Chapter Text
It's never a good sign when your cross-dimensional travel magitech fizzles in transit. Jimin has just enough time to think what the f— before the thing strapped to his arm yanks, and then he's twisting, falling —
WHAM.
— and slamming against an unforgiving surface, the impact forcing the air from his lungs.
His body rings with pain, but he grits his teeth, swallowing it down without a sound. He can't allow even a moment's rest. Limbs scrape against rock as he scrambles to push himself up, rising unsteadily but quickly to his feet. His gaze darts around — black, black, all black, where the fuck is he? He draws his knives, heart pounding. Arms up. Grip stable. Stance firm. If anything lurking nearby has the itch to attack, he's ready for it.
Moments tick by in the blackness.
No attack comes.
Nothing makes a sound.
A faint chill from the still air begins seeping into his body. He brings his breathing back under control, but he doesn't relax. His grip on his knives remains steady and firm. He can't relax. Not yet.
He strains his ears, waiting to catch even the faintest rustle.
It's quiet.
Dead silent, in fact, save for the beat of his own heart and his breath muffled beneath his mask.
Slowly, carefully, he shifts position, turning to assess the darkness — yes! Oh thank fuck, it's not pitch black. Now that his eyes are adjusting, there's a distant yellow light that's strong enough to make out the shape of a round tunnel. It's too far off to reveal his immediate surroundings, but it at least gives him something to orient himself.
Looking back in the opposite direction, he quickly reaches up to tap the little device behind his ear, and his face mask vanishes in an instant. The cool tunnel air is initially jarring to the row of heat pits above his lip, temperature sense hazier from being warmed by his breath, but they adjust faster than his eyes. Thankfully, there aren't any notable temperature fluctuations nearby. There's just a slightly warmer splotch on the floor from where he'd landed; embarrassing, but ultimately harmless, as it seems there really isn't anything around to have noticed.
(Well. Nothing alive, at least. There could technically still be some world-specific specialty terror lurking in a way he can't detect, but if it hasn't done anything by now, it's probably not going to. So it's safe enough to assume he's in the clear.)
Jimin slowly lowers his arms... and then, when the void around him remains still, lets them drop to his sides with a sigh of relief, tension falling away.
"Fuck," he whispers fervently into the dark. He's never just been dropped like that before. And in an unknown world, no less... Things could have been so much worse.
A certain voice rings in the back of his mind. At first it's nothing more than vague impressions of taunts and overconfidence, but it's enough to sour Jimin's mood. Again.
Right, he's still fucking pissed.
Jeon Jungkook is the whole reason he's even here to begin with. Well, maybe not the whole reason — his other teammates make up maybe 20% of it — but Jungkook definitely covers the rest.
Yah, Jimin-ssi, your form is terrible! Are you sure you know how to fight?
You still haven't memorized this yet? You need to work harder or you'll be holding us back!
World-jumps aren't something to take lightly, Jimin-ssi! If you can't understand that, then you should just leave!
God, that brat is insufferable. Do this, do that, train until you fucking bleed. He's always on Jimin's ass about something, parading around like he's the best damn member of the team just because he was chosen by the Oculus or whatever. Even had the fucking gall to come haring after Jimin when he'd left, chasing him across worlds, so goddamn desperate to make him follow their rules like a good little boy.
If Jungkook had just backed the fuck off, Jimin wouldn't even be in this position. But noooooo, Jungkook always has to prove he's the golden maknae.
Ugh.
Jimin slips his left blade back into its sheath with an irritated grumble. At the very least, he shouldn't be seeing Jungkook again for a while. Five or six jumps earlier on had been enough to keep the nuisance off his back for a good twelve hours — long enough to hook up, sleep, and wake up for a pleasant breakfast before Jungkook found him again. With how many jumps it took to wind up here... Was it ten? Thirteen? Damn, he lost count. However many it was, it's gotta be enough to be Jungkook-free for at least a day.
Unfortunately, he might be spending it in utter boredom; being in the middle of fucking nowhere leaves a lot to be desired. Of course the damn watch couldn't glitch in his favor and drop him in a city like he'd actually been aiming for.
(Namjoon's "science voice" nags at the back of his mind, and Jimin rolls his eyes. Yeah, the magitech watch has a "proper" name, but it's a fucking mouthful and everyone knows what he means when he calls it a watch anyway, so, fuck it, it's a watch. Even looks like one, too, the kind people used to carry in pockets — silver, round, light but solid, large enough to fill one's hand nicely. Having it latched onto his arm is clunkier than an actual watch would be, but hey, better to have his hands free when he doesn't know where he's landing. Case in point: his arrival a few minutes ago.)
He brings his arm up and pops the watch cover open with ease, well-used to the feel of it. The screens inside promptly cast a dim blue glow, enough for Jimin to use it without forcing his eyes to readjust. Knowing he's in the dark is proof that it's still synced with him, at least. It also runs diagnostics as usual. (He'll have some bruising, the environment is non-toxic, and there are no other notable life forces within thirty meters. Good to know.) But trying to world-hop again? Nothing. It doesn't even tell him why, which is the weirdest part. Button-mashing doesn't help, just makes it fizzle ominously again after a few tries.
Namjoon's tech is supposed to be solid. Even Jimin has had reason enough to trust it this far. Of course, it's not like he's ever had the chance to push its limits. Maybe too many world hops in too short a span made it more unstable? It is a replica of Jungkook's oh-so-special "master" watch...
