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icecreampizzer · 10 months ago
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Sorry I don't have a valentine's thing to post I wasn't motivated enough </3 you know what I DID make though?!?! My original characters as things I'm currently into :] Playing dress-up with them is always fun :3 I matched their characters with their personalities!
(funny thing is, I could make parallels with a different IEYTD group with the first four guys. I might make that one too.)
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foxymoxynoona · 2 years ago
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Tell Me What Changed (Part 11 A)
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Banner and lines by the talented @awrkive
Summary: Alex and Jungkook have been best friends since childhood –actual best friends. She is NOT in love with him, for real, and wishes people would stop assuming that. Why does no one question if he’s in love with her? Huh? But it might have to do with his successful fuckboy status, while Alex is very much… not that. Which is fine and doesn’t matter! Until Jimin’s impending wedding leaves her eager for a date and willing to put herself out there, and Jungkook can’t believe what happens next.
Fuckboy Best Friend JK x OC
CW and tags: fuckboy behavior, jealousy, pining, heartbreak, angst, bad language, explicit sex, sexy photos, alcohol, f2l, who knows what else I'm making it up as we go
Read on AO3 here or below cut
Previous Chapter | Masterlist | Read Epilogue
Note: I did it again, the chapter is too long for tumblr so I have to split it into three parts. Make sure you read A first!!!
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Jungkook wasn’t nervous for his date with Alex. Why would he be nervous? It was Alex. He knew everything Alex liked. He knew how to have a good time with her. He knew how to make her laugh until she’d yell she was going to pee herself and go waddling to the bathroom while he shouted things after her to try and make it happen. He knew what food she liked and how long she could tolerate standing in line for an attraction and that she didn’t mind the cold but she didn’t like to get wet in the rain because she didn’t like her hair and clothes sticking to her skin. 
Once he had wanted to test that, run naked through the rain with her. She had of course refused and punched him in the stomach for the suggestion. He wondered if now he had a better chance of convincing her… for science, obviously! Did she still mind the rain if her hair was in a bun and she was totally naked in it? What if he was on top of her, blocking some of it?
But in all seriousness, he might not really date other than an occasional activity preceding a good fuck but if he was ever going to go on a date, Alex was the easiest partner for it. They could have fun –and had!-- anywhere: the grocery store, a furniture store, CVS to get their flu shots, McDonald’s at 2am, urgent care that time his ears were stopped up so badly and his fever was so high he started to cry and she forced him to go and kept referring to him as “my son” to the nurses and he couldn’t stop laughing despite the pain. 
So yeah, why would he be nervous about a date? He had no doubts about success. He was going to take her to minigolf, school her ass, then tacos from the best truck in town which he had confirmed would be at Hoff Memorial Park;  they’d eat sitting in the cold on a picnic bench and then he’d take her home to his bed before the rain started around nine and he’d, you know. Spaghetti her. He’d put a lot of thought into what positions he’d use too. A lot. Needed to be sure he’d maximize her pleasure and not bend or twist her in a way that hurt her. Stroke her just right. He wanted to win a scream! Leave her a trembling melted mess in his arms. Ah, it’d be so good… she’d be all fuck, Koo, I finally get it now, you’re really fucking good at this. Make her eat her words alongside his dick, that thing she’d always said with a laugh, damn, if the insta-girls could see the real you they’d be heartbroken.
He needed to show her what’s good.
He had a plan.
And then the comments started.
Nate: “Oh damn, you actually have a date with her? Wasn’t that last guy really good at dates? Good luck, my man.”
Namjoon: “Oh. That’s the date you planned? Isn’t that just… what you guys normally do?”
Taehyung: “Yeah this is the time, you can really show her that you’re serious and mature and want to do this, so like, whole nine yards, something big and– oh. Minigolf? Um…”
Sabina: “Don’t take her to minigolf. She deserves more than minigolf.”
Anita: “Hm, I think minigolf just seems a little easy and impersonal. But you know her best! If you think that’s the kind of date she likes, then…”
Jimin: “You messaged me on my honeymoon for this? It’s fine, Alex will think it’s funny.”
Fuck. Fuck! As Jungkook paced his apartment the afternoon before the date, he realized his plan was no good. He didn’t want Alex to think their date was funny. He wanted her to think it was romantic. He wanted her to be awed by his charm and suaveness… suavity…. State of being suave. He wanted her to be swept off her feet. He wanted her to forget Hobi was ever a guy she dated and it sucked because Nate was right, Hobi was good at dates. He showed up and showed out and Alex was always all flustered and bubbly after their dates. Jungkook wanted Alex to be like that afterwards. Not just like “yep that was an ok time hanging out with my good buddy JK.” He wanted blushes and giggles and then bam, spaghetti!
This called for a fucking re-plan. And fast. 
He showered so he’d smell fresh and lotioned and not like the mall, slapping on cologne and spot-fixing his acne in between looking things up on his laptop perched precariously on the bathroom counter. A few google searches and phone calls later and he’d completely redone their plans for the night, pulling out all the stops. Was it going to hurt his bank account? Yes. Was she worth it? Also yes.
Much more at ease about the whole thing, Jungkook took one more look at himself in the mirror, snapped a selfie, and posted it to his socials for the pep talk he needed.
[TheJK.1997]: look good feel good treat her good, ready for the surf and turf. Best wine recs for Hollyoak Vineyard go
He checked himself one last time, ran over a spot he missed shaving real quick, and was out the door in plenty of time to pick her up early, just to really surprise her. Definitely not because he was getting a stomachache from nerves and needed to do something other than pace from living room to kitchen and pick at his lips.
She wasn’t ready. There he was with a fucking bouquet of flowers even though it made him feel like a fucking idiot because Hoseok gave her flowers so it would look like he was copying but obviously he couldn’t not show up with flowers –there he was with a fucking bouquet of flowers, sitting in a living room he’d been in at least one thousand times since he’d known Alex, while her dad sat in the chair and watched a Planet Earth documentary and her mom made tea in the kitchen even though he had assured her he didn’t want any. They had said hello to him and not much else, both like this was any other time that he’d come over and also like it wasn’t and they weren’t supposed to acknowledge his presence as he just sat there on the couch in slacks and a button up with fucking flowers to give their fucking daughter who was fucking late. It was mortifying. Jungkook wished he could melt into the cracks between the couch cushions. He wished Dilong would come running out and scratch his throat or piss on him or something so he had an excuse to just leave.
“How’s work?” Baba Song asked him over the sound of flamingos feeding.
“It’s good. Busy at the holidays.”
“How is your dad’s– ah, I will just ask him, I’ll see him tomorrow.”
Jungkook nodded. He wasn’t actually sure what about his father was unwell right now, so he should ask. He pulled out his phone and saw they were going to have to hurry to make their dinner reservation. 
“AHh I had better check on her–” Jungkook mumbled, starting to stand. Mama Song was just setting tea in front of him and took it upon herself to shout for Alex followed by Chinese. Alex answered in short Chinese, then came down the hall.
“I’m ready, ok? What’s the rush? I was doing my makeup– oh?” She stopped in front of him and her eyes went right to the flowers. “You brought me flowers?”
Jungkook was instantly mortified. She was probably comparing them to the ones Hoseok had bought her.
“They’re for your mom,” he quickly corrected, thrusting them towards Mama Song. 
Who let out a cackle of a laugh and said, “I will put them in water for Alex. I have a perfect vase. They are beautiful.”
“Wait, I want to see them,” Alex cried, leaping after her mother. She bent down to look close and Jungkook felt like she might as well be examining his limp dick, he was so embarrassed. They were supposed to be nice. He’d bought really nice ones at the standalone shop next to the Starbucks –not the one she worked at, not the one Hoseok worked at, a different one! He didn’t know what kinds of flowers they were but there was lots of color and some spiky looking ones because they looked fun and he thought spiky flowers made sense for her. 
“They’re really pretty,” she said.
“You’re really pretty,” he countered automatically, an old way they had of teasing each other except this time he’d accidentally been nice. Baba Song coughed on the couch and Jungkook thought it had to be related. Cool, he already felt like he was dying anyway as Alex grinned wide and looked him up and down and he was sure she was laughing at him. Baba Song laughing at him too was exactly what he didn’t need.
“You look like you’re going on a date,” Alex mused.
“Uh…” The panic was instant. “Aren’t I?”
“Koopa,” she laughed and hit him on the arm. “You’d better be! Let’s go, weren’t you in a rush a minute ago? You know it takes time to do my makeup without you to help.”
“It looks good,” he said, though the points weren’t quite even which he only noticed because sometimes it took her ten tries before she’d give up and ask him to do it. He started to offer to fix it now but she was already headed towards the door and it didn’t matter. 
“Goodbye Mr. Song. Mrs. Song,” he called. Should he promise to have her home at a certain time? Even addressing them that way felt weird but like, he was taking their daughter out on a date, he had to seem sort of respectful and responsible, right? “Thank you for the tea!” He hadn’t even touched it.
Alex’s skirt was very short, he noticed as they went to his car. She had fancy green tights on underneath it so he couldn’t see skin or anything but it did occur to him that if she bent over, he might not even need to hike it up. Not that he was just thinking about fucking! It really felt more like a nervous impulse to think about it, because he was way more nervous about the not-fucking parts right now as he hurried around and slid into the driver’s seat. He wasn’t even trying to fuck her tonight! He just wanted to hit it out of the park, this whole “date with the goal of earning another date” thing.
“So where are we going?” she asked as he started the car. It was cold and he wished he had thought to run out and start it early so she wouldn’t have to sit in it; she was wearing a new coat, not her usual bulky one that made her look like a burnt marshmallow. You know, in a cute way!
“Um… you know that steakhouse over on–”
“Steakhouse,” she repeated, eyes going wide. “You can’t afford steak!”
“You don’t know what I can’t afford. I’m taking you to a steakhouse!”
“Ok ok geez.” She wiggled in her seat to get comfortable. “I figured you’d just take me for tacos or something. Steak is fine.”
He scoffed, “Come on. I’m a better date than that.”
“All right James Bond or whatever…” she mumbled. “Didn’t know you had something you were trying to prove or whatever.”
“Yeah well…” He didn’t know what to say to that. Yeah, of course he had something to prove. “Is it warm enough for you?” He made it warmer, just in case, even though he was starting to sweat. 
They lapsed into silence. The roads were icy so he didn’t want to be too distracted but it made him nervous for her to just be sitting there staring out the window. Silence was bad on a date, that was something everyone knew. Silence was definitely not going to leave her starry-eyed and weak in the knees.
“So uh, how’s work?”
“Ugh, next question,” she snorted, and reached for the radio dial.
“No, don’t turn music on. Let’s just… talk.”
“O…k….”
He started talking just to fill the silence. He told her about his own work, and about Appa thinking he wanted to do Christmas lights and throwing one lit net over a bush and calling it a day, and about his new nephew who was still pretty useless but starting to look cuter now. He realized they had seen each other a few days ago so these life updates weren’t necessary but he wanted some sort of connection.
“Uh… well, there’s not much going on with me… well, Hobi brought a box of my stuff to work today, so that kind of sucked–”
“He brought it to your work?!”
“Well he waited in the parking lot but yeah… I mean we agreed to do that today but still that sucked in the morning and then I got home and Dilong puked on my bed and I stubbed my toe while I was getting ready… but you brought me flowers, so that’s the best part of my day so far,” she smiled. 
“They were for your mom…”
“Oh yeah? For Mrs. Song?” she teased. 
