●17

[This must be some new form of torture on his part. ‘Killing with kindness’, that must be it. Not that I would call this kind...]

“What else am I supposed to call you?” Jungkook asked reasonably.

“Park. Or Jimin. That should do.” Determined to end this conversation, Jimin turned onto his side, back facing Jungkook, propped his head on his hand and once again tried to read the (admittedly dull) book. Jungkook's touch followed his movement, brushing up his arm and under the sleeve of his robe, fingers trailing along the soft flesh of his inner arm. He shivered and hoped desperately that Jungkook wouldn’t notice.

“I meant,” Jungkook continued with gentle emphasis, “When we’re in public and people ask about you, what should I tell them? I couldn’t possibly call you a friend. To bad I can’t call you my servant boy...”

Jimin cast a nasty look over his shoulder. “Say that and I have every right to tell people that you were a monkey I transformed into a human by accident and now I can’t get ride of you.”

“A monkey?”

“Yes. And a real nasty one, too. Pissed all over my room and hit on my Aunt Petunia.” Jungkook had a ‘You’re kidding, right?’ look on his face. “Anyway, what do you mean by public? I reckon all the school knows about this by now, won’t matter one way or the other what you tell them.”

“We aren’t going to spend the entire year cooped up in Hogwarts, are we? I, for one, plan on going home for the holidays and spending a weekend or three in Hogsmead.” Those damned fingers rubbed his skin lightly, as if trying to draw another shiver out of him.

[Jungkook, you would have to haul me kicking, screaming, and biting to your parents house--for the holidays or otherwise.] “I doubt we’ll be doing either of those until Headmaster finds a way to explain it.”

[Good thing Rita Skeeter isn’t writing about me anymore. I can just see the headlines she’d come up with for this. “Park Jimin and Jeon Jungkook : Secret Lovers” or some such nastiness. Ugh.] He shuddered. [Thank God. Thank you Hoseok for dealing with her. It’s almost enough to make me forgive you for landing me with Jungkook...]

“What I want to know is why I haven’t heard about my father yet.”

[Almost.]

“Despite any ideas to the contrary, the world does not revolve around the two of us,” jimin reminded him, “Life still goes on. I’m certain they’re busy with other stuff right now.” [Or are finding ways not to tell your father. I’m such an idiot for agreeing to do this.] And that irked him the most. No one had forced him into this, he hadn’t been tied up, or blackmailed, or even nagged particularly hard. He’d just agreed to it. [There’s a lesson in all of this. I just know it.]