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alpacaparkaseok · 3 years ago

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How to Sell Sunshine |4|

4. The Hitman

→ Pairing: mafia!BTS x reader (not poly)

→ word count: 5k

→ warnings/tags: SFW, e2l, mafia!au, lol the Lambo is mentioned but unfortunately not driven, fighting, annoying moments, we’re getting to some super exciting scenes so that’s fun

→ a/n: thank you guys for being so patient! I hope you enjoy this chapter. You have no idea how much your comments/reblogs/asks mean to me. they help me so much and help me to feel like I’m not a fool lol, so thank you for your support and I hope to hear from you soon about the latest developments in this chapter!

Series Masterlist ♟ join the taglist!

“Do you like blonds?”

Jung Hoseok, one of the most coveted hitmen in the world, continues fixing his hair with careful precision. “What does that have to do with anything?”

Adjusting the rear view mirror so you can see him clearly, you ignore Taehyung’s snicker from the driver’s seat. “I mean, he’s not a natural blond, but he pulls it off really well.”

“So you’re just going to ignore my question?” Hoseok frowns, glaring at you. “That’s not very mature of you.”

“I asked you a question first.”

“I don’t think Jimin’s your type,” Taehyung interjects as he comes to a stop at a red light. “Just for the record.”

“Thank you for your opinion, Taehyung.”

The curly-haired driver winks at you. “Anything for you, tesoro.”

Rolling your eyes, you twist around in your seat to face Hoseok. You’ve hardly gotten a chance to speak with him over the past week. Between recruiting Jimin and Namjoon and refraining yourself from killing Jungkook and Jin over the disaster at Queen’s Wharf, you’ve been booked.

“So?”

Hoseok shrugs, lower lip pouting out a bit. It makes him look absolutely harmless. “I don’t really have much of an opinion. Why, is your new recruit blond?” He pauses before gasping and pointing an accusing finger your way. “Is that why you recruited him? Don’t tell me you’re about to turn us into your own personal harem or-“

“Don’t worry,” Leveling him with a half-lidded stare, you do your best to look intimidating. “You’ll always be my first choice, Hoseokie.”

Taehyung nearly crashes the car due to your comment, but you choose to ignore it.

Honestly, between Taehyung fuming behind the driver’s seat over your favoritism and Hoseok gloating in the back seat, you’re lucky to make it to Queen’s Wharf alive. Granted, you still face possible elimination due to an annoyed Min Yoongi waiting for you at home.

“I’m more qualified than the rest of you to look at the scene,” he’d seethed when you vetoed his request to accompany you to the remnants of Royal’s Bar. “Maybe they left behind something of value that will tell us their next move-”

“And you’re also an asset that I can’t afford to lose so early in the game,” you replied on your way out the door. Before you could step out, though, Yoongi grabbed your wrist in an iron-like grip. Completely unimpressed, you give him a pointed stare. “Let go, Yoongi. You know I’m right. And besides, this isn’t the way to convince me.”

Despite all the time you’ve known him, there’s still something about Min Yoongi that throws you off balance. Every time you find yourself looking into his eyes searching for something that you’re not quite sure is there.

Humanity, perhaps.

“Hands off,” came a honey-like voice from atop the staircase. Hoseok remained nonchalant as he waltzed down the stairs, eyes dancing along your wrist where Yoongi kept his hold on you.

Before Hoseok stepped onto the main floor, Yoongi had complied with his request.

Odd, you thought to yourself. So he’ll listen to Hoseok. You added that to the mental list of questions about Yoongi that you aren’t sure will ever be answered.

Yoongi hadn’t said another word as you left the house, settling for standing sullenly in the doorway as the rest of you piled into two separate vehicles. And now here you are, parking just down the street from the pile of rubble that used to be Royal’s Bar & Club. Taehyung whistles long and low at the sight.

“I’m assuming this is it,” Hoseok says, sounding completely unimpressed.

“Wow,” Taehyung breathes out, unbuckling his seat and leaning forward to get a better look. “Seokjin really went for it, didn’t he?”

As if on cue, a dark red Mercedes Benz pulls up alongside you. Jungkook and Seokjin grin up at you, rolling down the driver’s side window. You suppress a sigh, rolling your window down to speak with them.

“Hey,” Seokjin greets you for the first time since last night when he disappeared during your argument with Jungkook. “Where should we park?”

“I thought we were going incognito!” Taehyung calls out, gesturing angrily at the flashy car the arsonist drove. “That’s literally why you said I couldn’t drive my Lambo!”

Completely ignoring the angry man to your left, you point at a darkened alleyway just down the street. “Down there is probably best.”

As Seokjin peels off, you turn to see Taehyung glaring down at the steering wheel of the black SUV you persuaded him to drive this morning. Hoseok chuckles before getting out of the car, leaving you to fend for yourself.

“The Lamborghini is a two-seater, remember? Besides, the last thing we need is someone tracing us back to the house.”

Sighing heavily, Taehyung throws his door open. “First the blond, now this. I get no peace in this household.” Without looking back at you, he jumps out of the car, striding after Hoseok.

Dumbstruck, you sit in the car, staring after him. Taehyung is all smiles as he throws an arm around Hoseok’s shoulders, shouting something across the street when Seokjin and Jungkook emerge from the alleyway.

The combination of the four of them looks like the beginnings of a bad joke. A curly-haired getaway driver, one coveted hitman, an unhinged arsonist, and a street rat walked into a bar…

You can’t help but laugh as you realize that they quite literally are walking into a bar. Or the remnants of one, at least.

That’s it. Your life really is some bad joke.

“I’m gonna pay for this, aren’t I?” Shrugging off your seatbelt, you hop out of the SUV and set off after them.

“Wow, Seokjin,” Taehyung murmurs as you all pick your way across the burnt scene. “This looks…thorough.”

Jungkook snorts as he brushes past you. His hand trails against yours, making you jump a little.

“What?” Hoseok asks. You shake your head, just glaring at Jungkook’s back as he keeps walking, utterly unphased. “Alright, I’ll go post up.”

Seokjin sits in the corner of the building, propped up on the foundation. “Off so soon?”

It’s only now, out here in the open, that you realize something different about your local arsonist. “Did you- did you dye your hair last night?”

Twisting one purple lock around his crooked fingers, Seokjin winks at you. “Yes. I hope you like it.” Then, completely ignoring way your jaw drops open, “What’s the matter, Hoseok? Don’t wanna get your shoes dirty?”

Indeed, Hoseok is still standing just outside of the ring of soot that circles the building. He doesn’t say a word as he tears his gaze from your heated cheeks, silently unslinging the bag from his shoulder and unzipping it to reveal the unfavorable firearms within.

“As much as I enjoy admiring your handiwork,” Hoseok croons, counting out the items in the bag, “We’ve worked together one too many times for me to be amazed anymore.”

“Oh, now don’t say that.”

“I’ll be where we discussed,” Hoseok says to you, already walking away. “Triple tap your watch if you need me.”

Seokjin lounges in his makeshift seat, looking for all the world like a cat playing with a toy. “I bet I’ve still got a few tricks up my sleeve; they might surprise you!” He pouts when Hoseok doesn’t even turn around, waving him off as he crosses the street to go to a better vantage point. You can’t help but chuckle under your breath, wondering if Jung Hoseok is the only man alive to get away with ignoring Seokjin like that.

First, his strange hold over Yoongi, and now Seokjin.

…it’s kind of hot.

“You still with us, capa?” Taehyung’s voice drifts over to you, sounding as though he’s underwater. You turn to see the man in question with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face; looking for all the world like he can read your thoughts.

Jungkook kicks at some rubble, ignoring Seokjin who makes a show of coughing and ordering him to quick kicking dirt around.

“Yeah. Let’s comb the area. Make sure we didn’t leave anything behind that can be traced back to us.”

Seokjin mumbles something under his breath about I’m no amateur but you ignore him as you set to work. You opt for sending him a pointed glare that gets him off his seat and scanning the area like the rest of you.

Sunlight trickles down through the rafters, illuminating the darker areas. You step carefully, almost waiting for the roof to fall in over your head. A part of you wonders how Hoseok would even manage to get a clear shot with all the rubble and heavy wooden beams overhead, but you decide not to worry about it for now.

“Hey,” Jungkook crouches down, tossing a few things aside and looking up at you with dirt smudged on his face. You fight the urge to wipe it off.

“Yeah?” You crouch down beside him, effectively disappearing from view as you’re behind what remains of the counter. “What’s up?”

Jungkook takes a long breath, studying broken glass as though they were hieroglyphs. “I’m sorry. For causing this mess.”

Blinking at the boy, you find yourself gaping. “…you’re sorry?”

“What, am I not allowed to apologize?”

“No, not that…it’s just…”

He finally looks at you, a smile playing on the corners of his lips. “Spit it out.”

Nudging him, you croon, “Since when did you become so pious? Apologizing, coming here without throwing a fit-”

“You could learn a thing or two from me, I think.” Gasping, you shove him only to have him catch your hands with a mischievous grin. “Let’s not get testy- woah! Uncalled for!”

You can’t help but snicker at your perfectly placed forehead flick. “You’re annoying. Get back to work.”

“Whatever you say, Madam Bianchi.”

“Don’t call me th-”

“Stay down.” Taehyung appears with his back turned to you, not even looking your way. Your heart instantly begins to jackhammer against your ribs as you go completely still, ears straining to hear anything.

It’s Seokjin who calls out to the unseen visitor, his tone dripping in fake friendliness. “Welcome! It looks like this place is busier now than ever before, don’t you think?”

A heartbeat later an all too familiar voice responds. “It would appear so. It’s odd how that happens, isn’t it?”

Jungkook’s hand finds yours as he squeezes you tightly. You don’t need to look at him to see the fear in his eyes. He always gets the same look every time hears your father’s voice.

“I’m afraid I don’t know who you are, Mr…?”

You can almost hear the smug smile in your father’s voice as he speaks up. “Bianchi. Keep up, son. Are you new here or something?”

It’s all you can do to stop yourself from springing up from your position and making a run for it. Instead you remain crouched down behind the bar, sweat beading on your forehead.

“He is,” Taehyung responds, his voice impossibly deeper as it resonates around the room. “Can I help you gentlemen with anything?”

Twisting around, you notice a sizeable hole in the bar. You crane your neck enough to peek out of it, immediately wishing that you didn’t.

There stands your father in what remains of the doorway of the bar. He’s busy adjusting his tie, giving Taehyung a look-over.

“We’re hardly gentlemen. And yes, I believe you can. But first, I’ve brought my men to look over the area one more time.”

One more time? They’ve already been here?

“Certainly,” Taehyung says, gesturing to the space with a wide open arm. “We were just on our way out.”

It’s a lie, but you’ll let it slide. The last thing you need is for your father to realize that you’re here amongst the latest threat to his legacy. You watch with bated breath as your father nods, stepping aside for his men to come through.

“Kim, Park, Ortega,” he calls, gesturing at Taehyung and Seokjin. “Take care of these two while you’re at it. I don’t like the look of them.”

Leaving in a blur of suits and shadows, you’re left stifling a gasp as his three men step in, looking menacing and amused all at once.

Namjoon nods once at Taehyung as he steps through the door, who doesn’t bother to acknowledge him. No, all of the Italian’s attention is elsewhere. With a dazzling smile that would get under most people’s skin in an instant, he waves at a gloomy Park Jimin, wiggling his fingers in the air.

“Kim.”

“Hello, Jiminie.”

“Good morning,” Seokjin drawls from somewhere beyond your vision. It sounds like he might be back in the corner, lounging about like he owns the place.

A stout man to Jimin’s left – Ortega – fidgets a little as his eyes flit over to Seokjin. “Not for much longer.”

You’re not sure who moves first. All you see is Ortega reaching for something in his back pocket before Namjoon is striding across the room, effectively cutting off Ortega’s view of Seokjin.

“You’re the other Kim?”

Seokjin groans, the sound distracting Ortega for a brief moment as Taehyung leaps toward him. You stifle a laugh as you watch how Jimin steps to the side, providing Taehyung ample space to land his fist on Ortega’s jaw.

“I’m the original Kim,” Seokjin whines, rising from his seat. “Smarter, faster, prettier-”

“Ooh! That’s gonna hurt in the morning,” Jimin croons as Ortega falls to the ground under the force of Taehyung’s hit. He squats down beside him, patting his shoulder with mock worry. “Ya okay, buddy?”

Ortega mumbles something incoherent, only making Jimin chuckle as he rises and turns to Taehyung with a spark in his eye. “Take him outside, will you?”

“Last I checked, I don’t take orders from you.”

“I’m not about to drag my own man out, we’re already raising enough suspicion as is,” Jimin spits out. Taehyung sighs dramatically, turning around to face the bar where you remain hidden. Jungkook instinctively tightens his grasp on you.

“Do I have to, capa?”

Jimin goes completely still, following Taehyung’s gaze. You can see the second it clicks. He jolts into a stilted walk toward the bar, making your heartrate skyrocket. Jungkook tugs you away, cursing under his breath as he seeks a way out.

You stumble over the debris, crashing into Jungkook and sending the both of you sprawling out over the floor. The sound might as well have set off its own alarm, announcing your presence to Jimin and Namjoon. You can hear Seokjin saying something to Namjoon, but you can’t quite piece it all together because you’re too busy landing in Jungkook’s lap to pay attention.

“Ow!” Jungkook hisses even as he entraps you in his arms. It’s at this precise moment that a familiar form comes around the bar to find you in this compromising position.

Jimin pauses as soon as he sees you, eyes flitting back and forth between you and Jungkook before settling on your startled features. You can see the exact moment his mask sets in, leaving you with a cool and cocky blond that leans up against the ruined bar with a smirk.

“Good morning,” he greets, eyes practically setting you on fire. You don’t miss the way Jungkook’s arms wrap around you all the tighter under Jimin’s gaze. “Mind if I ask what you two lovebirds are up to down there?”

You squeak as you launch yourself out of Jungkook’s arms, inadvertently elbowing him in the stomach. Covered head to toe in ash and other unsavory materials, you rise on shaky knees.

“N-nothing, we were just-”

“Leaving.” Jungkook answers, getting up with a groan. “Just leaving. And you two,” he gestures back and forth between an amused Taehyung and an unbothered Seokjin, “were cleaning up, right?”

Seokjin gasps, rising from where he was sitting on a twisted chair to point an innocent finger at himself. Namjoon takes a step back, looking on at the whole scene with features schooled into nothingness.

“You think I’m the clean-up crew?! Come ‘ere Jeon, I’ll clean up this floor with your dumb little face!”

“Guys, c’mon-” You’re cut off as Jungkook huffs and jumps over the bar with one clean move.

“Just because you’re from some shiny mansion on the west coast doesn’t mean you’re better than me. I’ll teach you, you purple haired freak!”

All it takes is one glance at Taehyung to send him off to break up the fight. You’re pleasantly surprised when Namjoon jumps in to pull Seokjin off of Jungkook, pinning his arms to his side.

You’re fuming, staring down Jungkook and Seokjin and wondering how you’re going to get through to them when the feeling of someone standing close to you pulls you out of your thoughts.

Jimin smiles down at you like the Cheshire Cat, careful not to lean up against the dirty bar. “We need to have a chat, capa.” You manage to roll your eyes at the way he imitates Taehyung’s term for you.

“A little busy at the moment.”

“Great, so you’re free?” Without wasting another second, Jimin wraps a hand around your back and nudges you forward. “Out we go.”

You can only hope that there aren’t any murders in your absence as you’re led out into the kitchen. The sounds of arguing fade out a Jimin kicks the back door open, leading you out into the back alleyway.

The sun can’t quite reach the alleyway, leaving the two of you cloaked in shadows. Jimin takes a moment to fix his tie, looking for all the world like he’s just stepped into a job interview.

“What do you want.”

“Nice to see you, too.” Tilting his head to one side, you can’t help but fidget under his gaze. “How’ve you been? I see your circus doesn’t disappoint.”

Balling your hands up into fists, you struggle to remain calm. It’s humiliating, the fact that the first time your newest recruits met the rest of the clan was today. When they’re actively trying to hospitalize each other.

“Jimin,” you grind out, “what do you want.”

Running a hand through his perfect blond locks, Jimin steps forward. You instinctively step back, and he frowns. He repeats the action, and you take another step back.

His frown deepens. “Why are you stepping away from me?”

“I’m not,” you lie. He chokes out a laugh as he strides toward you. Scrambling backward, you wince as you careen against the wall. Jimin pauses, reaching out to you but thinking better of it.

“Fine. Have it your way.” Nibbling on his plump lip, Jimin sighs. “When, exactly, were you planning on getting in touch with me?”

“T-touch?” Your eyes widen even as Jimin smirks. “Getting in touch! I meant that! Not-”

“Whatever you say, sweetheart.” Crossing his arms, Jimin looks a little too smug for your liking. Pushing off the wall, you drift toward him, mustering all the courage you have.

Mimicking him as you cross your arms, you say, “You have no patience, do you, Park?”

“Very little, yes.”

“Well, work on it. I was about to send you a message tonight, anyways.”

Jimin shakes his head. “That’s not good enough.”

“You’re not fit to make demands!”

“What would have happened if he saw you here today?” Jimin fumes. You instantly know who he’s referring to: your father.

You open your mouth to respond, but the words die out before you can speak. The thought of what might have happened if he saw you is enough to instill paralyzing fear into your heart.

It wouldn’t have been pretty.

Jimin must notice the obvious terror in your eyes, because he’s suddenly lurching forward, drawing nearer until he’s mere inches from you. You’re completely frozen, staring up at the strand of hair that falls over his brows.

“How could you-” He bites his tongue, anger flickering across his features before he schools himself back into neutrality. “That was extremely careless of you, coming here.”

“I wasn’t asking for a scolding-”

“How am I supposed to protect you like this?!” Each word falls atop you like an anvil. Jimin stares you down, and you fight to hold his gaze. “How am I supposed to protect this sorry excuse of a family when I don’t even know what the plan is? He’s sicced Namjoon and I on you, and I couldn’t even contact you to warn you!”

The new information sends you reeling. “He…he knows?”

Jimin watches your expression as the new information sets in. Your eyes grow wide with fear, and only now does he allow himself to reach out to you. The selfish part of him is begging for him to pull you in tight, to cover you where he saw that boy holding you earlier behind the bar. He has yet to meet him – Jungkook, he thinks that was what you called him – but he already knows that he’s going to have a chat with him.

“Not about you,” Jimin quickly clarifies, brushing off some soot from your shoulder. He pretends to not notice the way your cheeks redden at the contact. “But he knows that there’s a new mafia rising. The Nameless is what you’re being called.”

You’re eyes are still wide with worry, so different from when he saw you just a few days ago. You seemed so fearless then.

What kind of hold does your father have over you?

“And he’s sending you two after us.”

“Yes. And Ortega, but he’ll be taken care of.”

You have a faraway look in your eyes now, and Jimin leans down so he’s eye-level with you. He catches your eye, hoping to bring you back to reality.

Brows furrowed, you sigh. “Can I tell you a secret?”

Jimin tries to hide his excitement. “Anything you want, sweetheart.” I’ll take it to my grave, his eyes convey.

Somehow your hand has found its way to his suit jacket, fingers bunching up the lapel. He steps closer, shielding you from all the world.

Your gaze is sheepish, darting from one end of the alley to the other before finally landing on him. “I…I have no idea what I’m doing.”

Not the most comforting statement from your future employer, but he can’t quite find it in himself to care. Brushing your hair back, he wonders what it might feel like to kiss that frown away. Something tells him you might taste like sunshine, and he’s dying to find out for himself.

“Nobody ever does,” Jimin whispers back, watching with rapt attention the way your eyes flutter as his thumb gently brushes over your cheek. “But you’re doing better than you think you are. Just…don’t be afraid to let me – us – help you.”

You cast your eyes downward, suddenly feeling vulnerable from your confession. Jimin smiles, tilting your chin up.

“Hands off.”

From the far side of the alleyway, a mand strides in from the sunshine. Jimin can’t quite place where he’s seen him before, but he’s struck with the sudden notion that he should be afraid.

“…excuse me?” Jimin stammers out. You sigh, and he turns to see that you’ve shed your vulnerable state for your typical mafia boss persona. It sends a thrill through him.

“Hoseok, I didn’t call for you.”

Hoseok gives you a cursory glance before his hawk-like gaze returns to Jimin’s figure. He feels like he’s being observed through a sniper’s glass, and instinctively checks the nearby rooftops for a gun trained on him.

Jimin jumps back as Hoseok nears your side. It’s with utter disdain that Hoseok regards him, finally responding to you.