But he didn’t feel like being teased because this was a date and they were supposed to be getting to know each other and charming each other, so instead he suggested, “Ok let’s not talk about Hobi or uh, other exes or anything tonight.”
“Um… ok… Geez, sensitive much?’
“It’s my date with you.”
“You just asked me how my day was and I told you.”
“Ok so now I know and I’m just saying we can talk about other things now.”
“Ok like what?”
“Um…” Jungkook wracked his brain, but everything that came to mind wasn’t the kind of thing he wanted to talk about on their first date. Funny but inappropriate memes, friend gossip, political outrage, bemoaning the economy, a really bloody anime he’d started and thought she might like too, none of it was the way he wanted to represent himself right now as a respectable and respectful guy. Boyfriend material.
“We’re here,” he announced. Saved by the drive time. He pulled into a spot near the water’s edge –just a pond, but definitely something the steakhouse capitalized on for atmosphere. Fairy lights hung above the walkway through a little windy garden to reach the front of the restaurant.
“Woah, this place is nice,” Alex murmured, bumping into him as she looked around. “Are you sure about this? It’s really fancy… I didn’t dress for something this fancy…”
“I’m sure.” He took her hand and looped it through his arm. “You deserve something like this. It’s our first date. Right?” He looked eagerly down at her, needing to hear her agree that it was in fact their first date and that was in fact a big deal to her too.
“I guess but you really didn’t have to go to so much trouble. You know me, I’m easy–”
“I don’t know you. This is our chance to get to know each other,” he corrected. “As –you know, this new way of seeing each other.” As romantic partners, he couldn’t bring himself to say.
He thought her smile looked unconvinced but at least she was smiling. They reached the front door –and now he saw a side ramp they could have taken right to the front door instead of wandering through the garden. Uh well. He opened the door for her and they walked in to easily the nicest restaurant Jungkook had ever been to in his life. The host was wearing a tux. 
Shit this place was going to be expensive.
“Good evening,” the host greeted them as Jungkook shirked his coat off.
“Hi. Um, Jungkook Jeon, table for two. I have reservations for 6:00.” 
“Ah, yes, Jeon, hm…” The host didn’t move as his gaze trailed down Jungkook and then slid to Alex. “My apologies, Mr. Jeon, but were you aware that there is a dress code for dining here?”
Jungkook glanced down at his slacks and dark blue button up and nodded, “Yeah. We dressed nicely.” He glanced at Alex and realized he hadn’t told her to dress nicely but yeah, she looked great: short red skirt, dark green legs, a fluffy white sweater with… pearls? Had she really worn a sweater with pearls all across the chest to their date– ok, but she hadn’t meant anything filthy by it, he was sure of that. Just because his mind went there didn’t mean hers did.
“I’m sorry, the dress code is formal. That means at least a tie and jacket for the gentleman and formal evening dress or pantsuit for the lady.” 
“Uh…” Jungkook glanced at their outfits again. “Well this is what we have on so…”
The host looked performatively apologetic as he said, “I’m sorry, I cannot seat you.”
“But… but I made a reservation,” Jungkook argued. “No one’s going to die because I’m not wearing a jacket.”
“Neither of you is dressed appropriately for the restaurant, I’m afraid–”
It was embarrassing, sure, but he also didn’t want Alex to hear someone insinuate she wasn’t dressed nicely, so he ignored that she was grabbing his arm and argued, “Ok but she looks like a million bucks so I don’t– you just need me to put on a jacket and a tie–”
“Jungkook, let’s just go,” she said, trying to push him back towards the door.
“But I made reservations. This isn’t the ‘50s. No one under 50 has a jacket and tie for dinner at a shitty suburban steakhouse on the swamp–”
“Koo, let’s go,” she grunted, and managed to push him back against the door. He pushed it and stepped back out into the cold and felt the anger flare up freely now.
“What the fuck kind of place– am I crazy? Who fucking cares whether I have a jacket and a tie on for–”
“Well they care, it’s their rule!”
“It’s discrimination against young people!”
“Yeah, did you see the people eating in the restaurant?” she laughed. “I don’t think they want young people eating there. They want like rich uppercrust people.”
“Those people don’t live here.”
“Well this place is kind of famous, isn’t it? Maybe they drive in…”
“Is it?”
“I think it was on a TV show,” Alex admitted, before pointing to a plaque beside the door. Apparently it had, and won a bunch of awards. No wonder they cared about the way they looked or whatever.
“Yeah well showing all that by the door is tacky,” Jungkook scowled. Waves of anger and embarrassment rolled over him. “My money is as good as the next guy’s.”
“Ok but who cares, we don’t have to eat at a place like this. Let’s just pick somewhere else,” Alex said, nudging him towards the ramp.
Ugh, Hoseok would definitely have worn the suit and tie.
“Maybe we can just run back to my place and I can grab the suit I wore to the wedding–”
“No, I’m not dressed like that either and I don’t want to change. I spent way longer than I want to admit figuring out what to wear that would be cute and comfy,” she protested.
“But I want to take you to this nice place–”
“I don’t care about the nice place!” she snapped. He really did think she snapped at him, and it shut him up. They marched in silence down the ramp back towards his car. They got into the car. They buckled their seatbelts.
Bad start to the date.
“We can go to Taco Bell for all I care,” Alex suggested.
“That’s a shitty date,” Jungkook sulked. “That’s the kind of date you think I am?”
“There’s nothing wrong with Taco Bell…”
“I’m not taking you to fucking Taco Bell,” he groaned and pulled out his phone and began scrolling again. What was close, and nice, and not a fucking Taco Bell, and not going to turn them away at the door because they weren’t dressed in some shitty elitist outdated formal dining attire. Fuck, he was so angry about it! Even if that was a rule, they couldn’t bend it? They couldn’t seat them somewhere private or something? He was trying to impress a girl here!
“We could do Italian… is that too much wine though? We’re going to a wine tasting afterwards.”
“A wine tasting?” Alex repeated. “Um…”
“You don’t like a wine tasting?”
“No no it’s fine!” Alex assured him. “That’s cute. You really… yeah, it’ll be great,” she smiled at him. “And sure, Italian is fine! Let’s do Italian. What place are you thinking?”
“Tomasso Trattoria and Enoteca,” Jungkook read, and handed her the phone as he started to drive so she could look at it.
“Woah… this place is still really nice though… I was thinking like Olive Garden–”
“Alex, can you please let me take this date seriously? I realize maybe you don’t care but–”
“I care! Care about this being our date? I care!”
“I want it to be a special date!”
“I get it! This place looks very special,” she told him, setting his phone in the cradle with the GPS up. 
He knew his frustration was a wall between them but she didn’t break it down this time. Usually she was good at that. He didn’t know what it meant, that she didn’t try. He wasn’t sure how to do it on his own, because if this was a date with someone else he wouldn’t care, he’d just change the subject and move on and vent about it to Alex later, or invent an excuse to take the girl home and go home. To Alex. Obviously she knew how he was, inside and out, but as he drove in the silence he started to feel a deeper embarrassment, like she’d seen him do something wrong. It wasn’t wrong for him to be annoyed with the restaurant for not letting them in! They had told him formal dress when he made the reservation sure but they didn’t explain that meant anything other than just looking your best! He looked his best! Alex looked her best! What, were they going to wear their wedding clothes or something?
“You know I was thinking about how crazy it is that just everything is Christmas this time of year,” Alex mused. “It’s not like I didn’t know everything is too Christmas and that there are lots of people who doesn’t celebrate who have to deal with it but I guess because we celebrate without being Christian, I didn’t really think about how fucking annoying it is for people who really don’t celebrate. Rebekah was telling me people always act like they’re sorry for her…” She continued to talk about it and he took the moment to breathe deeply. Ok. Change in plans. But Alex wasn’t demanding he take her home, so it would be ok. Even if he didn’t know why the fuck this was what she decided to ramble about, at least it was something.
The Italian place was busier, smaller, not on the water, but still nice and they didn’t get turned away at the door. The host took their coats for them. The tables had real candles, which Jungkook didn’t realize he cared about until they sat down and he saw the actual flicker from the breeze of their motions. The menus were short, which a Reddit thread had taught him meant it was a sign of a good restaurant. Their waiter had a bowtie and a black vest and offered to call over a sommelier to guide their wine selection.
“We’re going to a wine tasting after this,” Alex informed the waiter. “So I’ll wait on the wine.”
“We can have a glass or something here,” Jungkook argued.
Alex shook her head and tapped the wine menu, maybe trying to show him that the cheapest wine was $15/glass at a glance. But he had brought her to an Italian restaurant! For a fancy dinner! Wine was part of a fancy dinner!
“You don’t have to, but I’ll have a glass of something, send the sommelier over,” Jungkook insisted. 
Alex decided she’d have the glass too. They had to show their cards and mused as they always did about how old they would have to be before the stopped getting carded. The waiter brought them bread and promised their calamari appetizer would be out quickly.
“Wow, it’s so romantic here,” Alex murmured. Jungkook felt the sigh of relief radiate from his chest. The candle light danced across her skin as she studied the elaborate murals on the walls, partially obscured by heavy red curtains. Elegant music played over the low din of dining. They were towards the edge of a large room, tucked into a little booth by the window with a view of nothing but trees. A grand piano stood in the center of what looked like a dance floor, tables sparse on the wooden floor.
“I feel bad,” she continued. “I didn’t realize you wanted to do such fancy things, I would have dressed nicer.”
“I think you dressed nice.”
“I did too until I saw you,” she laughed. “I guess I forgot…”
“Forgot what?” he asked, not following.
“What you look like.”
“Whaaaat?” he grinned, warmed by the flattery. The compliments from her felt sincere in a way they hadn’t before. He was used to teasing, so he almost didn’t trust it, but she didn’t look like she was teasing him. Now he found himself hungry for more. Did she really think he was hot? Not just aware that other people thought so, but she thought so? She liked the way he looked? She liked the way he dressed?
“Oh my god,” she snickered and rolled her eyes. “Do you always take your ego on dates with you?”
“No, I left it at home tonight with my jacket and tie,” he joked. She smiled and looked so pretty in the candlelight. He draped his hand across the table, palm down, to see if she’d take the hint and put hers on it. Would they be the kind of couple that held hands at dinner? Obviously not on a first date, but someday would they sit on the same side of the booth? Well, in a more serious way than when they did that at Wendy’s so they could both put their feet up on the other bench, that was different.
“The mood lighting is so… romantic,” she said again. “I feel like I should have worn high heels.”
“Your boots have heels.”
“Yeah but you know what I mean…’
“Do you want to dance until our food gets here?” The question was impulsive. No one else was dancing. But that could mean she wouldn’t have to feel nervous or pressured about dancing on beat with him. They could just hold onto each other and sway, here by the table or over on the dance floor. Maybe other people could join. He had enjoyed dancing with her so much, it would be a nice thing to add tonight.
But her eyes went wide as she cried, “Hey, don’t make fun of me!”
“What–”
“Oh god, don’t joke about it,” she laughed and covered her face. “How fucking humiliating…”
Jungkook hadn’t meant it as a joke. He thought it would be romantic. He certainly hadn’t meant to embarrass her just by the suggestion of dancing together. Unsure what else to say, he racked his brain trying to think of topics. The problem was that the lists of things to talk about on your first date were things like ask about where they grew up and ask about their hobbies and ask them what makes them unique? And ask them where their favorite place in the world is. But Jungkook knew all of these things about her! He wanted to learn something new about her. He wanted to seem new to her.
