near-silence, the yellow-green light of the street lights like pools of lucidity in the darkness. They'd left the Beta Tau Sigma house hours ago - the temperature had dropped significantly since then and now they each huddled into themselves like snails, trying to retain whatever body heat they could.

Yoongi and Jimin clung tightly to each other, gloved fingers laced together, but no one mentioned it. The whole thing had been kind of a dumb idea - maybe it would have been smart another time, another year, with other versions of themselves - but they'd made it through and now Yoongi and Jimin clung tightly to each other. Against what, no one knew but them, but then maybe it was better that way.

They were a block away from home when Namjoon stopped short, Hoseok nearly running into him. "Did we leave Jin?" Namjoon said, turning and staring back the way they came. "I was so distracted, I didn't—"

"He's finding his own way home," Jimin interrupted nervously, stuttering the words. "He - he said he had some other stuff to do. That he'd be back late."

Namjoon shot him an odd look. "Okay," he said after a second. "I'm just... surprised he didn't text me, I guess."

"Yeah, well." Jimin looked down at the sidewalk and pushed forward, dragging Yoongi behind him. "He seemed busy."

"Next Valentine's Day," Yoongi growled as Jimin pulled him down the sidewalk, "I vote we stay home."

NAMJOON
Earlier that day

It wasn't Valentine's Day proper anymore, it was the Friday following - and Hoseok was in the living room on his phone, pacing back and forth chewing on his lower lip when Namjoon came thumping down the stairs. Jin was sitting on the couch watching him pace with a dispassionately bemused look on his face and a cup of tea steaming in one hand, legs tucked up under him. He glanced up when he heard Namjoon hit the bottom landing and he arched his eyebrows in a quick jump of acknowledgment, mouth quirking slightly - the kiss of his lips pursing with something akin to vague amusement.

"No one's pickin' up their damn phone," Hoseok grumbled, pulling the phone from his face and stabbing at it irritably before pressing it to his ear again.

"I don't have to go," Jin said, and from the patient, lilting sound of it Namjoon could tell that it was a sentence Jin had already said maybe a dozen times already.

Namjoon fell onto the couch next to Jin, stretching his arm over the back behind Jin's head. Jin adjusted a little - moved so that his legs were crossed under him instead of tucked side-saddle to prop him up in the corner of the couch - and leaned into Namjoon's side so that they could converse in low voices. "Hoseok," Jin said quietly, bringing his mug of tea conspiratorially to his lips, "forgot that we initiated a new pledge."

Namjoon arched one eyebrow. "... so?"

"So," Hoseok interjected, ending his umpteenth unsuccessful call and scrolling through his contacts, "so this whole plan we came up with is in danger. We had a plan, hyung—"

"Don't call me hyung," Namjoon interrupted, but his heart wasn't in it. He glanced down. "Is that ginseng jujube tea?"

"Mm." Jin swallowed his mouthful and held the mug out to him. "Just got it the other day. Want to try it?"

"—we had a plan," Hoseok pressed on, rolling his eyes. "And I totally fucked it up. We have to make a good showing!"

"I don't have to go," Jin sighed (again), as Namjoon took a tentative sip of his tea. "I already said. I never really liked this party anyway, and anyway I have to be up early tomorrow morning to pick up my cousin from—"

"Wait." Namjoon handed the mug back, wiping his mouth with the back of his wrist. The jujube was too weird with the ginseng, it tasted like samgyetang without chicken. "Are we talking about that annual Valentine's Day thing?"

Jin shrugged. "At the Tau Delta house. Yeah. Remember last year? The Alpha Omega Alpha sorority approached us about teaming up? To make a good showing," he added, voice going a little funny as he slipped into a poor approximation of Hoseok's satoori. "There were six of us, there were six of them, they needed to make a good impression on the Sigma Nu Sigma Deltas and we—"

"We won't be embarrassed again," Hoseok growled, pressing the phone to his ear with a certain air of finality. "Not in front of them."

"Sometimes I wonder," Jin murmured under his breath and tucking into his mug of tea a bit, "if you didn't take it a bit far with the whole Tau Delta rivalry thing."

