When your whole world revolves around one boy, but destiny sets you with a unexpectedly expected man.
♡Pairing:Yoongi × reader ft. Jimin
♡Genre:brother’s friend, only old crush, heartbreak, college oc au.
♡Summary:you’re over him, a new world sets in front of you. But the heartbreak you both got at the same time is not what you have had thought of. It must be the destiny to set you with your only old crush Yoongi. But still you ain’t prepared for the third heartbreak in a row, what if he breaks your heart again?
♡Warnings:fluff, mild smut, angst, heartbreak, like flooded with tears, oc is so sweet, confusion, misunderstanding, crush , breakup, traitor, betrayal, brother’s bestfriend, roommate, college oc, angst shower smut, smokey, dirty talk, seokjin is oc’s brother, he’s a dick, yoongi is a Heartbreaker, jimin is also a dick, expectations ruined, one-shot.
♡Word limit:6.5k
♡Author’s note :besties, here’s the new fic of Yoongi. Spare sometime of your to read this piece of beauty and let me know if you guys need a part 2 and how much you loved it. Kindly apologizing for not editing it cause it’s already so late. Remember I always love you <3
“I’m done with you, dude.” You screamed at your brother and ran into your room. You have been mad at your brother since so long. You both never get along. Fights, quarrelling and being mad at each other is both of your favourite things. You never want to live with your brother during your college years but only for the sake of your parents you were there sharing apartments with your brother. If you get any chance you would change your apartment.
“Stop overreacting, I’ll be home till night. Enjoy yourself.” Your brother said slamming your door. He was never in the house, always out there having fun with girls, alcohol and money. This is what he called life and you totally were different from him. You’re more conserved, introverted and only allow certain people in your life. But here you’re happy that atleast the whole house is yours now. You can watch Disney weird fantasy movies or eat pineapple pizza without being judged. At night after he left for partying you ordered a big size pizza and started watching the saddest movies to cry.
At the mean time of your crying session, you heard a ding bell sound at the doorstep. It’s almost two at the morning and you were confused who’s now. But at your surprise it’s you brother walking inside the house with one more person just like him. You saw him, but he was head down walking inside but you guessed it right. In the black jacket it was Min Yoongi. Your brother’s friend or kind of used to be classmate. You have been seeing him from the starting years of college. And now you’re almost at the end of the year. The person right before seems sad and num. But it was not a surprising thing cause everytime you meet Yoongi he looks so sad and calm. No emotions can be read from his expression.
“I guess you’re too early to come home!” You glared at your brother who settled himself at the couch, beside him Yoongi takes his sit.
“None of your business, girl. And why are you up this late, huh? Again watching your weird fantasy movies.” Your brother hummed.
“Yo, bitch. Don’t interfere in my life. Just go, I’m in the middle of something.” You ranted.
“Y/n language! Haven’t you seen Yoongi sitting right here? A guest is in the house and you’re talking to me like this?” Your brother glared. Yoongi just scoffs still head down.
“Let me clear this to you. Yoongi’s girlfriend kicked him out of there shared apartment. So, for few days or weeks he’ll be here with us until or unless there fight get resolved.” He said.
“None of my business though.” You rolled your eyes still focussing on the television screen.
Yoongi in his deep voice “we soon gonna be together again. Thanks Seokjin for giving me shelter.” Both of the boys then straight up walked into the rooms and you were there ending the last scenes.
From the starting years living with your brother Seokjin, you always met with all his friends. Yoongi was also one of them. But he was the one whom you talked the most in his group circle. Yoongi seems so calm and intelligent to your eyes. He was also a good listener while a great adviser. You both added each other in every social media platforms you were present. You almost talked with him daily the past years. But the sudden change that developed in him was still unknown to you. You didn’t get what ghosted him but this past few months he randomly stopped talking to you. No in person talks, no messages or neither calls. He even blocked you from all his social medias. You thought he was mad at you for something but you never get it for what. You tried asking him what’s the matter of not talking or having no contact with you randomly. But he never answered it in a right way. Neither did you exaggerated the matter. As told you were very picky about the people in your life. If somebody don’t want to have contact with you then it’s his loss. You’re always there to help anyone and everyone you know.
The very next day, you were excited to meet with your new crush Jimin. He’s new to your campus for few months and you both became good friends with eachother. He seems so cool to your eyes. Never did you think of dating anyone from your college but if it’s about Jimin then you can’t say no to it. He’s kind and fun guy to goof around. But the thing that make your heart flutter was his flirty side. The way he acts like he’s in love with you with all his picky lines on you. You can’t denied that you liked it, really every much. Your heart always pound whenever he goes all flirty with you. But you also can’t deny the fact that he seems flirty with all the other girls in the campus. Kind of like the new fuck boy in the college. Sad for you that at last you did fall for the flirty kid.
“ Jimin! How’s your day going bub?” You yelled at Jimin who was standing there flirting with some other girls.
“Y/n beautiful! You’re becoming more beautiful day by day.” Jimin walk up to and said.
“Ahh you boy! Shut up. Any plan for this weekends?” You asked.
“As you know our college last year gonna end in this month. So, I’m quite busy.” Jimin sighed.
“Yeah, but I’m excited for our graduation day. But Jimin I’m gonna confess something before our graduation day to you.” You whispered in his ears.
“Oh-okay. What’s it about can I ask?” Jimin hesitantly said.
“Meet me at the basket ball court at evening in this weekend. Okay?” You excitedly said.
“I-i will be there. But if anything necessary then you can tell me now.” Jimin asked.
“Patience Jimin. Don’t forget to come.” You winked at him and walk straight up to your house.
You were really happy that finally after taking a whole one year you now gonna confess to Jimin. Your heart saying that he gonna accept you but your brain already shown you some red flags. But you just ignored it. After denying for so long, now your feelings for him was strong and directive. You can sense it. Before the end of the graduation day you decide to confess the feelings. As you believe in ‘if you like someone, let them know how you feel for them’ philosophy.