“Uh… what’s your favorite place in the world?” he asked as she untangled the little legs of their calamari appetizer.
“Mine? I don’t know… my parents’ house? I guess it was our old apartment.”
“Oh. Really?” he frowned.
“Why are you frowning?!”
“That’s just kind of sad.”
“Ok. Ouch.”
“No! I mean because we don’t live there anymore.”
“Oh. Yeah. How annoying,” she sighed. “So what’s Namjoon like as a roommate?”
“He’s a good roommate,” Jungkook said because he didn’t want to gossip or vent or seem complainy. Namjoon was a good roommate! Sure, he had a household aesthetic and a lot of Jungkook’s stuff didn’t meet the mark so he was kind of crowded into his room. 
“That’s it? That’s all you have to say? Come on, you complained about living with me all the time.”
“Ah, yeah, sorry about that…”
“Huh?”
Embarrassed that she’d bring that up, he sipped his $15/glass wine. Yeah, he was worried about that. Alex was his best friend and he’d always treated her like a best friend but that wasn’t the same way you wanted to treat a girlfriend. He had a lot of things to undo. Actually, that was it, their first date wasn’t about learning, it was about unlearning all the things he would never have let a girl see about him. 
“You’re being so weird,” she laughed, and nudged his foot under the table. “Is something wrong?”
“Hm? No, why would something be wrong?”
“Don’t let that other place bother you. I like this place a lot better anyway, this calamari is really good! I hope you still like me when I’m bloated from too much fettuccine…”
Instantly he assured her, “Of course I do. I mean, not that you’ll be bloaty or– I mean, obviously the body naturally looks different after a big dinner but it’s not– I won’t notice that kind of– it’s just normal…”
“It was a joke,” she said. “I’m wearing a bulky sweater, you won’t be able to tell anyway. Unless you get me naked.” She arched her eyebrow. 
“We, um– tonight it’s um… were you thinking that? I thought we’d just have a nice date–”
“Oh. That’s not… nice? OK, I mean I’m half joking, I didn’t realize you had such a tight schedule for tonight!”
Jungkook had never felt so awkward and weird around Alex in his life. The only thing he knew to do was try and get the conversation back on track to Impressive Date Approved topics:
“Hey, so I was watching a really interesting show the other day. It was about the brain and all the changes it goes through from like a baby to a dead person– an old person.”
“The brain does very much still change after you die,” she pointed out. Yeah, dead people and rotting brains was definitely not on the approved list. No girl went home from a date and was like oh boy he was so handsome and charming and funny and we talked about decaying brains. I’m so in love.
She had not said that to him yet. That she loved him. There hadn’t been any real confession or labeling and he was obviously fine with that, he didn’t need labels, but still, it would be cool to get her to say something he could be sure of.
“No, don’t be like that, it was really cool to see– oh thank Christ the food is here.”
“You in a hurry or something?” she laughed. Which reminded him that they did have a scheduled start time for the wine tasting. He checked his phone as the waiter set their food down. 
“Our wine tasting is at 7:30.”
“What?! Then yeah we don’t have much time!”
“Yeah.” Hm, he hadn’t really done the math right– or well he had when he’d made reservations for six at the other place, he just hadn’t counted on needing to change restaurants. Actually they have very little time. “Uh, well, ok, let’s eat fast then…” Eating fast was not romantic. “Or we can miss it. It’s fine.”
But she waved her hand, already twirling pasta around her fork, “No way, we’ll make it. You worked so hard planning all of this! I can eat fast. Damn this is good pasta…. You want to try this?”
He did, but he already envisioned the noodles swinging down and getting on his dark shirt. And then she’d want to try his, which was spaghetti and meatballs (it was one of the cheapest things on the menu, ok?!) and he’d drop one and it would bounce onto her white sweater. It wasn’t worth the risk.
“Nah, we can just eat our own food,” he assured her. 
And promptly knocked his glass of wine to the ground, shattering it.
**
Alex had never seen Jungkook acting so weird in her life. He swung back and forth between distracted and too intense. One moment she’d think he was bored and the next he’d ignore whatever she just said and start telling her a play by play of some brain documentary he watched! He was clearly pissed about the first restaurant turning them away but then didn’t seem to care about the next place even though it was really nice; they had to leave so quickly to get to the wine tasting that they didn’t even get dessert. 
He wasn’t acting like himself at all. Honestly, she felt like another day he might have still been able to sweet talk them into that first restaurant –though she was glad he hadn’t because she wasn’t really comfortable in a place like that anyway. It was bad enough being at the Italian restaurant where Jungkook insisted on paying and the waiter gave her a menu without prices so she didn’t even know how much damage she was doing to Jungkook’s bank account. He didn’t want to talk about any of the things they normally talked about. He didn’t respond to any of her jokes. 
She couldn’t figure it out. Did he just not want to be here? But that didn’t make sense, because if he didn’t want to be here, he wouldn’t be! Jungkook had no problem peacing out of a situation he didn’t want to be in. He’d bailed on her plenty of times, that wasn’t hard for him.
They rushed across town to get to Hollyoak Vineyards for this wine tasting Jungkook had booked them for –and she was confused, because they couldn’t do a vineyard tour in the cold and dark or anything– and made it just in the nick of time. He kept saying over and over that it was fine if they missed it, which seemed to mean it wasn’t fine. 
And then, checking in, winded by the sprint from the car, Alex made a terrible discovery: she had left her wallet and ID at the Italian restaurant. Which might have been fine if Jungkook wasn’t with her, because often she didn’t get carded on her own. But Jungkook made her look younger with that charming babyface of his. The woman asked to see their IDs before they could join the tour and tasting.
“I left it at the restaurant,” she admitted quietly, turning to Jungkook.
For a moment he just looked at her.
“You don’t have your ID?”
“It’s at the restaurant.”
“Uh…”
He froze. He looked between her and the employee and Alex knew that look: somebody fix this for me because I don’t know what to do now. Usually she didn’t see that look unless he was drunk or in emotional crisis. Neither was true now, except that he still wasn’t saying anything.
“Is there another tasting tonight?” Alex asked the employee.
“No, I’m sorry. I can reschedule you for another day?”
“Could he start the tasting now and I’ll go and come back–”
“No, you’ll miss the whole thing,” Jungkook said, reanimated. He pulled his ID off the counter and tucked it back into his wallet. “Ok, we’ll go. Thanks anyway.”
“I’m sorry, I guess it fell out of my purse under the table,” she explained as they left the place. He didn’t say anything. She couldn’t tell if he was pissed or disappointed, but she felt bad either way. “I’m really sorry, Jungkook.”
“It’s fine. It doesn’t matter,” he sighed. “Uh…” They reached the car and he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. She didn’t know what he was thinking about or if he was just trying to control his emotions or what. “You want me just to take you home? This is all kind of a bust, huh?”
“Wha? No, don’t take me home yet!”
“You sure? ‘Cause this a pretty fail date so–”
“Oh my god are you serious right now?” she laughed. “It’s fine! Things go wrong sometimes, it’s not that serious. Can’t we just find something else to do?”
He let out a deep, heavy sigh.
“Hey look, I’m sorry I fucked up the wine tasting. We can just do that on another date, I’ll book it.”
“Yeah but…”
“Let’s just go to minigolf or something–”
“I’m not taking you to minigolf,” he huffed, and crossed his arms and leaned against the car, and rolled his eyes.
And frankly, Alex had had enough.
“Why the fuck not? What’s wrong with minigolf? What’s wrong with Taco Bell? I don’t want to be a bitch because I know you put all this effort into planning all of these things but why are you acting like we’re suddenly too good to– ok, we tried this fancy stuff and things went wrong so let’s just do something else! It doesn’t have to be a big deal!”
“It does have to be a big deal, Alex! It’s our first fucking date!”
“So?!” she shouted, throwing her arms up.
“What do you mean ‘so’?! It’s our first date! The first date we ever go on!” he shouted back.
“Yeah I know that! But it doesn’t have to be like some big…” She couldn’t think of the right words. Her shouting fizzled a bit as she thought through what he’d just said, and how actually very sweet that was.
“I wanted it to be big,” he insisted. “Hoseok always took you on these big fancy dates, right? Yeah, I can do that too!”
“Oh, Jungkook,” she sighed. And walked around and grabbed his coat and headbutted his chest and let her head rest there. “You dummy.”
“What?”
“Don’t worry about what Hoseok did. Who cares?”
“You cared.”
“Past tense,” she pointed out, craning her neck to look up at him from so close. “Now I’m out on a date with you. I don’t have this like high expectation of–”
“Of a good date? You should. That’s shitty, I don’t–”
“We can do anything and it’s a good date. I just wanted to spend time with you. We already know all kinds of things we like doing together.”
“Yeah but this isn’t just hanging out, Alex. It’s a date date. I wanted it to be special.”
“It is special, you idiot.” She hit him on the arm several times to try and make him smile. “It’s us. Obviously it’s special.”
“No, we’ve always been just friends. This needs to be big so you know it’s different–”
“Do you think I’m a stupid little baby? Is that why you were telling me about baby brains? I know this is different! You brought me flowers and looked all nervous and awkward on my couch!” It was more fun to tease him than admit her own nerves as she’d dressed and redressed and then redressed again. But the excitement for her had been a thousand times louder than the nerves. Nervous-excited, not nervous-afraid.
He sounded nervous-afraid.
“Yeah but–”
“I put on sexy underwear and eyeliner! The pointy way you said looks good!”
“I know that– I mean not about the underwear but–”
“So why are you being so weird about our date? There’s no point if you don’t actually enjoy spending time with me.”
“What are you talking about?” he demanded, eyebrows furrowing into the little V she had predicted. “Of course I like spending time with you.”
“Yeah? What do you like doing with me?”
“I don’t know, just… stuff. Like… but it’s just been friend stuff before–”
“I’m no expert, but I think dating is kind of just doing the same things we always did except we say it’s a date now,” she pointed out. “You don’t think so? Or are you worried you don’t actually like me or something?”
“I like you, Alex, that’s why I’m nervous. Pretty sure I used a word stronger than ‘like’ before too.”
She let that sit for a moment. Hearing Jungkook admit he was nervous was a completely different lens to look at the whole evening. Hearing Jungkook reiterate that he liked her was like, nauseatingly unbelievable. 
Ok, now she was having a harder time not being nervous-afraid because yeah, this was pretty crazy, being on a date date with Jungkook that he was taking so seriously because he liked her and she liked him too. Oh god.
“Are you… are you just cranky because you’re worried about having a bad first date?” she fumbled out.
“Yeah! Obviously! Jesus, it’s like you– are you fucking with me right now?!”
“Oh my god, you are so high strung right now,” she sighed and pulled on his jacket. “Jungkook! Chill! Are you serious?”
“I just…”
“Baby,” she said, and reached up to grab his face in a burst of confidence fueled by all of his nonsense. “Baby Koo.”
“Shut up,” he grumbled.
“No, don’t be grumpy. Look at me.” He begrudgingly did so; he didn’t have much of a choice with her holding his head. “Thank you for a wonderful dinner and for scheduling the wine tasting I fucked up. This whole evening is really special to me. The fact you worked so hard to make it special makes me feel really special. I don’t want to say goodnight yet, so I’d really like ice cream and minigolf with you.”
“Why are you so obsessed with minigolf?” he mumbled.
“I don’t know, I just think it’s a cute date idea and I like doing dumb things like that with you,” she shrugged, letting her hands fall away. He caught hold of them though and held. His fingers were cold. “I’m still allowed to like it, even when it’s a date date.”