"No distance is too far with those fuckers," Namjoon replied mildly, hand slipping down the couch cushion to brush the backs of his fingers against the curve of Jin's shoulder. "A Beta Tau Sigma never forgets."

"I'm not saying forget, necessarily. I'm saying that maybe a little forgiveness goes a long—"

"Mina!" Hoseok had finally gotten through to somebody and had fallen to his knees in the middle of the carpet in sheer relief. (Sometimes, Namjoon mused to himself, he wondered if it shouldn't have been Hoseok double-majoring in Music and Theater instead of Taehyung. Drama seemed to run in his veins.) "Thank god, do you know that I've been trying to call all of you all day?"

Namjoon shot Jin a curious look. Jin just rolled his eyes. "Fifteen minutes," he mouthed conspiratorially. "At most."

"Listen," Hoseok was saying, running a hand through his hair, "I can't believe I forgot about this, but we got a new pledge this last January and I don't know if we still have the right number of - what?"

"I told him I didn't have to go," Jin commented to Namjoon, shrugging.

"You have to come," Namjoon said, trying to keep his voice even. "It wouldn't be right without you there. You're the heart and soul of the frat."

"I'm the cook. There's a difference."

"You're the mom. There's no difference. I—" Namjoon bit his tongue. "We need you there. Come on, Jin—"

"Oh, thank god," Hoseok sighed, running a hand over his face. "Okay, no, yeah, that's perfect. Thank you. Yeah, everything's still on. Make sure to tell Ji— what?" His eyes flickered over to glance at Namjoon and Jin, anxiety flashing briefly over his face - turning off and on shutter-quick and almost imperceptible. "Y-yeah, it'll be okay. It's just one party, right? Right. Okay. Awesome." He ended the call, letting out a long exhalation of relief. "Thank god. They also have a new pledge - a freshman, like Kookie. She was just gonna stay home, but now we're okay."

"See?" Namjoon pinched Jin's shoulder lightly before shoving back up off the couch. "Cinderella, you are going to the ball."

Jin rolled his eyes. "Be still my beating heart."

YOONGI

"I don't like this," Yoongi muttered, scratching irritably at his hairline.

"It's one night," Jimin cooed gently, reaching up to tighten Yoongi's tie, adjust the lapels of his blazer, brush a bit of fluff off of his shirt collar. "And it's not like you'll be alone."

Yoongi made a face at him, leaning away a little. "That's the part I don't like."

"I mean," Jimin pressed on, curving in to pursue Yoongi's ambivalent escape, "that we'll all be there. You aren't just being shoved out the door into the night with some strangers. And anyway," he continued lightly, stepping away to sit down on the bed, "you didn't have a problem with it last year. Something about not being strong-armed out of our traditions by a superior force?" He inspected his fingernails nonchalantly, crossing his legs primly at the knee with his ankles together. "Where'd that bravado go?"

"We didn't have dates last year," Yoongi protested weakly, turning away with the cheap excuse of closing the drawers of his dresser but mostly just trying not to look Jimin in the eye. "I don't know. I just... I just don't like it. That's all."

"Did you not want to go with Jimin?"

That was Hoseok, sticking his head in the door with an almost evil expression on his face. He was wearing a trim oxford, a red silk tie, black dress socks, a pair of bright blue boxer briefs... and nothing else.

Yoongi sneered at him, feeling his cheeks pinking up embarrassingly. "The fuck are your pants?"

Hoseok shrugged. "Basement. Jin just about had a fit when he saw how wrinkled they were. They're currently in the process of having the everloving hell ironed out of 'em."

Jimin leaned back on his hands on the mattress and laughed - that high, twinkling laugh that only showed up when he was truly, wickedly delighted by something. (Yoongi wasn't sure how healthy it was that he'd already memorized and categorized and organized all of Jimin's laughs, but then to be absolutely fair he didn't really give a shit.) He'd been one of the first ones dressed, his suit trim and perfect, the collar of his shirt starched and the red handkerchief arranged artfully in his breast pocket and his trousers custom-made for him because the muscles in his thighs prevented him from buying pants off the rack.