“This is your blond, I’m assuming.” He turns back to you, extending his arm. “I agree with Taehyung. He’s not your type.”

“Excuse me, I-”

Hoseok arches one perfect eyebrow as Jimin sputters. “You’re excused, Mr. Park. I think you’ve done quite enough.”

It’s to Jimin’s utter horror that he watches as you take Hoseok’s arm as though it were second nature. Looking for all the world like the newest couple to cross Vogue’s cover, Jimin feels for the first time that he’s out of his depth.

Boys like Jungkook and Taehyung, he can handle. But Hoseok…

This man is a different breed. He sees it in the way you almost imperceptibly lean into his touch, setting a stripe of jealousy up Jimin’s spine before he can stop it.

Flinching under Hoseok’s gaze, he wonders if he knows exactly what’s going on in his head. Judging from the grin playing at the corners of his mouth, he must.

“Hoseok,” you say, completely oblivious to the mental war raging between the two men. “What are you doing down here? I thought you were supposed to be on a rooftop.” You idiot, Jimin mentally hisses. This is your job, not some dating television show.

Shrugging, Hoseok turns to lead you down the alley. “Something came up. We’re taking the Benz back to the house. The others can take the SUV.”

“What came up?”

Jimin watches as though stuck behind glass, fighting to break through and call after you. He finally manages to open his mouth. “Wait! We need to meet soon!”

You glance at him over your shoulder, and only now does he notice the conflicted look in your eyes. “Check your suit pocket, sweetheart.”

With that, you’re gone.

Hoseok escorts you across you back to the front of the bar, needing to grab the keys from Seokjin. You hurry inside, a disapproving stare plastered into your features as you enter the room.

“Wait, so you’re telling me that you’ve been strapped down to this Bianchi guy for the past six years?” Seokjin sounds absolutely incredulous. “That’s no way to live, Namjoon. Have you ever considered becoming a free agent, like me?”

Namjoon leans up against the bar, lost in conversation with the arsonist. He hardly notices you entering the room, but when he does he takes one look at Hoseok and you’re instantly reminded of his words from the jail.

“And Jung Hoseok, what do you have to say about that, huh? The man’s never tied himself to anyone, and yet word on the street is that he’s groveling at your feet.”

Removing your arm from his, you don’t miss the way Namjoon’s eyes track the movement. When he finally looks up at you, his gaze is burning with ire.

“Seokjin, we need the keys to the Benz,” Hoseok states, striding toward the man in question with zero hesitation. He sticks out a hand to Namjoon. “Jung Hoseok.”

Namjoon shakes his hand a tad violently, but remains neutral in his expression. “Kim Namjoon.”

“Why are you stealing my car?” Seokjin whines, fishing the keys out of his pocket. His lip has split again, which is no doubt courtesy of Jungkook. “Can’t you walk?”

Hoseok swipes the keys from him. “Taehyung will drive you back home. Hurry up and get out of here before anyone else comes snooping.”

“Where are the others?” You ask, not spotting Taehyung or Jungkook anywhere. Seokjin’s eyes snap to yours a touch too quickly, throwing you off.

“Out making sure nobody wanders in. Was that your father earlier? You two look nothing alike.”

You open and close your mouth like a fish, entirely unsure of how to respond. “I…yes, that was him.”

Seokjin nods, making a show of cracking his neck before continuing to speak. “Do I get to burn down his mansion? I’m assuming it’s of little sentimental value to you.”

Hoseok is already halfway out the door now, motioning for you to follow him. You follow after him, bidding Namjoon goodbye and hating the way his eyes flit back and forth between you and Hoseok. It’s almost like he’s searching for the final puzzle piece, ready to declare you solved and move on to the next thing.

Calling over your shoulder to Seokjin, you say, “Sure, burn it to the ground.” You glance back at him, stumbling a little when you see the glee in his expression at the mere thought of burning again. It makes you pause, one hand on the doorway as you assess the mysterious man once more.

“Jin?”

His smile falters before he’s plastering it back on. “Yes, darling?”

“…why do you burn?”

Just there, for a fraction of a second, the mask slips. Seokjin loses the unhinged air about him for half a heartbeat, the glimmer in his eyes fading into something almost real.

But then it’s gone, replaced by a mountain you’re too afraid to cross. Seokjin touches his split lip, wincing a little. Head tilted to one side as he surveys you, he gives a noncommittal shrug.

“Easy: fire keeps me from freezing over, darling.”

He holds your stare, daring you to ask more, to dive deeper. Unfortunately, you’re unprepared for that today. Instead, you nod, and step out into the sunshine, leaving Seokjin and Namjoon behind.

Hoseok is waving at Taehyung and Jungkook who are about a block down the street. They wave back at the two of you, and you notice another figure in their midst. Jimin.

You only pray that this isn’t part of some hairbrained scheme to murder Taehyung in your absence.

Once Hoseok brings the car around you jump in. He speeds down the block, eyes focused on the road.

“So what was this all about? What happened?”

“I managed to bug your father’s vehicle while he was inside the bar with you.”

You blink. “You what? Hoseok, that’s amazing!”

A shy smile graces his features, one that you’ve never seen before. He shrugs before continuing, completely brushing off your compliment. “I overheard some interesting details while you were off in the back alleyway with that blond, thought you might be interested.”

“Yes, please.”

“Wow, so polite.”

“When I want to be.”

Hoseok chuckles before explaining more. “It sounds like there’s going to be an inter-mafia event this coming weekend. It was all he could talk about in the car; it’s a big deal. All of the mafias here on the east coast are gathering for a one-night truce, in order to hold a gala.”

“…everyone? Which means-”

“It’s the perfect night for a heist,” Hoseok finishes eagerly. “We just need to get our hands on an invitation.”

Watching the decrepit buildings of Queen’s Wharf flash past the window, you can’t help but smile. Finally. Things are looking up.

“I’m gonna need a date.”

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jiminrings · 4 years ago

Note

I REQUEST A SOFT BADBOY DRABBLE WITH SHY READER AND HES TEASING HER BUT SOMEONE ELSE JOIMS IN AND THEYRE DOING IT TO BE MEAN BUT HES LIKE STFU BEFORE I PUMCH UR FACE ONLY IM ALLOWED TO BULLY SHY READER GRR 😡😡😡😡 and soft readers like 0.o but *squeals incoherently* 😭😭😭😭

last name, jeon.

drabble week: day two

drabble week masterlist

pairing: badboy!jungkook x shy!reader

wordcount: 3k

glimpse: "can't you tell that i really don't want you to be here?"

notes: a tiny change on the plot!! also: frat boy!jimin from day four makes an appearance :D

feedback + support mean the world to me!!

“do you wanna form-“

... yes

you DO have an alliance with jungkook

it's a very fair trade honestly

he pretends to be your boyfriend!! there's no specific boundaries to it, but he springs into action as soon as you're put into an inconvenience

in exchange, you whore him out to your friends!!! :D

no but literally that's how he called it

the whole reason this came to be in the first place is because you hATE confrontation with a burning passion

especially when it comes to those "i have a crush on you" moments that people spring on you all of a sudden

you don't like them back!!! that's the truth!!! but the problem is that you aLWAYS feel guilty letting people down

you obviously don't have the obligation to like someone back just because you sit next to them in class :// IT'S JUST IN YOUR NATURE TO FEEL THAT WAY

you wouldn't get into a relationship with said confessor to ease your guilt, clearly

do you plan on denying their advances? yes

but hOW????

you always take the passive-aggressive approach

you get jungkook to carry your bag and hold your hand, walk in front of said person and pretend not to see them, jungkook makes sURE to put some snide eye contact in there aaaaand the whole ordeal is finished :D

you've managed to let someone down slowly without having to speak to them in-person!!!

jungkook comes more handy than that too

you take him when you want to eat out because you're too anxious to eat alone

you take him when you want to go somewhere in which lining up is essential and you're also too anxious to stand by yourself

you take him when you want to go shopping when there's a sale but you're almost always intimidated by the barrage of people and salespeople so he asks and answers the questions for you

jungkook, in hindsight, is the perfect fake boyfriend for you <3

ALSO jungkook wants something from you

"whore me out to the girls from the families your family's friends with, and it's a deal :D"

that alliance and exchange is going pretty well so far

you mAY be on the more-reserved side but that doesn't mean you're self-aware!!!

you know that your parents are loaded and your shy nature could be somehow chalked to that since you didn't really have anyone that wasn't as non-superficial as you'd like, since they were the overprotective helicopter two-rotor seven-blade parents :(((

jungkook, however, is the only constant you have in your formula

you've known him since childhood and have been friends ever since

his mom's your mom's personal assistant, and one day when mrs. jeon couldn't find a babysitter for jungkook, your mom didn't hesitate to let four-year old jungkook come with her to work

jungkook's your fIRST actual friend that hates gold spoons with you because of how tacky they look :-) he's your emotional support person basically

your emotional support person who was sO close to running late from picking you up during his free day >:( you were about to break into a sprint if he arrived a second later, because you managed to spot a jock coming to you from the corner of your eye awhile ago

You Do Not Like Him <3

"and i even changed into a short-sleeved shirt to ward off your suitors. how romantic of me, don't you think?"

now that he mentions it, it's only now when you can drink him in in full-display

... wow

his right arm's the only one with his tattoos while his left's completely blank, but something about the balance just makes you !!!!!!!! even more

his arm's not completely covered but it was coming to be, something about the blank spaces of skin that are yet to be inked being a nice touch

"very romantic, kook."

now tHAT'S the answer he wanted to hear

he forcibly on your helmet for you to showcase, your grunts of annoyance being drowned out by whistling

(he's even looking left and right and making eye contact with anyone who has their eyes landing on you!!!!)

your cheeks smushed is a look he'll never be tired being in awe of, but he'll never tell you that, of course

"do you ever wonder if your parents would kill me if i misplace even a single hair on you?" jungkook thinks out loud and you don't even flinch with how sudden his thoughts could be, sitting on his seat first so it'd already be balanced when you do, "you sure you’re okay riding with me?? on a motorcycle????"

he usually uses yOUR family's vehicles (they let him and insisted he just takes one at this point) but when you called him, he was en route to kim kradle (it's a one-stop vehicle shop apparently) to get new rims for his motorcycle, bUT NOT ANYMORE HE GUESSES????

you come first compared to the booking he's waited on for three weeks

"i have insurance, i think."

no that's the wrong answer

why did you even bother.,,.,

jungkook flicks your nose because your forehead's protected by the helmet, his face contorted in half faux frustration

"you were supposed to be mad at me for asking that — not logical!! don't even joke about that."

"... my life insurance? like, in the instance that i-"

oW THAT HURT

he flicked even harder this time!!!

you roll your eyes at him and it doesn't go unnoticed, a hand outstretching instead of his fingers flexing

“wallet, please.”

????

jungkook's surprised that you even look confused, this time rolling his eyes at you

“you rolled your eyes at me. you need to bribe me so i won’t rat you out.”

right

he has a never-ending knack for the you're rich jokes

you also know that he likes the cold and would turn the fan on even if it's too hot for a blanket, just because he wants to feel cocooned

you also know that he picks from the fourth row of drinks from the front because it's always been a habit

("the germs cling on to the first row!!!")

you also know that maybe, just maybe, you can't stand it tonight when he's putting himself out there instead of being your faux boyfriend

you keep on zoning out and hoseok, perhaps the only tolerable fellow rich kid you can tolerate within your circle, finally connects the dots in his head and snickers

he's been talking about finding the vintage sneakers he's always wanted on depop and how he almost got scammed for like tWENTY minutes already

in reality, all your nods and scowls aren't towards his story

it's to jungkook and... who's that? jihye whose dad is so colossally shitty, that this one rapper wrote a diss song for him? oh yeah, that jihye

"you like him. like actually 'lose your virginity to him' love him."

WHAT???

there's no way

"how did you-"

"you blush like one."

alright that answer was too quick

hoseok should've ATLEAST tried to wait for a few seconds before answering

"a-and the love part?"

"babe, jungkook may not be the richest one here and that should say a lot," you peer up at him nervously and he actually chuckles, peering to everyone at this function, "dude's humble — he could also just be dense to not see you love him."

okay very true

hobi's making a dig rn at how jungkook coinicidentaally happens to be blonde and maybe this is your cue to leave

hobi does not realize that his hair is aLSO dyed blonde while talking shit about jungkook and his hari

okay this is it

once again, you are NOT listening to hoseok and he's figured out what you're doing by now

you're psyching yourself up with a couple of shots and your heels are digging on the carpeted ballroom

MAYBE YOU SHOULD TRY TO BE MORE OUTGOING!!

"pretend to wobble. it doesn't help that nothing can sink you."

oh okay makes sense

if you're gonna try and charm jungkook while trying to play it off as just being tipsy playfulness, atleast make it believable

hoseok snickers because this is just A+ content with the things that you choose to do in your way

shy girl with high alcohol tolerance mannn coming of age film writers would LOVE you ://

you're about to cross the distance between you and jungkook, but something knocks you on your shoulder with a gentle force that seemed intentional

is that-

hold on a second

"what a coincidence :O"

jimin?

jimin???

as in, wholesome yet slightly fuckboy-ish frat guy jimin???

he looks dashing and composed, meeting your eyes perfectly and he doesn't let your confusion startle him

"i know that look. what am i doing here?"

he says it eloquently as if he's practiced it

AND HE DID!!!

you must've looked so shocked that you immediately apologized, shaking your head no

"i-i didn’t mean-..."

you're confused, sure, but that doesn't mean you're immediately judging

it's just that you never saw jimin here or any function of the like, but you wouldn't put it past him if he does go to these things!!! he looks like a million dollars anyways

"relax, doll. you’re so far the only other person i know that i've seen in these type of things."

he looks calm and collected, but maybe that's just because he spent the last five minutes waiting for you to stand so he could bump into you

this place is just sO suffocating and a familiar face is gonna be his relief from something so fancy that it became mundane

"have we been in the same event before this?"

"not that i recall, no. i get invited but this is only the first time after awhile that i went."

jimin drinks from his champagne flute, wiggling his eyebrows playfully, "wanna know why i'm here?"

you're curious!!! what can you say!!!!

you never really interacted with jimin at all before this, but a familiar face like his is comforting

because hoseok's already engaged in another conversation and jungkook's,,,, being jungkook and is fawning all over jihye

jimin chuckles at your insistent nodding, leaning closer to whisper to your ear

"my stepdad’s loaded as fuck."

oh so that's why

he tugs you down to sit at the nearest possible empty chairs, all its occupants gone anyways because they're in the dancefloor busting tRULY horrendous moves

maybe it's because jimin feels lonely too like you are, and it's him feeling comfortable because he's pulled you like ten seconds ago and not once asked him anything out of bounds

maybe that's why he fell into conversation with you easily because you're always intently listening

"might love me as a real son too. maybe that’s a bonus? you don’t really expect that shit in the things you see."

this situation is actually pretty cute

you snort because maybe you’re nOT that shy when you drink,, that’s the only thing that changes in you probably

this whole conversation that sprung from boredom was unknowingly the subject of many stares, including jungkook who you were initially supposed to go to

“you’re worthy of love, jimin.”

jimin sPITS his drink because where the fuck did THAT come from???

why did you say that and why does he feel that he needed to hear that

“i-i think — i think you need more,” he raises his own glass to your lips hurriedly, caught in surprise but you still gulp nonetheless

“you’re-“ you keep sputtering as he keeps making you drink, but he rubs circles on your back at the same time and it's when you realize that jimin the frat guy may not be that bad, “what??? don’t think you’re not the only one with daddy issues! shouldn’t we have like, a radar for each other?”

jimin snorts at your counter and his eyes crinkle to the point where he can't see anything, not being able to see how you're still trying to recover with all that fizz down your throat

wow ur really enjoyable to talk to

“you’re insane and i think-“

listen

you're not really big on feeling beyond a sense and all that stuff, but you feel as if the aura around you just got dark all of a sudden

"who are you calling insane?"

jungkook appears at your side in an instant, hands wrapped around your shoulders while you remain seated

you've honestly forgotten that you were supposed to go to jungkook, but you're reminded of that vERY clearly now

"go away, jimin," he mutters through his teeth, looking at him dead in the eye

hold on

wait

THAT'S JIMIN???

okay now he's confused

sometimes jungkook's mouth just moves on its own without loading the thought process

"why are YOU here?"

jimin furrows his brows, shocked that he'd even see jungkook here out of all people

the guy barely even attends classes!!! and that's coming from him!!

"why’s he here?"

he crouches to your ear, eyes still furrowed at the younger guy

"long story."

nO???

jungkook scowls bitterly because jesus fuck

YOU’RE ON WHISPERING TERMS NOW????

he left for one second, and the moment he comes back, that's when this fucking frat guy approaches you?? was he waiting on him to leave??

you and jungkook only act as a couple when the need arises, and even if you don't feel it, hE feels that this is the need!!! this is the need and it is arising!!!

"get back to uh, alpha bravo charlie or something, park. beat it."

why’s he reciting the nato phonetic alphabet???

jungkook sounds half-angry and half-sad at the same time, and you don't know which side should you focus on

“move,” he repeats this time again but more sternly, making jimin much more confused since jungkook's trying to pull him away from his seat

jimin doesn't budge and it makes the frown even more evident in jungkook's face

what is he FEELING

“can’t you tell that i really don’t want you to be here?”

“i’m not here for you, though. i’m here for y/n.”

he answers honestly, shis gut telling him that there's definitely something going on between the two of you

“y/n doesn’t want you here," kook argues back surely, only noticing your bitten lips now that makes him realize that you're not exactly sober; just a happy kind of rush

he sees you raise your hand timidly, an equally cheeky smile on your face that's only directed to jungkook like it's meant for him

"i-i actually don’t mind."

you don't,,,

you don't mind?

HOW'S THAT POSSIBLE

WHAT ARE YOU DOING

why aren't you signaling him to commence the faux boyfriend act!!

"y/n has a boyfriend."

“... i’m not hitting on her.”

alright this is more than the entertainment that jimin wished for lol

“yeah, well she has a boyfriend still so beat it.”

you do??

the last time you checked, jihye's gonna have jungkook as her boyfriend within the night!!

“i don-“

ALRIGHT THEN

jimin decides to indulge jungkook, knocking his knee with yours as he winks slyly, urging you silently to watch on, turning to look at you and ask

“what’s your boyfriend’s name?”

you don't answer.

that gives him all the more reason to do so.

“last name, jeon.”

jungkook looks the most determined you've ever seen him, eyes characteristically angry with his arms across his chest that his suit tightens, “first name, me.”

....

......

the three of you know that’s not the truth

jimin takes it in, sighing when he sense that something else is about to be unfold and he does noT want to be a part of it

not before whispering to your ear again for the last time, of course

“pretty weird name if you ask me,” you laugh automatically, momentarily forgetting that jungkook's standing by you on just your opposite side and could hear you

he leaves and that only leaves you with jungkook, looking up at him as he's too frantic to even sit

“what are you doing?”

“being a social butterfly," you quip just as fast, drinking your water afterwards

jungkook only clenches his jaw by then, being taken-aback when you speak again

“who are you doing?”

://

“i’m busy being mad at- wait a minute, WHO???”

who instead of what??

the short-lived enthusiasm you had with jimin left with him, crashing just as hard when you're reminded of jungkook's presence

“jihye’s a pretty nice girl. you should go home early tonight.”

his brows furrow, trying to get you to look at him but you avoid his gaze insistently, “what? what are you talking about?”

“she’s not my girlfriend though.”

you're not at all satisfied with the answer because it sounds so wrong, knowing that jungkook's a handsome guy and everyone wants to be with him!!!

and he probably wants to be with everyone else besides you.

“then who-...”

“don’t know yourself anymore? jimin must’ve really swept you off your feet, huh?”

jungkook huffs as he qualifies for a rebutt, your internal wallowing being cut short

“he’s not my boyfriend.”

...

....

“well would you look at that,” jungkook snickers, sighing through his nose as your eyes finally meet his, directly stubborn yet soft around the edges

“she’s not my girlfriend, and he’s not your boyfriend. what a coincidence.”

god did he feel so threatened the moment his eyes couldn't find you besides hobi and instead next to jimin, eyes crinkled in laughter without hesitation

have you been chasing after one another this whole time?

jungkook silently grabs you by the hand and you wave no opposition to it

maybe it's your liquor-influenced vision or maybe it's you hyperfixating on such a warm moment, but your eyes immediately lock to see the matching red thread bracelet he wore like yours

you're dressed in next year's spring collection line, and the structured silk black gown that has a train behind it doesn't exactly scream to have a simple red thread bracelet as its accessory according to your mom's designer and everyone else —

but you don't have the heart to take it off

there's no need to take it off

jungkook drives your car and no one says a single thing about anything

his hand’s on your thigh and you don’t question it, eyes locking into the way his hand looks perfect and the way the bracelet looks meant to be wrapped in his wrist in the first place

you're sure this time that it's not the newfound courage you have, but rather the need to do it

you kiss jungkook's cheek on a red light.

it's on a red light that jungkook realizes he could fit the visage of his world within one hand, finally kissing you like he's always wanted to

“yeah. what a coincidence.”