“Yeah, well…” His mouth twisted in thought, so cute. “My original plan was to do minigolf,” he confessed. “And the taco truck. But then everyone acted like that was really lame and low effort so I wanted to do something bigger so you would know–”
“Fuck that!” Alex cried. “And fuck them! I like minigolf and tacos!”
“I know you like that but I wanted to like… I want you to be all giddy and stuff, you know? No one gets giddy over minigolf.”
“They do when they win,” she beamed. “You wouldn’t know about that. Since you never win.” 
His eyes narrowed. “Uh, pretty sure I always beat your ass. I can’t let you win, just because it’s a date.”
“Who said anything about let?”
“Ugggh but see? I can’t beat your ass, that’ll be a bad date.”
“Then let me win.”
“You’d hate me forever.”
“I wouldn’t hate you! I’d just be shocked you were down that bad for me– I don’t think your ego could let someone–”
“Hey, I let girls win that shit all the time,” he interrupted. “I don’t let you win because I respect you so much.”
“Yeah or because you aren’t trying to get into my pants.”
“No, but I do want into your pants now.”
“Well… sounds like you know what to do then…” She grinned and wiggled her eyebrows and felt full body relief. Everything made so much more sense now. She should have figured it out sooner that Jungkook was just nervous and frustrated that things weren’t going to his plan when he was trying so hard! But how could she have guessed he was this worked up about impressing her? It was just her!
“Alex,” he whined her name. She started to walk around the car but he was still holding her wrist and pulled her back. “We can’t play minigolf. Forty years from now we’ll be talking about our first date and I’m going to say I took you to play fucking minigolf?”
Damn. Damn that sounded serious. 
“Um, well,” she stammered, distracted at the casual way in which he’d basically just been like yeah we’re going to be together forever. “Well first you’ll probably tease me about forgetting my wallet and then you’ll probably tease me about being easy or childish because I wanted to play minigolf.”
“Ah, that’s true… you asked for it. I’m just giving you what you wanted.” His voice lowered as he said it, as he pulled her closer, no secret about the innuendo.
“Giving me what I want is always the right move,” she agreed, and lifted her face so he wouldn’t have to crouch too far for the kiss she thought he was leading into. There was only a moment of hesitation during which she worried she’d read him wrong. Maybe this just wasn’t normal yet, but they wanted it. He smiled into the kiss, giving too much teeth against hers, but she tilted her face and the kiss softened and Alex forgot to breathe. You know, just Jungkook, kissing her in the parking lot, nose pressed against hers, warm breath and saliva mingling with hers.
She overbalanced on her toes and they fell back against his car but he caught his own weight and towered over her. 
“Maybe you should go back to being pissy and mean,” she breathed.
“Huh?”
“You’re making me dizzy,” she admitted with a laugh. “I know we kissed the other night but–” 
Jungkook cut her off with another kiss that made her toes curl and her heart stutter.
“Yeah?” he murmured, sounding a bit breathless himself as his nose gently nudged hers. “Am I giving you butterflies kissing you in the parking lot of the wine tasting we didn’t get to do?”
“Yeah.”
He sighed, wine-scented breath warm across her face. “Can you please be a little more high maintenance? I’m giving you permission to be demanding!”
“Oh, I will be, without your permission,” she assured him with a cheeky grin. “You seem to be forgetting– well, I won’t remind you. You just keep those rose-tinted glasses on for a while. At least until I make you cry at minigolf.”
“Ok, are you just forgetting that you’re really bad at minigolf? Because I have not forgotten it–”
“That’s not true! I’ve won before!”
“Yeah, by sabotaging me,” he pointed out.
“Mm-hm and now I can sabotage you even more, right? Like… oops I dropped my ball!” she joked and slid from his arms to bend over and pick it up. So he had a nice profile of just how high her skirt would go. She was wearing tights, it wasn’t going to show anything but look, she’d learned a few things over the years about what Jungkook liked. He liked the tease. The suggestion. Maybe he liked it more than the real thing. 
She hoped he didn’t like the idea of her more than the real thing.
Also he really liked ass, so at least that was a safe bet.
He grumbled and demanded, “How many dates do we have to go on before I’m allowed to spank when you do something like that?”
Oh god be cool she begged herself because, you know, Jungkook had basically just asked to spank her. Jungkook. Spanking her. Just… spanking her. Cool. Cool cool.
“Um… three.”
He looked unhappy about it but nodded, “Ok. So you’re just going to tease me a lot tonight then?”
“Yeah, probably. But if you cry when you lose, I’ll comfort you. I’m not totally mean.”
“Yeah, I’ll give you a hug when you lose,” he promised. “I’m a caring date.”
“You’re a nice guy.”
“Yeah, I’m a nice guy,” he laughed, then tried to tickle and poke her through her coat. “I am. Sorry if I was weird or whatever tonight.”
“Hey, why are you talking like the night is over? You are still on a date,” she argued. 
“Right right, I have to make your dreams come true. Minigolf and ice cream.”
“And you,” she added, sort of without meaning to. At least the vulnerability of it hit her after she’d said the words. She just had meant to specify he was an important part of why she would like those things on a date!
But the thing was, she didn’t really feel vulnerable tonight in a bad way. She didn’t feel as nervous or impostery as she had feared. This was Jungkook! She didn’t think there was anyone in the world she was safer with and all his efforts and overthinking seemed to prove that. He’d taken on all the nerves for her. What a great guy.
He smiled, that goofy crooked toothy grin of her best friend, and said, “Well call me a dreamboy, baby, because I’m about to make all your dreams come true–”
“Ok you did not get laid with lines like that,” Alex said with a roll of her eyes.
“Yeah, sure I did!”
“No.”
“I did! Are you saying that did not make you cream your panties? What kind of panties did you say again–”
“Oh my god, just get in the car.”
“Fine, what date can I ask about your panties? Because I thought that one was ok since we talked about it the other night.”
“My panties?”
“Yeah.”
“You mean because you’ve been hoarding my underwear at your–”
“Woah woah I did not– I told you they were just mixed in with–”
“They?! How many of my underwear do you have?!”
“Get in the car, Song.”
She giggled and continued to taunt him as the car heated up and he looked up places. There was an indoor one at the mall they were familiar with but Alex wanted the outside one which was still open through the end of the month and served ice cream.
“You sure you’re ok with outside?”
“I’ll be fine! I have a coat and sweater tights.”
“Oh is that why they look fancy?”
“Yeah, they’re textured. Want to feel them?” she teased as he drove. But he took the advantage, letting his hand slide across her thigh. She got very quiet. His hand just looked so familiar and comfortable there, like that was his thigh. 
“Yeah, I like these,” he nodded. “Your whole outfit.”
She waited, then sighed, “You noticed I couldn’t get my eyeliner straight, didn’t you?”
“Well, that’s why you have me now,” he laughed. “I can help next time.”
“Look you weren’t the only one nervous, ok?”
“Yeah? What were you nervous about, baby?” he asked, still rubbing her thigh. He might as well have been rubbing somewhere else with that firm grip. The devil part of her wanted to just ask him to let his hand run higher, maybe a sequel to the other night…
“Yeah don’t act all cocky now. I know your secret!” she retorted and adjusted her skirt.
“What’s my secret?”
“You like me.”
“You’re right, that is a very well kept secret,” he laughed. “Please don’t spread that around. There might still be a couple people in town I didn’t drunkenly blab that to in the last few months.”
She sighed happily at his expense. Maybe the craziest thing wasn’t being on a date with ex-best-turned-best-friend-again Jungkook. Maybe the craziest thing was that being on an actual date with him didn’t feel as crazy as she’d always expected it to. Would that come later? She hadn’t felt mismatched on his arm walking into either restaurant like she’d expected to. Yes, he was the hottest guy in any room. And he wanted to put his face between her legs, so what did that make her?
Ok, that part was still a little wild and crazy. Not only that he’d wanted to but she’d let him. Maybe she’d even let him do it for real next time.
“You ok?”
“Hm?”
“Is it too hot in here now?” he asked.
“Yeah, way too hot,” she agreed, reaching forward to crank the heat down. Jungkook cracked the windows. She drank the cool air in and pushed back against the warm tingling starting to build up. 
“So what did your parents say when you told them I was picking you up for a date tonight?” he asked, throat clearing. It made her suspicious in two directions.
“Why, what did they say to you?” she asked, the safer question than: why you clearing your throat, boo? Whatcha thinking about? 
“Nothing, they were just acting kind of weird…”
“I told them we were going on a date date and they were just like ‘oh really? That’s nice.’ I don’t think they believed me!”
“Well I was dressed up with flowers.”
“Plus you were acting super weird too,” Alex pointed out.
“Thanks, babe.”
His hand left her thigh as he took a sharp turn and Alex wished he’d read her mind and put it back, but he did not.
“Let’s get your wallet, dummy.”
Fifteen minutes and one returned wallet later, he pulled into the minigolf parking lot and pressed, “You sure you want to do this?”
“Why? You scared?”
“No, I meant because it’s cold–”
“You’re scared.”
“I’m not scared, Alex. You golf like a toddler.”
“It’s minigolf, that’s the point!”
“That’s not the… whatever, ice cream before or after?”
“During. I’m ready to doublefist a cone and a club.”
It really was fucking cold outside, but the course was lit and they weren’t the only ones. The snack bar served them the ice cream, the employee giving them a raised eyebrow but handing the cones over. Jungkook hit his first ball straight into a pond and Alex got a scathing look from a mom when she shouted what are you the fucking hulk? It’s minigolf! While he shouted accusations at her That was your fault! Why are you bending over like that to tie your shoe? Your boots don’t even have laces! 
The truth was they were both pretty bad at minigolf tonight. Their teeth chattered and they huddled together from one hole to the next. They fucked with each other every single turn –dirty jokes, terrible impersonations, quoting memes and movies they knew would get a rise out of each other. Jungkook tried the same move she’d done in the beginning, even pulling his coat up to make sure she could see his ass, sulked when it didn’t work, and pretended like he was going to do a full on striptease –which would definitely have led to Alex’s premature death. Later she offered to suck his fingers to warm them up and he fell to the ground claiming he’d sprained his dick. 
And then it started to rain.
“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Jungkook shouted as Alex grabbed his hand and ran with him into the mountain tunnel in the center of the course. “It wasn’t supposed to rain until 9!”
“The weather does what it wants.”
“Yeah but it’s fucking with my date. You don’t like getting rained on! Unless today is the day we try the naked thing–”
She laughed and pulled him down closer to kiss his wet face. His skin was so cold. Their lips and noses were stiff. The sweetness of his mint choco ice cream lingered on his tongue. Alex stood on the railing for height and lost herself in the taste. She thought she’d be taking this dumb fantasy to her grave and yet here they were, making out in the minigolf mountain like the horny teenages they hadn’t gotten to be with each other. 
After several long, lazy, uncounted minutes had passed, they huddled together at the exit to survey the remaining distance. The rain was not letting up.
“Did you make it rain?” he demanded. “You’re that upset I’m beating you?”
“Uh… you aren’t beating me.”
“Alex, I’m totally beating you.”
“You totally aren’t.”
“Then what’s the score?”
“I don’t know but you don’t know either!”
“7-11.”
“You liar!” she laughed and tried to hit his ass. “Fine, we’ll count for real now.”
“Wait, what for real now? It’s raining!”
“It’s not raining that hard.”
“It’s hard enough!” he cried, then instantly laughed and wiggled his eyebrows, then groaned, “But I’m not, I’m freezing!”
