An hour later, after getting out of the SUV and the elevator at the agency, they arrive at the band practice room, where two band members are already letting their fingers play over the instruments. The uncoordinated and irregular sounds lead Jeongguk to believe they are tuning the bass and electric guitar, getting ready for band practice.

Jeongguk stops in front of the black room door and quickly looks behind him to ensure Jimin is still there. Like Jeongguk's outfit, Jimin wears a dark blue denim jacket, black pants, and a pair of black combat boots. Although he may look innocent and adorable with his soft peach hair and fluffy ears, the black boots look outspokenly good on him. Jeongguk thought he was more of a Chelsea boot guy, but when they went shopping, Jimin was mainly looking for boots that Jeongguk would rather wear.

Another thing is, Jeongguk bought an additional wardrobe for Jimin to put his clothes in and yet he still finds him stealing his clothes instead. Jeongguk wants to be angry. He's not used to anyone else wearing them, but he can't forbid Jimin wearing them when they fit him so well, and to be honest, he likes it. Why does Jimin always manage to make every item of clothing look cute, even if it's oversized? If anyone else wore clothes two sizes bigger, they would look buried. Jungkook can't answer the question.

Jimin must feel his gaze on him as he closes the distance between them because his fluffy ears perk up, and Jimin returns the look with a smile and comes to stand next to him. "Have you been waiting for me?"

Jeongguk hums and glances at the door before pushing down the handle. He politely motions to Jimin to enter first. The latter quickly steps forward and puts one foot in the modernly designed room, unmoving. It takes a moment for Jimin to move and then approach Youngjin with an incredulous stare and awestruck gasp. Lips flattening, Jeongguk watches the scene unfold, and Jimin stops in front of the bassist, wide-eyed and with curiosity shimmering in his eyes.

"Wow, you have a new hair colour!" Jimin exclaims, beaming with joy, "So cool. It looks excellent."

Only when Jimin points to Youngjin's hair and what looks like he wants to touch it does Jeongguk notice the new hair colour. The blond he had in his hair before is now dark purple, precisely Jimin's favourite colour. Something about it leaves a bitter taste in Jeongguk's mouth.

Youngjin gratefully smiles and places a hand on the neck of the guitar, standing taller and letting a grin cross his lips. Jeongguk swears Youngjin catches his gaze mischievously for a split second. "Thanks, Jimin! I wanted to try something new. But that's not all; look, I got a new tattoo too. What do you think?"

"This looks really cool-" Jimin's eyebrows rise, and he runs his index finger over the other's skin, tracing the black doodle drawings, prompting Jeongguk to adopt a sullen look. "Oh, wait, is that from an anime? That's really cute."

The hybrid points to what looks like a small figure close to some words written in a handwriting font adorned with a rose. His lower lip is sucked into his mouth, and he looks at Youngjin with an honest puppy look. Jeongguk holds back an annoyed groan and leans back against the door, which feels cold through his thin jacket. Damn you Jimin, with your innocent look. 'Why do you always have to look at others like that? Can't that look only be for me? It makes me want to wrap you into my arms and never let you go.'

Youngjin does not seem to be immune to it any more than Jeongguk. He nods with a broad smile on his face and explains everything in detail to Jimin. "This is from a Ghibli anime. It's Totoro, and this is a phrase from our song."

"You were born to be real. Not to be perfect," Jimin murmurs softly, reading aloud. Thoughtfully, he draws his eyebrows together, yet says nothing until Minsu speaks up, which seems to bring him out of his thoughts.

"Don't you go telling fibs, Youngjin!"

"Alright, fine. It's a phrase one of my favourite rappers told me. This phrase is very dear to me. It's something I thought I had to be. Keeping this perfect image of being known in Korea, but Minsu and Jeongguk made me realise I don't have to be. It took a lot of pressure and weight off my shoulders."

"That's deep." Jimin looks at him again with those damn cute puppy eyes, in which empathy reflects. And even though Jeongguk has the urge to stomp over there to block those adorable brown, chocolate eyes from glimpsing at his band member, he doesn't do it. "But I understand. You really got some amazing friends as band members."

Jeongguk continues to watch the interaction, and it evokes an odd feeling, an ugly feeling that's creeping up in him. Jeongguk huffs. He doesn't know why he's starting to feel so possessive, but he can't help it. Jeongguk has several tattoos, and Jimin hasn't examined them like this. Why does Jimin have to be so close when examining them? He can certainly see them even at a distance of one metre.

Minsu makes himself known in the background before Jeongguk can give any further thought to being disgruntled about the situation. Grumbling and looking stern, Jeongguk's gaze flickers to Minsu. Jeongguk assumes the annoyance must be visible on his face, and Minsu knows why because he's grinning. One that makes Jeongguk want to throw him a death glare. He stifles it, though, and rolls his eyes playfully, pretending nothing is going on.

Taking one last look, he goes up to Minsu and greets him with a handshake, albeit less enthusiastically; looking over at Jimin and Youngjin again, Jeongguk asks, "Hey, how are you?"

Minsu softly grins, yet his voice is sincere, and it's clear that he's interested in his friend's well-being. "I'm good. How about you? How was the trip? Was it good?"

Ah, right. Jeongguk forgot he told them in the group chat about their trip and sent some photos. Both teased him and asked why he didn't let them come along on the trip, which was clearly a joke just to annoy him because it's not like they don't do trips, or rather as if they haven't gone on any trips so far.