#drabble week #jungkook imagine #jungkook imagines #jungkook oneshot #jungkook oneshots #jungkook x reader #jungkook x y/n #jungkook au #jungkook headcanons #jungkook fanfic #jeon jungkook imagine #jungkook angst #jungkook angst imagine #jungkook fluff #jeon jungkook oneshots

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loquaciouslo · 3 years ago

Text

2 / ? | Bright Ideas.

chapter synopsis. yoongi has a request. with your good natured heart, you accept, not knowing you're walking right into a trap made just for you.

pairings. yoongi x reader. jimin x reader. eventual ot7.

genre. this is guilty pleasure genre, there. absolutely gonna be smut. smut is essential.

word count. 5.4k

next chapter ➸

WARNINGS! oh don’t worry we’re getting there! more religious imagery & symbolism. a DOLLOP of religious guilt to continue mixing. dub con / non con in future.

“Yoongi,” Jimin sighs, throwing himself onto his elder's bed. He lands on his stomach and turns around to prop his head up by his hand, huffing. The blond wants Yoongi's complete and utter attention, only he’s too busy being engrossed in his phone to notice, just tapping away at his keyboard until the 'ping' for a sent message goes off.

“You know, you really need to be patient. I heard you the first time.” Yoongi sets his phone face down on his desk, ready to engage again. “It was an important text to Taehyung, so don’t be so rude.”

“You were listening to me? I didn’t know you could multi-task.” Jimin tsks, smiling wide. His words are harmless. They always are when it comes to Yoongi. What Jimin loves about his friend is simple: they get along and rarely fight. Their constant back and forth bantering inspires him to be fun and lively but never off-putting. Plus, Yoongi can hold his own against anyone and Jimin views that as an admirable trait to own. To the younger man, they’re equals despite their slight difference in age. “Let’s get back to the more interesting topic at hand.”

“Right. We were talking about something, something y/n. Well, you were.” Yoongi makes a little noise in his throat, clearly being obtuse. “What about her?”

“You were right, Hyung. Approaching her on my own the other day was a good idea.”

“Yeah? How’d it go?”

“She’s really cute,” Jimin lets out a little laugh, “but she was even cuter up close. Loved the little number on her."

“You always say that. Anything new? You weren't gone long.”

“That's because you walk so god damn fast.” Jimin smiles, his eyes crinkling in mischief around the corners. "I couldn't stick around too long when you're my ride."

Jimin's smile is bawdy.

“I would have waited for you.”

“You also could have stayed. Her dress was so fucking sheer, Hyung. You could have squinted to see her panties.”

Jimin licks his lips at the memory. It's almost like you really are asking for it, he rationalizes. Their attention.

They both look at each other, a sagacious glint in their brown eyes. The thing is, they're the ones who've been aware of you far longer than you've been stealing glances. They credit this ability to their highly developed sixth sense, so to speak. The curiosity is mutual, but dangerous at best.

Jimin remembers the first time you came through their open doors, walking closely behind your mom like a lost lamb. They instantly knew you weren’t apart of their community, not yet, and that you must have been new comers who wandered in looking for a flock. Most socializing took place before and after the pastor held his sermon, but you were the first to introduce yourselves to the pair that fateful day, eyes bright and curious.

You had the prettiest little blouse on. It met the church's standards of modest dress code, which everyone including the pastor appreciated, but every curve of yours was hugged nice and tight by it, and well—Jimin and Yoongi are only men after all—that it took everything in them to keep their eyes respectfully above the neck. Just once, they wanted a peek. Instead, they were forced to keep their eyes on your face... your lips, smoothed over with gloss, looking perfectly plump and ripe as you exchanged simple pleasantries.

While their curiosity with you was immediate, their sense of attraction happened over time.

Maybe there was something about you. Something they couldn't put their finger on, but desperately sought to dig up and bring to light. You had your own air of mystery, and that was likely due to the fact that you were a pathologically secretive person who, despite their own brightness, left little to nothing about themselves once gone. During their afternoon hangouts and weekend movie nights out, you'd come up in conversation here and there. Most discussions followed along the same vein of what you wore that day or how your hair looked. Some silly thing you said, only heard in passing. There wasn't much else to go off when they didn't know you, so they were left to guess what the pieces of your personality were.

But you were sweet, and friendly. Smiling at every face you'd meet. Warm.

You just couldn't stop staring. Thinking you were sneaky, stealing glances here and there.

You were bound to get caught by someone at some point, since Jimin didn't think you were particularly sly.

“I think she’s the one for us,” Jimin hums, mellowing out. He sinks into the bed sheets of Yoongi's comfortable mattress and looks to the pale white of his ceiling. Changing his position helps his arm, which is starting to stiffen and cramp, so he rubs at his shoulder lightly and looks to his Hyung. The blond knows Yoongi like the back of his hand, and sometimes he swears he can read the others mind.

Yes, he's certain you're it.

But unlike your poorly suppressed self, he doesn’t mind temptation. He flirts with it daily. He does what he wants, when he wants, and when he feels like it. That's another thing he and Hyung have in common. When they go places, they go together.

“She’s gonna be so much fun to play with, hyung. How much longer do we have to wait?”

At the current moment, your phone reads Saturday, 2:34 P.M and you can’t find the will to live. You stayed up well past seven this morning working on an essay you forgot about last minute, and now you’re paying for it with your life. You can feel the lethargy in your whole body, and once you put together the will power to roll onto your side and push yourself into a sitting position, you promise that you won’t do this to yourself again. You swear it'll never happen again.

Until it happens again.

“No more forgetting, y/n,” You mutter to yourself, your bare feet hitting the cold wooden floors of your apartment. You forgot you took off your socks. This sucks. You feel that familiar chill run up your spine and you go to immediately search for your fuzzy socks to put them back on. You really wish you had carpet, but you're better off not risking an accidental stain in this expensive fucking apartment. “This is why you have a phone, a notebook, a planner, a fucking pin up board."

You can hear your best friend saying the same monologues in your head. Hey! Get it together! What am I going to do with you when you're like this? Throw you as far as I trust you?

Right. Your best friend. The one you haven’t texted her in a few days. You imagine that you're being a terrible friend right now, and the only way to rectify this is to grab for your phone to send her a quick little message with a heart emoji. That's the best way to convey your undying love for someone, right?

And hey, your essay is complete! That's one thing off your shoulders. If your math is correct, and you've never been very good at math, you’re hoping it’s good enough to reward you with a passing B. You don't have the highest expectations, but C's don't get degrees.

If there's a few things you've learned about yourself over the years, it's that you'll forever be a bit of a perfectionist. You just want to pass this class with a decent grade, one where you can continue to base your self worth on academic achievements. You originally thought about taking a class for dance and movement, where you'd learn how to sophisticate and refine the way your body flows, but in the end you chickened out and went with something safer.

You regret letting your self-conscious get the best of you. So, to meet your heart halfway you decided to study others and surprisingly, it’s just as interesting and engaging than you ever thought it’d be. You can count on several hands all the performances you've gotten to spectate, viewing some of the most talented people you’ve ever seen pour their out heart through the language of their bodies.

Dancers are magic. You would think they’re creatures of Dionysus, full of passion and dedication to a life of art and pleasure. This paper of yours was a compilation of all that you’ve witnessed in the past several weeks. Why didn't you study this sooner?

Now it's time to focus on the present. You have a night class to attend and after that it’s coming home, washing your face and wearing a sheet mask while camming your best friend, and passing out face first so you can function early enough in the morning to attend church the next day. And secretly, you’re looking forward to it. You do every week. Not just for Jimin and Yoongi, both who are two obvious and unfortunately valid reasons. It’s one of the few pleasures in your life right now.

You know people would, and sometimes do, think you’re weird for going to church on more than a one-in-a-blue-moon basis. Not even your best friend comes with you, but you don’t fault her for it. It’s her personal decision, even if you selfishly wish she would give it a chance and attend with you. She'd bear witness to all your almost slip-ups with the boys, so maybe it is for the best.

Just like it's for the best that the people who judge you don't often know you. Why should it matter to you what the faithless think? They don’t know the reasons behind your choices. They don’t know that it fills a tiny part of an endless hole in your heart. You get to be close with your mom and despite everything you’ve gone through in your life, you’ve still managed to hold onto some semblance of hope in the world, your own slice of comfort.

Exhausted.

All you feel is exhausted.

You shouldn’t have worn heels. It's a timeless game you play, one where you fall prey to choosing vanity over comfort almost every time. I guess that’s one of my earthly and vain desires. Pastor Min's sermon from last week rings in your ears. Since you're finally home, you kick off your dreadful shoes at the front door and drop your book bag on the sofa. It feels wonderous to take the weight off your shoulders, and especially good to strip out of your pants and bra for a comfier state of being. It’s the best feeling in the world, hands down.

You head to the bathroom to take off your make-up in the mirror, and when you look back at the messy-haired girl that you are, smudged eyeliner from accidentally rubbing your tired eyes on the bus, you wonder who the girl looking back at you is. Sometimes you'd like to think you're good friends with your reflection. Other times? You don't know her complexities. You refuse to know them, let alone own them.

Cause sometimes, the person you see isn't someone you can find the courage to love. Not with all the flaws they harbor in that pretty face you see. At the end of the day, beauty is only skin deep.

You’re working on building up your confidence. You've never been the type to give up on hope. Some call it a bad habit, others consider it a praise worthy trait. If anyone else can learn to love themselves, then surely you can. It just takes time, and effort, and plenty of love.

Once you’re finished in the washroom, you head back to your living room where you left your bag and drag it back to your bedroom. Out comes the textbook and pad of notes you took in class less than an hour ago, and you’re back to the daily grind that is studying. You got to see a live performance in class and you were so enthralled, eyes in rapture, that doing the work isn’t bad so long as you don’t get bored. Between small breaks you call your friend to distract you a little and when she inevitably falls asleep on the phone you whisper a loving goodnight and hang up.

But after a few hours of constant work your focus is quickly thinning out. You can’t think anymore. You can’t formulate the words on the paper and what they mean. When you reach the point of having to repeatedly re-read each paragraph just to grasp what's going on, you tend to get frustrated. You hate that it's for the best that you put a stop to your progress and shove the textbook to the other side of the bed for the night.

Ugh. You take a large, deep breath, and let it out nice and slow, staring up at the ceiling. You try to find patterns in the texture of the paint as you think about your day, your week, your everything. It was typical, normal, and certainly nothing out of the ordinary.

It's unavoidable that your head would drift back into the problems you’ve been diligently ignoring, though. The mind always finds a way to make you deal with your issues whether you like it or not. The disrespect is real, especially when two handsome faces rise to the surface of all your thoughts.

You have a hard-enough time not thinking about them as it is. You hate how much control Yoongi and Jimin have over your own mind. And that little incident where you were caught red-handed with your eyes glued to them? It's been stuck in your memory ever since it took place, the memory unwilling to go away.

You think about how nervous you were when you got caught, obsessed with the idea that you should have been less obvious. Maybe then you wouldn't have been embarrassed. You think about how they kept your gaze, unblinking. How their eyes looked at you, indecipherable in color. And their lips… God, no, you can’t think about those. But they smiled at you and you can't deny how that felt. The meaning of it was slowly twisting you up inside.

Maybe you're overthinking it. Maybe it's nothing.

Yes. It's nothing. You’re sure of it.

And if it wasn't? Your mind is happy to offer.

You remember it all.

'Don't worry, we won’t tell.'

You groan, turning her head to the side.

'You look pretty today.'

You turn around onto your stomach, while your shirt rides up ever so slightly. You shove your face into your pillow. This is stupid. So stupid. I'm in college, I'm an adult, and I'm acting like I've never known what a crush feels like before.

You have a hard time admitting what burns. You've never felt an emotion as intense as the ones your pastor's son and his best friend inspire in you.

'Try not to get caught staring next time, okay?'

Jimin had been so close to you. His mouth had been right beside you. You could feel the warm heat of his breath against your ear as it tickled.

Does he have any idea what he does to you? Without doing anything at all?

You can't imagine he does. He's not a mind-reader though, remember? Thank God.

It's laughable, how easily he takes your breath away. The man wouldn't have to do much to seduce you, and if it ever came down to it...

Well, what does it matter? You’d be too shy. It’s been three years since your last boyfriend and you feel as if you might as well have lost whatever experience you had gained.

Even so, the sweetness that is Jimin's voice rings in your ears. You wish you could have gotten a better look at his pretty hair falling into those round, cat-like eyes of his. And his plump, kissable lips... you have to bite your tongue before you get carried away.

Without consciously being aware of it, you close your eyes, hand creeping between the sheets and the softness of your stomach. Your fingers lightly trace the fabric of your pajama shorts, teasing yourself outside it. You brace yourself for what's to come. Slowly, those fingers slip past the elastic band and touch the top of your clothed mound, stopping right there.

All you have to do is think about what it would be like to kiss him, or Yoongi, or both. The options are endless. His lips look so perfect for kissing. What would it feel like, just once?

You could let yourself get carried away in this moment. You could cave and give in to the twisting in your gut. But your hand remains still, and seconds later, you wrench them out of your shorts. You bite your lip this time, harder, opening your eyes finally. All you can see is your reflection staring back you from your mirror closet doors. You know her now. This guilty girl.

Your memory of Yoongi’s smile comes to the forefront and you grimace, eyes squeezed closed. You are guilty.

You don’t know why you feel so ashamed about engaging in what is supposed to be a natural act of loving oneself, but you can’t commit. You'd have to wade past the fear and the guilt that prevents you from reaching one of earth's only paradises. You've felt this way for a long time and it's a hard mood to shake off.

What's worse is that you have done it before. You’ve experimented. You even came a few times and it felt good, sinfully good. Too good. But after you were done, and every time you were done, shame would wash over you like a blanket of bricks. Every encounter with temptation left you under running cold water. Anything to make yourself feel clean again.

Disappointed, and permanently unfulfilled, you force yourself to sleep, waiting for tomorrow to come with a little less enthusiasm.

This time, your mom insists on picking you up, and you don’t complain about it for once. Usually you like to take the method of transportation you prefer – either taking the bus or walking since it’s not that far from where you live – because you’re always a little cranky in the morning and mom is a total chatter box. She doesn’t have an off button; she just runs out of juice occasionally. She’s a fiercely independent women; the kind that's always on the run and hardly ever comes to a stop. You don't think it's healthy, but she refuses to listen to your list of concerns. You swear she's more stubborn than you are.

As you pull up into the parking lot, you catch a glimpse of Jimin and Yoongi’s car as mom looks around to find an available spot. They're already here? It's so early!

It's not that they’re never not here, with the exception of their last sickness. Yoongi was the first to fall ill and presumably passed it onto Jimin, so both got sick and ended up missing two weeks. Yoongi was mad and blamed Jimin for giving it to him, but really, it was the other way around. You worried more than you should have and had the brilliant thought to come up with something that was small, a little benign, and not too much. What did you do? You crafted them both a handmade get-well card, with a few gourmet chocolates sprinkled in there for good measure.

Like your crush wasn't blaringly obvious.

After giving it to their respective parents to hand to them, you wondered if you should begin regretting your decision. You couldn’t get the thought out of your head that they might think it’s weird since you barely knew them, but you had to convince yourself that of course it's not weird. It’s just a kind gesture between three people of the same church. Anyone would do it for them, for each other. Yes, other people had done the same thing as you had and no one gave them a hard time for it.

Once they made a full recovery, Yoongi and Jimin had approached you at separate times to tell you that they had appreciated the chocolate and the cards. In that moment, it was the closest you all three ever came to hugging.

You didn't, of course. They kept their appropriate distance and so did you. But God, did you want to!

When you spy a spot for you and your mom you choose a pew that sits a few rows behind the boys, hoping that minimizes the chance of them catching your eye this sermon around. You don't want to, or need to look at them. This time, you try to do what wasn’t much of a problem when you were new and pay special attention to the pastor’s soothing voice.

Pastor Min greets everyone as they’ve settled down into their respective pews, nodding for people to take their time and not to worry as he's 'truly got all day'. He takes his time getting in touch with the recent topics of people’s lives. He always starts off conversationally before launching into the bible, and a great conversationalist he was. Although Yoongi doesn't speak up much, you know where he gets it from, just as you know that Jimin will do plenty of the talking for him. From the soft angles of his face to the shape of his nose, you can tell the genetic relationship quite easily between father and son.

Damn it. You inwardly curse yourself, brows knit together. All I do is end up thinking about Yoongi after I explicitly agreed that’s not what I'm not gonna do.

Seriously. Your control—you want it back. Please?

“I’d like to read everyone a passage From Mark, so that we may consider it. As it is said: He went on: "What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

Pastor Min half-way closes the bible between his fingers and paces the floor. One thing you have to hand it to the pastor is that he has a snazzy sense of fashion. He always looks like the epitome of clean, and as he loves to say, 'cleanliness is next to godliness.'

“We understand that man's desire for earthly pleasures and temptations are not part of the Lord’s will. It is not His desire for you to place basic instincts over his everlasting love. He would rather you choose to be guided by his hand than to walk the path the devil wants you to follow; a path of pleasing oneself before the Lord as we leave second-place for Him in our hearts.

Lucifer does not really wish for your freedom. His path will only lead down one direction and that is to the slaughter house. He wants your downfall to be your own doing.”

You swallow the dry lump in your throat, listening to every word that comes out of pastor Min's mouth. You always take everything he says to heart. Because that’s the power he has, to make people stare and listen and stare some more. And when you listen, it’s just you and him in the whole room. Every time his eyes meet yours briefly—not in judgement but in passing—you can’t help but wonder how he’d feel about your burning obsession with his son. Let alone Jimin, who's practically family from another womb.

If confession were such a thing here, he’d have you chained to the booth. Tell you, wicked as you are: how sinful are you to lust after not one, but two men of mine? What kind of greedy whore possesses you and your flesh that you can't make up your mind?

“Follow, everyone, and let each word sink in. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust…”

You already know what he’s going to say next. You've repeated this segment enough times in your head to have it memorized: then, when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

You gnaw at your lip, looking around nervously. You almost forgot about your promise to keep your eyes to yourself this time, but more importantly, why are you listening to Jimin in the first place? It's your eyes.

When the next break happens between the sermon and singing worship, you dip away to make a quick visit to the restroom. As you disappear down the hall, where the lights are always dimmer from the main room, you swiftly disappear into one of the women's stalls.

Just when you’re about to make use of your time, skirt scrunched up, you notice the big, fat wad of toilet paper stuffed in the toilet. That's a problem... that shouldn't be for me. Maybe the person before tried, but really? They could have tried harder. You wrestle with yourself on what you're gonna do next.

That's when you have a great, no, fantastic idea.

You see the convenient little plunger out of the corner of your eye and make quick use of it. You brace yourself as you shove it down the toilet and pull it back to hear that satisfying suction sound that alerts you it's unclogged. When that doesn’t work you try a few extra times for good measure, only to notice the toilet is beginning to raise to a dangerously high height and you cease your attempts immediately.

Please don’t flood, please don’t flood, you pray. You pray hard. You may not live this down if you can’t fix it. People will think you're responsible for clogging the toilet and not the moron who managed to fuck it up for you. They'll speculate and assume and the real culprit will get away scot free.

When it doesn’t overflow, you sigh in relief and put the plunger down. Smoothing your skirt out, you exit and decide fuck it; you’ll use the men's room. No one's going to notice and if you do run into someone, well, you'll figure it out when you cross that problem.

Once you’re done washing and drying your hands, you make for the doorknob handle and pull it wide open. Yoongi doesn't startle you so much as you startle yourself. When you’re faced with the last person, and the first person, that you wanted to see right now.

Yoongi's handsome face is riddled with surprise, but it quickly dissipates into a look of puzzlement.

“You do know this is the men’s restroom, right?” He asks, eyeing you curiously. "What are you doing here?"

You make a conscious effort to keep the eye contact he’s making and speak very, very casually. As casually as you can make believe.

“The other one is clogged,” You admit with a heavy sigh, “why? Is that a problem?”

You're challenging him to say something funny and wrong and oh-so wonderful. I dare you.

“Not at all,” He reassures, a lazy smile reaching his eyes. Your fire is quickly doused. “I just didn’t expect to run into you here... in the men's restroom."