“All right, let’s golf fast! Orrrr you could admit defeat.”
“Never,” he glared and grabbed his putter and took off.
The cheating was flagrant and largely futile. Putters were traded for kicking, rolling, and eventually just dropping the ball in the hole. They shouted numbers to make each other lose count. They were laughing so hard, doubled over at times as the rain grew heavier and colder. She really did hate the way her clothes and hair clung to her wet skin, but it was worth it to endure. This was a special night.
“We’re idiots!” Alex laughed, then shrieked as she slipped on a little bridge. Jungkook dove forward and rammed his elbow on the metal railing, didn’t help her, and sank to the ground like he’d been knocked out. “Get up! Get up! You’ll get hypothermia!”
Instead he took her putter and shouted, “Good luck winning now!” and limped forward, clutching his elbow. Alex ran ahead of him and managed to shove her ball into the final return hole just as he tried to kick his in. Instead he kicked her in the shoulder and shouted in horror. She tried to stand, he tried to crouch.
“Fuck!”
“Up up we have to get back to the car, we’re going to freeze to death!” Jungkook shouted at her, grabbing her arm. They half-limped, half-ran back to the parking lot, tossing their putters in the return rack without stopping.
“We’re such idiots, we’re going to get sick and die,” Alex wailed as they stripped their wet coats off and shoved them in the backseat. Jungkook cranked the heat up. “Fuck, I hate my bangs!” she laughed, swiping at the hair plastered to her face, poking her in the eyes. “At least I wore my contacts.”
Jungkook’s hands replaced hers, pushing them back, followed by his cold lips against her forehead, her nose and then her mouth, all one smooth motion that completely overwhelmed her. Her fingers tightened on his shoulders in surprise as he grabbed her arms and pulled her closer, like the laughter and running and cheating had turned into raw energy that he now funneled into a hard, desperate kiss. The joy in that kiss made the world spin around her. The windows were fogging up and she felt that desperation again. Touch me, taste me, take me, do anything to me, let me be the girl you want.
“Alex.”
“Koo.”
His breath warmed her frozen nose and stung her frozen cheeks. 
“Was this the worst date ever?”
She glared. “No! It was good because it was with me, right?”
“We’re both going to get the flu.”
“Stop complaining and just kiss me again,” she ordered, pulling him across the console this time. He pressed her into the seat, contorted, mouth getting hotter against hers by the second. 
“God I can’t believe this was the best date of my life,” he completely contradicted himself.
The giggles burst out of her, “Damn. Really? That’s sad–”
He shoved icy fingers under her sweater to tickle and she screamed and kicked the dashboard in her attempts to flee. He just wrapped his arms around her and pressed his frozen nose into her neck, squeezing tighter.
“You asshole, let me go!”
“Never.”
“Jungkook!”
“You said you wanted outdoor minigolf, you suffer the consequences! I’m warming my nose up.”
“I’m so uncomfortably wet!”
“Yeah baby–”
“No, in a bad way!”
“Love leaving a girl wet in a bad way on our first date–” She couldn’t hear what else he said, drowned out by her laughter. Someone was going to think they were fucking in here with the way windows had fogged up so quickly and they were shaking the car. She pushed him away and adjusted the heat and wiped at the condensation on her window. Now it was uncomfortably hot, and also her clothing really felt disgusting like this. The fluffy sweater was scratchy and gross. She pulled it away from her skin but it just clung right back.
Jungkook shook his head.
“What?”
“I tried so hard to make this date nice,” he laughed.
“Oh my god you’re so hung up on this. I’m having a great time!”
But perfectionist Jungkook. She should have known he’d have some specific idea in mind! He struggled when things didn’t go the way he planned, if he wanted them a certain way. Usually he’d insist he didn’t care and overcompensate in his frustration, make too much of a joke about things in an effort to be cool that was always obvious and annoying. He hadn’t done that! But she knew frustration lingered with him and she didn’t want that to be what overshadowed their date!
“Seriously. Please don’t remember our first date as a failure. Ok, how about this, what if we decide this was just a trial run.”
“Uh huh.”
“Our next date is our first date,” she explained, twisting in the seat. It was gross, her tights and skirt squished. “We’ll just keep having first dates until you’re happy.”
“Wait, but I’m happy. Don’t make it sound like I’m not.”
“Uh, you aren’t though, you’re the only one in this car who’s unhappy.”
“I’m happy,” he insisted, eyebrows going up, lips pouting. “It’s just not as good as I wanted to do for you, but I’m happy. Why wouldn’t I be? I’m on a date with Alex Song!”
“Oh please…”
“I meant that seriously.”
“You said it like a joke.”
“I meant it seriously,” he insisted. “I want to impress you, you know? You’ve seen the worst of me for so long, I want you to see the best of me too. Like that I can take you on a really fun, nice date, not that I’m just some lazy, sex-obsessed asshole–.”
“I see the best of you all the time too, or I wouldn’t be on a date with you in the first place. I already know we can have a great time even when things go wrong. This date was genuinely great but even if it was actually awful, I’d still have fun with you, it’s one of the things I’ve always… liked about you.” Loved about you.
She didn’t say it.
She balked.
She didn’t know why she didn’t say it. She had expected the words to just roll right off her tongue. Because she did, she knew she loved him, and not too long ago she could have said it without any hesitation.
But it meant something more now, and the words tangled up behind her cold teeth.
She hurried to add, “I know that you can be both a really sweet, thoughtful guy and a lazy, sex-obsessed–”
“Ok ok,” he huffed, pouting he’d set her up for a zinger like that. He turned on the headlights and sighed. “I’d better get you home so you can put on your jammies. I’ll feel like an asshole if I really do get you sick right before Christmas.”
“I’m the one who insisted on minigolf.”
“Ok, it’s your fault then.”
“Jungkook!”
“Hey don’t hit me, I’m driving! That’s just what we need tonight, a car wreck!”
“Fine, you’re safe for now…”
She curled up in her seat and tried not to make it obvious she was staring at him. The streetlights flickering through the rain on the windshield cast spotted shadows on his wet face but she could tell his nose was still red and sniffly. 
He was cute. And sweet. It was endearing he’d been so serious and competitive about their date. She’d known him for so long but still she had learned something new about him tonight: he was not confident on a date. She had always known he had a gooey soft interior but he was so suave with women, she had assumed he would be all confidence and charm on a date. Instead he was a grumpy sulky baby when things weren’t going the way he planned. 
Her grumpy sulky baby. Just like she’d always wanted. Hot as shit on the outside, sulky baby on the inside.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked, glancing nervously her way at a red light.
“Nothing.”
“Tell me.”
“Nothing!”
He reached out and sank his fingers into her thigh like a claw.
“NO! Don’t tickle me, you’re driving!” she shrieked and tried to fend him off. Fortunately the light turned green, saving her. “Rude!”
“I just want to know what you're thinking. I’m on pins and needles here.”
She decided to tease him more. “Well… I’m thinking I’d like to see you again.”
“Oh? Yeah?”
“Yeah. Maybe at our joint family dinner on Christmas Eve?”
“Booo,” he scowled. “Before that. That’s not a date, that’s a duty.”
“You want another date before that?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow, I’m a really good date, huh?” she grinned.
“Yeah, you’re cute.”
“I was joking!”
“I’m not.”
“Fine. How about I’ll plan the next date. When are you free, is it on the calendar?”
“Yeah, it’s on the calendar. Any time I’m not working is yours.”
She didn’t comment. She couldn’t comment on any of these things. Because this was just mundane, joky conversation, but the fact they casually making more plans together hit her like a bus. Part of her brain was like yeah, making plans with Jungkook, totally normal while the other part reminded you’re dating Jungkook. 
He pulled to a stop in front of her house and started to get out.
“No don’t walk me to the door, it’s still pouring.”
“Yeah, but–”
“No, seriously. My parents might be watching the door anyway.”
“Yeah but…”
“Hey,” she said. “Save it for the first date. I’ll walk you to your front door at the end of the night.”
“Oh you’re driving?”
“Yeah, babygirl, we are equals,” she grinned.
“Did you just… just ‘babygirl’ me?”
“Yesssss,” she started to laugh before his fingers even tried to wedge under her shirt again. He kissed her before she caught her breath; she laughed and squirmed and it made their lips slide, the messiest kiss. 
“K, get out of my car, I need to get home and shower before I get sick,” he said.
“Hold on, Jesus, I’m dizzy.”
“Huh?”
“You can’t just kiss a girl like that and then kick her out of your car, I’ll trip and die–”
“Ok, I’m walking you in.”
“No, stay put.”
“You said you’re dizzy!”
She squeezed his face so full of concern, and shook her head, “Goodnight. Thanks for the amazing date, I had a lot of fun despite your whining about it.”
“Hey!”
His shouted protests were swallowed quickly by the rain as she held her coat over her head and ran into her house. She was right that Baba had been watching the door and swung it open to let her in quickly.
“Alex, you’re wet! Did you get caught in the rain?”
“Thanks, Baba, goodnight!” Alex sang as she yanked her boots off, tossed her coat, and floated to her room. 
There in the privacy of her bedroom, she covered her face and let out a silent scream.
He tried so hard!
He cared so much!
He was so handsome!
He was so awkward about their date and god, she loved him for it. Didn’t he understand how perfect it was? It was exactly what she had hoped for. The effort. The attention. All for her. 
She looked forward to teasing him about it for forty years. 
Especially the photo he posted to his Snap and Insta story of him with a towel around his shoulders, shirt clinging to his body, hair damp and tousled, giving a thumbs-up with the caption yeah everything went wrong but I got a second date so… Followed by a text only post on insta lol she ain’t on here fam she deleted insta a while ago
So he wasn’t talking about their date on insta as some kind of game or lure or to signal to her that he wasn’t still trying to hook up with women? He did it just to… share? Brag? Signal to women on instagram he wasn’t looking? Was he just excited about his date and used to sharing things on social media and didn’t think through the impact on his free sex life because that wasn’t a priority to him?
“Grrrr why are you so fucking cute,” she grumbled. “I’m supposed to be the cute one. Stay in your hot lane. ”
She DMed him a kissy face emoji in response to the story to give him a heart attack and went to shower. And afterwards had a good laugh when the stories and the pre-date photo were gone.
[AlandPals]: 😘
[TheJK.97]: 😎
[AlandPals]: take off the sunglasses
[TheJK.97]:  😵🪦
[TheJK.97]:  so uh when did you dl insta?
[AlandPals]: night bunny
[TheJK.97]:  that is NOT my petname
[TheJK.97]:  night earwig
[AlandPals]: night weevil
[TheJK.97]:  night shrimp cocktail
[AlandPals]: night nutter butter
[TheJK.97]:  night cheeto finger
[AlandPals]: night kookie crisp
[TheJK.97]:  night booberry
[TheJK.97]:  night pistachio
[TheJK.97]: night titmouse (that’s a bird look it up)
[TheJK.97]: did you fall asleep on me??
[TheJK.97]: I win 😁
Alex let him have this one. He’d earned it.