Jimin subjects it to the best glare-pout combo he can muster. By absolute chance, it's only then that his eyes happen to land on a small yellow flag icon tucked out of the way.
"What the..."
He's never seen that before. He squints down at it, mentally prompting the device for clarification. Which it provides, to... dubious effect.
World flagged — YELLOW. Proceed with caution.
Well that's fucking helpful.
He still doesn't know everything about the watch — his training has involved shockingly little of, you know, using the damn thing — but none of his teammates have mentioned anything about a little flag, so it can't be that important. "Proceed with caution" his ass... Like he wouldn't be doing that anyway. The fuck does that even mean? There's a huge range of possibilities to be cautious about. Hell, Jimin's already been through trouble on previous jumps without that warning. Does that mean this place is somehow worse than all of that? Or is this feature glitched, too? A non-toxic environment already does a lot to hint that it might be the latter, which is... not ideal. He kind of needs this thing to function properly as much as possible.
He sighs and knocks the cover closed, resolving to check it again in an hour. Surely it'll let him jump by then. If it does, then unfortunately it's probably best to head home and make Namjoon fix whatever's fucking with it before Jimin somehow breaks it even more. The team'll give him a fucking earful about going off on his own, but better that than the alternative of "stranded forever". He'll just find a way to sneak out again later.
If the watch takes long enough, though... Well, one of his teammates will track him down eventually, and unfortunately the brat is the most likely — and worst — outcome. It would mean Jimin getting dragged back to the Oculus on Jungkook's terms. Terms that will not be dignified, Jimin knows that much. He'll be lucky if Jungkook lets him stay conscious.
He fixes his gaze on the lit portion of the tunnel in the distance, mulling things over. Anyone jumping to this world after him will arrive at this exact spot. (Which ideally means that Jungkook will also fall flat on his face, but regrettably that kind of luck tends to not work in Jimin's favor.) So, new goal: get some distance between him and the landing point while he can. Distance first, and then he can look into ways to kill time while the watch recharges or whatever.
(Maybe he can even set some traps. If Jungkook wants to catch him and be a shit about it that badly, Jimin will make him fucking work for it.)
The only question is... which way does he go?
Briefly he considers the dark end to potentially throw off his teammates, but the risk of lurking nastiness down there is probably too high... Not to mention it'd be a pain in the ass trying to navigate. Fuck it, never mind, obvious route toward the light it is. It's more likely to lead to civilization or at least a way outside, and it's slightly warmer, so it has to be something. He can work with this.
Knife still in hand, he starts off down the tunnel at a steady walk, keeping as quiet as possible. Moving silently is unfortunately not doable (have his boots always been this loud?), but the more sound he makes, the less he'll be able to hear anything sneaking up on him. "Alone for now" doesn't guarantee he's alone for good, after all, so he keeps his senses alert.
So alert.
So very alert that he's painfully aware of the sound of a single set of footsteps.
Before this adventurous little "vacation," all of his world-jumps had been with at least one other member, and mostly for training. On his own, he'd hopped only to cities, so he'd been too distracted to notice, but now that the watch has dumped him in an empty tunnel... He can't say having a void to either side is entirely welcome anymore.
(Funny how things work, isn't it? Keeps to himself most of his life, not having any reason to trust those around him, but as soon as he gets a taste of something better — bam. Done for.)
And as fucking icing on the cake, the cave chill is really sinking in. He fights back a shiver, tucking his tail as firmly against himself as it can possibly go.
Jimin might not need to bask, but the snake part of him means he still enjoys it, satisfying a residual instinct to warm up for survival. The downside to that is it means he also feels any level of chill more keenly than other hybrids, so the urge to warm up becomes equally hard to fully ignore. Really fucking obnoxious at times like this, that's for sure. He works his arms a bit as he walks, just to keep himself distracted enough to focus on more important things.
Fuck, it'd be great to have Namjoon here in general. Magitech watch aside, crow hybrids naturally run a higher body temperature than most, which means Namjoon is quite literally the hottest member of the team. That kind of warmth would be fantastic right now, especially if he could convince Namjoon to carry him. It wouldn't take more than a pout and perhaps a little whine; the man's notoriously weak to Jimin doing just about anything, at least outside the realm of Oculus duties.
(Sure, Jimin's been through colder temperatures before just fine, but, fuck it, he likes his comforts, it's not a crime.)
Unfortunately though, once his dumb snake brain has started fixating on warmth, he's wishing to be snuggling up with a warm body back home before he can stop himself. The coolness of the cave draws his mind to his teammates like a fucking magnet.
He scowls, pumping his arms more aggressively. He needs to work himself back up. No more moments of weakness. He has his reasons for taking a break from them in the first place, after all. Good reasons.
Reasons like Jungkook being a pain in the ass and the rest of the team not bothering to corral him nearly as much as they should. Not to mention — if it's not Jungkook getting onto him about something or other, it's the rest of them. Trying to keep him in line, make him follow their imaginary little rules, not letting him jump worlds at all without a fucking entourage... Is it too much to ask to have some goddamn free time alone? Apparently so. He had to steal his own goddamn watch from the vaults in order to leave in the first place because keeping it in his quarters is too big a privilege for him, despite being on the team for a fucking year.
And on that note, it's been a fucking year and he's still "in training"? Seriously? No one will fucking tell him what the full scope of his training even is; that's a major point on the list.