“Oh." comes your bright reply. A second passes. If I don’t say something, I'm gonna look dumb and awkward. Wait—I am dumb and awkward!

You search your mouth for the right words. “I can’t say I did either."

He’s looking at you, faint smile dancing on his lips. The fact you’re having a proper conversation with him is bewildering to you. First Jimin and now Yoongi.

I think...

“Here, let me get out of your way.” You laugh, a little nervous, and move to pass by him, purposely avoiding brushing into him in any shape, way, or form.

“Wait.” He says, stopping you in your tracks. “I have a small request for you, if you don’t mind.”

You turn around to regard Yoongi again. He's sure you'll say yes, but you don't know that yet. He's pretty confident about his ability to read you already, and no, he does not care if that makes him sound cocky.

“What kind of request?” You raise an eyebrow, wanting to know more about this 'request' first before you agree to anything.

Yoongi flashes you another small smile. His hopefulness is adorable.

“After our service, I was wondering if you’d be willing to help me study my verses. I know—” he pauses, “—well, I heard you’re pretty good at interpreting and I could use some help with that.”

A tiny part of you is flattered that people think so, if what Yoongi says is true. You don't let it carry you away, though. Before you know it, a 'yes' tumbles out without a second thought.

“Sure.” You hasten. Yes, you could do that. You could handle that. It’s such a simple request you’d feel bad for saying no. There’s no reason to say ‘no’ and if you did, who would pass up this chance to be close to the one and only Min Yoongi? It would only be for a while, so you wouldn't feel too bad. Your following words are sincere. “I’d be happy to help you.”

You do, from the bottom of your heart, love to help others.

Taking care of others is the greatest act of taking care of oneself.

“Great.” Yoongi enthuses. Your conversation is coming to a natural halt. “I’ll see you in a few hours?”

You confirm with a nod of your head. “I’ll wait for you. See you later, Yoongi.”

"Later, y/n."

In the mean-time, you both leave the other to your own devices.

“I urge anyone—doesn't matter who— if there is anyone struggling out here in our community, please do not turn away from this opportunity to receive help. If you need anything, please do not hesitate to come to me. I will always be here for you. Thank you, and until next week, please take care of yourselves.”

And with that, Pastor Min walks off the altar to converse with the people who've been waiting to talk to him. He'll make his way around the room, until he eventually runs into you and your mom. He loves to check up on you especially; asking how your school and your full-time job are going. He even knows of your best friend and prays for her to come around one day.

Everyone is beginning to disperse from their pews; everyone but you. It’s around this time that people straggle behind, staying for a while to socialize and catch up with their fellow goers before leaving. It’s a nice time to exchange all kinds of small talk.

“Mom,” You call out, tapping her on the shoulder. When she turns around, she's stops mid-sentence to ask you what you need. She got caught up in clearly the most engrossing conversation with Mrs. Park this time around. “I just wanted to tell you I’ll be staying behind for a few hours; I’m going to help Yoongi study his verses, so you can go home without me. I’ll call you afterwards to let you know I'm fine, but don't worry about giving me a ride.”

“You better!” She warns warm heartedly. "Now go off and have fun. Oh! And don't forget to give Sumi a hug before she leaves."

“Don’t worry, I will.” You laugh and leave it at that. You use this time to ask Mrs. Park how she’s doing, as well as let her update you on a few details and events in her life. There's a reason you're miss polite.

Once everyone’s left, you follow suit. You're in desperate need of finding something to snack on before you dedicated what’s likely going to take an hour, maybe two, of working with Yoongi. It all depends on how much he needs help with, and you want to be up to the task. Therefore, you needed energy. You just never know what to expect in this day and age.

next chapter: study date ➸

#bts #kpop #bts smut #bts x reader #bts jimin #bts yoongi #bts jimin x reader #bts yoongi x reader #jimin x reader #yoongi x reader #bts jimin smut #bts yoongi smut #eventual ot7 #yoongi fanfic #jimin fanfic #bts au fanfic

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chocominnie · 4 years ago

Text

One Last Time — 05

⇢ pairing: Jimin X Reader

⇢ Genre: Idol!Jimin, Exbf!Jimin, model!reader, sad au, fluff, tons of smut, angst

⇢ Synopsis: Your idol ex boyfriend Jimin cheated on you. You two have been broken up for a while now and the media has been keeping track of you and him. You’re trying to get over him, but the things that happen inbetween makes you re-think the entire breakup, and so does Jimin…

⇢ Song : xxxxx

⇢ Previous : 00 01 02

⇢ Word Count : 3k

⇢ Warnings: dominant jimin, makeout sessions, this is honestly a sad angsty au, cheating, pregnancy, unprotected and protected sex, a bunch of sex, no really a LOT of sexual themes too, I know I’m forgetting some but sorry in advance!

⇢ Copyright: please do NOT repost, translate, or modify my works in any way, shape or form, on any platform. If found doing so , it is considered as plagiarism and appropriate LEGAL action will be taken

⇢ Authors note: This is my mini series for the summer! Get your tissues, things to take your anger out on, and sit back and watch the drama unfold. Shall we begin?

The scent of vanilla with a hint of cinnamon is what wakes you up from your sleep. Hair and body tangled in-between the blankets, which lets you know you you had tossed and turned once again. The frizzball on your head is definitely going to be a challenge to work with. Stretching your limbs, you let out a small yawn only for your hands to drop back down and feel nothing but cold emptiness.

Was it a dream? Dream? You didn’t even have one of your night terrors for the first time in a year. The dream to you seemed rather pleasent. Jimin tangled up in your arms as he holds you tight while you breathe into his bare chest. The warmness is something you had longed for once again and it all felt surreal.

‘‘ You awake yet?’‘

The voice startles you, making you drop your phone onto the comforter and turn your head towards the bedroom door where it came from. His blonde hair and small smile peep through the door, hoping to atleast get a better reaction out of you.

So it is real.

“ You’re really here? Did I bump my head too hard to where im imagining things?” You pull the covers close to you for security. Just as in your dream, there he is barechest and all.

He lets out a squeaky laugh followed by a smile as he comes towards your bed, tapping them to give you a signal to open. You raise an eyebrow but oblige, spreading them a bit only for him to sit inbetween them. It feels as if you’re heart might explode with the sudden flirtacious moves from him. Something you have been wanting but still aren’t used to.

‘‘ You slept so good that you don’t remember last night?”

You look at him eyes wide and then down to your body, “ Please tell me we didn’t-’’

‘‘ As much as I would of love to, No.’‘

A shot of relief flows through you but sadness soon comes over. He isn’t yours to be thinking these sorts of things. He isn’t yours in general. It wouldn’t be right for him to say things like that to you, while still entangled with another female.

‘‘ Why so sad?” His hands comes to your face to caress your cheeks. You shake your head softly then grab his hand to slowly lower it back down.

Jimin sighs, “ Baby just tell me whats wrong.’’

That word. That word you know always messes things up with your thoughts. Your emotions, hell everything in your body too.

You slowly make your way off of the bed, not interested in the conversation anymore. It’s not like you don’t want to continue, you do, but the guilt of everything that comes with it is enough to stir you away.

‘‘ Jimin don’t use that word. You technically still belong to Isabel.”

‘‘ Is she here at this very moment?” He cocks his head to the side with a smirk. You roll your eyes in response to his cockiness.

‘‘ No. That doesn’t change the fa-”

‘‘ Alright then. Now are you going to tell me what’s really on your mind or do I have to force it out?” He raises his hands and scrunches them with grabby motions. You don’t fall for it though.

You make your way to the doorway, “ That’s all Jimin. I promise. Just call me by my real name okay?’’

But that’s not what you want. What you want you know you can’t have. It’s not because you can’t have it because you want too. It’s just that it would make you feel like a terrible, horrible person. The look on his face when you say those words almost make you give in. Those puppy eyes caught yours and for a split second you almost consider it but don’t. It’s hard for you, it really is. Having something dangling in your face but you’re too concious to have it.

He’s still not yours.

With the morning being spent eating a good breakfast Jimin made your favorite pancakes. You watched him carefully, the way his hair bobbed up and down a bit while his right arm whisked the batter quickly. He seemed so natural and comfortable as if he was used to doing this for you. With your elbows on the island counter and head in your hands while you’re seated, you can’t help yourself to stare at the back of him and let the memories float in your mind.

Memories that never fade from you. It’s cute of him to steal glances of you here and there when pouring the batter into the pan. The small winks he gives you makes your heart flutter and the blood rush to your cheeks. It feels rather good to you to have his presence here. Despite the guilty feeling in the pit of your stomach.

The rest of the day you two decide to lounge around. Endless movies and tv shows throughout the day as you’re cuddled up next to him with a pink colored blanket for the two of you to share. Clara seems to enjoy her time with him too since she won’t let him put her down. She meows loudly with every movement of him. Such a drama queen.

‘‘ Jimin it’s getting late..” You pause, looking up at him. He gives you a small frown when he sits up in hopes you won’t finish your sentence. “ She might begin to worry you’re not home yet.”

Jimin ignores your comment only to latch onto your body a little more rougher, arms not wanting to let go. You giggle before running your fingers through his hair as his head lays softly onto your chest. You wan’t him to leave mentally, but your body wants to hold on to him for way much longer.

‘‘ Your heartbeat is soothing to me.”

It always has been. Anytime he just wanted to talk when you were in a relationship, he would lay you down and then lay himself on you with his ear pressed against your chest. Some days he would have been happy to talk, others, he just wanted to lay there to fall asleep.

‘‘ Seriously Jimin. You should leave.”

He shakes his head, ‘’ Shhh. Jungkook is coming soon and I would love to sit here and have you to myself.’’

You raise an eyebrow is confusion, “ Why is he coming here?’’

‘‘ I kind of sort of lost my keys to my home. Isabel came yesterday to give the copy’s she went and made when we were at Ryan’s office. I left the house key with Jungkook while going after you instead of putting it on my keychain right away.”

So that explains why she came. It also would of been better to have touch pad, or even facial recognition to enter the home. Anyone can just copy the key to your home. The fans are already crazy enough after that time you two saw one trying to follow you into your used-to-be shared apartment. It didn’t end so well either.

“ Why don’t you have touch-pad?” You say, sitting up with a disappointed look.

‘‘ Funny story. When the house was made I thought keys would be better than touch-pad on the outside because any paparazzi who manages to get through the front could snap pictures of the code. So why not use a key right?’‘

You just sigh and shake your head in disappointment, not even wanting to explain why that would still be a dumb idea. “ Whatever makes you happy.”

‘‘ But if you were there you would of stopped me.. right?”

Your eyes shoot down to him only to see him staring right back up into yours. The butterflies in your stomach begin to flutter once more. It’s been so long since you felt those.

‘‘ Yes. Yes I would have told you it was a dumb option because nobody can make it past security without calling you first.’‘ You whisper, both of your faces inches away from each other.

‘‘ I thought so. Can I make another dumb suggestion?’‘ His voice says, faint enough for you to hear making the hairs stick up on your neck.

You swallow slowly as chills run down your spine out of anxiety, ‘‘ What?’‘

‘‘ This.’‘

It all feels surreal to you. His lips against yours moving in sync together it’s all just surreal. Within seconds his tongue is swiping against your lips begging for entrance in which you comply. The way his hands rub up and down your thighs is sure to make you moan against the kiss, grabbing them to lead it to your core. He obliges and traces the outline of it outside of your clothing, laying you down gently on the couch in the process.

Until that painful doorbell rings loudly causing you both to groan. Jimin pulls away with a plop noise and give you a wink before lifting off of you to go see who is at the door. Your clothes are ruffled up a bit and that small wet spot between your legs seems to not too noticeable when you fix yourself up quickly.

Sex with Jimin. You almost had sex with Jimin. You feel wrong about it but at the same time you want nothing more to have him make you a screaming moaning mess. You miss him, the way his stroke game is, and everything about him dominating you in the bedroom.

He’s still not yours though.

‘‘ Who is it?’‘

You sit up and fix your hair to at-least look presentable. That kiss meant everything to you. Your feelings and body enjoyed it but your mind did not. It slipped your mind that you should of pulled away. Nothing can replace how it felt to have his lips on yours again.

The door opens revealing Jungkook who’s face is a little red and breathing hard. He runs inside and shoves Jimin out the way before slamming the door shut and locking it with his back against the wall. You furrow your eyebrows and get up from the spot you’re sitting in.

‘‘ Jungkook what’s happening? Why are you run-”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

‘‘ Open the door now! I know you guys are in there! Jimin get your ass out here now!’’

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Your eyes go wide. That voice. That oh so familiar voice is standing right outside your apartment door.

‘‘ I tried telling her you went to practice with Seokjin for some new choreography but she knew I lied. Im sorry I tried to run as fast as I could to my car to get away from her. She followed me here in her car and then I had to run some more up to your apartment.’‘ He breathes hard, handing the new set of keys to Jimin.

Shit! You have no words to say. This wouldn’t of all started if you wouldn’t have been so stubborn yesterday to just take a taxi. You wouldn’t of passed out, he wouldn’t have been here with you all day today.

That doesn’t excuse the fact that this girl is batshit crazy for following Jungkook and showing up at your actual fucking apartment. Jimin looks at you with sorriness in his eyes. You look at him with anger and cross your arms to prove your point as to why he should have left in the first place.

‘‘ Im going outside to talk to her. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”

Jimin’s hand pushes down the handle to the door and as soon as he cracks it open, the force of the door pushes open harshly hitting the wall next to it, making him stumble back a little.

‘‘ So you think it is okay to go to your exes apartment? I would never disrespect you like that Jimin, you know that!” Rage has taken upon her, face red and it doesn’t already help that her facial expression is beyond pissed.

Slap!

You watch in horror as her hand connects with his left cheek. Jungkook’s eyes go wide, but then frown into anger before walking over to her. Stomping with each step he takes.

“ Watch what your fucking doing okay? That’s my brother and I certainly do not hit girls but with one click of a button Ryan will be on her way to beat your ass got it?’’

‘‘ Jungkook stay out of this! This isn’t your battle. Now you, you have some nerve letting him inside here. Obviously you were not enough for him to go cheating on you.” Isabel says, stepping away from Jimin and leaving him there at the door.

That one hurt. She does have a point though, you should of made Jimin leave regardless of what he said to you. You got caught up in the moments that weren’t meant to be yours. Its true, she has every right to be mad.

‘‘ I don’t appreciate you being around Jimin..” She inches closer to you, hands on her hips. You begin to back up, eyes to the ground of guilt. If only things wouldn’t have unfolded like this.

‘‘ Your relationship to him is starting to be inapropriate.” Isabel’s eyes make contact with yours when you look up. She looks at you as if you’re disgusting, and you can’t blame her.

‘‘ Isabel..’‘ Jimin warns, coming behind her.

On the heel of her feet, she turns around shaking her head. “You don’t deserve to talk. You care so much about her, but did you forget we are a couple? We may just be cooling things off between us, but you are still mine as I am to you.’‘

Jimin sighs, stopping just behind her, ‘‘ Isabel look..”

“ Jimin..” Jungkook starts, uneasy of what his brother is to say next. You know what’s coming and you know that tone of Jimin’s voice all too well.

The same one he used when breaking up with you. You see the tears well in her eyes. Some part of you feels bad for her because you know those words well. You know that feeling all too good.

‘‘ Are you really breaking up with me because of her? We were doing just fine until she showed back up in the picture. Are you seriously doing this?” Her voice cracks on the last words. That made your heart sting a bit. This isn’t right.

Jimin sighs looking at the two of you back and forth. You are the one for him, it’s no doubt. It was a stupid choice for him to cheat on you. It was a stupid choice for him to leave you in the dust like that. You gave him everything. A loving relationship, a home, happiness, you are the highlight of his days. He misses you just as much as you miss him.

“ Isabel we are through. I’m sorry I couldn’t be the man to your expectations. It’s my fault. All my fault and I shouldn’t have let you belie-”

“ Fuck you. Fuck you Park Jimin.” Her words slice through the air, piercing Jimin right in his heart. It hurt for him to hear that, but he deserves it.

Jungkook doesn’t look so shocked, but he does wish Jimin would have did this else-where other than your apartment. Isabel looks at you with envy, reaching into her small chanel bag for something. Jungkook gives her a warning look to just leave before grabbing your arm to make you stand behind him.

“ Isabel I’ll walk you down. It’s best to just leave it be. Please.” Jimin begs from behind her. You watch the tears roll down her eyes and you still can’t help but to feel guilty.

You are the cause of their breakup. Maybe you really should have minded your business about Jimin. Maybe you shouldn’t have entertained his charming ways at all. Looking back down at her hands, you see a small pocket knife she grips tightly. You tap Jungkook and point which makes him push you behind him even more.

“ It’s a bad idea. You can hurt me but you wont hurt my brother or her.” He says, daring her to make any type of movement towards you.

Jimin comes behind her and attempts to grab the knife in which she slashes his palm on accident trying to push him away. In that quick second, Jimin hisses in pain while pulling away giving Isabel all the time she has to get to you while Jungkook is already across the room for his brother, forgetting you hiding behind him.

‘‘ Shit! Jimin are you okay?” He asks, but then quickly turns to you, “ Quick! Go hide! Hurry! “ Jungkook screams.

‘‘ Isabel this isn’t what he wants. He wants you to be happy and getting back at me will only upset him more!” As if your words would even convince the crazy girl in the slightest.

She just laughs as your words, fastly walking to you who’s, running towards the living area thinking it would cut time shorter if you cut through there to your bathroom.

You aren’t fast enough. She tackles you to the ground where you two rumble around trying to get away from her until she putting all her weight on you as she sits directly on your chest making it hard for you to breathe.

“ Maybe a little mark on your face will tell you to stop home-wrecking people’s relationship.” She raises the knife up high and you watch in horror before she raises it back to in attempt to make a slash on your forehead.

You block each attempt at her trying to slash anything on your face. Your dad always told you to protect your face in self defense and fighting and thats what you do. Only until with one last thrush, the knife connects with your forearm, making a nice sized gash on it.

‘‘ Fuck!”

The voices in your area fade in and out. You look to your left to see Isabel being dragged out by a pair of cops. But the puddle of blood forming around you rapidly sends you into panic. Only you cant panic. You cant speak. Your vision is slowly loosing faith in you.

Open.

Close.

Open.

Close.

Open.

Cl-

272 notes · View notes

ktheist · 4 years ago

Text

2prettybestfrens | jjk

muses. jeon jeongguk x reader x park jimin ft. kim taehyung

genre. strangers to lovers!au. university!au.

words. 18.2k

drabbles. pjm

feedback.

warnings. mentions of physical insecurities, alcohol use, juul use, mention of adoption, mentions of dysfunctional families, handcuffs - lots of handcuffs, jeongguk crossdressing, too many one-sided pinings lmao

synopsis. you’re in love with kim taehyung who’s in love with jennie kim who’s in love with professor kim namjoon. so park jimin doesn’t exactly fit in all of this, yet he’s always been there in your weakest moments which may or may not be caused by your heartbreak boy - or so jeongguk likes to call him.

oh and jeongguk? you don’t even know jeongguk until that party-gone-awry night where you end up handcuffed together to ponder on what you did.

when you uploaded a snapchat of your darkened room and a single teary-eyed emoji because kim taehyung uploaded one where a beautiful girl was covering her mouth while she giggled, jimin snapped back a ‘why r u awake 😬’ to which you snapped the same darkened room with a slightly different angle and a ‘just cause’. his last snap to you contained a ‘cool wanna call?’ before you dialed him up and ended up talking until 5 in the morning before bidding each other-

“well, good night then,” you’d muttered.

“g’morning,” he’d wished you back in a soft mumble and a hint of sleepiness taking over.

that happened on a friday night. on monday and for the rest of the week, you merely greeted each other in the hallway and went on your days without the inclusion of the other.

when you sat by yourself on the bench on the sidewalk of campus, under the shade of a great old tree a few feet away from your department after being left high and dry when kim taehyung’s friends asked him if he’s joining them to get mcdonald’s which he’d in turn asked if you wanted to tag along and you said you were good only because you never did well in groupies - park jimin sat down next to you, head thrown back as he squinted at the gaps of the leaves where the tiniest of sun rays managed to pass through and dot his face. blonde tresses swaying ever so softly when the wind blew past you.

“so how was finance?” he looked like he was asking the waving branches.

“eh, it was fine, professor kim’s a good teacher,” you shrugged, the sight of jennie suavely smiling and said professor shooting glances at her made you mentally vomit.

“man,” he blew a gust of air from his mouth as he ran a hand through his semi-long tresses, “were we in the same class? because all i remember was dozing off five minutes into class.”