"Yoongi-hyung just isn't sure about this whole date thing," Jimin said lightly, shrugging sweetly. "I keep telling him it'll be fine - we'll all be there to back him up—"

"And it's really just for the entrance anyway," Hoseok said, adjusting his tie. He glanced over his shoulder, down the steps. "Yeah, I'll be right there! Trousers ironed," he commented through the door as he pulled away. "Don't mess each other's clothing up too much while I'm gone, a'right?"

Yoongi glanced at Jimin just in time to catch the wry grin and the eye roll. "What?"

"Hyung," Jimin said. "It's like he thinks we can't control ourselves for five whole minutes."

Yoongi looked down at Jimin, sitting languidly on his bed (his bed, Yoongi's bed, the same bed they'd had their first kiss, their first touch, their first everything) and felt something dark and hot curl in the pit of his stomach. Jimin, with his sharp jawline and curving eyes. Jimin, with his small hands and thick lips. Jimin, with his thighs straining at the thin fabric of his trousers.

"Right," Yoongi croaked out. "Five minutes. Pfft. No problem."

"It's one night," Jimin said again - eyes flickering up, smile quirking at the corner of his mouth. "And it's not like we aren't coming back here after everything."

"Yeah," Yoongi said. "Yeah. One night."

JEONGGUK

"Okay," Jeongguk said slowly, standing in the middle of the room that he now shared with Jimin and Taehyung as Taehyung dug around in the closet for something mysteriously and hopefully not particularly alarming, "I think I'm gonna need you to run that by me again."

"There's a Valentine's Day party," Taehyung said, voice muffled in layers and layers and layers of fabric. (Most of Taehyung's clothing was distributed betweeN either the chest of drawers by the window or in mismatched heaps on the floor - the closet had been taken over almost entirely by Jimin and, now, by Jeongguk.) "Every year. Tau Deltas have been throwing it for, god, like a billion years or something."

"Don't we have some kind of... I don't know... rivalry with them?"

Taehyung popped out of the tight space victoriously, hair sticking up, dust on his shirt, and something covered in a garment bag clutched triumphantly in his hands. "Oh man, yeah," he said, running a hand through his hair. Dust puffed out of the strands in dim gray clouds of fluff and lint. "Honestly I don't know the whole story, but there was this big, like..." He waved one of his hands vaguely in an illustration of uncertainty. "Like a schism or something? Beta Tau Sigma used to be part of Tau Delta."

Jeongguk blinked. "Wait, really?"

"Totes." Taehyung whapped the garment bag a couple of times, sending dust flying, before sneezing theatrically a few times. "Jesus. Nah, okay, so, like I said - I don't know the whole story - but basically the Tau Deltas are dicks, we're better, they're not as strict as we are, et cetera et cetera... but we still share some, like, traditions and shit." He held up the garment bag and tugged the zipper down almost reverently. "Case in point: the annual Valentine's Day party."

"That sounds kinda dumb," Jeongguk said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Jin swung around the door jamb, a hanger dangling from one forefinger. "It is." He shrugged. "It's practically compulsory, though. Something about upholding the dignity of the frat. I wouldn't go if Namjoon didn't force me to every year. Tae, did you find your suit?"

Taehyung shoved the garment bag the rest of the way off the hanger and extended his hand upward victoriously, holding the dark gray suit aloft like the proverbial brass ring. "The suit!" he cried, voice deep and booming in the way Jeongguk could only assume it was when he held the stage. "Disguise, I see, thou art a wickedness, wherein—"

"That's enough Midsummer Night's Dream," Jin cut in. "Just put on the suit and tell me if you need anything ironed. Jeongguk—"

"Midsummer Night's Dream?!" Taehyung staggered backward in horror. "That was Twelfth Night, hyung! Viola's monologue, act two—"

"'Some swore he was a maid in man's attire'," Jin shot back, "'for in his looks were all that men desire.' Put on the suit, Tae."

"You come into my chamber," Taehyung hissed. "You quote Christopher Marlowe at me."

"Jeongguk," Jin said again, pointedly ignoring Taehyung as he held the hanger in his hand out in Jeongguk's direction, "I know you don't have a suit so Hoseok and I put together a few things for you. Your legs are longer than his and your shoulders are narrower than mine but between the two of us we have a suit that probably works. It's ironed, just try it on. And try to get Tae to stop going into hysterics long enough to put his suit on, all right?"