You open the door of your living room, at your surprise a whole shirtless Yoongi was sitting at the couch watching his favourite football. His dark strands of hair was wet and a towel was hanging at his shoulders. The track pants which he was wearing was quite unrecognisable as the only thing you concentrated was on his pale smooth white skin. You can’t deny his beauty. He was unknowingly beautiful. His cheek bones, cat eyes and gummy smile. At the sound of the door he quickly trail his eyes on you.
You screamed “dress up, you naked man.”
Yoongi just rolled his eyes on you and put on his shirt and said “I’m not even naked. Haven’t you seen a shirtless man before?”
“S-sorry sir! But I’m not habituated to see a whole naked man in my house everyday.” You hesitantly exaggerated your words and sit at the corner couch.
“Then get habituated.” He said with a straight face almost focused on the sports.
You don’t seem to reply at his last words. Your eyes trail down to find your brother, who was nowhere in the house. You already figured it out again that he had gone to somewhere as most of the time he was not home when you came back from college.
“Have you seen my brother?” You asked Yoongi.
“I don’t know might me out of the home.” Yoongi said. Your inner brain was screaming that you also know that when Seokjin was not at home he was probably out of the house. You sighed at his words.
Hearing your frustrated sound, Yoongi looked at you and goes like “you can watch now, I’m good at the room.” And he get up from the couch and walked towards the room.
“hey! Yaa! Stop, you can watch. I’m not frustrated because of you. Come here.” You yelled at him.
Yoongi calmly come and sit at the exact spot. You were constantly looking at him but he say no to eye contact. With his baby eyes he was looking at the screen. The surrounding filled with the whistle of football match. You don’t know what to say to him. You were still thinking of starting a conversation but you don’t know how. But you want to ask that person beside you that why he was ignoring the hell out of you. You missed him, you accepted. Before even catching those feelings we cuts you off. You already added him in your good relationship bucket list. But he tend to follow the opposite both. Your eyes are kind of stuck at him without even realising.
Yoongi scoffs “you can stop staring. I’m feeling uncomfortable.”
His deep voice fetch you to the reality and you stumbled “umm.. i-i was just. S-sorry, can we talk?”
For the first time Yoongi’s eyes lands on you. You both made an eye contact for mili second until or unless Yoongi broke it. He goes “for what? I think I should go.”
“This is what I’m talking. Why did you just cut me off from your life, Yoongi. I mean what’s happened suddenly you stop talking to me?” You sighed.
“Is I’m not talking to you now?” Yoongi glared at you.
“You also know what I’m talking. You blocked me from every social media handles. Even you didn’t replied my texts. Why are you mad at me, Yoongi?” You said with a worried face.
“I was quite distrub from the past months. Might be because of that. We’re good.” Yoongi cleared it.
“No, we ain’t. The past months you only ignored me. I saw you attending each and every party. And you’re looking quite happy at that time” Your voice raised.
“Tell me, why you want to talk to me? Why you need me? Why you can’t resist me? Is you’re feeling for me? Do you wanna have something with me?” Yoongi screamed some unusual questions which you never thought of.
The question stuck to your head. When he asked you all this, you also questioned yourself. Why actually you want to talk to him. You realise you’re expecting something from. But it was also right your heart carries some part of love for him at that time might be now too. But the way Yoongi yelled at you, you’re expecting that.
“Min, are you okay? Is everything good? I know you and your girlfriend have a fight going on and I know how you feel. But that doesn’t mean you would shout at me like that.” You sighed.
“No, I’m not okay, y/n. I don’t know what’s happening. I can’t understand my feelings right now. My girlfriend is cheating on me at one hand and at another my feelings are growing for someone else. It feels like I’m cheating. But I ain’t a cheater, y/n.” Yoongi broke down. His deep voice mixes with some tearing emotions but he tried hard to not express.
Yoongi feels like he was the cheater because of you. The truth is he really likes you. That he can’t resist to talk to you. That whenever he saw you, he wants to wrap you around his body. Even when he have a girlfriend, you filled him with joy. Even having someone to love, he need you to be in love. You make him go crazy. But he knows it’s all wrong. That catching feelings for someone else instead of having a girlfriend is wrong. So, the best solution he found was to cut you off. Only for this reason he stopped talking to you. You feels like a complete stranger to him.
Still it didn’t work. At the times he talked to you he always stay happy and focussed but after cutting you off he seems sad most of the time. Also he feels so frustrating at times and fight with anyone and everyone he saw. That’s also a reason that after stop talking to you he and his girlfriend have fight most of the time. And after a long series of fighting and quarrelling with each other, his relationship becomes toxic as hell. He wants to scape out of the place. So, he did. But destiny have different plans, after pushing you so far. Atlast he came back at your arms only. Now, he was sitting beside you. You’re trying your best to confront him.
“Min, calm down. I’m here. I’ll not abandoned you. Tell me everything.” You quitely whispered in his ears while talking his hands on yours. His cold hands fit yours and it felt good.
“Thanks y/n. Sorry for everything I did to you. I’m the worst. I broke your heart and I also cheated on my girlfriend. Even though I know she was cheating on me since so long.” Yoongi calmly put his each word.
“No, you’re best. She’s cheating on you first. And feeling for someone else doesn’t make you cheater, Min.” You confronted him.
“You don’t understand. Right now in my life, I want somebody to hold be tight, to love me like I do and to protect me. No one in this earth loves me.” Yoongi frustrated and smack the pillow beside him.
You can’t hold how sad and frustrated he was that time. You never have seen him in like. He was broke, totally broke. You glanced at him and hugged his huge posture which was unstable. But with presence of your hugging body it get calm and the huge body turns down to small. He completely fitted between your arms. You patted his back, he didn’t argued to back off from the hug neither did he hold you back. You were just there holding him and confronting him. Seeing him like this you also got broke.