“that’s why you should sit at the front,” you’d suggested.

it was then, did he push himself off the ground and stood up, black and white jacket pushed back as he slipped his hands into the pocket of his jeans. eyes narrowing while his tongue protruded against the inside of his cheek before he went, “you hungry?”

“starving,” you rolled your eyes before collecting your mac and holding it to your chest, bag slung over your shoulders.

the both of you didn’t go to mcdonald’s but the food tasted just as good that day at the cafe in your faculty.

when kim taehyung asked jennie if she was free friday night and the girl turned to you with an endearingly oblivious, “do we have any plans on friday?” and taehyung awkwardly but not so hesitantly corrected, “um, i mean, just you jennie,” the air, without a doubt turned tangibly tense and awkward.

“oh,” jennie’s brows knitted together as she stared at him, as though trying to spot the caption on his forehead as to why he invited only her when everyone knew you and jennie never go anywhere without the other if you didn’t have any prior engagements, “well, ___ and me are going to hang out together so yeah, i’m not free.”

you weren’t sure if she was dumb or playing dumb but you’d found out later that night, that she’d been irritated with kim taehyung’s non-considerate advancements which she’d recently noticed seemed to exclude you ‘i hate people who make plans in front of someone and not invite them’ was her exact word before she followed up with a ‘blockedt’.

but backtrack to when the tension seemed to rise higher than the sky, you were saved by jimin when he came mini-jogging towards you with that adorable boyish smile and crescent eyes, “hey, i was looking for you - you wanna walk to accounting together?”

you’d waved jennie and taehyung goodbye and gladly walked with jimin to class.

and so it goes, with kim taehyung’s eyes lighting like fireworks in the midnight sky when he sees jennie and the girl itching to make a beeline to the opposite side of where he comes from and you shooting her ‘be nice’ looks whilst park jimin pops up now and then in the most convenient time until ‘us’ no longer comprise of you and jennie but also taehyung and jimin.

so much so, some of your casual friends come to you asking for either of the boys when they seem to have something to inform them which you’re not sure why isn’t informable through text. but either way, you’ve become two best friends with additional friends.

maybe said additional friends happen to fall in the top list of cuties in the girls and gays’ books but besides kim taehyung, if you looked, like really really looked at park jimin, you concurred, perhaps he does have the right to be in said list with his unblemished, smooth skin, perfect pink lips and pretty sparkly eyes.

“what?” his lips do the thing where they curl, revealing a pair of perfectly lined white pearls.

“nothing,” you say as you find yourself third-wheeling in taehyung’s bmw with jimin at the back and the first commenting something about his older sister liking to shop at zara as well when jennie asked you if you were free tomorrow to go to the mall near campus.

“i mean i can go with you girls, i have a two-hour gap between classes,” the boy offers.

“oh,” the first laugh trickles out of your mouth without a stop switch, “you’re so cute.”

you can hear jennie snickering in the passenger seat as you turn away from the angle where taehyung could see you in the rear-view mirror, only to come face to face with jimin who seems to get your humor.

“it’s not a big deal,” taehyung shrugs, a tinge of pride in his voice.

“my man,” jimin pats said man on his shoulder, “you don’t know jack shit about women.”

“what?” the older boy asks, perplexed and quite honestly irritated for some reason - but then again, he never seems to like jimin’s quick-to-catch-on nature when it comes to any girls-related topics.

“two hours is not enough to shop, taehyung,” jennie finally decodes the long standing cipher, “we can barely explore one shop.”

by the end of her words, you’re is full out snickering like an unattractive hyena, “i thought you have a sister?”

“i do,” there’s a tinge of confusion in his tone, “she usually goes shopping with her boyfriend.”

“well, how long did it take them to go shopping?” she quizzes, sharing an amused look with jimin.

“uh,” it’s then, do you hear the sound of the screws in taehyung’s brain twisting, “she usually stays over whenever they do.”

“well, whatever you think they did after they went shopping - it’s probably not it,” jimin snickers, shoulderline jolting as he crosses his arms over his chest.

“so cute,” jennie echoes your earlier words, neck craning to look at the two other passengers in the back seat as she gives you a one-eyebrow-lifted look as if to say ‘this is the guy you’re crushing on?’

at that, you shrug, unapologetically mouthing ‘he’s cute’ - in a much different and adoring sense than the first time which jennie must’ve gotten when she shakes her head, a hopeless smile on her lips as she turns to the road again.

you were on your way to the movies then.

“oh my god,” jennie squeals, eyes skimming your specifically-handpicked-by-jennie-kim attire, “you look so cute!”

“only because i agreed to be your live mannequin,” you say rolling your eyes but the curl of a smile on your lips is unstoppable.

“no - because i know what kind of style suits you,” she narrows her eyes in a ‘you know i’m right’ kind of manner, “no offense, your usual style is cute too but it’s more like an... ‘i have a crush, don’t talk to me’ kind of look, you know?”

“am i wrong though?” your eyebrows rise, mimicking her ‘you know i’m right’ look.

she raises a hand, her free one scrolling through her phone as she announces, “i don’t recommend crushing on airheaded guys but you do you sis,” then she looks up, staring at you straight in the eye with the most deadpanned expression, “but if he breaks your heart, i’ll break his leg,” it’s a full, solid moment later, just as you were about to burst out laughing, does she say, “literally.”

and it’s times like these that you fear for another person’s life that isn’t yours - well, taehyung’s life isn’t just anyone’s but - as she turns back to her phone ever so casually.

but before you can fret any further, your phone vibrates, the words ‘chim’ flashing across your screen with a ‘get yo asses down’ and contrasting ‘ur chauffer awaits’ popping a second later.

“get your ass up. they’re here,” you end up saying, pushing your phone into the back pocket of your leather pants that jennie manages to convince you to put on for some unknown reason - that reason going along the lines of ‘kim taehyung’ and ‘jealousy’, but you’re not one to dwell on why one do things they do as you accept jennie’s grabby-motioned hands in request for assistance to be pulled up.

it turns out the shopping plan gets pushed to saturday where taehyung is basically spouting out how he’s a good judge for fashion and that he hasn’t gone to the mall since the semester started which to be fair, was only a month ago.

you’re not sure how jimin ended up tagging along - the two aren’t even the bestest buddies - but someway, somehow, he always manages to get taehyung to pick him up and drop him off whenever the taller man makes plans to go out with you and jennie.

“wow,” jimin is the first to notice, mouth taking on an ‘o’ shape he basically ogles in plain daylight.

“what do you think?” jennie comes up behind you, chin resting on your shoulder as she wraps her arms around your waist then she turns to taehyung who was the last to get out of the car, “doesn’t ___ look pretty, taehyung?”

at the sound of his name rolling off the tongue of the girl he’s been pining for since he laid eyes on her, his gaze lights up - but only to meet jennie’s. one look at you and he turns back to her with the most beautiful smile, “yeah, she looks great - did you help choose the top?”

“actually,” the girl begins with a cheery tone - they’re walking a few steps behind you whilst you and jimin walk together. it’s been like that for as long as you remember, “i picked out the whole fit. it wasn’t easy though because...”

kim jennie walking side-by-side with kim taehyung whilst you with jimin whenever the two boys join you, be it whether to get to a class you all share, to go to the library to study or to get some lunch - has become a familiar view to your mutual friends. so much so, you’ve heard of a rumor going around that you’re a couple of best friends.

like literal couples. you with jimin and jennie with taehyung. thanks to that, no one would have suspected jennie’s relationship with professor kim nor would anyone see through the veil of friendly smiles and amicable conversations to be you pining over your best friend’s alleged boyfriend.

you’ve gotten used to hearing jennie and taehyung’s conversation fade into the background yet never really able to disregard the way taehyung laughs at something your best friend says or the sight of the two walking a few feet ahead with taehyung’s head almost always turned to jennie’s and the girl, oblivious, occasionally cranes her neck to look at him at the beginning of her sentence before directing her gaze to the front where she’s walking.

jennie dislikes taehyung less now, if only because he steers the conversation towards the areas of interest - which he seems to know a lot of. kudos to you for answering his ass-crack o’clock texts of ‘heyyy what kind of movie does jennie like?’s and ‘heyy you girls got any plans tomorrow?’s.

“you look great in those leather pants, by the way,” jimin’s voice makes you turn to the other boy, a boyish smile on his lips, “so let me guess,” his head tilts to the side as the dip between his thumb and index finger hooks itself underneath his chin, eyebrows knitted together in heavy contemplation, “are you going for a good girl gone bad kind of look,” a playful smile tugs on the corners of his lips, “or are you in a secret biker gang and have a biker meeting at 7?”

you lean closer to the man, hand covering your mouth as you whisper, “you didn’t hear this from me but we’re convoying to disney land. i heard it’s more magical during christmas.”

or so you thought your whispering skills were close to perfect but a cat with brown hair pops up from next to you, eyes glinting with excitement, “did someone say christmas?!”

so you end up early-christmas shopping just because of that one word that triggers the warm-hearted-who-ness in her. and that’s how you, taehyung and jimin gets dragged from one store to another. but where your attention gets robbed with material things like-

“oh look, a snow globe with a puppy and a snowman in it!” you shake the see through globe, watching as pseudo snowflakes rain over the unmoving pupper and olaf lookalike before you sigh, “technically the snowman isn’t alive and the doggo is alone by itself in a world where nobody else can enter - and on christmas at that . oh my god, i think i’m gonna cry.”

- but jennie’s interest lies within the holiday-themed clothes. sweaters. costumers. lingerie. you name it and jennie kim tries it on.

“___ - pssst, hey,” there she goes, hiss-whispering your name as if you’re not right in front of the curtain she’s poking her head through, eyes darting around for the two boys who, last you saw, were doing the best to look interested in reindeers and candy printed sweaters.

“what, girl, what?” you whisper back, trying to peek through the gap of the curtain over her head as if you’ve never entered a changing room together.

and as if reading your mind, her bare arm that’s supposed to be wrapped with the floral cotton material of her sleeve - shoots out, hand wrapping around your wrist.

a “wha- ah-!” probably echoed off the walls and turned some heads but you’re no longer in the position to check as you find your back pressed against the wall of the cubicle and red and white lace-wearing jennie posing for you.

“so?” she beams.

“those are so cute, oh my god,” you end up his-whispering whilst trying to keep your voice low, “where did you get them? i only ever saw you checking out - and you have got to admit this - ugly sweaters!”

“girl, the lingerie section is just next to the sweaters,” her eyes seem to disappear behind her crescents as she crinkles her nose, “no but for real, you think i was gonna buy them? i just needed the boys to go away. and. they. finally. did,” she rolls her eyes, “it took awhile but kim taehyung is so persistent.”

“that’s why he’s so... cute,” you hum, eyes shutting close as the picture of the aforementioned man flashes behind your eyes. he’s looking at you with those dark eyes and he’s smiling at you with that magnetic-

“gross! get your ass out of the gutter,” a squeal hits the air as your eyes flutter open to the sight of your best friend’s contorted faces as if-

“um, girl,” you tilt your head just the slightest bit, hand on your hip while your other hand raises in a ‘hold up’ manner, “out of the two of us, you’re the one that’s gotta stop being silly and start wrapping professor kim’s willy.”

a stick of tongue out is all you’ve got as a response before she turns to her phone that’s vibrating at an alarming rate.

that’s when you feign almost-vomit, “did you - ulgh - sent him a - ulgh - nude?”

in any ordinary circumstance, she would have made faces to mimic a much ridiculous series of vomiting in response to your fake almost-vomits but when her smile tugs downwards in a disheartened pout, you practically drop all the ugly sweaters you picked out just for the sake of getting into the christmas spirit and rush over to the girl - which is only one and a half feet away.

“hey, hey, what’s wrong?” you coo as she starts blinking back tears.

“i knew it,” she huffs out a puff of air, hand fanning at her waterline, “i fucking knew it.”

in between the ‘you’re okay’s and ‘everything’s going to be okay’s on your part and jennie’s increasingly growing sobs, you manage to make out the words she blurts out. something along the lines of ‘not spending as much time as we used to’ and ‘because i’m ugly as fuck’. so you hold her tighter, fingers brushing out the potentially forming knots in her hair each time it gets into her tear stained face and gets aggressively pushed out of said face with the back of the hand.

it’s been going on since the start of the third year - the ‘i can’t make it tonight’s and ‘sorry, i’m going to have to rain check’s.

you’ve been a silent spectator of how your best friend’s face lights up whenever she talks about her secret affair with the youngest professor in the business faculty, how he lives up to her private swooning with the smallest ‘miss kim, how was your day’s when he met her in the hallway, ever so casually greeting one of his supposed students like any professor would and treats her to fine-dinings and became the reason why forehead kisses are her favorite kind of kiss now.

he never really tried to hide his fondness for her even at the faculty and though you knew your best friend could get anyone she wanted, you were dubious of whether that anyone actually deserved such a loving, beautiful person. nonetheless, kim namjoon seems to be the exact person who does.

“hey, look at me,” you implore, sitting cross-legged on the floor whilst your knees touch and your fingers twine together in a fingers hug, or so jennie coined the term in your first year, “you’re so beautiful.”

“you don’t mean that,” she mumbles out.

“girl, if i were to be born again and were allowed to choose how i’m going to look - i want your eyes, they like, pull people in - not gonna lie, i started talking to you because you were intimidating but also really alluring. does that make sense?” you hold up a hand when she begins to giggle lightly, head shaking in show of her disagreement.

“but when i did get to know you, you’re the sweetest, squishiest,” a protest falls from her lips as she clasps a palm over the spot on her arm that you just pinched, “person alive. and oh!” you pinch her cheeks next, chuckling at how she crinkles her nose and like the feline she’s always been associated with, “and i want your cute chubs cheeks! and your adorable nose, and your lips,” you pause for the longest moment before retracting, “okay maybe i’d want my lips but your lips are juicy too!”

she makes a sound at the back of her throat, eyes of dried tears rolling, “please, i barely have any lips.”

“i mean, they’re still kissable,” you shoot her a suggestive look, “and i know out of the two of us, one would kiss you if she’s a little bit more fruity.”

“okay, maybe you think i’m kinda pretty,” she gives in.

but that’s not enough for you,“bih, you’re a literal goddess,”

“i’m not but anyway beauty is subjective so maybe namjoon’s perspective’s changed.”

“nope - nu-uh, we can cry and just... let ourselves feel the emotion that’s been bottling up and burst at one single message but what we’re not gonna do is mope around, being sad all day because of our presumptions that someone else thinks we’re not good enough or pretty enough. because you are and i would die for you.”

she hiccups, “i don’t know if i would die for you but i’d sacrifice my first born for you.”

“ew,” you feel your nose crinkling, “no, you’re not gonna trap me with a kid - that’s a trap right there and i’m not falling for it.”

jennie ends up laughing too loudly that one of the store attendants end up kicking you out. jimin and taehyung followed suit a second later, acting like they didn’t know you two but walking towards you anyway. you’re not sure if they noticed jennie’s swollen eyes but neither mentioned anything about it. instead, taehyung suggests- “since we’re already out, you guys wanna go to chanyeol’s party?”

so you end up going to the party. the apartment’s too cramped for your liking but jennie’s found some mutual friends of yours that she’s dancing and laughing with. and maybe that’s why you haven’t bolted right out of the door the moment you stepped in.

jimin found some of his own friends. they’re probably not from the faculty since you don’t remember seeing them around and taehyung-

you’re not quite sure why taehyung is following you around like a lost puppy and trying to make small talks with you. internally, your heart’s doing flips but your head’s been giving out one of those obnoxiously loud sirens with lights as red as the cup you’re holding.

“...and you know, it’s pretty cool how they managed to attract foreign investors within six months of starting up their business,” taehyung is saying, the awkward shrug and eyes glued to the ground telling you that he’s not so into whatever he’s saying either.

“yeah, like, they definitely got lucky or something,” you nod in agreement.

funny how the blare of the music is barely allowing you to have a proper conversation but all you hear is deafening silence as you stand five feet apart - the kind of distance that screams acquaintances but less than friends and most definitely not lovers.

but then he stands on his two feet instead of leaning his weight on just one - and he looks at you right in the eye for the first time that night. and your stupid heart goes fluttering like the petals in a field.

“hey, i don’t wanna be a nosy or anything but,” he pauses for the briefest second, eyes slanting to somewhere on the dance floor where you think you last saw jennie and then he refocuses back to you. but you already know where his mind and soul remains, “what happened today? like, jennie’s acting off, like something’s bothering her and she’s kinda drinking more than she should and it kinda feels like she doesn’t want me around.”

it takes a moment to ponder on how much you should say before your words become affirmation and affirmation will probably lead to more assumptions and - “well, you should ask her.”

“uh, i- she doesn’t- i don’t know how - i don’t wanna annoy her, you know what i mean? and since you’re best friends, i thought maybe you’d-” he’s scratching the back of his head when you cut him off.

“there’s your answer,” you raise the half-empty cup that’s been lying undrunken in your hands, “if you’re not gonna square up and tell her how you feel, then you, my friend,” your stomach drops at the word but you manage to land a solid pat on his arm, “are going to live the rest of your live like this - wondering what the hell is going on because you’re really not sure where you stand. and i get it, confessing to someone is terrifying and depending on jennie’s answer, you might or might not be able to talk to her ever again but it’s better to get it out there. feelings are like farts, you know?” the way his brows come together in a confused what-the-hell moment, is adorable, “hold it in and you’ll feel like something’s not right and it is never going to be until you get all of it out of your system.” and with a nod and a tight-lipped smile, you leave him with a “good luck,” before wandering over to the dance floor, not sure where you’re going because jennie, lisa chaeyoung and jisoo’s not where you thought they were and the only less crowded but still suffocating part of the apartment is the kitchen where you don’t want to risk going back and seeing taehyung there, unmoving in the spot where you left him.

amid all of it, you almost get your shoulder dislocated before a hand shoots out and pulls you back on your two feet whilst you raise your cup higher in hopes to save its contents from spilling.

the man that caught you looks between you and your raised cup for two solid seconds before a grin tugs on his face and he clicks his own cup to yours, “cheers.”

“aha, yeah,” you laugh as you feel his grip on your arm loosening and you pull it back to your side like a robot, taking a sip of your nicely saved drink.

“thanks for not letting me fall,” you say a moment later, after thanking whatever deity is out there that allows you to get your first drink into the right pipe without feeling the need to cough out loud.

“no problem,” even in the poor lighting, you can easily catch the sight of pearly whites lined up perfectly amid an alluring smile, that is, before a pair of brows knit together in what seem like an unresolvable conundrum, “hey, you don’t happen to...” he pauses for the longest moment, eyes slanting to scan the crowd and making you do the same until he commands your attention back with his next words, lips curling back into the breathtakingly attractive smile as words tumble past them, “...see two pretty best friends in here, do you?”

and that’s when your interest, wherever it is, plunges straight down to the ground and into the ether, “oh,” your vision shakes as you nod repeatedly before forcing out a dry “ha ha” which isn’t meant to disguise your displeasure at all - if anything, a wave of satisfaction crashes over you when his smile falters, “yeah, that - that’s really funny,” you say plainly, smile still plastered on your face.

“o-kay,” he drags out the word for half a second, teeth clenched together in growing panic as all traces of humor fade away, “...joke too old?”

“well, let’s see,” you feel your index finger tapping your chin as you throw your gaze up to the ceiling, “i get it, tell the ugly best friend she’s ugly but in a joking way,” you shrug, “you don’t need to rub it in my face cause i know and yes it’s getting old.”

it takes a whole solid moment of blaring music and non-caring half-way-drunken college students continuing to grind against one another and this insanely attractive stranger staring at you with jaws on the ground, for you to wave a dismissive hand.

“you know what? don’t worry, jennie’s not here, thankfully or she would’ve blo-” air fills your throat and cuts you off when he frowns, “who?”, to which you raise your eyebrows, “je-” you almost choked, “jennie?”

he shakes his head the second time, bottom lip jutting out in an additional- “nope” gesture as he continues with “never heard of her,” after your “jennie... kim?”

so you go one, “kinda cute height, long hair, brunette-” he shrugs, “nope- doesn’t ring a bell,” in the middle of your, “-fierce cat-like eyes but adorable as heck personality?”

in the end he wins with a final word of, “no - nope,” after a whole solid moment of your silenced disbelieve and him drawing his pondering session to a close.

“oh,” escapes your lips before you can even register, “so - it was- like-”

“yeap,” he nods, “it was-”

“a joke?”

“a joke.”

you both announce at the same time. the tones may differ but the essence is there, leaving one to stare at the ground in shame for having snapped at a complete stranger and the other staring with unapologetic eyes.