Jeongguk glanced down at Taehyung, who was now splayed on the floor apparently reciting Juliet's death monologue from memory in a keening falsetto. "Does this happen often?"

"How if," Taehyung squeaked underfoot, "when I am laid into the tomb—"

"Couple times a month," Jin replied, voice raised so Jeongguk could hear him over the death throes. "I think he's got all the tragedies memorized."

("—to whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in—")

Hoseok stuck his head in the door. "Did you quote Marlowe at him again? What is he doing this time?"

"Juliet," Jin replied.

"Ooooh."

"Hey," Jeongguk said quickly, stepping forward. "Taehyung was saying something about this being a tradition from back when Tau Delta and Beta Tau Sigma were the same fraternity. Do either of you—"

"That's my cue," Hoseok said brightly, backpedaling furiously out into the hallway again. "We're meeting downstairs in five minutes, get Tae off the floor once he's done expiring."

"Yes," Jin said, rolling his eyes. "There was a schism. It was long and arduous and annoying and, most importantly, it is now over. Except for a few weird custody battle things now they just kind of have this weird sibling rivalry thing going on."

"Custody battle?"

("—festering in his shroud; where, as they say, at some hours in the night—")

"The Valentine's Day party is the main one." Jin adjusted his tie thoughtfully. "It was this huge thing, and when the two frats broke apart neither wanted to give it up - more a power struggle than anything - so now we have to dress up and go every single year whether we want to or not. Last year was a disaster so Hoseok-ah went and got everybody dates from one of the smaller sororities."

Somewhere above there was a thump following by muffled yelling. Jeongguk and Jin looked at each other for a second.

("—as with a club, dash out my desperate brains—")

"I should go," Jin said, backing out of the door. "Get Tae into his suit when you can, all right? He's almost to the end, so you'll have a minute of dramatic death and then you should be good to go."

Jeongguk looked down as Jin vanished up the stairs (yelling something about what did you lose this time, Joonie?) as Taehyung gasped for breath and cried, "Romeo, I come! this do I drink to thee," at his feet.

A Valentine's Day party sounded like a terrible idea. "Wait," he said after a second. "We have dates?"

The plan, (Hoseok explained impatiently, in the manner of someone who absolutely did not have time to go over this yet again), was this:
1. All members of the Beta Tau Sigma fraternity would wear suits with red ties and handkerchiefs;
2. All members of the Alpha Omega Alpha sorority would wear pink dresses;
3. They would meet at the corner of Fifth and Oak, two blocks from the Tau Delta house;
4. Pair up;
5. Wander into the party as casually as possible.

The idea was mostly to prevent anyone from being made fun of - the Tau Deltas were a much larger, more powerful frat than Beta Tau Sigma and the Alpha Omega Alphas had similar beef with the Sigma Nu Sigma Deltas, so it was that at some point since the last humiliating Valentine's Day party they had decided (okay, Hoseok had decided) to join forces and at the very least avoid ridicule.

"I don't like it," Yoongi said for what had to have been the thirtieth time, trudging along with both hands shoved into his trouser pockets and a truly dangerous look on his face.

"You were fine with it when I came up with it last year," Hoseok barked at him, "and I don't want to hear any complaining once we're near the girls. All right?"

"I don't—"

"No one said you had to like it," Namjoon interrupted, voice a little bit tight. "This is for the dignity of the frat, all right? Sometimes you need to neglect your own desires for the sake of the group. It's how shit like this works."

Jimin and Yoongi traded unreadable glances. "The dignity of the frat," Yoongi echoed, voice hollow. "Yeah. Right. Okay. I still don't like it."

"We're not particularly thrilled either," came a voice from just outside of the ring of light beamed down from the streetlights overhead. There was the telltale clicking noise of high heels on concrete and the Alpha Omega Alphas faded into view out of the dark. "But I think," said the girl leading the pack, tossing her hair over one shoulder and smiling coquettishly, "that we can make this work. Just for tonight." She glanced over them briefly before her eyes found Namjoon's face. "Kim Namjoon, right? President?"