He kicks at the tunnel floor with a huff, getting a decent scrape sound but doing little else. This tunnel's too smooth; there's not even any loose rock to send clattering away. How very unsatisfying.
Well, Jimin doesn't need them. He was on his own before and he can adjust to going back to that if he decides to leave for good. He won't miss them. And if he wants a warm body, he has no trouble seducing whoever the fuck he wants in any other world.
Taehyung's boxy smile flashes unbidden through Jimin's mind, and full-on guilt constricts his chest.
Taetae, his soulmate, his best friend...
Jimin groans.
He does regret not telling Taehyung about this little adventure, but he just couldn't. If he had tried, he would have caved to Taehyung's presence alone and pushed back his time to himself. He needs this — this brief escape, just a taste of life outside the Oculus again. Needs to feel further from breaking. And he couldn't bring Taehyung along, either. Not only would that have defeated the point of being alone, but Jimin just... couldn't do that to him. Couldn't risk dragging him into trouble, not when Jimin didn't know where he would go or how long he'd be away. Taehyung deserves better than that.
He's not leaving leaving, though, not yet. He will go back — ideally when he's good and ready and he's had his fun, rather than at the hands of a certain hare hybrid brat — so he'll apologize properly then. It's fine.
(It's fine.)
Jimin's footsteps are too loud in his ears, ringing with accusation. Even the cold emptiness walking at his side is more piercing than before. Jaw tight, he just fixes his gaze straight ahead, keeping it locked on the distant light as he steadily closes the gap between them.
He just needs to get the fuck out of this cave. He's thinking way too much. Just one foot in front of the other, keep it going, until he can find a goddamn distraction or at least a fucking drink —
Wait.
Did he just hear a rustle?
His heartbeat immediately picks up as the sound repeats. There's definitely something here with him, shit —
A thick stretch of something cool blocks the light for a split second as it falls in front of his face. Honed reflex has Jimin twisting away and jerking arms up before the thing wraps tight around his middle. Immediately he flips the grip on his knife and slams his fist down, stabbing past tough skin into flesh. (And despite the predicament, it feels damn good to take his frustration out on something.) A pained hiss sounds directly behind him — shit it's close — but the thing's grip doesn't loosen. Jimin wrenches his blade free, narrowly avoiding losing it just as the coil shifts and pivots him to face the dark. There's a heat signature now, something human-shaped but a bit too cool to be human. Is that what caught him or does he have a second opponent to worry about? Just how fast did these things move for him not to sense them until now?
Or what magic or tech kept them fucking cloaked?
"Let me go," Jimin snarls, striking down again and digging the blade in deep. The heat signature shifts as the figure raises a limb — and then gold light fills his vision.
He winces away on instinct, squinting, but the light — a floating ball — isn't blinding. He blinks, adjusting quickly. It's comfortably bright in fact, enough to clearly see what's in front of him —
"Jin-hyung?"
Relief crashes together with anxiety and confusion, and a dozen thoughts fly through Jimin's mind in an instant. How the hell did Seokjin find him? Wait, how pissed is he? Is he going to help Jimin out of whatever's caught him and then lecture him, or make him suffer double by putting the lecture first? How much did Jungkook even tell him? Surely Jimin's not in that much trouble that he'd be kicked off the Oculus, right? And oh shit, he almost fucking attacked Seokjin, he definitely should have recognized the shape of that heat signature, what the fuck —
Then his eyes land on one heart-stopping detail, and his mind goes completely blank.
Right above Seokjin's lip is a row of fleshy indents — just like Jimin's.
Deer hybrids do not have heat pits.
"Holy shit," Jimin breathes, wide-eyed. "Seokjin-ssi...?"
The real Seokjin, his hyung, should be spitting a tirade at full steam right now. No amount of any special transformation magic or other trickery would save Jimin from hearing it. Is this a trap, then? An illusion to disarm him before inflicting some unknown torment?
It's not a very good one if so. Heat pits aside, there's the definite lack of deer ears and antlers. His hair is a lighter brown, and his bangs are partly brushed back rather than hiding his forehead like usual. However, the rest of his face is shockingly accurate — Jimin may even say exact — right down to the very same curves of his eyes and lips. That being the case, the fact that there are differences at all is confounding. What the fuck is the point of an illusion like this? The lookalike isn't even trying to act like Seokjin, nor is he making any move to attack. Instead, he's utterly silent and staring at Jimin in... awe?
Wonder?
His eyes are as wide as Jimin's, lips parted as he lets out a soft breath. In contrast, Jimin's breath seems to have coiled tight in his chest. Being the sole focus of that shining gaze, from a face so fucking familiar... Like he means something... He's fixed in place. He doesn't know what to do with this. Has no fucking clue. It's a benevolent assault on his emotions, one he never could have expected. All of his wound-up resentment goes quiet under the weight of it as the world slows to a halt.
One of Seokjin's hands — fully human, soft-skinned — comes up to gently cup Jimin's face, and Jimin just... lets it happen. Even leans into it a bit before he can process the motion, instinctively seeking out the slight yet comforting warmth it provides against the cooler air. Then Seokjin traces his thumb slowly above Jimin's lip, right along the edges of his heat pits, and Jimin's mouth drops open a bit in surprise. Seokjin's touch, even like this, is given with such reverence and care... Far more than Jimin has ever experienced. It's the complete opposite to how people usually react, entirely foreign...