“i’m sorry,” you finally manage to utter, shoulderline falling with your walls of pride, “i thought it was one of those micro aggressive jokes people throw around just because they can’t straight out tell someone they’re ugly-”

but the words seem to enter through one ear and go out the other when his brows begin to knit together for the nth time of the night - and in a matter of less than thirty minutes at that - when he declares before you get to properly end your sentence, “you’re pretty as hell. why did you think i’d randomly try to crack a joke to a stranger and risk pissing pants off on the off chance she took it badly... which you did. i’m sorry for pushing the wrong button.”

“oh,” but just like him, your brain short-circuits and you seem to only truly hear the first part of what he’s saying as just like any girl - you curse yourself as you - shy away from his gaze, hand going up to tuck your hair behind your ear before you slowly peek up through your lashes, “thanks,” you blink once, shrugging, “and it’s fine i get that joke a lot - i don’t usually care, i don’t know what got into me tonight.”

but before he manages to say anything, the loudspeaker starts reverberating with the sound of someone clearing their throat and a “how’s everyone doing?” and a dismissive “alright, alright you might be wondering ‘who the eff is this guy’ right? yea, yea, i know, but-” he stops, eyes scanning the crowd for a suspenseful effect, “-but you’re gonna wanna hear this,” to which a groan erupts from the crowd, so he quickly gets to the point “don’t panic,” most of the time, that’s exactly when you should panic, “so, the police are coming.”

his name is jeon jeongguk and he goes to your university’s rival university. his hair is actually a shade of rich deep brown that forms wavy ends and contrasts glaringly against his sharp jawline under the fluorescent lighting which also highlights his pearly whites that remind you of bunnies when his lips curl over them when he smiles.

to think that he’s doing that now while the police officer, a man in his 40′s and on the shorter side of the spectrum is ten steps from marching up to you with a disapproving gaze on his face.

his hair falls over his face in half ringlets, an excited glint in his eyes, “he’s mad cause we’re clean.”

a guy somewhere a few people away from you is sobbing increasingly loudly with every step the officer takes before he comes to a stop in front of you, eyes skimming each faces one by one until he stops on you.

“you,” he announces before sighing deeply, “you look like a kid who wouldn’t cause trouble, why are you here?”

“uh,” the chain around your wrist feels cold but jeongguk’s pinky that’s touching yours as your thighs brush together - is warm, “i...” you pause, in search for words before settling with a disappointing confession “i don’t know,”

the officer echoes your statement with a critical emphasize on the ‘don’t’.

and because of that, you blink once, “in fact, does anyone know what they’re doing at all? if you think about it we’re just astronomical particles in this vast universe which is called the milky way,” you pause, if only squint at his sparse mustache, “why is it even called milky way? like, there’s absolutely no scientific evidence that milk exists in outer space or do you reckon the guys that named it just feels like drinking some milk while they were-”

by the end of it, a few snickers have escaped from the people you and jeongguk were caught with, the aforementioned man, having turned his head the other way as his shoulders jolt silently and it’s only then does the officer’s increasing confused expression contorts into that of a maddened bore, “keep hanging out with him and you’re gonna find yourself behind bars.”

“that hurts my feelings, detective yoo,” jeongguk confesses, forehead creasing as his uncuffed hand holds the spot on his chest where his heart should be.

the man finally shakes his head, motioning to a younger officer who looks just about your age to start unlocking everyone’s cuffs - there were a few other people you’ve never seen before dragged out of the vicinity and to the station. he speaks a moment later, “you kids are lucky because none of you are associated with the ones down the hallway - we were initially going for them. busted their asses and found over a hundred kilograms of cocaine.”

once your cuffs are off and you get your phone back, you’re fast-scrolling through the messages on the notification window before swiping up and searching for jennie’s contact. it turns out she, taehyung and jimin guessed you were one of the few who didn’t make it and waited for you near the building where the party was busted.

“oh my god,” jennie is the first to dash into your arms as if she hadn’t seen you since forever, “i’m so sorry i left you!”

“well to be fair, i left you,” you mumble, your arms banded around her waist while hers around your neck.

and just when you thought the melodrama would end when she pulls away, you find yourself staring at sparkly-eyed jennie and the most heartbreaking downturned lips, “i will never,” she pauses, “ever let you out of my sight.”

you’re exactly against that idea - after all, you’ve made plans to buy a beach house and move in together in your olden days once you’ve poiso- burried your husbands who died of a totally natural cause.

it’s only after breaking apart from a second hug, do you realize the man standing not-so-awkwardly five feet away.

“don’t mind me,” jeongguk holds up his hands, “i don’t watch much drama but i might after all this.”

“jeongguk,” you can’t help the smile that creeps up your face at his joke, “this is jennie,” then you turn to the girl who still has her arm around your waist, and you her, “jennie, jeongguk.”

“have i seen you before?” her cat-like eyes narrows just the slightest bit, as though if she tried hard enough, she’d see the pieces of moving memories that’ll somehow point out where she claims to have met him - but you don’t doubt it if they have, jennie gets invited to a lot of parties and hookups.

you should’ve known when jeongguk’s eyes sweep over you with a playful glint in them as he begins, “that’s funny because ____ here-” that from this point forward, that you shouldn’t have put your foot forward and prance at him like a predator with a secret, hand clasped against a surprisingly hard chest before your brain can register what you’re doing.

and when it does, you’re left to awkwardly pat his chest in what you hope to be friendly gesture whilst you force out a laugh, “that- that was really funny jeongguk,” you turn to jennie who, having known you all your life easily catches onto your out-of-character laugh but says nothing, so you point at the guy you’re basically and is still groping - to which you’ve finally tear your hand off his body, “he’s a funny guy.”

“and who exactly is this funny guy?” taehyung comes up on your left - you think you catch sight of his sleek bmw parked on the other side of the street where he must’ve strutted up from in his beige jacket with his hands buried in its pockets.

“just...” you trail off before your brain completely fries and you blurt out, “some guy.”

and that’s when jeongguk decides to call you out, “some guy? i helped you through a life lesson.”

you attribute the alcohol in your system that’s slowing down the neurons and disables you from thinking before you act when you roll your eyes, “in case you didn’t realize, you were in there laughing your ass off when i had to have my own back while that officer looked like he was a word away from dragging me to the police station for talking back to a law enforcement.”

“you talked back to an officer?” jennie chirps, her jaw falling to the ground as her cat eyes widen in excitement and astonishment.

“she did,” jeongguk nods at the girl, a displaced proud smile on his lips before he looks back to you, “brought out the boomer in him too.”

“you pissed off an officer?” this time, it’s jimin who pops up from behind taehyung, before casually nodding to jeongguk with a “hey man.”

“i mean, it was probably ___’s sheer guts and rebellious streak alone that helped free us,” jeongguk goes on, eyes glinting with amusement in the briefest moment they slant to meet yours but they’re gone too soon as he redirects your attention to jimin and jennie’s overpouring questions.

and because jennie wanted to hear more about how jeongguk embellished what went down, taehyung ends up agreeing to give the stranger a ride as you get squished between two men with jennie constantly pulling on the strap of the seatbelt to look over to the backseat, her mouth constantly dropping with every word jeongguk utters like he’s some well-known storyteller.

by the time the car rolls to a stop in front of his apartment building, jennie’s shooting you approving, borderline provocative looks your way - you don’t doubt that if she had any power in her hand to put both you and jeongguk in the same room, lock the door and swallow the key, she would in a heartbeat.

“hey,” jeongguk leans over the doorframe, “can i talk to you for a sec?” it’s the way he tilts his head to the side on a 35 degree angle, paired with that dangerous smile he’s been shooting you in the briefest span of moments jennie’s head is turned to the road and jimin’s gave is thrown outside of the window and taehyung isn’t stealing glances from the rear-view mirror - that makes you want to shake your head in rejection to his request and prance out of the car like a predator in heat at the same time.

but instead, you calmly slide over to the side now vacant side and slip out of the car, closing the door behind you so no ears can eavesdrop.

the scent of his cologne wafts stronger into your senses now that you have no police officers to be cautious of nor any embellished stories to correct.

that, or maybe it’s the way he’s got you trapped against the car door and his body, right arm placed perfectly on the roof of the car, next to your head.

“bout time you give me your @, no?” the corner of his lips tilts higher into a cocky smirk.

“um, yea,” you begin, “i think it’s better if we leave into the night like strangers with stories, you know? and if we’re meant to find each other, we will,” you swear on your grandmother’s grave that you will never go to any parties anymore, “makes a good plot for a drama,” eyes going wide and mouth taking on an ‘o’ shape, you continue, “didn’t you say you were gonna start watching those?”

his shoulderline shakes as he chuckles, head dropped it tilts up, eyes capturing yours, “i’m not falling for that,” his announcement is plain and simple and yet you’re forced to put twice the effort in your smile as to not let it falter, “after getting my chest groped and caressed, i deserve at least-”

“it was a friendly pat, mind you,” you correct, smile still glued to your face before rolling your eyes, “but snapchat is as far as i’m willing to go.”

“works for me,” the screen of his phone flashes with a dark mode keypad splayed over it - you’re not sure how he unlocked it without taking those glinted eyes off you but he did. so you swipe the phone off his hand and send yourself a request through his account.

“i’m gonna open your snap and leave you on read!” you announce, and he laughs, “alright, bet!”

and with that, he waves at you using the same phone he told you to put your number in, taking a few steps backward, allowing you room to breathe properly again before he whirls on his heels and walks through the glass double doors.

you don’t wait any longer than you have to, shivering from the cold night air when you slip into the car.

“did you give him your number?!” jennie practically screams.

“no but i gave my snapchat only because he looked like he wouldn’t sleep a wink at night if i didn’t,” you shrug.

and that’s how kim jennie gets it into her head that you’re going to get your first-boyfriend-cherry popped. or so she likes to believe.

but that’s the least of your concern for the greater one comes in a devil with black jeans and matching plain t-shirt and timberlands and a lit up screen at exactly three something in the am, right after you’re done with a hot shower and in a middle of towel drying your hair and putting on your night routine skincare.

you open the text revealing a night view of a cityscape from a window which room is surrounded by darkness and a transparent horizontal strip with a ‘❄️ ’ in the middle from a goldenjks.

so you snap a picture of your skincare products next to a mirror with you and a towel on your head, face blocked by your hand that’s holding your phone, choosing to send ‘🍜’.

and so it goes, the snap war that erupts between you and user goldenjks throughout the night which, after you’d gotten into bed with the lights off, basically includes snaps of your darkened room and his more superior window view.

before long, you started texting on snapchat about how the police officer seems to know him and how-

goldenjks

u were p chill for someone who got arrested for the 1st time

you’re giggling in the darkness at 5:23 am.

you

cs ik i didn’t do anything wrong

duh

and he mentions something about a sobbing kid that was made to wait with you and nobody really did anything to comfort him.

goldenjks

that coulda been u if i wasn’t there probably

you roll your eyes but you can feel your muscles becoming sore from the way your lips are stretching from ear to ear.

then it starts with how taehyung didn’t saying anything throughout the ride up until the car rolled to a stop in front of jeongguk’s place.

goldenjks

r u guys using him for his car???

cs same

i would 2

you

wtf

we’re not 😭😭

and without much thought, you end up spilling a not-so-secret but not-so-well-known truth.

you

welp

he’s using me to get close to jennie so

ig i should use him for his car

oof

goldenjks

ooof

so let me guess

u can’t say no to him cs u have the biggest crush on him

“what the hell?” you mumble to yourself, smile pulled down into a frown, but before you can type out a reply, two more pop up on his side.

goldenjks

and jimin head over heels for u

you

🧢 🧢 🧢

u funny 😂😂😂

goldenjks

fr fr tho 😔😔😔

i would b too

all of a sudden, a boy with the softest blonde hair and crescent eye smiles floods your throughts. you and jimin might have been casual friends for the longest time and only until recently started hanging out together - and he may or may not hold confidential information about the littlest details of the lack of smile on your face and the blank snaps in your stories whenever you’re down.

but to say he’s reacting such way because he’s into you would be a total scam.

so you shake your head, laughing out loud, “nah can’t be.”

you

alright imma 😴😴😴

to which jeongguk tests back a gnight and after one whole solid minute, a text u tmr?

you leave him on read.

“like, who does he think he is?” you huff, burying the plastic spoon into the ice cream before scooping up a chunk of neapolitan flavored goodness and directing it into your mouth, “he literally met us just last night and he’s spouting shit like he knows us for years?”

“i don’t know,” jennie humps, tongue darting out to lick the remnants of strawberry ice cream on her upper lips before she goes on with a smile that screams ‘just get together already’, “it’s kinda hot to me when guys know shits, you know what i mean?”

you’ve managed to avoid jimin and taehyung at all costs and sneak to the ice cream parlor that’s five minutes away from campus where you spilled your guts out about how you got unreasonably irritated by the long running joke, about how jeongguk’s hand wrapped around your wrist and he pulled you out of the way of the chaotic college students who were rushing to get out of the small, cramped apartment and how you stopped him from relaying your disbelief of his lack of knowledge about her.

“like, i flipped out at him because of some stupid joke,” you shrugged, hands fiddling with each other while a coat of smoke wafted over the newly scooped and paid-for ice cream.

your name rolled off her lips before she stared at you with her hands on hear heart, “i- i didn’t know you would go so far as fight a guy for me for calling me ugly,” then she laughed, “but you don’t have to. girl, we been knew i’m ugly as fuck.”

your jaw hit the ground at the word she used to describe herself before you blinked and came back to your senses and aggressive defenses, “oh my god, i’m the ugly one and you’re the literal goddess - like, i shouldn’t even be looking at you. i should be looking at your sole. you should be stepping on me - step on me! now!”

a yelp resonated into the air as you groped around for jenni’s left leg in an attempt to lift her foot to make her step on you to which you both ended up laughing hysterically after realizing that she was wearing a skirt and the way you were sitting may or may have not resulted in an array of possible outcomes.

“oh my god, do you think she saw my panties?” she meant the woman in her late 40′s who were shooting disapproving eyes at the both of you as she scrolled through her phone, seeming to be waiting for someone before placing an order.

“you just flashed a poor old woman who came to have some ice cream,” you were hunched over, hand covering your face as you stole glances her way which didn’t hold long because you ended up giggling with the girl when you caught each other’s eyes.

“you think she likes what she sees?” jennie’s brows rose suggestively and you knew what she was going to say next before the words even leave her mouth, “you think maybe i should tell her about my onlyfans?”

it was a few bursts of giggles later, that you’d finally managed to talk properly. or probably because jennie’s question brought out an unwelcomed emotion that you pushed to the back of your conscience last night and for the most part, managed to forget, “so,” her brows were wiggling like earthworms on her forehead, “did he text you?”

that was what spurred the whole confession and up to the moment where you spilled the contents of the unfairly attractive stranger’s text.

“i don’t know, he kinda went overboard,” you shrug and jennie’s hand reaches over yours, patting it once with what you assume is an understanding manner.

“sweetie, i get it,” she announces, “you feel exposed because he said the absolute truth and only the truth and now you’re projecting your embarrassment on him through disdain.”

silence follows her statement.

and staring.

on your part, that is.

“girl,” you blink once, eyebrows arched, “whatever you’re having - i want some.”

that warrants a bout of giggles from said girl before she scoops her last bite of ice cream and hook arms with you as you walk towards the trashcan to dump your empty paper bowls, “no but for real, i like jeongguk-”

“then you date him,” you announce, nodding in approval.

“i like how he brings this... this... fire out of you, you know?” she quizzes to which you shake your head in a ‘no, i don’t know’ kind of manner as she goes on, “and i already have namjoon so,” she sing songs as she starts to skip in the middle of the mall and since your arms are linked together, you end up taking larger steps to accommodate to hers before deciding that you can’t root your feet down to slow her down into a normal pace. so you join her, skipping to the exit where you wait for your uber.

“you guys made up?” the question comes out in a calm, poised manner once you’ve both slipped into the backseat of the uber - you’d like to believe you’re doing a pretty good job on trying to conceal your spiking disbelief and the need to whoop someone’s ass. that someone being a girl who just pledged an oath to choose herself first instead of some man who-

“i texted him and told him how i felt with him cancelling on our plans and when i didn’t get any reply, i turned off my phone and got into bed because i’m not gonna mope over someone who won’t appreciate me,” at that, you give her an approving nod, “but then he came knocking on my door at like 5 in the morning in yesterday’s suit because apparently he has a deadline to meet and he’s been bending over backward trying to finish it on time and he brought his laptop with him too and managed to submit on time after explaining everything. he said he tried calling multiple times but obviously it went to voice mail so... yeah we made up.”

“that’s...” you trail off, only to stare at your friend’s beaming face like she’s just had one of the best facials on earth, “wow, i... i don’t know what to say now that we know he’s not trash.”

“i know,” you feel her pat the back of your hand sympathetically, “and that’s what a man is,” and when she looks at you with eyes that have one goal in her mind, you know not to start listening because the facts are going to bruise your pride and hit the nail on the head more times than you’d-

“liking a boy has more downs than ups but i’m not too worried because you’re a self-loving bitch and i love that for you but kim taehyung is not it,” she says all that with a straight face.

“yeah,” you mumble, thumbs fiddling together as you turn your attention to them as if it’s the most magnifying thing in the world to find out that identical parts of your body could move on their own with just a thought.

“okay, but i swear, he’s so oblivious all the time-” the girl stops short of her lament, you can see her head tilting to peer at you at a slightly different angle as if to see traces of an impostor on you, “wait, what?”

“we got into a fight last night- i don’t know if it’s even a fight but you know how i go off in a tangent when i get like annoyed, right?” you steal a glance at her for half a second before going back to your thumbs, “so i kind of did that to him before the dude announced the cops were coming and we haven’t really talked to each other since then.”

before any of you could say anything else, the sound of a cough echoes in the air, warranting your attention to turn to the driver, a woman in her mid-thirties. you return her smile through the rear-view mirror, “if you don’t mind me saying this - i know you girls are smart as fuck, but you sound just as dumb as that guy - whoever he is because it’s completely normal to get mad at someone you’re crushing on and still have a crush on them but sounds to me like you’re thinking one fight is the end of the world for you.”

“sis, please, don’t encourage her,” jennie talk-whispers as she leans forward just the slightest bit and covers the side of her mouth with her hand.

“well, we’re not really friends,” you begin and jennie groans - you two went over this and agreed to disagree with each other’s wildly contrasting views about crushing on crushes that could crush you but the lady hasn’t heard it so you’re not going to stop lamenting over it, “and whatever i do, it’s like i’m teetering on a tight rope because one wrong move and he probably won’t talk to me ever again and i’m not like miserably crushing on him - like, whatever we are right now - it lets me see him every day and he has the cutest smile and the prettiest fingers- i just - it’s better than not talking to each other forever, you feel?”

“um, don’t i?” she rolls her eyes, as if coming from a place filled with oblivious boys and hopeless crushes.

her name is solar and she does uber as a part time while working 9 to 5 at a firm that she claims to pay better but still not enough for her to save up for her wedding on the side and she and her fiance knew each other since high school but she’s seen him date two girls and get his heartbroken by both before he actually noticed her, the friend that’s always been there for him through his heartbreaks.

coming from someone who isn’t jennie and her alarming obsession with breaking parts of bodies of people who hurt her loved ones, solar’s view is somewhat a mixture of you and your best friend’s which still bases on one simple fact: whatever you say to and about taehyung comes bouncing back at you like a ping pong ball because-

“you have a crush on him and he has a crush on jennie,” she surmises before looking over at the aforementioned girl, “and people with crushes act like idiots- by the way how do you feel- like how do you handle the guy’s advancements and still aren’t awkward with each other because i have never seen...”

when the car rolls to a stop in the parking lot of your faculty, she finally turns to the two of you, her bleached blonde hair framing her face in waves as the silence - on you and jennie’s part as you both share glances at the indicative joke opening - hangs in the air with a sort of tension you can feel.

might even bite back like you did with jeongguk but you’re more in control now.

“...two pretty best friends who are still best friends when there’s a guy that comes between them.”

“oh thank god,” jennie sighs, laughing and you’re nodding in agreement, “thanks for not-” and your best friend echoes, “yeah,” before you can even finish your sentence, “-saying that cliche joke or like for giving your own twist to it,” waving a dismissive hand, you address her initial worries, “and taehyung doesn’t-”

“he doesn’t-” jennie chimes in.

“-come between us.”

you both say at the same time.