“I’m here, Yoongi. See, I’m holding you, loving you and even confronting you. Don’t even say those words. I care for you.” You said calmly still holding him in your arms like a baby.
His cologne smells like you’re in a mountain and forest. With each time going you like wrapped him around. He quietly sitting like a baby.
“Remember if the relationship is getting toxic, calls it a off. And if you like someone else and your feelings are genuine then let the person know it. Tell her that how much you feel for her. I know you will.” You geniunely said. He back off from your hug and nodded it a yes.
“And what if the person seems so close to me that knowing I like her, she’ll be surprised. And she also broke my heart.” Yoongi asked.
“I promise she’ll not. Just be brave and tell her your feelings. Not all people are heartbreaker like you.” You giggled to calm the situation down.
“You aren’t a heart break, huh?” Yoongi asked and you laughed at him.
As the atmosphere becomes a little lighter Seokjin your brother walks inside the room. Unknowingly you were around Yoongi’s arms and he was half heartedly hugging you. As your brother entered you both sit apart acting like nothing happens.
You glared at him and shouted “where were you brat?”
Seokjiin narrowed his eyes “language! You don’t need to know that. But let me tell you, for the rest of this week days you have to be alone as I’m leaving for a business trip.”
You excitedly said “really? Thank god! I’ll have my alone time now.” You love to be alone and as said you hated your nosy brother.
Seokjiin frowned “hold on girl! Don’t ever dare to think of bringing your boyfriend Jimin at this house.”
He then looked at Yoongi and goes “Min, can you please have an eye on my little sister. Don’t let her bring any boy.” Yoongi nodded but with a confusing face.
The last time your brother was not home, you bring Jimin and some of his other friends in your house. And to be honest it was a disaster. Next day your house smells like a pond of alcohol and smoking junction. Unfortunately your brother comes home at the wrong time and see all of those. He even saw how Jimin flirted with you and from then onwards he hated him.
You yelled “he isn’t my boyfriend.” But you slowly whispered to yourself “but he’ll be soon.”
“It’s better if he’s not. That boy is a dick. If you ran around him like that he surely gonna break your heart. Cut him off from your life.” Seokjiin said as packing his stuff.
“None of your buisness, brat. Have fun weekends. Me and Yoongi will also have fun.” You laughed devilishly.
Seokjiin moved all his clothes and necessary things in his suitcase and you say a bye to him. Well, sometimes you love your brother in real. But most of the time you hate him because of him being correct always. As for now, he already predicted that Jimin gonna broke your heart but you know Jimin really very well. He’s a sweetheart in your eyes who is so soft to broke anyone’s heart. This time you gonna prove your brother wrong by confessing Jimin. Your guts were telling you that your doing something right and should go on.
You two were alone in a house full of rooms. But it didn’t feel different as Yoongi entered in his room as soon as Seokjin left and you all visited your room to complete graduation studys. You were quite pressurized for the day but happy that you gonna confess to Jimin tomorrow. A perfect proposal you dreamt of . Long basketball court where you and he will be standing all alone and some butterflies kicking in your stomach.
Here Yoongi in his room ingrossed into his long fluffy blanket. His mind was full of you. He can’t stop thinking about you. All he need is you and you. His heart was playing some sort of games to go in your room and kiss your lips. When you were hugging me in the couch his eyes were constantly trailing down to your lips. He can’t resist his desire to kiss on that peach soft lips that taste like berries. He already know how you’ll taste. Your fragrance, soft skin, long finger, smooth hairs drives him crazy. It’s not like he was attracted to you for the first time . Whenever you come nearer to him, he can sense his hormones bobbing out of his nerves. He liked you, he knows. The only thing that stopping him was his bothered self. He wasn’t sure if you also feel the same, but he knows you feel the exact same. Without resisting his desires he got straight up from the bed and walk up to yours.
You were strolling down your eyes within the gigantic piles of pages right before you. He peep through the door to see your face. Your hair strands lacking his view and your frustrated face increases his rage. He liked you, he can’t see you like this. He does a sigh sound closing his eyes, which shifted your attention. You were no longer interested in your books but the person peeping you through the door interests you more.
You calmly open the door and whispered in his hear “do you need something, Yoongi?”
He got shuttered to your cat voice and stumbled “umm.. y-no. Actually you look so frustrated!”
You does a small laugh and said “graduation studies! It’s frustrating.”
He nodded his head looking at the floor and then said “if you’re okay, then we can watch some movies?”
You frowned your eyes in a playful manner “i can’t say no to you but -”
Yoongi intreuppted you “no buts. Living room in 10.” He turned to his room.
You chuckled on his cuteness. Well, if Jimin didn’t entered your life then Yoongi have been the one you would die on. You liked him from the every first of your college days. You haven’t met anyone as calm and as loyal as him. But presence of his girlfriend broke you down. You don’t want to interfere in his relationship. But as for now, he was in a verge of breaking up with his girlfriend. If you still have that active Yoongi loving bone in your body then you would have said everything to him. But fate have different plans.
The couch was cozy, the room was dark with various beam of light from television echoes. Freash buttery popcorn lined by your side. You were half lying on the couch beside Yoongi who was calmly looking at the movie you choosed. For sure you have your own romantic taste in movies. And he can’t say no to you. You were stealing some glance of him in the name of watching movie. He’s ethereal. You again felt the same butterflies when you used to talk to him. Again the feelings were kicking your stomach. You are liking it. Your sudden urge to touch him filled your heart but your mind keep debating about Jimin.
“Yoongi!” Your soft voice echoes the background.
He looked at you but his eyes were on your peack lips “umm…?”
“Are you liking this movie? If not then we can change it.” You hesitantly said.