Jin shoved Namjoon forward with a finger between his shoulder blades. "Yeah," Namjoon said. "Yeah, um, yeah. Kim Namjoon. Sorry, Hoseok did most of the planning, I don't—"

"No offense," the girl said brightly, "but historically we've found that men tend to be pretty shit at this sort of thing so we took things into our own hands a few months ago. You're with Seolhyun," she continued, waving a hand slightly imperiously. "Jin is with Hyejeong, Hoseok is with Mina, your Jimin is with Choa, Taehyung is with Yuna, your maknae is with ours, and—"

"Who am I with?" Yoongi cut in.

Her eyebrows went up. "Min Yoongi, right?" A smile quirked at her mouth. "You're with me." She curtsied sweetly. "Lovely to meet you. My name is Shin Jimin."

From somewhere in the back of the group Hoseok started cackling hysterically.

JIMIN

Everything started fine. It was fine. They got into the party and no one hollered anything rude at them and they split up a little and it was fine, it was fine, Jimin was actually kind of having a good time with Choa even though they'd only just met. She was nice, if a little cool, and he got her a cup of punch and she smiled and everything would have been fine if Yoongi hadn't been having such a good time.

They'd split up a little but Jimin had tried to stay in the main room where Yoongi was, just to... act as backup or something, he wasn't sure anymore. Yoongi hadn't wanted to come and Jimin had promised that they'd be there to back him up and so he was going to try, but... but now Yoongi didn't seem to need any backup. He seemed fine. He seemed great. He was laughing at things the other Jimin was saying and hadn't even looked over at him through the crowd.

"Are you okay?" Choa, curling a hand over Jimin's wrist.

"I'm fine," he said, slipping his wrist out of Choa's grip.

"Jimin—"

"I'm fine," Jimin said again, and the words sounded hollow even to him. Yoongi hadn't looked at him. He hadn't even looked at him. Yoongi was terrible at acting and he hadn't even looked at him, had just turned a little like he hadn't seen him at all and laughed at something his date had said. Something twisted in Jimin's stomach. "I'm fine. I'm fine. I just... I have to find Jin," he stuttered out, taking a quick step backward.

Choa bit her lips together for a second and nodded. "I think I saw him going upstairs," she said, and her voice - it was kind, it was understanding, they were okay. She smiled at him, winking just for a second. "It'll be okay, Jimin. Go find your hyung."

A wave of shame crashed over him and he reached out - fingertips stopping just short of Choa's wrist. She blinked, eyes flickering curiously from his face to his hand to his face again. "It's not you," Jimin stuttered out. "You know that, right?"

She stared at him for a second - then threw her head back and laughed, beautiful and perfect and delighted, like she was in on some secret he couldn't even imagine. "You're not the only one," she replied smoothly, voice low and quiet and secretive as she stepped into close against him to murmur in his ear, "who found a welcoming hand a little closer to home." Then - oh, god - she winked again, tucking an errant strand of bleached blond hair behind her ear. "Go," she said again.

Jimin couldn't stop himself from glancing across the wide room again in Yoongi's direction - but Yoongi was facing away from him, paying attention to his date. She was pretty (Jimin couldn't stop thinking it) with her big eyes and small face and coquettish bangs and her curling smile like a cat, and when Yoongi said something she laughed, eyes curving delightedly and one small hand coming up to cover her mouth.

Maybe it was better. Maybe it was better this way. Jimin had never seen Yoongi with a guy other than him and... and maybe it was better this way. Maybe Yoongi would be happier.

Choa nudged him. "Go," she repeated. "That's her fake laugh."

Maybe it was better this way, but— "Yeah," Jimin choked out, backing toward the stairs. He tore his eyes off of Yoongi, leaning against the drink table in that easy stance he got when he was nervous and trying to make a good impression. "Yeah. Thanks, Choa-sshi—"

She rolled her eyes. "Call me noona. Am I going to have to kick you up the stairs? Go!"

He fled.