“oh my god, that’s great, you know my best friend tried sleeping with my fiance behind my back once,” solar crinkles her nose, “wasn’t a good experience but anywho, i’m so glad to see two girls having each other’s back like you guys. makes me want to...”

it’s a few moments later that you finally hand her the money and murmur out appreciations for being such a great uber driver along with some ‘give me five stars! thanks!’ and ‘we will! have a nice one!’

you both part ways in the hallway when you’re supposed to go for marketing and she has to go for personnel management. jimin’s already reserved a seat for you, waving at you to catch your attention which he succeeds splendidly. by the start of the second year, you’ve opted to sit together in classes you have in common, though not as close as the front as you’d like, it’s better than sitting at the back where you can hear the buzz of flies - you mean people, talking.

“are you doing anything this friday night?” jimin asks amidst people zooming out of the class as if they don’t want to be there for longer than a minute after being dismissed.

that, or they have another class to get to on the other side of the campus.

“uh, just me or me and jennie ‘you’?” you dumbly question.

that warrants a chuckle from the boy, “you and jennie... unless you wanna come alone?”

a hum vibrates in your chest as you narrow your eyes at him, as though if you looked close enough, you can see through his skull and right into his thoughts.

but you can’t so that’s why you’re spouting out another question, “where exactly are you inviting us again?”

“so, like, you know i dance right?” he drops his gaze for the briefest moment before coming back up to lock it with yours, “it’s very lowkey - just something i do for fun, but we kind of have a dance off with other teams every month and this month’s round is this friday night so i was wondering if you wanna come?” then he quickly adds, “with jennie, of course.”

to be frank your weekends are as boring and dull as it gets - the party-busted incident was a rare exception - but you and jennie are quite content with it. you start having more to do and places to venture out to when taehyung and subsequently jimin join your group of two and made it a group of four but for the most part, if you’re not going anywhere, your weekend is usually spent with watching movies and burying yourself in work for the rest of it.

“bet,” your reply might have come a tad bit delayed judging from how his brows rise to the ceiling and his eyes go round as he chirps, “really?”

“yeah, just text me or jennie the location the day before,” you request as you both walk down the hallway.

“great- yeah, i’ll... i’ll text you the place,” jimin beams even as he bumps into someone behind him, turning around to lower his head and mumble out an oh sorry before turning back to you, “i got another class but i’ll text you- on thursday - not today, of course.”

and you wave back, shouting out an ‘okay bye!’

then he’s gone like the wind.

the days pass by like a breeze.

kim taehyung caught you in the middle of waiting for jennie’s class to end whilst also finishing up some work in the library. he knew your favorite spot and he knew where you’d usually be - but you had an inkling that you weren’t exactly the reason why he memorized these little things. he waved at you in greeting and you waved back. you would’ve pretended he didn’t exist after that and go back to your laptop if he didn’t hold up his phone screen with blank white space and blue and grey bubbles on the side.

so of course you picked up your phone, noticing that there were already three wiggling dots when you tapped on his name.

kth: hey

you met his gaze once, as if to affirm that he meant to send it. when he shota half, almost pleading smile, you typed out a reply.

you: hey what’s good

kth: nothing

kth: just waiting for a friend

seeing as there was not really a conversation going on where jennie wasn’t involved and how the boy’s blatant dismissal in addressing the big, giant elephant in the room, taehyung must’ve had seen the way your lips pursed into an irritated pout before his phone vibrated.

you: cool

and then you were back to your laptop, typing sentences out and backspacing because of its incoherent nature, or lack of quality or whatever reason that stopped you from doing your job before kim taehyung’s arrival.

then he started whispering “hey, uh, ____,” from across the table. upper body leaned to the front as if it’d help enunciate his words.

you took your sweet time taking out your airpods from each individual ear and placing them down next to your mac before finally arching a brow at the boy, “what?”

“hey,” he repeated, this time with a frozen mid-wave, “hi, how you doing?”

“great thanks,” there was a minimal effort on your part to disguise your ‘what even?’ expression on your face as you picked up your right airpod first - only to be stopped by the boy’s-

“i’m sorry.”

it’s clean and short but his face made up for conveying his genuinity.

“why are you saying sorry?” it didn’t mean you were going to let him off the hook easy.

“well, because...” he trailed off for the briefest moment but the unconcealable bop of his adam’s apple isn’t really helping him appear any more convincing, “i was being pushy...” he looked to you for an indication of him being on the right track to which you were not sure if he did get any but he still went on with his wits and his will - it took you everything not to gush over how cute he looks with his panic-blinking and pretty lips moving as if to say something but no words coming out, “...and i was generally being an annoying little shit.”

“and?” you pressed on, blinking once as if to paint a look of unbotheredness.

“...and...” he echoes, eyes darting from your phone to somewhere behind you and then something next to it but only silence fills the space between you and him.

“alright, i’m gonna be real with you,” leaning back, you cross your arms over your chest, “i know you talk to me when you need something and i don’t really care - well i do, but i just bottle it up until it one day burst out, you know what i’m saying? so yea, if you’re wondering if that night was me blowing up on you, it kinda was and it wasn’t because you were making small talks with me just to poke into my best friend’s business - well, it kinda is but like not in that way, you follow? what i mean is.. don’t let me catch you sneaking behind jennie’s back asking personal shits about her that you don’t think she’s going to disclose even if you straight up ask her - that’s sus, taehyung.”

by the end of it, he was staring at you like you had two horns and a tail swaying around behind you. but you concur, that may or may have not been your inner self coming to light - just a hypocrite criticizing someone for doing the things she would have done, if she wasn’t already doing it, if she was in his shoes.

and to be quite frank, taehyung’s shoe size is probably a few inches bigger than yours but if they had laces, you would’ve been able to put them on and tied them up to accommodate your ego.

so taehyung didn’t - couldn’t say anything in response to your second time going off into a tangent and because of what he did, at that. he stopped texting you altogether and only talked to jennie whenever you weren’t around and left before you got to them if he saw you coming his way - jennie’s actually.

either way, jennie wasn’t as elated as you thought she’d be once you told her that you called taehyung out on his bullshit.

“um, i’ve always wanted to tell him about me and namjoon so he’d give up - you were the one who didn’t let me,” she might or might not have said something along the lines of you making her “lead him on all because you wanted to an eye candy to look at every day.”

“what do you mean?” your forehead was creasing a thousand folds.

“not that i’m pointing fingers,” she went on, eyes glued to the pairs of indoor shoes in the corner of the room and anywhere but your eyes, “but i’m like, cool with or without him around but you sort of said ‘okay, then it’s cool if he comes with us right?’ and you were making puppy eyes and i couldn’t no to that-”

and so you were laughing dryly, “aha- wha- what so it’s my fault that he’s being a total wuss and won’t square up?”

“i didn’t say that,” jennie’s reply came a heartbeat later which meant yes, it was.

so now you’re not talking to your best friend and neither are you talking to the boy who’s crushing on her. which leaves you a lot of free time to finish up your work in time to hop into a bullet train and then an uber and get to the building where jimin’s dance off is held.

you’re in the middle of texting the boy a ‘sorry, might b late. i didn’t know there’d be a line 😭’ when a figure comes up to you from the corner of your eye.

fitted in black jeans and matching tucked in t that shows off his slender waist and beanie, the only thing that isn’t black is probably his white-yellow timberlands, “so you weren’t kidding when you said you were gonna leave me on read.”

“you know, it’s so cute that you think you’re worth the reply at all,” you blink, eyes going wide and jaw hanging loose from shock, “this... this... confidence - where do you get it? seriously, tell me because i have never seen someone with such immaculate self-absorbance.”

jeongguk’s head moves as he nods in admittance, hands buried in his pocket before he looks up at you. that familiar glint in his eyes is telling you that whatever he has up his sleeve, you’re not going to be able to refuse.

“you know, eugene over there and i are homies,” he nods towards the burly tall man at the front who’s mainly the reason there’s a line in the first place - one that no one seems to dare cut, “i could get you in faster.”

“oh my god, look what that self-absorbance’s got you believing,” you put one, sympathetic hand on his shoulder as your free hand goes to cover the spot on your chest where your heart is, “i’m so happy for you,” you glance over to the not-declining-anytime-soon line behind you, “but sometimes, even confidence can’t get you into invites-only events.”

to any other person, it must’ve looked like you and jeongguk are friends - friendly acquaintances hitting best buddies at the very least. but something in the way his grin curling sweetly on his lips and the curve of the half ringlet of his hair touching the corners of his onyx eyes, makes your toes curl inwardly and your stomach churn with a sort of emotion you can’t pinpoint.

and because of that, you know there won’t be any sort of friendship forming between you and jeongguk.

he leaves you with an amused smirk and a “see you inside,” and marches up to eugene, the two sharing an uncomplicated handshake before the man steps to the side and lets him in.

well.

it takes you another ten minutes of standing in line and assuring jimin that he doesn’t need to rush out and risk having his team go without him when their turn comes. which according to jimin, ‘isn’t anytime soon - they let the bigger teams go first’.

but then jimin knowing jimin, that probably meant soon enough.

when you’re finally on the front of the line, crumpled up ticket in hand, eugene gives you a once over and nods at his not-as-burly-but-just-as-scary-looking friend.

“follow me,” and with that, she struts in through the door but instead of going down the hallway like the ones before you did before they disappear from eyesight in the corner, she takes a sharp turn to the right until she stops in front of an elevator.

her deep violet hair brushes against her cheekbones as she nods at the empty box with mirrors all around.

yeesh, guess everyone expresses themselves with their bodies here.

the numbers constantly change from ground level to 1 to 2 and finally stops at the 3rd floor where the blare of the music seems to come from. and that’s when you see the black haired boy who has his forearms leaned against the railing as he grins at something on the bottom floor where the shouts and cheers seem to erupt from. but before you can make a sharp 180 to go back down where jimin said you’d only need to follow the hallway and take the turn around the corner like the people before you did, jeongguk looks up as if sensing the heat of your gaze drilling holes inside his head. with one hand raised, he beckons you over.

“your majesty,” you drop into a bow once you reach him, “this humble servant thanks you for bringing her here but,” pointing your thumb over your shoulder at the hallway you just came from you continue, “i think i’m on the wrong floor because all i can see here is flocks of hair - an oh, shiny scalp from that guy - arms flailing around. takes away the magic of dance, you feel?”

“so you’re here for jimin.” it doesn’t sound like a question - so it must not be. a ponderous hum vibrate from his chest as you shoot him an arched brow whilst your insides burst like fireworks at the way his darkened eyes traces down your body and back up after he’s done with what seems to be a scout’s assessment.

“no leather pants and no best friend or heartbreak boy hovering around like a lost puppy - let me guess, he did something that made you mad, the best friend backed him up and now you’re mad at both of them?” he raises his own brow, lips curling into an assured smirk, “oh and jimin here’s probably taking a neutral stance because it ‘doesn’t concern’ him.”

you don’t know if you want to run away or grab the neck of his shirt and smack your lips on his.

so you settle with handguns pointed in his face, “alright, catch you never.”

but before you can even take a step to where you came from, jeongguk’s laying out his card on the table, “you sure bout that? it’s bulleproof boys’ turn - it’s jimin’s teams name, in case you’re wondering and judging by who they’re going against, it might be their first and last performance for the night.”

“i knew that,” respectfully, you had no idea that the teams have specific names besides the alphabetical letters given to them upon registration.

jimin’s only mentioned dance match once and that he’s in team c that’ll go against team d.

so you stick around, watching from all the way on the third floor where the lest people are gathered, cheering out names of teams that are alien to your ears which seem to be the team jimin is going against. but the fact that jimin could dance with such precision and grace is magnifying enough. he’s mostly posed on either sides of the formation, switching from the front left to the furthest back line on the right side as the beat drops.

jimin’s name pours out of your mouth in cheers but it’s swallowed by the other cheers before it can even reach him. in the end, jimin’s team loses. they still go up to their opponent and share handshakes and sidehugs before moving away from the dance floor.

he’s not smiling nor is he frowning as he stands in the crowd after the prelims but his lips curl and eyes disappear into crescents when he sees you.

“hey!” his arms open up into a hug, only to stop halfway in hesitation but by then you’re already wrapping yours around his neck with a “you were so cool!”

and just like that, the awkwardness in the air dissipates.

“i didn’t see you in the crowd.”

“so what? you thought i left?” a light smack lands on his arm, “by the way, you didn’t tell me it was this intense - i can feel the tension from all the way...” you pause for the briefest moment, “...in the audience.”

“everyone here just likes to dance so it gets competitive at some point but at the end of the day, it’s important to have fun,” he shrugs, a shy smile plastered to his face.

“either way you did great,” you bump his elbow with yours, and he shifts his weight to his left foot.

“we lost but it was a fair match the bts people were too good,” a mixture of regret and contentedness crosses his face as he nods to himself, as if admitting the difference in skills.

“let’s get a drink later, i’m buying,” you propose and jimin looks like a kid who just received his favorite candy.

well, that was the plan for the rest of the night up until the winner was announced. then a boy no older than you and jimin came up to the latter, arms slung over his shoulders, “dude, beyond the scene just asked if we wanna join them at the afterparty. can you believe it?”

“dude, you capping - don’t fucking joke with men man, i was about to shit my pants-” jimin attempts to shove the guy away half-heartedly which does nothing as his friend - teammate, cuts him off.

“i’m not fucking joking, man, behind the scenes literally asked if we wanna chill with them!”

the two boys are basically shoving each other back and forth before they start slapping each other on the face once to wake the other up. whoever this behind the scenes guys, they seem like a pretty big deal if two grown adults are fanboying this hard about them.

only after they’re sporting the faintest shade of pink on their right cheeks, do they finally realize that they weren’t squeal-whispering by themselves. he introduces himself as kai - “jimin’s best friend and mentor.”

“he likes to say that because i got into dance because of him,” jimin adds, debunking the mentor myth.

you’re about to wave the two goodbye and call it a night since it’s pretty clear that the behind the scenes guys only invited them and not their friends.

“come with us,” kai announces as the three of you walk down the back entrance where it’s less crowded and meant for the participants to use, “baekhyun can’t make it so we’ll still be five people.”

“i really should go- it’s getting late and my place is in seoul-”

and so begin your war of apologies and ‘no, you’s.

“oh shit, i forgot.” jimin’s usually almond-shaped eyes turn round and wide, “you used the subway-”

“yeah, but i can still catch the last train home-” you try to assure.

“i’ll accompany you back-”

“no, no - you should go with them-”

“no, i made you come to watch-”

and it would have gone on until morning if you and jimin were left to argue on who should do what if kai didn’t clap his hands together and put an end to the long debate, “okay, okay, break it up.”

he looks between the blonde haired best friend and then to you, “jimin came with me so i’m gonna drive him back anyway and i could drop you off too after chilling with bts - it’s nothing you’re not used to, beers and games and shits, you know? plus it’ll be like, less than 20 people there - bts never invites other groups into their circle - who knows, maybe you’ll find your true way like jimin did,” he pats the aforementioned man on his shoulder whilst jimin rolls his eyes at the way best friends who’ve heard their best friend boast about an-untruth for the umpteenth time.

and because you basically made another friend and that means you’ll have at least 2 people to hang out with if the rest turns out not to be your kind of people - so you cave in, “okay, sure, why not?”

'why not’s are subjective - or so you’d like to think.

like when you’re not particularly into americano and prefer latte but wouldn’t say no to having the first if jennie mixed up your order and bought you your not-so-favored but also not-so-hated drink.

but jennie’s known you since she shoved you off the swings at five after you outran her only to get to the swings faster because only one was vacant and the other kid was already in the other one.

so she’d know your preferred drinks.

but in the event she suddenly has amnesia or anything and got you and americano, that’s when you’ll go, “why not?”

but that and finding out that jeongguk used to be part of bts until he hurt his during practice, having to have 2 major surgeries because of it, rendering him no longer able to dance so he’s only going to the dance offs to cheer for his friends which was how he met you at the entrance and now you’re handcuffed together (and yes, again) in the middle of the forest - are two disparate things altogether.

hoseok, the most outgoing and friendliest of the bunch, suggested for the ice breaking to be in a form of 2 beer bottles and a sort of rope or chain tying people from bts and the bulletproof people together to talk for five minutes. they only have 2 pairs of cuffs so the others that lack them have to make do with bandanas and you think a seokjin got harassed into taking off his shirt and using it as him and his designated partner’s pseudo handcuff.

yours and jeongguk’s are - you’re not sure if it’s a fortunate or unfortunate thing - real ones (you’re not sure if you want to know why and how seulgi easily pulls out a pair of fluffy pink handcuffs and a normal-looking one - out of the blue).

but you’re almost sure that you’re leaning on the side of the internal argument of this - this, right here - is why not.

“why didn’t you text me back?” jeongguk is in the middle of asking as you take a big chug of the alcoholic beverage.

"oh my god,” you let a pleased smile tug at your lips as you feel the buzz of the alcohol coursing through your system, “i was just gonna talk to you about that - jennie said i was being a ghosting b because you only said facts and i got like, offended without a reason but i agree that people can be wrong sometimes and that was her time... i just...” you shrug, “i just didn’t want to text you back so i didn’t,” you look at him with a new found familiarity, “anyways, how was your week?”

by the end of it, jeongguk’s nodding and poorly suppressing his smirk.

“well, let me start first,” you begin before he can even say anything, listing down the happenings in a chronological order which may or may have not confirmed his initial assumption on why you’re here alone “...i mean, was it my fault though? between you and me, i think jennie and i need to sit down and actually talk about accountabilities first, you know? but anyway, that’s how my week went! how about you, how was your week?”

to say that your turmoil of a week is anything close to a laugh-worthy joke, would be a lie but for some reason, trickles of laughter are escaping jeongguk’s lips and into the night air as he leans back, holding his stomach. he would’ve hit the ground if you’d poke him.

“wow,” you slowly nod, “that’s... that’s very... flattering that you think my somewhat a quarter life crisis is amusing,” a grin stretches across your face but your eyes drill holes into the boy’s skull, “maybe i should just quit uni altogether. that’d be... exciting, right? just... quit uni and live a life as a comedian because look at how much i’m cracking you up right now!”

and it goes on for another minute of jeongguk’s laughter filling the air as you threaten him to stop in the guise of encouragement besides the cracking of the branches as it gets swallowed up by the fire in the barrel not too far away from where everyone’s scattered.

“god,” when he’s finally reduced to chuckles and wiping invisible tears off the corner of his eyes, you’re about halfway done with your bottle.

“and he’s back,” you announce, “welcome back. can’t say i missed you though but glad that you’re back with us.”

but before jeongguk can get a word out about his own week which you’d asked, if only to be polite, hoseok is already summoning everyone to gather around the barrel as he raises a bottle in the air to - “new groupship and friends!”

or so you think he said.

you’re not too sure because you’re too busy demanding jeongguk to - “uncuff me right now, jeon - was that too pushy? let me try again,” you pause, clearing your throat, “can you please, please, please, uncuff me so i can go back to my friends and not have to stay here a minute longer?”

“don’t act like you don’t enjoy my company,” he offers you one of his self-assured smirks before addressing your concern, “i’m trying,” he says simply, free hand patting around the pocket on the side of his jeans before groping his own ass.

“um, maybe try harder?” you suggest, smiling sweetly but it downturns into a frown not even a minute later when he declares, “i can’t find it.”

“you... can’t find it?” you echo his words.

“it’s not on me,” he states.

“well, did seulgi give it to you at all or...” you trail off only to be met by a devious smirk which doesn’t exactly help his case.

“guess you’re stuck with me,” he shrugs ever so easily.

“oh, hell nah,” and that’s when you latch onto to smirking boy’s body - on your hands at least, and since his left hand and your right hand are cuffed together, it doesn’t allow much room for your physical inspection which is how using your only free hand to get to the side of his pocket that’s farthest from you - may appear suspicious to others.

you only notice that you’re fully facing jeongguk and having your back turned to everyone else when hoseok’s voice cuts through the air, “yo hold up, hold up, hold up - this is bonfire and chill, not netflix and chill.”

your jaws hurt from hanging a bit too low as you meet each and everyone’s eyes, their giggling and laughing already telling enough of what the majority thinks - everyone except jimin, that is.

but you’re a bit too preoccupied with trying to clear the supposed air of you and jeongguk getting it on in the middle of the forest with both your friends and his around, “aha,” you force out, “i know this,” free hand waving between the chain linking your wrists and the open air which isn’t helping your case because jeongguk’s poor attempt at subduing his smirk is well, poor, “might look sus to you but it isn’t - jeongguk lost the key and if someone could help us find it, it’d-”

“oh, don’t worry, i have a spare at home,” seulgi chirps up, hand waving her illuminated phone, “i’ll text my girlfriend to bring it here.”

well, that explains the fluffy cuffs.