And suddenly Jimin realizes how close they actually are — so close that his pits tingle with pleasant heat under Seokjin's breath. Jimin's face flushes, his gaze briefly dropping to Seokjin's lips (plush and enticing as ever, fuck). His tongue flicks out on instinct, just a bit, just enough for the tips to test the air and pick up a hint of pheromones, and then Seokjin is leaning in —
— and for one conflicting moment, Jimin wants.
And yet, the image of deer hybrid Seokjin flashes through his mind. Just for a split second, but even that much is enough to drench Jimin in the icy waters of reality and have him pulling away in a mix of embarrassment and discomfort, face steaming. Magical moment very much over. Why the fuck... Who knew Seokjin's looks could make Jimin so goddamn brainless when he's not prepared for it, holy shit. The man needs a fucking warning label, because seriously? Jimin really almost happily kissed a near-identical version of his supposedly very platonic teammate, huh. He's not entirely sure what that says about him.
(Deer Seokjin would probably find it flattering... but he would also 100% laugh his ass off over it, so. Jimin may have to take this to his grave.)
God, this is fucking with Jimin's head so much already.
Snake Seokjin, thankfully, had picked up on the emotional shift and moved back as well. Now, though, the thing around Jimin's torso shifts and loosens. He looks down — and stiffens, because it's thick snake coils that are slowly unwinding around him, brown-scaled with black patterns and a pale belly. He glances to Seokjin's body, torso hidden beneath black clothing that looks remarkably like a long, pantsless hanbok. Where the garment ends, Jimin can see the same brown-and-black snake body merging underneath. With that, and those heat pits... That confirms it.
He's seriously a python hybrid. A different form of one than Jimin, but a python hybrid nonetheless.
(Unless this world's biology runs on notably different rules, which, in fairness, is entirely possible...)
As Seokjin's coils shift, there's a slight tug on the knife still in Jimin's grip. Horror immediately floods his body because fuck, he's an idiot, the coils are Seokjin and Jimin just fucking stabbed him. Twice. He snatches his hand back, unable to tear his eyes away from the blade buried in scaled flesh as the coils sprawl out to leave a decent gap between them. Given the size of those wounds in proportion to the rest of Seokjin's body, they're not the worst things to deal with, but it's still best to leave the knife in to stop more blood loss. Hopefully it'll work long enough to find help; Seokjin and his clothes clearly came from somewhere.
Jimin's gaze flicks between Seokjin's eyes and the knife's hilt with growing fluster. "I... uh, I —"
What do you even fucking say after you've just stabbed someone (twice)? God, he's fucking lucky Seokjin wasn't actually trying to kill him; coils like that could've done the job in no time at all.
Jimin swallows. "Okay. You need help and I don't know how much I can do here. Is there some kind of doctor nearby?"
Just in case, he scours his mind for every scrap of information Yoongi has ever mentioned about open wounds. Jimin should apply pressure around the knife, right? Use his jacket, maybe? What else, what else...
Rather than respond, Seokjin holds up his free hand, then reaches for the blade's hilt.
Jimin takes a step, reaching out. "Wait, don't —"
Seokjin pulls the blade free with a wince. Blood spills onto the rock below.
Jimin shrieks and rushes forward, falling to his knees beside the wounded coil. "You're supposed to keep it in, you idiot, now you're bleeding even more!"
Just as he starts tearing his jacket off to stanch the flow, Seokjin puts a warm hand on his shoulder and gives him a little shake. Jimin jerks his head up, about to snap in protest again because why does this man want to keep bleeding — and pauses. Seokjin's expression is still placid, and upon Jimin meeting his eyes, he just gives a casual tilt of his head toward the wound.
Jimin looks back to it and sucks in a breath. Right before his eyes, the muscle and skin is steadily knitting itself back together, scales merging seamlessly on top. It takes only a handful of moments before the wound is completely gone. Jimin casts around for the first stab wound and finds only another trickle of blood with no source. Already healed — likely while he had been, uh... distracted.
For a moment, Jimin can only gape, and then he drops his shoulders with a sigh of weary relief.
"Oh thank fuck," he says weakly. "Holy shit, hyung, don't scare me like that."
If this version of Seokjin is at all bothered by the habitual informality, he doesn't say anything. He merely chuckles and extends his hand, holding Jimin's knife out hilt first and watching him with eyes creased in amusement.
"Uh... Thanks," Jimin mumbles, taking it gingerly in hand as if the stabbing was the knife's fault. He pulls a spare cloth from his pocket, gives the knife a sharp flick, and then wipes the blade clean before returning both items to their proper places.
He checks the watch again just to give his hands something to do but doesn't actually process anything on the screen. Now that Seokjin's not bleeding in front of him, the rest of the situation is taking a sledgehammer to his brain — and bringing with it another rush of resentment.
He's in another world. With another Seokjin. How? It's a reasonable enough concept for anyone who's read any amount of fiction, but his team's never said jack shit about actually finding alternate selves. Jimin's hopped through a couple hundred worlds by now, so at some point he started believing they were only fiction — but until he jumped solo, those training trips were only to locations chosen by the other members. Was it deliberate? Locations chosen specifically to avoid Jimin finding out that alternates are a thing?
Why? That seems like the dumbest shit to want to keep from him — and yet.
He hops to his feet and begins to pace. He can't believe for a second that it was just dumb luck. No way in hell he's the first one to find out about this, not with how long the rest of the team has been active. In fairness, he's never really asked about such topics, but seriously, did he need to? Should this not be basic fucking information? It seems kind of fucking important.