He'd seen Jin go upstairs twenty minutes ago, apparently absorbed in his phone as he'd climbed the steps with Hyejeong at his elbow. Hoseok had said it was just for the entrance, really - showing up with dates to the annual Valentine's Day party was leaps and bounds less desperately pathetic than showing up alone, after all - but none of them seemed to have had the courage to shake the girls they'd come with. As far as Jimin knew he was the first to part ways with his fake date and he found himself wondering in the back of his head how Namjoon and Jin had figured it out.

He could still hear the sound of Yoongi's date laughing in the back of his head (her fake laugh, Choa had said, but Jimin couldn't quite find it in himself to believe her) and yeah, yeah, okay - maybe it was better. Maybe it was better this way. Maybe Yoongi would be happier with a woman, maybe his life would be easier, maybe they should break off what they'd started before things went too far. They hadn't really told anyone yet (besides Taehyung, from whom Jimin had never been able to keep a secret - and Namjoon and Hoseok didn't count as having been told, anyway) and anyway maybe Yoongi would never have wanted to.

Jimin reached the top of the stairs and wandered down the long hallway, trying to remember where he'd seen Jin go. Some of the doors stood open, some of them were closed with socks or ties hung on the doorknobs. One opened as he was passing and a guy stumbled out looking much worse for wear - Jimin glanced in to a bathroom that had seen far better (and probably far worse) days.

He'd almost given up by the time he turned the corner and came face to face with a barely open door, light arcing out over the carpet through the crack between the door and the jamb. Jimin moved to walk past it but then he heard it.

Jin's voice.

"It's not like that," he was saying, voice high and shaky and stretched thin. "I didn't... I never meant—"

"Then why are you here?" A second voice, one Jimin couldn't remember ever hearing before. He froze, hand hovering over the doorknob. "Why are you here, Jin?"

"I could ask you the same thing," came Jin's voice again after a second. "You're not a student anymore. You're not an active member of the Tau Deltas anymore—"

"Right, cause you were ever an active member of Beta Tau Sigma."

"I just live there," Jin said quietly. "You know I just live there. You know why I live there."

"Why did you come to the party, Jin?"

Quiet for a minute. "What do you want me to say? That I missed you?"

A group of drunk asshole jocks shoved down the hallway and pushed Jimin up and into the door and he tripped over himself, pushing it open and practically tumbling over the threshold. It was a bedroom, small and a little cramped with a bunk bed against one wall and two desks and a wide closet - like a dorm room, really - and Jin and some guy Jimin had never seen before were sitting next to each other on the bottom bunk with their backs against the wall.

Jin's legs were tucked up under him and his fingers twisted together in his lap. The other guy's feet hung off the side of the mattress and he had his hands crammed in his pockets - he looked like he was about Jin's age, a little taller, a little lankier, his shoulders narrower and his waist broader and his face more sculpted and less smooth and sweet like Jin's - but they seemed like they knew each other. Maybe for a while. Maybe for a long time.

"S-sorry," Jimin stuttered, taking an involuntary step back as both of them looked up wide-eyed and surprised at the sudden invasion. "I - I was just out in the hall and I thought I heard Jin-hyung's voice and then a bunch of guys shoved me—"

"It's okay Jiminnie," Jin said quickly, unfolding himself to stand up and move toward him across the floor. "Are you all right?"

"This is Park Jimin?" said the guy on the bed behind him, but his voice was quiet and Jin seemed not to hear him.

"I'm okay," Jimin said after a second, tucking his chin down. "Sorry, I really didn't mean to interrupt, I was just—"

"You're not okay." Jin tugged at the fabric of Jimin's blazer, mouth twisting. "I can tell you're not okay, Jiminnie." He glanced over his shoulder and stepped in a little closer, lowering his voice. "Do you need to go home? Is it—"

"It's Yoongi," Jimin said, then immediately blushed when a look of confusion and fear washed over Jin's features. "Hyung, no, he's okay - look, Yoongi and I, we're kind of... we're kind of a thing—"

"Oh," Jin breathed - and then laughed. "Yeah, I figured that out a while ago."