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KEEP READING PARTY B
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havithreatendub4 · 4 months ago
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#The Man Who Cried #Christina Ricci #bts #BBC #Award #Taraf de Haidouks
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burritello3000 · 9 months ago
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LSoH Saga
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@phoebepheebsphibs & @boots-with-the-fur-club There’s still more to come >:]
Featuring:
@sugarpasteltmnt | @hitwiththetmnt | @shiveagit Lore? (This is my way of saying I LOVE YOUR IDEA SO MUCH AND I NEED MORE but no pressure :) ) | @kaysdenofchaos | @cupcakeslushie | @tangledinink | @fireheartfan | @dianagj-art | @intotheelliwoods (Sorry, I just realized how distorted he looks 😭 Oops) | @sharkfinn | Who ever is in that big-ass fight | @tmntaucompetition
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addictedtohobi · 2 months ago
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So I came across this video and thought of @tmwcs (Reina) and our guy Heethan. I'm missing him. He's definitely invading my mind. I need to find more Heethan girls 😌
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peachespearsandplumbs · 10 months ago
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Andrew Morgan NY (TMWC Spartan Combat RTC) 2021
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icecreampizzer · 11 months ago
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good news everyone. i cracked the code. this guy 👇 is now a business major
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He also used to be a werewolf but for deep lore purposes I chose a leprechaun to be his new mythical species. Honestly that somehow opens a lot of more creative choices for me to make for his character!!! awesomesauce
I have to oc talk for a second but it's wild how I can't find a good theme song for one of my oldest ocs that I used to write for the most (even so far as to use him as my emotional venting guy for a spell). even I'm having trouble writing his biography outside of his monster form + major. what the hell happened. im so sorry friday
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icecreampizzer · 2 years ago
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Some fun portraits for characters I haven't thought of in a hot second! If you recognize them and still remember their very first versions you're eligible for a veteran's discount. Finally getting some inspiration for them but I am just working on stories in general...you know how it is
also, I've decided to remake this story's title into THE MAGIC WE CREATE. Never really vibed with the last one. If you're new here those words probably dont make a lick of sense but that's ok
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foxymoxynoona · 1 year ago
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Tell Me What Changed Drabble #1: Couple Costumes
I'm sorry, no one asked for this but it just happened. Very first TMWC drabble ever, more to come eventually. Enjoy!
Story: Tell Me What Changed Characters: Alex & Jungkook Words: 1800 CW: Language, references to sex, their conversation may give you a headache
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“Ok, hear me out, I have our Halloween costumes planned for this year,” Jungkook said, collapsing onto the bed beside her to interrupt her doom-scrolling. He showed her the picture on his phone and said, “This is me. This is totally me.”
“You and every other guy this year,” she scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Seriously? Ken? It’s not even a little bit creative.”
“Alex, I can’t not be Ken. The public will expect it. I’m perfect for it. I’ve got the abs, I’ve got the tan–”
“And the hair?”
“I’ll go blond for it. That’s how serious I am. And you, baby girl, will be the hottest Barbie–”
Alex pushed up to her knees and interrupted, “Let me stop you right there. There is a Barbie in this relationship, and it is not me. I will be wearing that for Halloween,” she said, pointing to his phone. “For I am the Ken, and you shall be the beautiful Barbie.”
“Huh?” His face screwed up, adorably confused, and Alex felt her certainty grow that this was the way better idea. “But… you’re Barbie and I’m just Ken.”
“No, you are Barbie. You go through every day with main character energy, you’ve got great hair, great skin, and the balance to walk on your tip-toes everywhere.”
“No, babe, it’s a feminist thing,” he said, reaching for her hand. “It’s all about the reversal of the patriarchy and how Kens are defined by the female gaze and their association with a woman and the Barbies are the like, brains and power and–”
“Your summary of this movie is… incredible,” she snickered. She’d gone down many a rabbit hole reading all the think pieces after seeing the movie in theaters…. Twice. And she’d sent some of them to Jungkook but was not sure he’d read them. “It’s not really an inversion because there is no historic oppression of Kens, no dowries, no rape, no skewed physical demand placed on the Kens to have children–” 
“You get the idea. You’re putting me on the spot! But it’s proof I’m the Ken! You’re the one who read that big New Yorker article out loud to me while I cooked you dinner and pretended to listen,” he pointed out. “I’m the abs, you’re the brains! There’s not really anything more to me than my relationship–”
“Hence why you must now have your journey to discover your worth and identity, Barbie,” she insisted, shoving his shoulder. He didn’t budge, of course. 
“I can’t, I’m too busy taking selfies at the gym, Barbie. Everyone will expect me to be Ken –it doesn’t matter how many other guys do a shitty job at it, I want to go all in. For the ‘gram.”
“So you admit you think you’re hotter than me,” Alex said, crossing her arms under her boobs as a distraction tactic. 
“Uh… what? No, I–”
“So you recognize that by demanding I be a Barbie with some kind of remarkable trait or inherent counter-culture statement because I couldn’t look less like Barbie, while you get to be just a Ken so you can show off your abs, you are feeding into the concept that women must be all that and a bag of chips while men get to just be hot and walk through the world like someone else will figure it out for them.” Alex tried her damndest to keep a straight face. She thought she had just made some excellent points… somewhere in there. Honestly she wasn’t too sure about her own execution of a point but she appreciated the blank look on Jungkook’s face as he tried to trace her reasoning.
“Wait no, the whole point is that you’re the main character. Of my life. I love you,” he said, the corners of his mouth twitching as he tried to commit to the bit. Alex’s chest bounced as she tried to suppress the laughter. “You’d sell out. It would be like Taylor Swift tickets if they made an Alex Barbie.”
“Oh my god.”
“That’s why I’m saying I am your Ken and you, the sunshine of my life, are Barbie.”
“But that’s so narrow-minded of you. I want to be ogled and you should be allowed to be thoughtful and achieve something,” she insisted. “Unless you’re saying I’m not hot enough to be Ken? You don’t think people want to see me in a little vest?” She pouted her lips at him and sank back on her heels because her knees were tired, but also because she tasted victory. She could see it in the nervous way he was fumbling, trying to make sure he didn’t accidentally say something offensive. She thought it was hysterical.
“So… you think Barbie can’t be hot?” he clarified. And narrowed his eyes. “Babe, it’s the twenty-first century. Barbie can be anyone and anything.”
“So you’re saying I should go as Bimbo Barbie, reduced to nothing but my boobs, just an object to be looked at. How forward-thinking of you!”
Now she’d lost him and he defended, “That’s what you said you wanted!”
“No, I want to be Bimbo Ken. It’s totally different!”
“How is it different? You think Barbie can’t be just a piece of ass?” Jungkook demanded. “Wait, no! Only if she wants to be! Obviously she’s so much more.”
“That sounds like a great caption for the photo you’ll post of your Barbie Halloween costume,” Alex beamed. 
Jungkook flopped forward, arms pressed to his side. He rolled onto his side and back, a re-enactment of Barbie’s crisis in the movie.
“But I want to wear a fuzzy white coat and headband and two pairs of sunglasses and have everything think I’m hot and socially aware,” he whined.
She reached out and patted his back with a stiff hand, “I’m sorry, baby. You’ll look great in a pink jumpsuit though.”
“I guess there’s only one thing to do,” he sighed dramatically. And avoided eye contact, which was suspicious.
“What’s that?” 
“I guess we just have to be one of those couples who break up because of the Barbie movie and then we can both be Kens for Halloween. Don’t be sad, sweetheart, we can get back together on November 1st.”
“Shut up,” she laughed and kicked his ass over and over until he rolled away, shielding his balls from accidental assault. “You’re an idiot if you think I’m letting you roam free for Halloween night. You think I don’t know how you used to spend those?”
“Same way I intend to spend this one,” he grinned. “Balls deep in a real doll–” She didn’t know if he was laughing too hard at his own audacity to continue or because she’d kicked him in the stomach a little bit.
“You’re so gross! And also aren’t those things crazy expensive?”
“I wouldn’t know, never needed one…”
“I can’t believe you’re joking about what a fuckboy you were and yet you want to be Ken? You dare tarnish the reputation of the man who has eyes for no one but Barbie?”
“And the other Kens,” Jungkook quickly corrected. “It’s not gay, it’s patriarchy!”
“I… don’t think we watched the same movie,” she giggled, and at this point just flopped across him. He wrapped his arms around her and wrestled her over to pin her down. 
“Alex,” he said. “Let me be Ken. Be my Barbie in sexy sparkly hot pants.”
“That’s… who you think Barbie is?”
“You said you want to be sexy lookin’ Barbie!”
“No, I specifically want to be Ken.”
“Barbie Ken?”
“Oh my god I am getting stupider every second of this conversation,” she laughed. 
He grinned and rubbed his nose against hers, taunting, “That’s right, baby, feel the power of a true Ken.”
“Jungkook!”
“JungKen,” he murmured and tried to kiss her. When she was laughing too hard, he kissed her jaw instead, and then tried to get to her neck to really make her squirm. 
She shoved at his face and gasped, “Oooh what if you’re Alan?! You’re just my buddy! And I’m Ken. Obviously.”
“Alan?! No way! And then who’s Barbie?” 
“I’m sure there will be dozens of Barbies.”
“And I’m supposed to just stand around with my hands on my hips in flipflops while you chase after women?!” he argued, rolling off her with a definite sulk.
“Which is different from most days how?”
“Aleeeeex.” He slid his hands up her arms, pinning her wrists over her head. “Please. What do I have to do to get to be Ken? Don’t you want to help me oil my abs?”
“That’s just a day at the pool.” He kissed her, succeeding only in a momentary silence, because hey, how else was a girl supposed to react as Jungkook slid over her, all hands and lips?
“I’ll convince you. I’ve got time.”
“I don’t know, it’s already August…” she teased.
“Oh shit your birthday is coming up,” he realized, pushing up into a plank.
“See? A true Ken would never forget Barbie’s birthday because what else do you have to think about?”
“Barbie in sparkly hot pants. I spend a lot of time thinking about you in sparkly hot pants… ah, I want it so bad…”
“Ok, give me some of that plastic and I’ll think about it.”
“Uh… you mean… by plastic do you mean… I mean, that’s not plastic. That’s all man muscle–”
“Oh god, you really are a Ken,” she sighed. 
“Thank you. You’re a Ken too sometimes,” he assured her. 
“Wait, is that a red flag? If we’re both Ken?”
“Ok, no more Buzzfeed listicles for you,” he snickered. “But look, I’ll spend the next two months convincing you, it’s fine, you can enjoy it. What about right now? Should I, uh… keep this going? Were you in the middle of something?” His hand slid up the side of her shirt, fingers a question at the band of her bra. “Why are you still wearing this? You’ve been home for hours! Let me help you get more comfortable.” He undid the hooks with one hand.
Alex let out a roar of a yawn and stretched her arms, hands behind her head, “I take it back, you’re Thoughtful Barbie. But yeah, keep it going.”
“Alex. Admit that’s a Barbie line. You’re my Barbie!”
She hated how much she actually liked to hear him say it. God, was something wrong with her?! Was it about being the mass-produced mainstream doll that she had never looked anything like? White, blond, and teeny, all the things she wasn’t. Even Curvy Barbie was still so thin, what the fuck? 
Or was it something about being Jungkook’s sex doll….?
“All right, Ken, you win, now keep going, this Barbie wants her–.”
“Yesssssss.”
“Don’t interrupt me again.”
“Sorry, sorry, Barbie.”