“Loving it so far. Romance is never my thing but you made it mine now.” Yoongi softly chuckled again stick his eyes to the screen. But the one thing you don’t know that his focus never shifted from you. He also sees how badly you want him but no one makes a move.
“Can you pass me the blanket, Min?” You again grapped his attention. He gently took the blanket and cover your legs and torso. You both were just centimetres away. You shifted a little close to him to feel the heat. He smiled at you.
“Thanks, Min. You want the blanket?” You asked nervously. Without any hesitation he unfold the whole blanket and cover both you. You gently smiled at him. There was a big silence echoing your heart. You want to make the move to kiss him, to touch him and to play with his hairs. And that was when stopped when you actually did while there was a kissing scene going on .
You gently grapped his thighs and rubbed it slowly. “It’s cold here.” You slowly yet seductively said.
“Umm! Yes!” He nodded and pressed his cold hands on your bare legs. He also does the same thing you did.
But soon his hands trail upward inside from your loose shorts. He’s circling inside your inner things. His finger nails form a line in your inner thigh. You were loving that feeling. As soon as you put your hands out of his thighs, he makes a unsatisfied sound.
“Umm?” You looked at him innocently with a devilish thought. Both of your eyes met at once.
“Can I kiss you?” You hesitantly asked.
As soon as you ended the sentence his lips are already on your neck. This smooth lips does a great job in your bare neck area. He was gently kissing , devilishly sucking and you were pleasantly moaning his name. He kissed your collar bone and your pale skin turns to violet in seconds. He pressed you in the couch and lean over you. But you want his lips on yours.
The moment was made for Yoongi, he slowly takes his time to respond each and every moans of your. His lips were playing with your skin. Happily sucking each corner of your neck. Soon the realisation stuck him and he was now concentrating on your lips. Took a few times to glance at your lips while massaging your hair with one hand. He pressed his lips on your sharp jaw line. You were enjoying ever bit of it.
'Jimin’ this name echoed in your brain. That few minutes you can’t proceed, before you it was Yoongi but your heart his on Jimin’s hand. You can’t betray him like this. You have a deep feeling for him. You thought you were doing wrong, it was wrong. You can’t sleep with anyone like this. The realisation make you push Yoongi so hard.
He was at a verge of kissing your lips but the sudden push was unexpected for him. He got shuttered and hold the other side of the couch. He looks at you in a awe. You were looking at him in a deep guilt. Your face was telling you that it was wrong.
“What’s happened?” Yoongi innocently asked and came forward to you.
“Don’t touch me! It’s wrong.” You yelled at him as you run towards your room.
You heard him shout at you for what’s the matter or why you suddenly reacted like that as you’re the one you wanted all of this. But blaming and treating him like that, he felt so miserable. He realised that you ain’t the random hook up for only one night but he carries deep feeling for you. He should be sorry, he was wrong he accepted. But reacting like that was so astonishing for him.
Yoongi pushed your door and shouted for you. But there you were lying senselessly at your bed. Your face was pale and heart with a heavy weigh of guilt. You shouldn’t act like a kid. You wanted all of that, you started it and not him. You were wrong, but you haven’t the courage to tell him why you did that to him. Maybe tomorrow, you can tell him that Jimin was all over your head that time.
“Yoongi, can I explain this to you tomorrow. Please, leave me alone.” You yelled at him across the door.
Yoongi sighed “sure, I also have something to explain you. I can wait.” And he sadly walked at his room.
The whole night Yoongi’s mind keep on thinking about you. He can’t any more relay his feelings to himself. He needs to tell you what he feels for you. That he don’t think you as a one time hook up but a forever home. He decides to tell you his genuine feelings tomorrow as soon as you’re good to talk to him.
Tomorrow arrives, your guilt was eaten you up badly. Without wasting your time you walked to Yoongi’s room. You already prepared your words what you will tell him. That you like Jimin and that you can’t break his trust. Also you should be sorry for the last night because you make a move first but you were also the same person who weirdly ran off without saying anything.
“Yoongi! Can we talk?” You said glancing at the floor that shows you felt guilty.
He was still on his bed half asleep, in his rapsy voice “are you okay?”
“Y-ye.. n-no. I’m not. I really felt so bad for last night.” You stumbled.
“It’s completely okay. Consent is more important than anything. But -” Yoongi got intreuppted by you.
“No, I want to do. I mean I’m sorry. There is a reason why I didn’t want to have anything now with you.” You slowly mumbled.
“I understand. I’m good, don’t worry.” Yoongi yawned. You felt everything goes back that it use to and you left for your college. But the midway of his room Yoongi called you again.
“Excuse me, if you’re not in a hurry can I tell you something?” Yoongi was no more a half dead human but his tone shifted to seriousness.
“Sure, anything important?”
“Well, let’s have a sit. It’s important for me.” You sat at the edge of his bed.
“Oh! You okay?”
“Something is really eating me up, I don’t know how to tell you but I think I really feel attached to you. You does feel home. Always I think about you. You keep buzzing inside my head. I feel for you… Deeply.” Yoongi patiencely confronted everything. His eyes were glancing at your bracelet as he is bad at making eye contact.
Your eyes were no longer want to hide but you without blinking looked at his pale fluffy face. He like you, he mean he really feel for you, in real. The topsy turvey land appears infront of you. Just right now, you were going to confront to Jimin about his feelings and before that someone else did to you. The heart inside knows that Yoongi never jokes around, he say what he feels. But he still didn’t broke up with his girlfriend and what about those days when he completely cuts you off. You remembered all of this.
“Oh! I-i … Are you serious? You never even want to talk to me. You ignored me, remember?” You ranted angrily.
“Yes, I do ignore you but you know what’s the reason? I feel attracted to you, I can’t resist to talk to you, I always think about you and your little things hurts me easily. But I don’t want to cheat on my ex girlfriend so I simply say a goodbye. Though after all these months you can see where I’m!” Yoongi put over his point nonchalantly.