"But now he's having a really good time." Jimin felt like an idiot, he felt like an absolute idiot, he felt like he was going to start crying. "Hyung he's having a really good time without me, with that girl, and maybe it's better this way but I don't know what to do—"

Jin went pale. "Oh, baby, no—" And reached out, sliding an arm over Jimin's shoulders and pulling him in to tuck Jimin's face against his shoulder. He turned his head. "Hyosang," he said. "Can you give us a minute?"

The guy on the bed - Hyosang, apparently - shrugged and shoved himself off the mattress, wandering out of the room to lean on the wall opposite the doorway, pulling out his phone to glare at the screen. Jin pressed his lips together and pulled Jimin over to sit on the edge of the mattress, running a thumb under one of his eyes. "Jiminnie," he said quietly. "Do you really think Yoongi doesn't want to be with you?"

"I don't know." Jimin scrubbed a hand over his scalp. "I've never seen him with anybody else before, I don't know if he's gay or if he's bi or if it's just that I'm convenient—"

"He's had a crush on you for two years," Jin interrupted, voice gentle. He shrugged as Jimin jerked his head up to stare at him, mouth gaping a little. "Don't tell him I said so. I don't think he realized anyone knew, but we all did. He acts tough but..." He shrugged again, a funny smile playing over his face. "He's not that tough. He's a softie. Especially when it comes to you."

"He's having a really good time," Jimin said again, quieter this time, voice thick in his throat. "Without me. And I don't know what to do."

There was quiet for a second, and Jimin couldn't help but notice the way Jin's eyes flickered up to glance out of the room, into the hallway, at the guy leaning against the opposite wall with his attention on his phone. "You should try talking to him," he said finally. "Figure out what you are. Talk to each other. Don't accuse him of anything if you can help it, just... just figure out if you're on the same page." He bit his lower lip and carefully brushed a bit of pink heart confetti off of Jimin's shoulder. "It might not be an easy conversation, but... you should probably have it now, rather than later."

"Yeah." Jimin rubbed both of his hands over his face. "You're sure?"

"Have I ever lied to you?"

"Nah." Jimin stood up and - and maybe it would be better for Yoongi to be with a girl, but suddenly he felt like he could fight for him. Like he could fight for them. Like he could fight at all. He glanced back down. "I'll see you later?"

Jin made a face and pulled his phone out of his pocket. It buzzed in his hand until he flipped it open. "Yeah, I'll..." He trailed off. "No, actually. Um. Tomorrow morning, probably." He flashed a smile up at Jimin, so quick as to be almost nonexistent. "I have some... I have some stuff to do. I'll be back later. Find my own way home. Go find Yoongi."

"Yeah," Jimin said. He bit his lip. "Hyung—"

"Yeah?"

"That guy." Jimin stepped in again. "Hyosang. Are you okay? If you need I can pretend to be having an emergency, give you an excuse to leave - we could find Namjoon-hyung—"

"No." Jin smiled again, even more tightly. "It's okay, Jiminnie. Really. Go find Yoongi. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Hyosang glanced up when Jimin stepped out of the door, sliding his phone back into his pocket and nodding awkwardly. Jimin bit his lip and bowed back, quick and uncertain before ducking down the hall. Behind him he heard the unmistakable noise of a door clicking shut. He turned the corner, and—

"Jimin," Yoongi choked out, reaching forward to grip his shoulders as they ran into each other. "Jimin, shit, where the fuck were you? I swear to god, I turn away for one second—"

"Sorry," Jimin stuttered. "Sorry, I just—"

"You scared the shit out of me." Yoongi leaned forward, laying his forehead on Jimin's shoulder. "Jesus. It was like halloween all over again. Where did you go?"

"I just needed to..." Jimin trailed off. Took a deep breath. Bit his lip. "What are we, hyung?"

Yoongi seemed to freeze, stopping cold, hands still gripped tight on Jimin's shoulders. After a second he lifted his head, slow and careful, but he didn't look up to meet Jimin's eye. "What do you mean?"

"I mean..." What did he mean? "I mean I thought this party would be fun - that this would be funny, I guess - but you seemed like you were having a really good time with that girl and we've never - I don't know if we're... I don't know what I am to you," he finished stupidly, words slurring together awkwardly. He slouched a little in Yoongi's grip, staring down at the carpet between their feet. "I don't know what we are. Are we dating or are we just messing around?"