Usually, they often send daily updates to each other when they aren't together, but on this occasion, Jeongguk was quiet. Rightfully so. That still didn't stop them from bombarding him with text messages.

"I'm good," Jeongguk replies, and continues, "The trip was wonderful. I feel like Jimin and I bonded more and I learned more about hybrids." Jeongguk's facial expression changes slightly, and Minsu seems to catch the change from a solemn look, to a softer, more happy look.

"Oh, you did, didn't you? I'm glad you have. Knowledge is a key part of hybrids." Jeongguk can detect a slight teasing undertone in his voice, which brings him back to the scene on the beach. His cheeks are dust pink, remembering how Jimin told him that it's possible for men to get pregnant.

Then, as if Minsu has read his mind, he asks the question Jeongguk did not want to hear, eyebrow raising. "So, what did he tell you?"

'I surely won't tell you, so that you can tease me more.'

"If I'm honest, Minsu, it's still a lot for me to take in at the moment. Let me understand things in my head, but also, it's pretty personal to Jimin, and I don't want to abuse his trust in me when it's not my place to say," Jeongguk admits with certainty in his voice. He's right, and he doesn't want to damage the trust Jimin has just for Minsu to find out some gossip.

"Ah, I understand." Minsu nods, lifting his palms in defence. "If you do want to talk about whatever goes on in your mind and between you two... let us know. And I absolutely mean for whatever reason, alright?"

Ignoring how Minsu's gaze shifts back and forth between him and Jimin, Jeongguk simply nods and walks up to his dark blue drum set, which features their band name written in white on a black background on the bass drum. Jeongguk takes the drumsticks from the bag he brought, places the bag then on the side and begins to stretch his arms, one arm across his body with his other arm in a horizontal position, holding the other arm in place, repeating the stretch on the other arm.

His arms feel relaxed, but he still feels slightly annoyed, seeing Jimin and Youngjin are still talking about his hair and tattoos. Jimin is clearly excited and curious, while Youngjin is happy to share the news with him. He hasn't even greeted him.

Jeongguk pushes his tongue against the inside of his cheek, wondering when they will be done talking about tattoo motives and anime. It's not like Jeongguk is listening to them on purpose; it's not like that at all. Bits of the conversation tend to slosh over, and Jeongguk soaks up the new information about Jimin like a sponge. He also learns that Jimin has never really watched anime and doesn't have a tattoo (which he already thought, but you never know). Still, what catches his attention is that Jimin admits he might also have had a small tattoo done already if he wasn't so afraid of it. What kind of tattoo would it be, and why is he so afraid of getting one? Is he afraid of the pain of getting one, or that they are permanent?

He racks his brain over all kinds of motives Jimin could get. Where would he get a tattoo?

Meanwhile, Jeongguk keeps playing the drums for some time, trying to distract himself. Yet he fails, unable to concentrate as he keeps peeking over at Jimin and Youngjin, the ugly feeling soaring in his chest as time passes. Will they ever stop talking, so they can begin with band practice? This won't do.

Jeongguk clears his throat, puts the drumsticks on the drum kit and stands up with a sigh. "I'm going to get something to drink," he notes when Minsu looks at him questioningly. He doesn't waste another second in the room and goes to the next room, which is a small kitchen, to collect a bottle of water from a fridge. Greedily, he opens it and takes two big gulps. He leans his butt against the kitchen counter and drops the hand with the bottle next to his body, eyes wandering to the floor.

He has no idea why he is feeling so possessive. Youngjin is his friend, and he is happy to see him easily connect with someone besides him. But for some reason, he can't help but feel bothered that this person is Jimin, paying more attention to Youngjin than him. Would it have been anyone else, he probably would have given a shit about it.

Jeongguk takes another sip of his water and tries to think about something else. He thinks about an upcoming collaboration between him and an English-Korean-speaking singer, and he begins to feel better, looking forward to the cover they will make. It's exciting to try something new and broaden your horizons. Hopefully, his fans will approve and celebrate the song as soon as it gets uploaded.

Jeongguk drinks the last sip of water, throws the bottle into the bin and walks back to the practise room.

Arriving at the door, he puts his hands in the pockets of his blue bomber jacket and takes a deep breath. Nervously, he bites his lip and tosses his head so that strands of black hair fall back, revealing all his facial features. He tries to push away this returning and looming feeling from earlier and calm down. After all, there should be no reason to feel nervous when he sees Jimin and Youngjin. They are all friends-or in Jimin's case, they will be friends. A tinge of regret for acting like he did earlier, all possessive, creeps up on him. What if Jimin had seen it (which he guesses he didn't)? Is it the fear that Jimin could end up spending more time with Youngjin that triggered it?

Jeongguk licks his lips with a dissatisfied grumble and takes one last deep breath. He has to pull himself together if he doesn't want to make a bad impression on Jimin and spoil the band practice with his mood. Besides, he doesn't want to let on. He will have to put off whatever is happening inside him until later and not now.

A little slow, he reaches for the door handle, stops for a few seconds and opens the black metal door to the band room in the blink of an eye. As soon as he steps in, he clears his throat and chooses to focus on the drum kit at the other end of the dark and spacious room room, which is more complicated than he thought because they are still engaging to his dismay.

"Can we begin with band practice now?"

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A/N: How are you liking it so far? The chapter is quite short :< but i couldnt wait to upload. There's one more chapter about the band practise.