“Ah! Yoongi? You did all these because of some unfelt feelings! At last you need to tell me. But this is too late. I already feel for someone else.” You nervously ended your words.
“I understand but don’t you also feel the same way at some point? Don’t you also feel attracted towards me?” He passionately glance at you, his high voice pitch echoes all through his room.
“What if I used to do? Now, things are changed.” You screamed.
“Nothing changed. You still have feelings for me. Or else you would not want to fuck me!” The total atmosphere shifted into a peeaceful procession. Yoongi ranted the words which are harsh and real. You do feel the same way he does, but what about Jimin. God have a sinful duty to only designated single soulmate to oneself. You feel for true and you ain’t a traitor.
“Don’t you also? What are you doing at your so called friends house cause your girlfriend kick you out. And middle of your break up you’re hitting on your friend’s sister. Also trying your level best to make her fall for you.” You calmly stated. But your neurons are burning inside.
“And she’s falling for me? Isn’t she?” Yoongi in the heat of the debate flirtatiously walked up to you.
“Yes, she did. But I know I’m not a traitor like you. Now fuck off. Also today I’m gonna confess to Jimin. Pray that he also likes me. Now, good bye.” You pushed Yoongi out of your sight and walk up to the main door.
“May Jimin and you never meet again.” Yoongi chuckled at his words. You only rolled your eyes and left for college.
Fall of the darkness after a heavy heart break take lots of sadness. That numb cold weather with a wreaking heart gives shivering pain in your wholesome heart. You didn’t expected that, you never thought that but initially it happened. He said the most cruel words you never even thought he would know. You cried for the last time he did said 'goodbye’ not with a smiling innocent face but with a smug showing he played with your feelings. The words ’ I’d never even thought of you around my arms’ was spitted by Jimin. He betrayed you. But the last line stuck to your soul 'do you think I would let you suck my dick, y/n? Haven’t you seen yourself! You’re a pity. Go find someone else to do this shit. Good bye’ and he smirkingly ended your beautiful and hopefull day.
You cried under the dark and cold rainy evening. You just want to ran into your bed and cried for hours that you’re wrong. The heavy rain drenched all your clothes and you. Without waiting for the bus you walked down all the street still numb and overthinking in your head. No one loves you right now, whom do you want to live for? Under the nature’s water your own tears vanished.
It take no time to measure your home distance. You shut the door so loudly that you also got out of those painful thought. You are broke, your heart is. The pain has no bounds. The drenched clothes can’t match your drenched soul. Already the winter rain is eating you up but you need more coldness to be out of this burning world. You cried loudly sitting at the couch. Hearing you Suga came and look a glance at you. He didn’t said anything, just standing there quietly like observing your intentions. You felt his glance, you looked at his pale face with your small eyes. You wanted him to ask you about the pain you’re feeling, about the situation you’re in and about everything which breaks your heart. But you don’t why your heart beating and wanting him to console you. You aren’t about this side of yours. Your feelings are confused more than numb.
’ Aren’t you gonna ask me anything?’ you screamed in your teary voice.
Suga smiled ’ umm! I can see the rejection on your face.’
'shut the hell up. Everything happens because of you. I - I’ you screamed but the ending of your sentences vanished on your heavy crying voice.
Suga walk up to you and sit beside you ’ I understand everything. No need to cry this happens with everyone.’
’ Suga, if you don’t know how to console someone then it best to shut your pity mouth.’ you aggressively pushed him away.
’ Wow girl, is it so? In the morning you also broke my heart in the same way. You don’t know how much I care for you, how much I need you now. But you! You just spit some cruel words and not even regretting. This is how you feel when someone broke your heart.’ Suga bashed on you.
You look dumbfound. You’re processing everything he said but you realized he ain’t right. You need to correct him. 'Why’d you came in my life? Huh! I was so happy without talking to you after you stop talking. I do have feelings for you and you clearly know each and everything. You broke my heart first. And again when I’m finally good with a boy, you came back. You don’t know how much you broke my feelings internally from a long time. And you’re giving me this fucking reason?’ you finished and ran to your room and lock yourself under the cold shower.
Suga just for a whole minute hear your words again. He can’t processed that you liked him before even he does. And the fact that you still have feelings for him. His heart got flutter and a pound of sadness hugs his heart. He felt guilty of treating you like that. But he no more wants to be a heartbreaker. He wants to prove you that he loves you, a lot. And want to promise you that he ain’t like those flirty brat to goof around. He’s the sky of your earth that’s permanent and no one else is allowed here.
He ran towards your room and screamed at the top of his lungs when he can’t see you there 'y/n, I’m sorry!’ You heard his voice but weeped under the shower. Your voice is enough to know where are you. He opened the door of the wash room and saw you under the shower with all your drenched clothes.
'Y/n, what’s wrong? You will get cold.’ he softly said and came towards the shower the knob.
'just get out, Suga. Leave me alone.’ you screamed.
'calm down, let me turn the shower off.’ he said softly as he lean towards you to turn it off.
You pushed him ’ can’t you hear me, leave me alone .You brat!’
Suga tilt a little but he pushed you against the shower wall and pinned you down “shut up. I told you I’m here for you.’ he said in his low cold voice which spend shiver down your spine. You both got drenched in that cold water. The shower is still on and you’re numb by Suga’s dominance.
You look at his fierce eyes and broke down 'I-I am hurt. I don’t want anything.’ He still pinned you down the wall.
He said 'You want me. Don’t you?’ and looked in your eyes.
You’re feelings are peeping out and you can’t withstand the man before you. The gorgeous, tall and broke man said enough to console your feelings. Your eyes can’t resist those plum lips to kiss on. He’s unknowingly hot and you accepted it. You tiptoed and kissed him while your tears are still all over your face.