He lets out an aggrieved sigh, dimly aware of Seokjin cocking his head in curiosity nearby. Honestly, there's nothing Jimin can do about the subject right now. Maybe he'll confront the team when he gets back to the Oculus, or maybe he'll wait and see how long it takes for them to bring it up, since apparently they still don't trust him with everything yet.
Not that they've really trusted him with much when it comes down to it. They've always been weirdly cagey about certain topics. It's one of those things that he always notices in hindsight, being skillfully diverted in the actual moment. It's infuriating how good they are at that. Like they all got together to study how to fuck over just him in particular.
He has to take a breath and remind himself, again, that nothing can be resolved right now. He's just souring his "vacation" by burying himself in negativity. He needs to just fucking forget about them for a while, find some things (or someones) to occupy his time until he deigns himself ready to tolerate their bullshit again. He has no idea how many hops that'll be, but he might pile on a few more out of spite. Not like they'll need him for anything in the meantime; they clearly got on just fine before he entered the picture.
He scuffs a boot on the tunnel floor and huffs and pretends the sound doesn't come out shakier than he'd like.
God, he fucking hates this. This... fucking roller coaster shit, so unsure of how pissed at his teammates he should actually be. Every time he gets upset, his mind throws him a reminder that they're not all bad, and every time he thinks that, he just remembers more shit to be mad about. Vicious fucking cycle.
(And if that's not rock-solid evidence for why he needs this break, he doesn't know what is. Clearly he can't keep his head on straight if he's around them. A detox is definitely in order.)
Sudden finger snaps interrupt his thoughts, and he looks up to see Seokjin watching him expectantly.
Jimin's brows furrow. "What?"
Seokjin slithers over, magic light ball bobbing through the air to stay near. He positions himself so that his back is facing Jimin before he leans forward a bit, pats his back over his shoulder, stretches his arms behind him, and then looks back at Jimin expectantly. Jimin squints at the odd posture. It's almost like...
"You've gotta be kidding me." He takes a step back, shaking his head. "No. Nope. No way. I am not letting you piggyback me."
Seokjin hisses — not aggressively, just... a very snakey hiss. Come to think of it, he really hasn't said a single word this whole time, has he?
...Can he even understand what Jimin is saying?
This may be a problem.
(Though come to think of it, his luck has actually been really fucking good if he's only running into a language issue now...)
At Jimin's hesitation, Seokjin hisses again and waves his hands toward his back.
"No. Fuck off, I can walk on my own," Jimin snaps, pointing aggressively to his legs.
Seokjin definitely understands the tone of refusal, at the very least. He fixes Jimin with a stern look that is unnervingly familiar for how much they technically don't know each other.
...Right. They don't know each other. Holy shit, Seokjin's face is disarming. Why does this keep happening? (Genuinely, for the sake of multiversal stability, warning label that shit.) Should Jimin even trust this guy? Maybe it is an illusion, and it's fucking working, because he'd still be stubbornly on guard with anyone else new, would never have put his knife away and just stood there fucking angsting. This "Seokjin" could have any manner of intentions toward him from the benign to the sinister and...
And...
Aaaaaaand Seokjin's expression wilts into a wounded pout.
...To be completely fair, it's not like Seokjin has threatened him so far, right? Hasn't tried to disarm him, even fucking handed his knife back. Seokjin probably just wants to help the clueless stranger lost in a dark tunnel, like any normal person would. It makes sense, right? Right. Plus, Jimin can always stab him again if needed, so... It should be fine to go with him for now.
Even if the... travel method... is fucking ridiculous. Seriously, why can't he just walk?
Jimin draws a deep breath and lets it out in another aggrieved sigh.
It's an aggrieved sigh kind of day.
"Fiiiiiiiiiiine. Guess you're just a pain in every universe," he grits out under his breath. "Can't believe I'm actually fucking doing this..."
He steps carefully over the snake portion of Seokjin's body nonetheless, and Seokjin hisses something with a suspicious shake of his shoulders. Probably something worth punching him for. Jimin mercifully refrains, because innocent until proven guilty and all that, and he can't understand this Seokjin anyway — but there's definitely the same obnoxious twinkle in his eyes that Jimin has seen on his Seokjin.
(Eugh, calling his teammates "his" so directly is gonna get a bit weird, but there's not really any better way to differentiate them, other than constantly throwing their species in front of their names, which is clunky and obnoxious...)
(...Maybe this is why his teammates never said anything. Too goddamn confusing to label people sensibly and keep everything straight. Fuck knows how many of their alternates they must have seen by now. He might have to go a bit easier on them with that in mind.)
Jimin holds that amused gaze for a moment, meeting it with eyes lidded in irritation.
"Don't think I can't tell when you're being a dick. You know I could stab you again, right?" he says testily before eyeing Seokjin's back. Even in this world, the man is still so goddamn broad... Gingerly Jimin puts his hands on those unreasonably wide shoulders and hops up (and definitely doesn't press himself as close to that body heat as possible, nope). "Seriously, you're right here, it wouldn't be hard. If you heal that fast, I don't even have to go easy on you."
Whether from a lack of understanding or merely opting to ignore him, Seokjin doesn't respond. He just leans forward to accommodate Jimin's weight and brings firm hands up under his thighs for support.