"Jimin—"

"Are you gay?" Jimin interrupted. "Are you bi? Am I just—" God, the tears were so close to the surface. "—am I just convenient?"

Yoongi looked up. Stared at him - glared at him - a look of horror and disbelief and something that could have been shame flickering over his face. "Convenient?" he stammered. "Jimin, shit—"

"It's okay," Jimin said quickly, "it's okay, I just wanna know, I just wanna know what you are because I - I like you a lot and I don't want to push anything on you that you don't want and I know it would be easier for you to date a girl and I know it's weird since we live in the same house and we haven't really told anybody that we're... that we're whatever we are, so I don't know, maybe you want to keep it a secret, but I just wanna know, hyung. I just wanna know. So I can figure stuff out."

Yoongi swallowed. "You like me a lot?"

"Yeah." Jimin closed his eyes, flinching. "Sorry."

"You—" Yoongi's grip tightened, and then he was pushing Jimin around, turning him, marching him back down the hallway. "You idiot. You absolute idiot, Park Jimin, I can't fuckin' believe—"

"I said I was sorry!" Jimin struggled a little, but Yoongi opened a door at the corner of the corridor and shoved him through after doing a quick check to make sure that the room beyond was really and truly empty. "If you don't want to—"

"You idiot," Yoongi repeated, slamming the door shut behind him and throwing the lock before stepping forward. "You like me a lot? You like me a lot?"

"I don't know—"

"I'm fuckin' in love with you, Jimin," Yoongi breathed, pushing Jimin gently until his back was pressed against the wall. "I'm in love with you. I've been love with you for - for like a year or something, I don't know, it's so fuckin' stupid, I haven't told anybody about us cause I was scared you were just experimenting and, and maybe if you decided you didn't want to be with me it would be easier that way—"

"So this whole time we've been doing the same thing," Jimin interrupted, staring at him. "This whole time we've been assuming that we were both about to break it off at any time without warning."

"I'm in love with you," Yoongi said again, voice rough. "Jimin, shit - just—"

But Jimin reached out, slid his hands over the back of Yoongi's neck, pulled him in and kissed him hard, forcing his lips apart to lick into his mouth. "I love you," Jimin sighed. "We're idiots."

Yoongi froze again for just half a second, sucking in a tight breath and holding it - but then seemed to give in. To Jimin. To the kiss. To what they were. "Shit," Yoongi mumbled against Jimin's mouth, tugging at the knot of his tie, "are we like... boyfriends now or something? Jesus."

"If you want. But, I mean, if you don't want—"

"Shut up," Yoongi pressed on, tugging Jimin's tie off all the way and shoving it into the pocket of his suit trousers. "You're an idiot, and we're boyfriends, and I love you, and I'm gonna suck you off at this stupid Valentine's Day party that I hate."

Unfortunately for everyone involved the smoke alarm chose this moment to start screaming.

Yoongi and Jimin gaped at each other. "Namjoon-hyung?" Jimin hazarded.

"Hell if I know," Yoongi replied weakly, wrapping a hand around Jimin's wrist and tugging him toward the door. "Rain check that blowjob, a'right?"

JEONGGUK
Back at the Beta Tau Sigma house

"Okay," Hoseok said, lying flat on his back on Jimin's bed, still wearing most of his suit. "I gotta know. The fuck were you making in there?"

"Tae said it was called a..." Jeongguk glanced over at Taehyung. "What was it again?"

"Flaming Giraffe shot," Taehyung replied happily, pulling a ratty old t-shirt over his head. "It's a really great drink if you remember to blow it out first before you drink it."

"And if you only make one at a time," Hoseok said. "How many did it take to set off the smoke alarm?"

Taehyung cleared his throat. "What are doing in here anyway, hyung?"

Hoseok groaned and scrubbed his hands over his face. "Got kicked out of my room. Jimin and Yoongi are, uh..."

There was a thumping noise, then a slowly accelerated squeaking - like a bed frame being very carefully wiggled apart at the joints.

"... working through some things," Hoseok sighed. "I can only hope they're not doing it on my bed."