Suga is deep down kissing you and your whole sad soul. You loved it, you geniunely did. The kiss was intense and passionate. His hands trail down to your head and lean you more to have a perfect kiss which he was imagining for years. Out of breath you broke the kiss and sighed. He himself lean down and put both of your forward together. You both heavily breathed and smiled at each other.
"Thanks.” Suga calmly said.
You look at him with love in your eyes and “I’m not stopping with just a kiss. I’d been thinking about this for over years. Now, that you’re here, I can’t leave you. Just tell me you also carry that deep feelings for me.”
He paused for a moment and complete silence surronds that freezing cold shower leaving you both a hot mess. You again think about doing something nonsense.
Suga take a deep breath “ Y/n, I feel you’re the one I have been loosing for years because you were always there for me to find you. But I never took initiative to find you. Please I really do li- like you. Do-dont ever leave me.”
He stutters and hugged you so hard. The moment filled you with joy but often reality strikes everyone so hard. Under the shower, two humans both in love with eachother having a special moment yet the bang in door wakes both of you up.
Suga hesitantly look outside the shower door to look if anyone was there but again doorbell rang and to both of your surprises, it’s Seokjin.
You are still figuring out if telling your brother about you and Suga is a good option.
Smoke and Mirrors: a magician’s trick, the art of making an entity appear to be floating through the use of smoke and mirrors. In figurative speech, something which, once examined, is proven to be an illusion. Like the moon reflected on water, or a flower reflected in a mirror. Unable to be touched.
Description: Listless idol Jeon Jungkook has lost his creative spark. Something just feels…missing. And between jet-setting across the world and constantly evading public scandals, Jungkook’s life up until now has felt like a movie. One thing Jungkook can count on, however, is video games. Y/N has been gaming forever. And when a new VR game called Arcana is released, both Y/N and Jungkook are all over it. But what will become of Jungkook’s online persona when life forces the two to work together? And will Jungkook manage to keep his identity a secret from one of his closest Internet friends?
Genre: Romance, Drama, Fluff, Angst
Pairing: Jungkook x (gender unspecified) Reader
Word Count: 12.1k
Tags: Solo Idol!Jungkook, Gamer!Jungkook, Makeup Artist!Reader, Manager!Seokjin, Florist!Hoseok
Warnings: Swearing and mentions of alcohol, although infrequently
A/N: Haha….ha….ha….um, well this is awkward isn’t it? I haven’t been active on here in a long, long time! But God does it feel nice to return. In the time I’ve been away, I’ve been working on a lot of things at once. Too many chefs in the kitchen, except the chefs are projects/responsibilities and the kitchen is me and is also on fire. I think right now more than ever, I’ve leaned into writing to help me feel a bit better about the world. So if this story can make you happy that’s honestly all I can ask for. I don’t think I’ll be keeping a posting schedule, as that feels like too much for me right now, but maybe in the future I’ll come up with a schedule that doesn’t feel overwhelming! Regardless, I’ve missed you guys and I’ve really missed posting my writing here. I hope you all still remember me! And I hope you enjoy this story. Really. As always, please feel free to send me any thoughts or concerns! Questions, critique, comments: send them all my way! I can’t wait to get chatting with you all again.
And I’m on Twitter! I’ll put the link here if you want to follow. I’m very active over there!
“Well work harder, damn. Tiki’s about to go down,” you say, gritting your teeth as you whip around toward the dragon staring your party down.
It circles you, never once looking away, several stories tall with glowing yellow eyes that seem to leave trails behind in the darkness of the cavern. You feel at once impossibly small and impossibly fragile in front of such a behemoth, all purple scales and saliva stringing across pointed fangs.
“Just focus on offense for now,” says Sapphire, grunting as he lunges sword-first toward the dragon.
Your brows shoot sky high as Sapphire, a DPS like you, runs straight for the enemy. His silver knight’s armor clanks in his wake. “Wait!” you call, but it’s too late. Your teammate has his sword plunging in and slicing out and slashing wild before you can even prep your next spell. “Jesus, Saph!”
Smoke and Mirrors: a magician’s trick, the art of making an entity appear to be floating through the use of smoke and mirrors. In figurative speech, something which, once examined, is proven to be an illusion. Like the moon reflected on water, or a flower reflected in a mirror. Unable to be touched.
Description: Listless idol Jeon Jungkook has lost his creative spark. Something just feels…missing. And between jet-setting across the world and constantly evading public scandals, Jungkook’s life up until now has felt like a movie. One thing Jungkook can count on, however, is video games. Y/N has been gaming forever. And when a new VR game called Arcana is released, both Y/N and Jungkook are all over it. But what will become of Jungkook’s online persona when life forces the two to work together? And will Jungkook manage to keep his identity a secret from one of his closest Internet friends?
Genre: Romance, Drama, Fluff, Angst
Pairing: Jungkook x (gender unspecified) Reader
Word Count: 12.1k
Tags: Solo Idol!Jungkook, Gamer!Jungkook, Makeup Artist!Reader, Manager!Seokjin, Florist!Hoseok
Warnings: Swearing and mentions of alcohol, although infrequently
A/N: Haha….ha….ha….um, well this is awkward isn’t it? I haven’t been active on here in a long, long time! But God does it feel nice to return. In the time I’ve been away, I’ve been working on a lot of things at once. Too many chefs in the kitchen, except the chefs are projects/responsibilities and the kitchen is me and is also on fire. I think right now more than ever, I’ve leaned into writing to help me feel a bit better about the world. So if this story can make you happy that’s honestly all I can ask for. I don’t think I’ll be keeping a posting schedule, as that feels like too much for me right now, but maybe in the future I’ll come up with a schedule that doesn’t feel overwhelming! Regardless, I’ve missed you guys and I’ve really missed posting my writing here. I hope you all still remember me! And I hope you enjoy this story. Really. As always, please feel free to send me any thoughts or concerns! Questions, critique, comments: send them all my way! I can’t wait to get chatting with you all again.