“sick,” jeongguk nods over to the girl to which she holds up an ‘okay’ sign and a meaningful smile to him which shouldn’t be ominous but is.

so you fix him a stare when hoseok goes to say something along the line of ‘great’ and ‘lifesaver’ to seulgi.

which the boy only asks back with a “what?”

“i have something to say but i’m not gonna so i’m just gonna keep quiet but just know that i’m watching you,” but the warning doesn’t exactly bring out the intimidating aspect that you hoped for.

“watch all you want, i’m yours for tonight,” the velvety sound of his chuckles is awfully distracting because you don’t even notice the chain clinking until his fingers interlock yours before he brings them up in the air - as if to emphasize on the technicality of his titillating claim.

the night goes on with bottles of beers scattering over the ground, faint smoke dissipating into the air as the scent of something sweet and fruity wafts around whilst the juul gets passed around.

once in a while someone’s laugh echoes between the gaps of the trees and into the night, amidst the sound of woodland creatures. you’ve downed one and a half bottle of henny whilst jeongguk doesn’t seem to have gone past even half of his first bottle. but he’s chuckling and laughing at something someone said which, for the most part, is funny or warrant a jaw-dropping, pin-drop-silence kind of reaction just like now as seulgi confesses to-

“never have i ever slept with my mom’s boyfriend at 19.”

“and that’s on mommy issues,” you hold up a beer in a ‘cheers’ manner at her whilst she mimics your action before you both tilt your head up and take a chug out of your individual beers at the same time.

“what about you?” jeongguk asks and for a moment, you forget that there are people around because jeongguk’s eyes look like someone reached up the sky and handpicked two stars each for his irises and trap them in there like a class case.

but you’d like to believe it’s the alcohol doing its rightful work in your system because you’re back on the ground with an unrelenting itch on your ankle where it’s brushing against the blades of grass.

“yea, what’s your never-have-i-ever mommy issues edition?” kai speaks up.

“nah, it’s wack,” you wave a dismissive hand but end up agreeing to spill the beans when a bout of protest spreads across your ever so faithful audience.

“okay, okay, never have i ever fucked my biological mom’s husband who isn’t my dad,” you say which earns a bout of cheers and ‘that’s messed up’s before seokjin claps his hands together.

“never have i ever...” he pauses, grinning as an added suspense before he goes on, “fucked my brother’s boyfriend.”

the game doesn’t last for long when everyone collectively agree to take the atmosphere up a notch and play strip truth or dare. but before your turn came, seulgi announces her girlfriend’s arrival concurrently with her having to leave for the night because she’s her ride home. and because you and jeongguk are both of the same mind that you’re the ones that should be following after her to get yourselves uncuffed, you do just that.

yeri is a sweetheart and matches seulgi’s playful yet reserved nature. they take the cuffs with them and seulgi waves you two goodbye with the same, meaningful smile directed to jeongguk - but if that’s not enough, the ‘good luck’ thumbs up is a screaming red button for you.

but before you can even call him out for his possible hand in convincing his dance friends to invite jimin’s and consequently you to the forest after the match - he beats you to it.

“you okay?” this time, his features are lacking the smirk.

“yea, why wouldn’t i be?” you say, hopping on the rail of the train track that’ll lead to the spot where the others are - so far, you’re doing a good job not falling to your demise.

“i don’t know,” the scraping sound of his soul kicking against the pebbly ground fills the air as he walks next to you, hands in his pocket, “you’ve been pretty quiet after that thing about your mom.”

“you think what i did was messed up?” you inquire, resisting the urge to steal a glance at him to see what kind of emotion he’s making - whether it’s contorted with disgust or whether his nose is crinkling at an attempt to appear unbothered or whether there really isn’t any judgments being passed and he’s just downcasting his eyes because he’s looking out for possible sharp objects protruding from the ground.

“everyone’s a little messed up,” his shoulderline shakes as he shrugs, “it’s the why behind it that counts.”

“nah,” your hair tickles your face as you shake your head in blatant refutation, “i didn’t have a reason.”

and just when you expect a disgusted scoff to erupt from jeongguk’s pink lips... it doesn’t.

“that works too.”

silence follows his words for the longest moment with you trying placing one foot in front of the other, pretending like teetering on that tightrope you’re stuck on with kim taehyung at the end of it, not even waiting for you but just happen to be there.

so you break the silence, “i finally found her last year - flew all the way to jeju because my biological aunt saw my the post i put up on facebook in a last ditch attempt before i hire a private investigator like my dads suggested. she set us up to meet,” the picture of a woman who’s so similar yet dissimilar to you flashes at the back of your head, a biscoff cheesecake slice lying untouched on the table and someone screaming at the top of their lungs right in front of your ears, “my biological mom didn’t know anything about it, flipped out and told me to never bother her again so i looked up where her husband worked and slept with him and sent the video to her.”

jeongguk doesn’t say anything, only nodding in your periphery before a soothing kind of silence lapses between you.

“what’s your story?” you ask a moment later.

“hm?” he glances at you, the moonlight shining over that smirk that you’ve come to miss in the course of the five minutes it went missing, skin painted a creamy white.

“if you don’t wanna tell, that’s fine too but like, you basically tore down my walls and i’m naked as hell - figuratively -” you add as soon as his eyes light up, “right now.”

but then he tries to bargain, “promise you’ll text me back and i’ll tell.”

and you try to teeter in the grey area between words and its meanings, “alright, promise... i won’t leave you on read.”

“nah, you gotta promise to text back,” his half curls sway as he shakes his head - your end of the bargain not sufficiently satisfying.

it’s a few moments after your surrendering, “you know what? keep your skeletons in your closet - i’m good,” that he finally says something.

“i used to do tracks, lucked out with a sports scholarship but by freshman year in college, realized i didn’t even like tracks and dropped out...”

jeongguk’s parents weren’t happy about it - didn’t exactly welcome him when he came back with a suitcase and a letter from his unversity claiming the outstanding balance of his first two semesters. but he wasn’t happy at home either.

so he packed his bags one more time and took the first train to seoul where he worked part time at a restaurant and occasionally at the dance off’s, before he found the beyond the scene people and subsequently found dance. that was amidst of a developer of the game he was playing approaching him through the game’s chat server and offering him a job to test out their games with the condition that he gets a degree in computer science which they paid for on the company’s scholarship fund.

and so it was obvious that jeon jeongguk, wherever he chooses to go and stop at, blooms like a wildflower that strives in any condition thrown in his face whether it be a storm, a hurricane or a sunny weather that barely allows any rain to cover the soil he’s rooted in.

and because he’s true to himself, it isn’t as unbelievable, when almost everyone - from every layer of backgrounds, flock around him like honeybees in spring - allured, magnified and bewitched by jeon jeongguk that makes him... well, him.

to say you understand him a little bit better may be an overstatement but maybe you’re less suspicious of his keen intuition and uncanny prognosis of what happened in your relationships, both with your friend and your not-so-friendly crush.

jeongguk jests that his leg “doesn’t work like it used to but-” - he’s been to places. seen people.

“so why are you obsessed with me?” you question into the night in a light hearted joke, “i mean, i can possibly see why because well, i’m... me and i’m amazing but you know, it’s not healthy to be this obsessed with people.”

his chuckles sounds like wind chimes on a spring day, "besides the fact that i was too busy being a tracks nerd for most of my life so i have zero flirting skills and decided to make all the calls that seem to irritate the one person i want to get to know? it’s because you looked like you were head over heels with the guy you were putting in place but still managed to not make it personal.”

it takes a moment for you to digest what he just said, and even then, you’re nodding in complete disagreement as you blurt out, “pretty sure some parts were personal,” and you turn to him with a smile stretched over your face, “but glad that you don’t think i’m the impostor.”

so you stop twenty steps away from where you can see the fire in the barrel and hoshi, one of the guys from bulletproof boys, standing in boxers and shouting an oath before gulping down a bottle of henny at an alarming rate.

“everyone’s a little sus now and then,” he refutes, nose crinkling as a grin spread across his moon-kissed features as he offers you his hand and you take it, hopping off your tightrope journey and onto grounding earth.

when morning comes, you wake up to the familiar but not-very-welcomed sound of cars honking from outside your window and the light piercing through your eyelids, so much so, you surrender to the start of the day. arms stretched over your head and a guttural sound vibrating within your chest as a sign of protest before your vision finally gets used to the bright sunny rays.

and that’s when you freeze. arms stretched and all.

“after all this, you can’t say no to a date with me,” jeon jeongguk is lying right next to you, in your one-person bed which you could never imagine would fit more than your need-for-maximum-space self when you sleep but there he is, in yesterday’s clothes, hugging your light pink alpaca plushie on his stomach whilst his elbow which you don’t notice before is poking into your rib.

the events of last night untangle in a web of hazed memory coming to high definition as each passing second pass by.

you and jimin live on the opposite ends of the city which made you reluctant in having kai drive you back at all, so jeongguk offered to split the uber bills with you because apparently, “oh, hey, we live in the same area!”

which later turned out you didn’t and it would’ve made more sense for him to hitch a ride with kai and jimin. but you didn’t even need to ask why he did what he did.

because by the time you and jeongguk returned, it’d been a set-in-stones assumption that you were off making out somewhere under a tree and everyone cheered you and him for it upon your return.

well, except jimin.

so you pulled jeongguk to the side once the attention was directed to hoseok whose dare was to lick the grass he was stepping on.

“is that thing about jimin liking me true because he’s been like, avoiding my eyes the whole night and now he’s acting like i don’t exist and i’m pretty concerned because his friend is my ride home,” you whispered underneath your beath.

jeongguk threw one, confirming glance at the aforementioned man before nodding casually, “he’s jealous as fuck because he thinks we did the do - cross my heart and hope to die.”

so you ended up offering jeongguk to sleep in your bed because it was already late and it felt like a waste to spend another thirty bucks to go back to a place where nobody was waiting for him anyway.

you were so beat, you’d fallen asleep as soon as jeongguk pulled your protesting self off the futon-splayed floor and held you captive in your own bed.

“you know what? i might as well,” you say, legs thrown off the bed and stretching some more before looking down at the smiling, plushie-holding, grown ass person in your bed, “now we need to figure out how to sneak you out because this is a girls-only dorm and if they found out i have a guy over, i might get expelled.”

but before you can even start brainstorming the best possible route for jeongguk to sneak out without being detected, an obnoxious rapping reverberates against your door. the look of pure horror settling in as jeongguk’s smile melts into a wide-eyed, panicked face would have been adorable if you’re not in the middle of shoving him into your “quick, in the closest!” which he needs to hunch his shoulders to become as small as possible before you can close it whilst you yelp out a “just a minute!”

by the time you manage to school a smile on your face, jennie’s is already sprinkled with a dust of red as her brows come together, judging your choice of outfit and the events that went down last night.

“hey, girl,” you drag out the first word in idle panic, body leaning against the doorframe a little too defensively, “what’s...” you can’t even find the right words as you tap your fingers against the doorframe before finally saying, “what’s good?”

but one questioning look from her and you’re stepping out of the way, left to stand at attention like a cadet in the presence of the general whilst said general struts into your room and scans it once before turning to you.

“’what’s good?’” jennie echoes and you know from the way her head does the slightest of movements according to her enunciation, “imagine seeing your best friend on some mutual friend’s snapchat story which mind you, said mutual friend isn’t anywhere close to either of you and the time in the snap says a big whooping 4:03 am while you’re here feeling bad for hurting her feelings with your words words. but does she feel bad? well, it doesn’t flipping look like she even gave any thoughts about you, did it?”

and that’s when the closet decides that it’s had enough of storing a full grown human in its belly and slowly, but surely swings the door open with thunderous creak in the midst of the calm before the storm. and lo and behold, a jeon jeongguk, still hugging your alpaca tightly, keeping his eyes closed as if it’ll make him invisible before he gradually screws one eye open to the sight of a raging but confused jennie kim and a mortified you turning to said girl.

so much for keeping skeletons in closets.

“i-i can explain.”

it turns out all it takes for jennie’s anger to subside is for her to find a boy in your room. namely the boy she’s been blatantly shipping you with even though you barely knew each other then.

“i have a wig in my room,” she suggests after you’ve exhausted all options - jeongguk can’t climb through the window and jump down from the second floor.

“well, he can but there’s no guarantee he’ll be able to leave without one of his limbs intact,” you’d added, shrugging.

he’s sitting crossed leg on your bed, alpaca in his lap and looking cute as hell as his eyes go round at the mention of a wig and five minutes prior, crossdressing. the plan is for you and jennie will walk him out once he’s all dresed up like you’re just three - well, one is kind of buffed up but still pretty - best friends who had a girls’ night and crashed in your room.

he whistles lowly, head lulling to the side as he stares at the door before turning to you with a playful smile, “i’ve always wanted to wear a skirt.”

and so it goes, jennie kim’s squealing and making a short trip to her room and returning with a bag full of wig, stretchable sweaters and lycra skirts whilst she scours through your closet for clothes that you have but don’t even remember. the oversized sweater that’s a few more inches too big for you wraps around his body tightly and the skirt is a tad bit too short for him, going down to a few inches above the knee. but the head turner is the way the curly brown wig gracefully frames his face and softens his jawline, giving an illusion of how his half-ringlet would have looked if he grew them out.

you apply the soft pink lipgloss on his already rosy lips as a joke in a guise of a final touch, heart skipping as his lips curl whilst he gazes at you the whole time you’re putting on the glimmering liquid.

“okay, i feel bad,” you confess, shoulder line falling, “i thought you’d hate the lipgloss and i was going say it’s important to make the look work if you said no but you’re not saying no and you’re looking at me like you’d trust me with your life...” a sigh rolls off your lips at the end of it.

“you feel bad?” he echoes, glossed lips looking kissable as hell - it doesn’t even matter that he’s smirking like it was part of his plan all along to manipulate your conscience into confessing your ulterior motive.

so you nod.

“good,” he states simply.

“you saying good like you’re satisfied that you managed to pick on my guilty conscience is making me feel less guilty,” you narrow your eyes, not even bothering to hide the smile creeping on your lips.

“oh my god, my ship is sailing!” jennie’s whispered squeal cuts through the air before she reverts to her deadpanned self, “okay but seriously, if you’re done sprinkling sugar cubes all over the place, i think we should get jeongguk out before miss snitchery sonyeon next door sniffs the man in jeongguk and snitch on us.”

sonyeon has been known for reporting 2 boy-sneaking activities that went on last year which would have been justified if the girls that brought the boys into their room was doing questionable things and loudly at that but the first incident was with a late enrolled newbie that just moved in and didn’t know that boys weren’t allowed inside and though the other girl did sneak her boyfriend in, it was only because he was bleeding profusely and needed first aid treatment which she stored in her room.

you’re just about a few feet away from the double doors when a familiar but disembodied voice drums in your ears.

“you three, stop right there.”

you think your heart stops working for the briefest moment as time freezes and you’re craning your head to look at jennie whose fear-stricken face mimics yours and then jeongguk whom you don’t expect to wear such ceases in his forehead.

so you do the one thing that you think of-

“run.” you whisper.

all of a sudden, the wind is in your face and a few heads turn your way - but you doubt that it has more to do with how unfairly gorgeous jeongguk looks than the fact that the ra is on your tail, her pitched demands for ‘someone stop them!’ whilst. you’re not sure if someone did try to chase after you or if the adrenaline pumping in your system is what helps you sprint faster than a cheetah but when you finally slow down, almost skidding to a stop on the grass somewhere on campus grounds instead of the dormitory area - it’s because jennie is dramatically breathing through her mouth and found herself a bench to put on an act of dying whale.

“you guys... go on... leave me be...” she croaks out in between breaths, hand reaching out to the air.

“dude, tell me if you’re gonna stop so we can stop and get caught together,” you guff, plopping down, your state no better than jennie’s while jeongguk shakes his head at the two of you.

not even a beat of sweat or heaved breathing coming from him - not to mention that-

“how are you the fastest-” you suck in a much needed breath, “-when your leg doesn’t work as good anymore?”

“yea, didn’t say i can’t run,” he grins.

“jen, let’s go,” you say, tapping the dying whale on her shoulder as she starts wailing words of saddened goodbyes.

“forsake me! save yourselves!” she wheezes, staring into nothingness before waving a dismissive hand, “no for real, i don’t think they’re gonna chase us all the way here. you guys go, i have a date anyway, i’ll text kim,” it’s the name you coined for namjoon whenever you talk about him in public, “to pick me up here.”

a year ago, you would have called her a brave fool for having her boyfriend slash professor that’s teaching at the same university - pick her up in plain sight. but once you saw the unfamiliar ferrari roll to a stop in front of the dorms with tinted black windows, you understand why they can be as free and uncaring as they are.

“you sure? what if they saw you here?” you question, needles of doubt still deeply pierced into your racing heart.

but when she looks at you with arched brows and a familiar couldn’t-care-less attitude, you know nothing you say can change her mind which helps ease the knots in your stomach by a lot.

so you cave in, waving her goodbye - but not before the scarring ‘we still need to talk though’ reminder - and going back to the tall, brown haired person who’s holding his left hand midair and wiggling his fingers about in what you think is a parodic depiction of how girls wave at each other while mouthing a nasally, higher-pitched “thank you so much for helping us.”

one minute into the walk, you stop in front of the cafe you’re used to having lunch at with your group of 4 - if there’s even any group left after this, “so this kim guy - he’s way older isn’t he?”

“if you’re all knowing, you wouldn’t end that sentence with a question,” you assert, “so i’m not gonna say anything.”

“that’s a yes then,” he nods.

“i think we lost them,” you say, a tad too late but pretend to look around anyway like you’re not 200% sure of that fact.

to any outsiders, you’ll probably look like two girls standing three feet apart from each other, looking out in a distance.

“nice,” jeongguk nods, joining in your scouting party before he squints his eyes at something in the most casual manner before suggesting, “so... you wanna go on a date?”

“you think we lost them?” you whisper under your breath, worry filling your chest as you throw your gaze over somewhere at the end of the alleyway where flashes of red and blue lights passed by.

but before the black cladded boy can say anything, his lips smack together as he and you both press yourselves flat to the wall as the sound of radio static bounces into the narrow space you’ve found yourselves in. six months after your first date, which involves a crossdressing jeongguk and a day at a park that had you returning to the dorm with a giant teddy bear and a strip of photo you took from the booth comprising the multiple personalities embodied in one person from sassy to stare-into-the camera-intimidating face to him looking down and shyly peeking through his pushed back curls - you’ve gone on multiple other dates.

none of which can be considered normal because you’ll always end up in a sticky situation like you are now.

on your second month, you found out that jeon jeongguk not only has a stable income for literally playing games while trying to balance out his education but he also paints and draws.

on your third month, you go on your first mural-painting-in-the-middle-of-the-night-dressed-as-robbers date to which ended pretty well with the two of you getting hungry and having ramen at a 24 hour convenience store. so the mural painting becomes a monthly routine.

jimin finds out about it somewhere down the line and broke out into the most heartwarming smile while teasing you about how “the singles lost another one,” as he shook his head in dismay. but things went back to normal for the most parts. taehyung talks to you more now. he apologized for having only treated you like someone useful to him when he needed something and found that you have more in common than you think.

like how you’re decently informed about the greatest artists of all time - all because jeongguk was telling you about them whilst you chill at his place on days you don’t feel like going out but still want to spend time together. jeongguk, later found out that his supply of artistic information was what led to you and taehyung’s improving friendship and offers to become your spokesperson by having you invite taehyung to a cafe so he can pour his abundance of knowledge in the fine arts of painting - “since he’s so interested in van gogh, you know what i mean?”

he even finished it with a tilt of his head and an sassy ‘ugh.”

“i think we gotta run,” jeongguk’s declarations doesn’t have you arching your eyebrows and looking at him in an ‘are you for real?’ kind of manner.

it could be because you’re so used to running from law enforcement now.

or maybe because jeongguk showed you the world through his eyes. doesn’t mean it’s any less terrifying - the thought of being caught and shoved behind the bars whilst they included it in your records. but hey, at least, you’re no strangers to handcuffs.

“on one,” you say and he nods, hand squeezing yours as if saying i’ll never let them get you.

“three,” you begin, eyes fixed on the stars in jeongguk’s gaze, “two,” jeongguk breathes in deeply, “one.”

run.

note. i hope you guys enjoyed reading!! and if you want anything similar to this kind of style, i have one more college au. the second part of that one is my pinned post which also has a link to the first part. if you’re curious why i’m not gonna link or name it is because i’m convinced that tumblr literally makes anything that’s linked or mentioned it blocked for some reason idk.

but anyways, thank you for reading!!

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