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havithreatendub4 · 5 months ago
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#Photoshoot by #Jake Chessum #1999 #UK #tmwc #filming
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obsessedwrestler · 6 years ago
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🇺🇸 Alexandria Glaudé Wins a Bronze Medal 🥉at U23 World Championships ・・・ From Alexandria Glaudé: “World Bronze Medalist 🤯 I'm still in shock. This moment still feels unreal. All I can truly say is that I am so immensely grateful and blessed. So many thank yous to the endless support system that I have. God has blessed me with some gosh darn amazing people and amazing opportunities. Thank you everyone! Seriously, thank you. We went and got ourselves a world medal! 🥉” ‘ ‘ ‘ @maczandria @usawrestling @teamusa ‘ ‘ ‘ #U23WorldChampionships #BuchaWrestle2018 #UWW #USAWrestling #BearcatsUnleashed #TMWC #wrestlelikeagirl #Glaudiator #getobsessed #obsessedwrestler #gymrats #mma #mixedmartialarts #ufc #ufcfightnight #bellator #grappling #gymmotivation #gymrat #crossfit #crossfitter #bjj #brazilianjiujitsu #socialmediamarketing #socialmediamanager #digitalmarketing (at Bucharest, Romania) https://www.instagram.com/p/BqQfmbkBnCs/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1vocqali5g71p
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nickstrrr · 7 years ago
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Thanks Nick Gwiazdowski for coming to the Rick Tucci Final Championship Tournament! I hope you enjoyed your short visit to Miami 😎 🤼‍♂️🏝 #TeamFloridaWrestling #FAWA #USAWrestling #RickTucci #TheGwizzz #Wrestling #WolfPack #NCState #TMWC (at Miami Coral Park High School)
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dps2004 · 2 years ago
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1.4, I only remember because my first update was 1.5 and they did those songs for new updates, and I have the 1.5 song burned into my brain https://youtu.be/YmpxpH-tMWc
what version of minecraft was the first you ever played ? mine was 1.12.2
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gaydreamz1 · 2 years ago
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pentadeux · 4 years ago
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No longer Human but Sons and Daughters of God, brothers&sisters for the Kingdom! #christlives
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Men Women Child and Other
@TMWC and the FourCorners of the Temple of GYeshua
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blog-name-idk · 2 years ago
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I think you have to sue Min Yoongi, actually.
Thank you for readinggg I can't wait to dive into your Joon fics (after I decompress from binging TMWC lol)
Business As Usual | 01
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Banner by @bangtansmauyeondan <333
Pairing: businessSchool!Jin x Fem Reader
Genre: GradSchool!AU, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Humor, Smut
Summary: The first thing Jin noticed about you was that you were hot. The second was that you were fucking brilliant. The third was that you were kind of a bitch. Basically, you were perfect.
The first thing you noticed about Jin was that he was hot. The second was the professors already called him by name. The third was that he was an insufferable prick. Basically, you hated his guts.
Word Count: 4,540
~~~~~
"Hey, sweetheart."
Your shoulders froze when you heard that familiar, unwelcome voice behind you. No. Not this. Not today.
You cast your eyes from side to side, hoping one of your coworkers could attend to the headache at the counter, but you were on your own. With a sigh, you took your time frothing the milk and setting out the latte for the previous customer.
When you had postponed the inevitable for as long as you could, you finally turned to the next customer with a wide, fake smile on your face. Gorgeous chocolate eyes stared back at you as Kim Seokjin lounged at the register, an unfairly sexy smirk tugging the corners of those plump, soft-looking lips. Despite your hatred of the man, the sight of him never failed to momentarily stun you.
"What can I get you?" you asked through your teeth, maintaining your customer service smile despite your urge to reach over the counter and throttle that beautiful neck. His eyes twinkled and you forced away the flutter in your chest. You must have had too much caffeine today.
"Just a medium coffee. Black," he said smoothly, fully aware that the two girls in line past his shoulders were giggling and whispering to each other about him. Ugh, if only he was as ugly on the outside as he was inside. There had to be some hideous painting of him in his attic somewhere, growing uglier and more demonic with each new company his father's business empire acquired.
"Oh? Did you not like my recommendation last time?" you asked innocently, fluttering your eyelashes and putting a mock-dejected look on your face. A vein in his jaw twitched and you gave yourself an internal cheer of victory.
"While it was almost as sweet as you, I think I'm going to forego courting diabetes today," he managed to respond without missing a beat. His quick wit was actually enough to surprise a genuine laugh out of you, and you had to remind yourself that his personality was not cute.
The last time Kim Seokjin had come to the coffee shop, he had - somewhat bravely, considering he knew how much you disliked him - asked for whatever you recommended. So you had concocted the most expensive, sugar-laden monstrosity you could think of. There might actually have been upwards of twenty pumps of different syrups in there, not that you had counted. Okay, you had, and it was twenty-eight.
You had taken great relish in watching his face contort into the cutest funniest ways when he tasted it. When he'd managed to swallow it down, he had given you a very satisfying, pained smile. And left you a hundred dollar tip for the "delicious drink," because of course he couldn't just let you have ONE win.
"That's not how it works, but I'm sure someone as brilliant as you was just joking," you said flirtatiously, oozing insincerity. The girls behind him scowled at you. Like the other obvious things glaring in your face, you ignored them. "One black coffee. Anything else?"
"Your number?" Despite the fact that you had shot him down every single time he had ever asked, there was still that confident lilt to his voice. It annoyed the shit out of you the first time, when he had acted like it was a given that you would, and it still annoyed you now. You gave him the most saccharine smile you could bear.
"Unfortunately, some things in life can't be bought. That will be $3.50, thanks."
If anything, your retort made him grin wider. It pissed you off even more, because you knew at this point he wasn't even interested, he was just being a dick. And of course, because he was a stupid rich boy who loved to rub your nose the fact that he saw you as a charity case, he left another hundred dollar tip.
You rolled your eyes at it, and Jin's smirk gained a sharp edge of - something. You weren't sure what it was. You ignored him and went back to work, missing the way his eyes followed your form and the way he shifted in pants that were ever so slightly tighter than before.
"I'll see you in lecture, sweetheart," he called after you.
"Fuck off and die," you retorted with a toss of your hair, flipping the bird at him over your shoulder. God, was one day without seeing his stupidly handsome face too much to ask for?
Jin had to adjust his slacks before he left the cafe.
~~~~~
You sighed in relief when your professor finally ended his lecture. If it had gone on any longer you weren't sure whether or not you'd pass out - there was only so long you could focus on the droning voice of an old white dude, especially when it was about macroeconomics. It was your last class of the day, and you were ready to go home into the embrace of your wonderful, sexy bed for a well-earned nap.
On top of your internship, you had taken a couple extra shifts at the coffee shop you worked at for extra cash. Combined with your already demanding course load, this week had definitely taken its toll. Your lovely mattress and soft sheets beckoned.
Unfortunately, a set of broad shoulders blocked your way out the door. You sighed, wishing the professor wasn't still in the hall so you could do more than glare daggers at the program's golden boy.
"Can I help you?" you snapped, shifting your bag to your other shoulder. Kim Seokjin gave you a smarmy grin that begged to be violently removed from his face, and you felt your eyelid twitch in a combination of exhaustion and irritation. His friend Kim Namjoon stood a little ways behind him and flashed you a sympathetic look.
God, if only it was him that had set his sights on you. Namjoon was quietly brilliant, well-spoken, respectful, and had dimples deeper than the ocean when he smiled. Unfortunately, he and Seokjin were best friends and it seemed the elder had staked his claim like a dog peeing on his supposed territory.
"Are you going to the cohort happy hour tomorrow?" the puppy dog asked, refusing to remove his stupid teeth from your pant leg no matter how many times you tried to kick him off. Your jaw clenched as you tried to look unaffected by the hopeful gleam in his eyes.
You had no real desire to go, but networking was an unfortunate reality of the career path you had chosen and you knew it would be beneficial to go and schmooze, especially since other department professors with connections would be there. It was another reason you were so eager to get some rest tonight - you'd need your energy and good humor to charm people at the event. You had confidence in your abilities, but you'd feel better if you weren't exhausted and hiding a pissy attitude the entire time. Plus if you were both sleep-deprived AND tipsy, you might end the night with murder charges.
"Hmm, that depends," you mused, stepping closer to the object of your hatred. His eyes brightened at your closeness, but you were too tired to notice that or the sudden pink at the tips of his ears. "Is Namjoon going?"
At the sound of his name, the other man's eyes shot wide. Seokjin's jaw dropped as you brushed past him to make eyes at his friend.
"I hope I'll see you there," you purred with a hooded smile, making him blush cutely when you patted his (very nice) bicep. That was as far as you ever went though, you weren't a total asshole. Unlike certain others. You exited the room with a swish of your hair, the interaction already fleeing your mind in favor of thoughts of your memory-foam pillow. As soon as you left, Jin glared at his friend.
"Joon, you better keep your hands off my future wife."
The younger man snorted, unable to keep his lips from twitching into a grin at the way his best friend stared at your ass with hearts in his eyes as you left. Despite the clear waves of hostility your attractive form emanated any time he was in the vicinity, Jin still clearly hoped that this was some weird form of flirting and that eventually you'd give in and ride off into the sunset with him in his Porsche. Actually if it was for you he might even legitimately buy a carriage and horses. It might have been romantic if your disdain wasn't so obvious to anyone with working eyes.
He couldn't exactly blame the elder. Jin was not only objectively one of the best looking people he had ever seen in his life, but also good-humored and loaded. He had men and women throwing themselves at him from pretty much any angle he could crook his finger towards. The guy didn't really understand the word no, not because he was an asshole (on purpose), but because he had never heard it seriously.
Plus Namjoon had to admit that from his limited knowledge, you were the total package. You were hot as shit, incredibly smart, and driven. Not to mention hilarious and witty, if the way you staved off Jin's advances was anything to go by. Namjoon would have been all over you in an instant if his best friend wasn't so smitten, because who wouldn't? Honestly he would even like having someone like you as a friend, but given the circumstances that clearly wasn't going to be possible.
"Buddy, Half-Life 3 is going to be released before she comes near you willingly," he said with a sigh, knowing his statement would fall on deaf ears.
"I'd like to make her come on me," Jin said wistfully, proving his point. It was that very single-mindedness that made him put his foot in his mouth every time he talked to you.
"You have it so fucking bad."
~~~~~
The highlight of the department's happy hour immediately made itself known in the very attractive, very smooth bartender.
"Can I get a Macallan, neat?" you asked the silvery-haired man. An earring jingled when he turned his head to greet you, and the lopsided smirk that graced his face made your knees weak. You would ease off later - no need to make a drunken fool of yourself at a networking event - but for now you needed the social lubrication to keep your smile on your face.
Plus this was a fancy-ass location and you were definitely going to take advantage of the fact that it was an open bar to drink something nice. And for some weird reason older men were always impressed by the fact that a "delicate woman" enjoyed scotch, so it sometimes worked as an icebreaker to help infiltrate the boys' clubs your program seemed to degenerate into.
"Unfortunately, your company's package states that liquor has to come with ice," he said, not sounding particularly apologetic. He seemed braced for a hissy fit or some sort of verbal strong-arming, which you realized wasn't that surprising considering the current clientele.
"Ah, what can you do," you said, making a face. "Does just one rock still fit the rules?"
The bartender relaxed a bit at your hopeful face and the smirk became more of a genuine smile. It mellowed his aura into something sweeter, and you decided then and there that maybe business connections weren't the only ins you would try for tonight.
"That I can do," he agreed, before moving off to make your drink. Oh no, he also had the cutest butt you had ever seen. Well, other than -
"Good to see you, sweetheart."
Of course fucking Kim Seokjin would HAVE to interrupt your ogling session. Wishing you were at least two more whiskeys deep, you turned to give a polite hello the bane of your existence.