And I’m on Twitter! I’ll put the link here if you want to follow. I’m very active over there!
“Well work harder, damn. Tiki’s about to go down,” you say, gritting your teeth as you whip around toward the dragon staring your party down.
It circles you, never once looking away, several stories tall with glowing yellow eyes that seem to leave trails behind in the darkness of the cavern. You feel at once impossibly small and impossibly fragile in front of such a behemoth, all purple scales and saliva stringing across pointed fangs.
“Just focus on offense for now,” says Sapphire, grunting as he lunges sword-first toward the dragon.
Your brows shoot sky high as Sapphire, a DPS like you, runs straight for the enemy. His silver knight’s armor clanks in his wake. “Wait!” you call, but it’s too late. Your teammate has his sword plunging in and slicing out and slashing wild before you can even prep your next spell. “Jesus, Saph!”
You hear his laughter like bells echo through the cavern, seeming to bounce against the domed ceiling and drip like water from the clinging stalactites. “Tiki! Distract!” you call as the dragon whips wildly: first toward Sapphire and then toward you. “Shit,” you whisper, examining your mana with a hiss. “I need a second to recover!”
Tiki, a massive green orc and also your team’s tank, rushes in with his battle axe. Upon the first hit, the dragon writhes in pain and turns toward Tiki, ire in its yellow eyes. Tiki says nothing, just lets out a string of labored breaths as he swings his heavy weapon. Sapphire is quick to attack at the dragon’s heels. The dragon opens its mouth to spew flames across the charred cavern, aiming right for Tiki, but before it can Zero finally heals him with a flash of white light and a bolt straight to his broad green chest. You jump, turn to the side to see Zero is standing beside you about twenty feet from the dragon.
“Get spelling, Nova!” he shouts, long blonde hair flying in the breeze his spell created.
His voice, deep and gruff, doesn’t suit his pretty, dark-skinned elven body: particularly the well-rendered female…curvature. Every time he talks, it takes you off guard. You shake it off and nod once.
“Loli! Get punching!” you call to your resident monk as she idles near the dragon’s tail. She says nothing. You sigh, rest a hand on your hip. “Loli!”
She jumps to attention. “Sorry! My roommate needed me,” she says with a laugh, rubbing the back of her half-shaven head.
“Tell her to piss off!” calls Tiki as the dragon, halted by Zero’s healing spell, recovers and swings a mighty paw his way.
Your mana is finally restored and, shutting your eyes, you summon a bolt of ice. With a shout, you spin your staff over your head before slamming it down with a thunderous clap. Ice splinters dizzyingly fast from the ground beneath your staff and crawls like frost until it hits the dragon, stunning it still for a few seconds.
“Health’s low! Saph, go for the kill!” Lolita shouts as she lands a solid punch on the dragon’s belly that shatters your freezing spell.
Without waiting a second more, Sapphire shoves his sword into the dragon’s heaving chest as it writhes from pain. It looses a cry that sends vibrations through the cavern. A few rocks tumble from fissures in the cave walls, and a stalactite cracks and careens toward the ground where it explodes into shards.
And, with that, the massive beast falls to its stomach, its head clunking to the ground in front of Tiki’s feet. The ensuing silence rings in your ears as the five of you stand completely still, waiting. It wouldn’t be the first time an enemy has fallen only to reveal a dormant ability that results in a second battle. None of you says a thing until the massive body before you begins to dissolve into pixels, leaving you with only the skull as a prize and a bag of loot in place of a carcass.
Lolita is the first to break the silence with a loud hoot. “Wooh! Hell yeah!” she shouts, clapping her hands.
You chuckle, lean on your staff. “Loli, you can only celebrate halfway since you missed half the fight,” you tease with a fond sigh.
She rushes toward you, wipes off her blue robes and crosses her arms. “My roommate came in!”
“And you didn’t warn us,” Zero chides as he smooths a few flyaway hairs, smiling. That model of his is just too pretty…
“I-,”
“Guys!” Sapphire shouts, jumping once as he examines the loot bag. “Look at this!”
You spin your staff in your hand and jog to stand beside the knight. His red eyes are bright, digging through the bag until he produces in one gloved hand—
“Is that a Philosopher’s Stone Fragment?” asks Tiki, similarly enraptured as he comes up beside Sapphire’s flank.
Sapphire nods. “Which means—,”
“Which means we’re one step closer,” you say, and you lock eager eyes with Sapphire who only nods. “Well shit!”
“Also means we were right to come this way,” Lolita says, holding up one finger as if correcting us. “And whose idea was that?”
Zero shoves Lolita by the head and turns back toward the loot bag. “Anything else?” he asks.
Sapphire digs around before shrugging. “A shield,” he says.
“Don’t need it,” Tiki says.
“And…mm…,” he pauses, brow furrowing as he pulls out a piece of paper. He purses his lips, runs a hand through his blue-black hair, cocks his head to the side. “Schematic?”
“For what?”
“Oh!” he exclaims, turning to you as he hands you the paper. You look it over and scoff. “Superior elemental staff.”
“Cuts down the mana I need to do spells,” you say, rolling your eyes as you pocket the paper. “Coulda used that today.”
Sapphire claps your shoulder. “Next time! We’ve still got three fragments to find before anyone else does.”
You nod. “Well, with that settled…,” you begin, itching to use the bathroom.
“Ah! You gotta leave?” asks Sapphire.
You nod. “Got work in the morning.”
“Eugh,” he sighs, shoulders slumping. “Me too.”
“Me three,” says Zero.
“Ah, the working world. We’re lucky, huh Tiki?” Lolita says with a wistful sigh as water from overhead drips onto her shoulder. She jumps a little, but settles easily. “Don’t you miss your reckless college days?”