Jimin narrows his eyes. "You'd better not be using this as an excuse to grope —"
Seokjin chooses that moment to take off like a fucking rocket, and the sudden motion forces the rest of the statement back down Jimin's throat as he clings tighter to avoid falling on his ass.
Seokjin, the fucker, has the audacity to laugh at him again.
Lucky for Seokjin, Jimin is presently unable to retaliate — or do anything but cling as they zip down the tunnel at a surprising speed. The piggyback method suddenly makes a lot more sense with Seokjin somehow slithering even faster than Jimin can run. "Python hybrid" his ass, actual pythons don't move anything like this. They're in the lit portion of the tunnel in seconds and zooming by so quickly that Jimin can barely see how the tunnel is lit. Some kind of weird sconces? Probably holding more magic light bullshit if he had to guess, since his heat sense isn't picking up much, either — just warmth too moderate to be something burning.
(Speaking of which... He turns his head and — yep, Seokjin's little light ball is still following along right beside them, now much more useless.)
The route doesn't proceed in a straight line, either. It curves here and there, usually sharply, and the resulting bouncy sort of maneuver that Seokjin has to make to not lose too much speed has him jarring Jimin's skull every time. It does appear to be a main route of some sort, though; Jimin spots a few branching tunnels as they rush past, but the openings are smaller and unlit. It's possible they have other details as well, but Jimin will never fucking know because all he's ever gonna remember about this place is a fucking blur.
If that's the whole point of Seokjin's weird speed demon tactic, it's definitely succeeding.
"You know it's not a fucking race, right?" Jimin grits out, jaw clenched for safety. He's definitely not in the mood to risk biting his tongue off. "You can slow the fuck down. In fact that'd be really fucking preferable —"
Seokjin just rounds another corner at the same speed as all the others, not giving a single hiss.
Well fuck him too, then.
Despite the maze-like route and — ahem — less-than-stable mode of transportation, Jimin does notice that they're steadily descending the further they go. So much for the idea of this side being the exit. He'll still take civilization, though. Or really anything that doesn't leave him stranded in that one fucking section of tunnel in particular. Fuck that tunnel.
And probably fuck this part of the tunnel too, why is it so goddamn long? And goddamn winding? No sensible person was involved in digging this out, that's for sure.
(Fuck the whole day today, honestly. He'd like to start on tomorrow now.)
"Oh my god, please tell me we're almost there?" Jimin groans. "Wherever the fuck it is we're even going?"
This time Seokjin does hiss — something that, surprise, surprise, Jimin doesn't understand.
He doesn't know what he expected.
He lets out a loud huff right by Seokjin's ear just to be a shit and resigns himself to clinging for the foreseeable future. However, contrary to his expectations, Seokjin begins slowing down in no time at all. They round another corner — finally at a speed that does not scramble Jimin's brain matter — to see a more ornate stretch of tunnel decorated by engraved stone arches. At the end, ink-black spear in hand as he stands guard in front of a suspiciously smooth wall, is... another familiar face.
Jeon Jung-fucking-kook.
Jimin's gonna have a fucking aneurysm.
The brat's another case of a snake-ified version, at least, so he doesn't need to whip out his knives just yet, but goddamn. It fucking figures, doesn't it? Just his luck; he really can't escape this brat. Try running from one and the universe will just throw more at him, apparently.
Jimin quickly takes in the details growing clearer as they move down the tunnel. Up top, this one has about the same build as the hare. Granted, he's wearing the same weird black hanbok as Seokjin, so Jimin can't tell exactly, but given the obnoxious width of his shoulders and tautness of cloth in certain places, Jimin would be willing to bet on it. His hair is still black, but it's longer and styled a bit differently than what Jimin is used to — wavier, messier. His bangs cover more of his face, hanging down past his eyes and showing less of his forehead in the middle. And as if that isn't enough, there's a little bun sticking up at the back to top things off. (Which, shit, it's actually a good look on him — fuck, wait, no —)
Like Seokjin, the lower part of his body is fully snake. His scales, both belly and otherwise, are all a crisp, clean white, suggesting a form of leucism that hasn't affected his human half (what's visible, at least) much if at all. Unlike Seokjin, however, Jungkook doesn't have visible heat pits, and his snake body is rounder, sleeker, and longer. Not likely to be a python, then. Colubrid, maybe? There's a fuckton of colubrids, so the odds are high. And it's better that than a fucking elapid...
Jimin takes a moment to just absorb Jungkook's overall appearance, and he snickers to himself a bit, incredulous. The snake half would probably freak some people out, but the human half? His face? God, not even having a fucking snake body can erase Jungkook's bunny vibes. That's hilarious. Against Jimin's better judgment, he almost wants to find another one just to check if it's a multiversal trend.
...Ha. Funny. Yeah fuck no, the current two are already two too many.
Jimin tries glaring daggers as they get closer. Just to draw a clear line in the sand here, keep things distant. No mushy shit. He won't let this adorable — goddamn it — hideous snake version lull him into a false sense of forgiveness that his Jungkook doesn't deserve. It'll only hurt Jimin in the end, like some kind of weird, emotion-based Trojan horse.
It's fine for a moment. Jungkook isn't even looking at him at first, focusing instead on pointing his finger like a pistol at Seokjin's little redundant light ball. And... fucking sniping it with a thin bolt of shadow, erasing it from existence. Okay then.