"Hello, Kim," you greeted, fake smile plastered on your face. He took a moment to eye you up and down, which made you want to simultaneously preen and roll your eyes. You might have hated the guy, but you weren't completely immune to his obvious charms. Whatever else, it was gratifying to know that someone who frankly (and unfairly) looked like the Korean version of a Greek god found you attractive. And the way his top button was left open should have been criminal. Still, the obnoxious way he refused to use your name was enough of a deterrent. "Where's Namjoon?"
You were rewarded by a tic in his jaw as he clenched his teeth to maintain his smile.
"Around," he said vaguely, stepping a little closer to you. "You really should just call me Jin." You moved backwards to maintain your distance, an action that did not go unnoticed by the bartender bringing you your amber salvation.
"Can I get you anything, sir?" he asked politely, handing you your scotch with what were possibly the most gorgeous hands you had ever seen. There was the tiniest pebble floating in it, one that would probably melt within the next couple minutes, and your amused smile was met by an answering grin. He then continued to distract Seokjin with his order, giving you the opportunity to slip away and begin the schmoozefest. Yes, you were definitely going to be getting his number tonight.
Unfortunately, it seemed that every time you went to the bar for another drink, either the mysterious sexy bartender was taking someone else's order or Seokjin followed you there like a bad case of gas. You didn't let that keep you from subtly flirting with him, and he seemed receptive - he always had some little quip or observation that had you giggling, much to Seokjin's obvious chagrin.
Later in the night, while the handsome, patience-sucking dementor was stuck in a conversation with your department head, you were finally able to have a proper exchange.
"So, I was wondering if I could get the name of the bartender who does such a lovely job of pouring my drinks," you said with a smile, leaning into the bar in a way that juuuust barely emphasized your cleavage. His eyes flicked down before coming back to meet yours in a crooked grin that you wanted to kiss off his face.
"Depends," he answered nonchalantly as he poured you a club soda and lemon. You had long since abandoned alcohol for hydration, so it was now completely obvious you were just coming back for him. "Am I finally getting to realize my dreams of becoming a sugar baby?"
You burst out laughing at his joke, and he gave you a wide, adorable smile that showcased his teeth and his gums. It was obviously a real one, not a customer-service version, and was way too endearing for your buzzed brain to handle.
"At the moment I am but a poor scholarship student," you replied with a shrug, accepting your glass of glorified water. "But give me a few years and I'll be stomping all over most of these guys in Louboutins or something."
"I'd imagine some of them would be into that," the bartender responded, clearly amused. He rested his elbows on the bar and set his head on his hands, giving you his full attention. "I'm Yoongi."
"Well Yoongi, I'm [y/n]. Would you be horribly offended if I gave you my number?" you asked, looking at him with an apologetic smile. "No pressure though, you can say no I and I won't throw a fit or anything, I know you're being paid to be nice."
His only response was to grin and hand you a pen from his pocket. Your fingers brushed as you took it, and you tingled. You were too caught up to notice the brown eyes burning into your back from the other side of the room.
~~~~~
Jin fought the urge to scowl as he watched you laugh at something the obnoxious bartender told you before leaning closer. You had never smiled at him that way. There was absolutely no way you thought that guy was funnier than him, right? Wait, why was he handing you a pen? Jin had been trying to get your number the entire semester, there was no way you were just going to go up and give it to some random bartender you had known for a couple hours.
He felt a light kick to his shin and returned his attention to the old man speaking with just enough time to nod and flash a charming smile.
"That sounds great. I'm sure my father would love to speak at that event, but I'll have to check with his secretary." He gave Namjoon a nod of thanks for the heads up. His friend gave him the barest roll of his eyes but grinned anyway.
Pacified, the head of the department wandered off and you intercepted him to say hello. By the way his eyes roamed over your form, the old man was interested in more than a greeting, which somehow pissed him off even more than the attention you were paying the bartender. His hand reached out to touch the small of your back, making Jin's muscles tense in distaste. As if sensing the intrusion into your space, you made a polite goodbye and made as swift an exit from his company as fast as you gracefully could.
You were in such a hurry that you didn't even look where you were going, and ran straight into Jin. Silently, he thanked God for blessing him with not only his good looks and wit, but also this current moment of closeness before you got your bearings enough to jump back as if you'd been scalded.
"Are you alright?" he asked, concerned enough to forget that he was trying to win you over. Amazingly, instead of hissing and spitting at him, you just sighed and peeked out of the corner of your eye. When you saw that the department chair had moved on to another target, your shoulders sagged in relief and Jin fought back the urge to hold you protectively. It would probably result in a violent act that would endanger his ability to give you children.
"Just juggling the fine line of networking without offending anyone who thinks they deserve something from me because of who they are."
Jin thought he heard a whooshing noise as something skimmed over his head, but when he gingerly touched his hair, nothing was out of place. Odd.
"Yeah, those types of people are the most frustrating to deal with," he agreed, trying not to feel too elated that you were having an actual conversation with him. For some reason, you gave him an incredulous look.
"What-" you began, then paused. "But-" you stopped again, then took a deep breath. "You know what, nevermind," you finally finished in defeated tones. "I'll see you around, Seokjin."
It took him a moment to realize you had actually used his first name, and it wasn't until he got home later that he let himself scream into his silk pillowcase.
~~~~~
Unknown Number Hey, this is Yoongi
You Sexy bartender Yoongi? Shouldn't you be working?
Yoongi Shouldn't you be kissing ass?
You Rude but not inaccurate I just needed a break from… people
Yoongi The old dudes that won't stop staring at your ass, or the hot one that keeps following you around?
You Both I'm hiding in the women's bathroom where they can't find me
Yoongi Lol you're cute
You Don't laugh at my pain
Yoongi To be fair though, you have a great ass
You Yes but it's different when I want someone to look That someone being you In case it wasn't clear
Yoongi I appreciate the clarification Because trust me, I've been looking
You Thank you, it's only 60% because I'm wearing spanx
Yoongi And funny too I'm about to take a smoke break If you want to breathe outdoor air and tar instead of whatever it smells like in there
You You sure know how to sell it
Yoongi You're the one who gave me their number
You Fair
Yoongi If you keep walking past the women's bathroom the metal door at the end of the hall is the backdoor In case you want to avoid the crowd
You Is it too soon to tell you I'm in love?
Yoongi Nah I get it all the time
You Wow
You chuckled at your phone before standing up from the toilet you hadn't been using and exiting the stall. Not only was Yoongi hot, but his casual confidence and wit was also doing a lot for you. You peeked outside the women's bathroom to make sure the hall was clear - knowing your luck, fucking Seokjin would be ready to pop out like a cockroach if you weren't careful, even if he had been marginally less annoying earlier. With a sigh of relief when you saw no one, you quickly slipped out the door Yoongi had referred to.
"You made it."
You paused for a moment to admire the beauty that was Yoongi. His silver hair fell into his eyes, giving you an urge to brush it out of his face, and he pulled off the dress pants, white shirt, and black vest of a standard fancy bartender getup quite dashingly. The red flare of his lit cigarette cast his face in a dim glow, and the smoke he had just exhaled wafted above his head like a halo. You didn't even have an inclination toward smoking or smokers, but something about the way he held it was unbelievably sexy.
"Just barely," you agreed, playing off your ogling as just you taking a look around the back alley. You ambled over to lean against the wall next to him."This is quite romantic. Do you always bring girls here, or just the ones you plan on murdering?"
He laughed and grinned that cute smile that showcased his gums.
"Just the ones I want to kiss before my shift is over," he responded casually. So he was just as charming in real conversation as well.
"Is that so?" you asked lightly, turning to face him and smiling as you met his dark eyes. "Then what are you waiting for?"
Yoongi grinned again, dropping the cigarette and grinding it under his heel, but the glow never left his eyes. He took a step towards you, closing the scant distance between your bodies, and placed a large hand at the small of your back. His body heat seeped through the fabric of your dress and you could feel his warmth even through the hellish shapewear probably destroying your spine.
"This alright?" he murmured, sharp eyes focused on yours as he pulled you closer.
"Yes," you breathed, draping your arms around his neck and licking your lips in anticipation. His free hand came up to cradle the back of your neck, and your eyes fluttered shut as his mouth descended on yours. He tasted like cigarettes, but the soft silk of his lips more than made up for it.
He swiped his tongue across your lower lip, and when you allowed him entrance he proved that it was just as clever as his quips. You couldn't hold back a tiny moan as he licked into your mouth in slow, mind-melting patterns, and his grip tightened. You threaded your own hands through his gorgeous, surprisingly soft hair, swallowing his own groan when you raked your nails across his scalp.
"Good?" you murmured with a smirk as you pulled away, scratching him like a cat and watching his lids flutter as if too heavy to keep open.
"Shut up," he grumbled, though he nudged your hands with his head to encourage you to keep going. It was surprisingly endearing, and you found yourself even more attracted to him than when he had only oozed sex appeal.
"Cute," you teased with a chuckle, only grinning harder when he scowled and his eyes flashed.
"I'm not cute," he complained with an adorable pout, eyes drifting closed again when you scratched him behind his ear.
"Sure," you cooed patronizingly, ruffling his hair when he glared at you. You snickered to yourself, missing the spark that flashed through his eyes, until you found your positions switched.
"Um," you stammered, staring at him with wide eyes as he pressed you against the rough brick behind you.
"I'll show you cute," he growled, sending tingles down your spine and straight between your legs. And he did, lips crashing down on yours, tongue immediately forcing its way into your mouth in hot, punishing strokes that made your knees buckle. You whimpered against the onslaught, clinging to his shoulders and rolling your hips against his in an attempt to ease the ache that settled in your core.
Yoongi released your lips and you took a shuddering breath, only to release it all in a wild exhale when his teeth latched onto your neck.
"Don't-you-dare," you panted between whines, even as your hands slid down to grab a surprisingly plump ass. "I need to go back in there."
He made a displeased sound that once again made your brain think cute, but he obeyed, letting his tongue lave your sensitive skin instead. You weren't sure why he was annoyed - he was scrambling your brains just fine already, thank you. His own hand slid behind you to squeeze your backside, his other snaking upwards to palm your breast, and you groaned before taking his earlobe between your teeth, desperate to regain some feeling of control.
You licked at the metal in his ear and Yoongi cursed against you, giving your nipple a vengeful tweak you felt even through your stupid fucking Spanx. Why had you worn this again?
You weren't exactly sure how long you were out there, tangled in Yoongi's arms and drowning in the heat that had consumed your entire being, but a buzz in his back pocket made the two of you resurface. The bartender looked at his phone and groaned in irritation, his kiss-swollen lips jutting back out into a pout.
"My break was over ten minutes ago," he grumbled, looking at you with stark desire in his gaze and making no move to leave.
"That's unfortunate," you said conversationally, grabbing his adorable butt again and pressing yourself against his erection. He hissed, dark eyes narrowing when you gave him an innocent smile. You let go of his backside and gave his chest a light shove, making him stumble backwards.
"It was nice meeting you, Yoongi," you said with a sly grin before going back inside and making a beeline for the women's bathroom to make sure you didn't look like you had just spent the last fifteen minutes making out in an alley. Your phone buzzed in the small purse you were surprised you were still carrying, and you grinned when you unlocked the screen.
Yoongi I get off at midnight
You Cool, I'll prob get off when I get home
Yoongi Oh did someone rile you up?
You Hmm wouldn't you like to know?
Yoongi I would
You How about you come over after your shift and find out?
Yoongi I suppose I could make time
~~~~~
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