Judging by the way Seokjin's shoulders slump and his head tilts, exasperation is rolling off him in waves. He hisses something a bit testy and Jungkook laughs, a sound that Jimin has only heard when it's caused by the hyungs —
And then Jungkook glances up at Jimin... Figures out what he's seeing... His familiar doe eyes widen, and then his mouth drops open in an awed gasp.
And Jimin...
Jimin can't continue that glare.
Not when Jungkook — for whatever fucking reason — is looking at him like he hung the moon.
It's pretty much exactly what happened with this world's Seokjin, too. Why the hell is Jimin so surprising to these guys? (And why is he so fucking weak to them? Forget the Trojan horse, he's dealing with fucking Trojan whales.) They need to let him be mad, damn it. Giving him these weird, special looks that warm him inside out... Shocking him out of his resentment... It's incredibly rude of them. Definitely not helping the stability of his mental state.
As Seokjin and Jungkook break into a very hissy conversation, Jimin slumps against Seokjin's shoulders with a sigh, eyes drooping as he turns his face away.
All right, fine, twist his arm. He supposes he can be a little more fair and try not to hate this Jungkook as much. After all, it's not his fault his alternate hare self is such a dick.
(And if he notices he just fell into the same pretty-face trap that Seokjin caught him in earlier... No he doesn't. He's never noticed a thing in his life and no one can prove anything.)
(The Trojan whale-horse technique is devastating, okay. He stands by that.)
Seokjin hisses something that has Jungkook's eyes somehow getting even bigger, but since Jimin can't understand the juicy details, he decides to leave them to it and mentally checks out. Seokjin's apparently not ready to let him down just yet, and no one's trying to kill him or kiss him, so there's not much else to care about here.
Scrounging around for another mental topic to keep him busy, he does wonder (very unrelated to killing or kissing) — if Seokjin and Jungkook are here, does that mean Namjoon, Yoongi, and Hoseok are as well? Also snake-ified? Those five are all from the same world originally, unlike Jimin and Taehyung, so it would make sense. Sort of.
Now Jimin's not sure if the species here reflect the ones in more familiar worlds, but if he were to bet on what the other members could be, just for shits and giggles... Namjoon he can definitely see as a boa, something big and clumsy and yet stupidly strong. Maybe even an anaconda. Hoseok, on the other hand, is always so damn cheerful and loud that color would be a key attribute; something vibrant is a must. While there's definitely a wide variety of species that could fit the bill, Jimin likes the idea of a garter snake — one with bold stripes down the sides and spine, and a high-contrast checker pattern. Yeah, definitely Hoseok. And Yoongi, well...
Jimin takes a moment to sigh dramatically to himself. Yoongi is a scorpion hybrid, so unfortunately that probably means he'd be an elapid — something from the family of front-fanged snakes, most with neurotoxic venom similar to what he already has. King cobra, maybe; the "king" part just feels right. The thing about elapids, though, is that they're total assholes — reasons why Jimin has privately sworn to stay way the fuck away from them (and why this Jungkook had better fucking hope he isn't one) — so that definitely won't help their bickering.
And for fun, Taehyung, Taehyung, Taehyung... A sunbeam snake would be a good match, having a cute name and iridescent scales that bring rainbows with him wherever he goes. Taehyung would love that. Or, since he's in the water so much already, he could maybe potentially be a sea snake, but that's another elapid, and would Jimin really be able to handle it if his soulmate was —
A sudden, low rumble derails his musings, forcing him to tune back in. Evidently the conversation is over, as Jungkook has pressed a hand to the smooth wall behind him, lighting it up with glowing white whorls and runes. It parts down the middle, and the rumble then makes sense; the wall is opening up like a pair of doors.
Immediately there's a rush of warmth through the growing gap, and Jimin perks up. Fucking finally, no more tunnel chill! Now much more enthusiastic about existence here, Jimin pats rapid-fire on Seokjin's shoulder as he uncrosses his legs.
"Warm! Heat! Oh my god, put me down, put me down, piggyback time is so fucking over," he says in a rush, pointing between himself and the ground.
Seokjin and Jungkook both laugh at his exuberance — rude — but Seokjin gets the hint, promptly crouching down so Jimin can get his feet back under him. He loses his balance a bit when he swings a leg back over the snake portion of Seokjin's body, which is less than graceful and of course makes both of the others snicker again, but whatever. There is blissful warmth ahead of him and so there is no time to worry about looking comical.
Once the doors are fully open, Jungkook scoots aside with a bright smile and gestures for them to pass into the new cavern. Before Jimin can even take a single step, Seokjin promptly snatches his hand and starts eagerly tugging him along. Thankfully Seokjin retains some sense and doesn't move too fast, but it's still enough that Jimin has to jog a bit to keep up with him. As such, he has to split his focus between looking around and trying not to trip over his own feet.
The cavern itself is easy enough to take in, at least. It's a decently large space, much taller and much, much wider than the tunnel that led them there. It's really fucking roomy, honestly, for reasons Jimin can't even begin to guess. Everything is warmly lit, a combination of more of those yellow sconces and a massive gem in the ceiling with a dim red glow giving the illusion that the whole cavern is dipped in firelight.
And how fitting it is, too. The gem above is radiating heat, just like the sun on a clear summer day. By sheer coincidence, the whole cavern exactly matches Jimin's favorite basking temperature. Absolutely perfect. It quite literally can't get better than this. (He's so fucking tempted to just start shucking off his clothes and plop right down to bask, but Seokjin is leading him for a reason, so it's probably wise to wait until that's sorted out first. Sigh.)
Murals depicting snake-bodied hybrids in various acts cover every available inch of cavern wall, occasionally separated by other sets of stone doors. Jimin can't stand still long enough to be 100% sure, but he's still very confident that the intertwined figures in some of the murals are in fact illustrating some rather fun debauchery. Definitely a good idea to investigate those if he can; it's always nice to know if he's in suitably spicy company.
Off to the right end of the cavern — or the back, assuming their entrance is a side one — is some sort of dais, higher than the cavern floor with stone steps carved up to it. Six giant spurs of rock curve up and out in front like a crown of horns — or perhaps fangs. Each one is wrapped around the middle by vivid red silks, edged with intricate silver patterns and overlaid with strings of twinkling jewels. Behind them is more red-and-silver and a few other flashes of color, though now that Jimin is being dragged further away, he can't see well enough to determine exactly what. More cloth, or perhaps blankets or cushions. It does seem like a good place to rest comfortably, though. Almost like a nest.
Suddenly Seokjin slows down and gives a more deliberate tug on Jimin's hand.
"What?" he says, purely on reflex as he jerks his head to face forward. But Seokjin doesn't need to respond. The answer is obvious.
At the center of the cavern, right where Seokjin is leading, is a large, square platform, built up manually with stone blocks to match the height of the dais. It's wide enough for several human-form people to stand comfortably — or for a few snake-bodied hybrids to sprawl out uncoiled. Wide steps lead up to it from all sides, and tall standing torches cast their magical golden glow from each corner.
More importantly, standing on the platform are two new figures. Judging from the nodding and hand gestures, they're engaged in inaudible conversation and paying no attention to the approaching group.
The figure vaguely facing them is a humanoid so thoroughly swallowed by their gloomy black robes and a low, ominous hood that Jimin can't see a single hint of skin. No tell-tale bulges under the cloth from hidden animal bits, either. Hopefully they're just an unimportant lackey and not, say, a harbinger of doom.
The figure faced away, on the other hand, is a third snake hybrid. Lengths of crimson scales are sharply divided by three lines of inky black that run all the way to the tip of their tail. Well, lines of mostly inky black; the stripes take on a purplish, almost iridescent gleam where the light hits certain curves. They're also so crisp and clean against the red that they hardly even look natural. Magic tattoos or something, maybe? Can't rule it out.
The snake portion of their body is also closer in shape to Jungkook's, being rounder and thinner than what Jimin expects for a python. Not to mention really fucking long. Their coils completely line the perimeter of the platform that Jimin can see, and he's absolutely willing to bet they're draped over the rest of it, too. That's gotta be twice as long as the others at minimum. Combined with the striping, this hybrid is giving him... vague garter vibes? Granted, that could just be because he was thinking about garters a few minutes ago, but right now he's willing to chalk that up to dimensional differences. (They've gotta be colubrid. Come on, universe, don't make his day even worse.)
As for the hybrid's human portion... Their hanbok is the same deep red as their scales, which is a very questionable fashion choice given that there's already so much red screaming at anyone who looks at them. Unlike the other hanboks, though, the solid block of color is broken up by intricate snake and flower patterns of a darker shade. Also breaking up the color in a similar high-contrast move as their stripes, their hair is 1) long as fuck, and 2) a shining silver-gray. It's been pulled into a high ponytail, but the ends of it still hang past their elbows, making a sort-of stripe, at least from the back... Wait a minute, hold the fuck up.
Red hanbok. Silver hair.
Same color combo as the dais, huh? Plus the hanbok being fancier than the rest... Shit, this person's probably important, then. Not good. It's been ages since Jimin has been forced to be especially polite. Didn't come easy then and it sure as hell won't come easy now. Fingers crossed this situation isn't that formal and that his life won't depend on remembering a bunch of fucky little social niceties.
Jimin's gaze flicks back to the murals. (And unexpectedly has to look around Jungkook to do it; when the fuck did he sneak up to them?) Now that he's looking for it, there is a suspicious amount of red-and-black snake bodies jumping out at him, each instance matching the exact shade and pattern of the third hybrid's scales... His heart rate picks up a bit. The formality fear is rising. What'll he be working with here? Some sort of clan leader? Something better? Something worse?
At least he still has hope that this is another familiar face who will leave him on safe ground. After all, the other snakey alternates here liked him on the spot for whatever reason. Maybe that luck will hold out?
Still, as Jimin continues to be tugged to and up the stone steps, he takes full opportunity of what might be the last chance to blatantly stare and scrutinize for any extra clues while the figure's back is still turned. Time to guess who, perhaps? If he even can? Honestly the fucking hair is really throwing him off, but he might as well give it a try.
Okay: build. Seokjin and Jungkook lined up pretty well to their counterparts. This person is slimmer than either of them, though, so if that trend is consistent, that rules out Namjoon. It could be Hoseok? The vibe doesn't really match what Jimin knows about Yoongi, and the red of those scales is pretty vivid. Except the build might be closer to Yoongi...
Seokjin halts their little group (and Jimin's thoughts) just short of the edge of the platform, barred from going further by those suspicious red-and-black coils. He hisses some sort of greeting, and the figure finally turns and shows their face.
Jimin's heart leaps into his throat, and the world comes to a sudden halt for the second time today.
"Holy shit," he breathes once again.
This person is not one of his teammates.
It's another Jimin.