You laugh. “I only graduated last year,” you say, turning toward Sapphire. “Speaking of which, Saph did you ever go to school?”
He stiffens. “Ah, uh…,” he begins, glancing at his feet. He’s quiet for a moment. “No. Not past high school,” he says with an almost sheepish nod.
You don’t say anything, but it seems like there’s something he’s keeping to himself, something he doesn’t want to share. Sapphire is always like that, but this feels a little different.
“Hm,” you say, sensing his discomfort. “Welp, I’m gonna peace out for the night. Message me when you guys wanna go for the next fragment. I’ll keep researching where it might be.”
“Mm, sounds good,” says Tiki. “I’m starving. Loli, wanna get some food?”
Lolita glances at Tiki out the corner of her eye. “You mean, like, real food?”
Tiki sighs. “Obviously real food. I don’t wanna waste money on game food.”
She laughs and nods. “Alright. I’ll meet you at your dorm.”
“Mm.”
Without another word, both Tiki and Lolita blink out, leaving nothing behind them. You turn toward Zero and pat his back. “Sorry for getting on your case tonight,” you say. “I was worried Tiki would fall and then…well, you get it.”
Zero shrugs, examining one of his perfect fingernails. “No, I wasn’t on my game tonight. I’ll be better next time.”
“Me too,” you say, waving as Zero too blinks out.
You turn toward Sapphire and offer a smile. “Sorry for asking about college,” you say.
He stiffens, brows raised. “Hm? Oh, no it’s fine,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck with a smile. “It’s just, uh…well, you know my dad always wanted me to go to college so…”
You wave your hands, shake your head. “Forget it, alright? I won’t bring it up unless you do first.” You smirk. “You played tank tonight, didn’t you?”
He laughs. “Yeah, a little.”
“Don’t do that shit,” you say, but you can’t help your smile. “What would we do if we lost you in the middle of a battle?”
You can see his posture go a little straight. He turns to you, blinking. “You…?” he begins, but cuts himself off with a laugh. “Ah, mm, well…I’d better get going.”
“Mhm. Message me if you get any new info about fragment locations,” you say, then chuckle. “Or if you just wanna talk about The Bachelor or something.”
He laughs with you. “I don’t watch The Bachelor!”
“Well, whatever you watch!” you call as you jog a few paces away. You offer a wave which Sapphire mimics before pressing the disconnect button on your headset.
You shake your head, disoriented as you return to your bedroom, your window sitting before you, the outskirts of Bucheon spreading out in spindly arms around you. Your head throbs a little and you wince, removing your sensor gloves and setting them gently on the light wood table beside your computer. You guide one of the philodendron leaves to the side so it won’t tickle the gloves. You shuck off the sensor jacket too and leave it draped over the back of your gaming chair. Slowly, you return your attention to the window, smiling down at the sea of lights undulating in the dark. It’s a nice evening, you notice as you press the pads of your fingers to the cool glass.
Your phone, until then sitting dormant on the tabletop beside your potted jade plant, pings to life with a notification. Your eyes widen and you grab for it, stretching your torso as you do to work out your aching muscles. Tonight’s session with the group had gone long, and the fatigue on your back is severe from slumping in that gaming chair like a shrimp. And even though you have to move your upper body to activate the full range of Arcana’s sensor controls, your ass feels like you’ve just sat through back-to-back, four-hour lectures.
BeastSlayers™
SacredSapphire: miss u guys already :-(
You laugh, watch as Tiki begins writing a message in response.
TikiTikiRoom: ..
TikiTikiRoom: dont be soft bitch ill kill you
You pad down the hallway, watching your phone as you stumble through the dark apartment with one hand on the wall bracing you. You connect your phone to the TV speakers and play some lofi something or other, bop your head as you enter the kitchen and flip on a flickering yellow light. You rifle through the freezer, produce a cherry red popsicle. You press it to your lips and smile.
Lolovely: I haven’t even made it to Tik’s dorm wtf why are you being sappy already?
CodenameZer0: Looool, Saph? More like SAP.
TikiTikiRoom: press f
SuperNova: I think it’s sweet :’)
SuperNova: Wanna voice chat?
SacredSapphire: nonono
SacredSapphire: someone’s coming over lol
Lolovely: ominous…
You chuckle and take a bite of your popsicle. But as you do, the thing turns to mush and slides from the stick like slop, staining your white shirt and your lips red. “Shit!” you exclaim, then rush to the freezer.
With a sigh, you notice that a layer of ice is frosted over the back. And as you jam your hand in, you can feel that the temperature is higher than it should be. Hence, melty popsicle. You groan, take to it with a knife from the creaky drawer. You chip away at the ice and keep chipping until the back of the freezer is visible once more.
“Cheap piece of crap,” you mumble, kicking the fridge with your socked toe.
You return to the group chat to a slew of messages.
TikiTikiRoom: WAIT SAPH DO YOU HAVE A BOY/GIRL/THEYFRIEND??
TikiTikiRoom: IM GONNA HAVE AN ANEURISM
Lolovely: !!!!!!!!!
Lolovely: ??????
CodenameZer0: Hohohoh
CodenameZer0: Could it be?
SacredSapphire: NO!!
SacredSapphire: i don’t have a boy/girl/theyfriend! i’m too busy, rip
SacredSapphire: it’s just someone
SacredSapphire: don’t worry about it lol
Lolovely: sus…
Lolovely: nova’s better at this stuff
Lolovely: interrogation
Lolovely: think if i scream hard enough nova will come back?
Lolovely: NOVAAAAAA
You laugh and take a few photos. First of the old laminate floor which now resembles a crime scene in cherry popsicle red. Next of your shirt, now streaked in slush. Third, of your face, lips stained like you’ve smeared lip tint on your skin. You pull a pout before snapping the shot, then send all three together.
SuperNova: I crave death.
SuperNova: Stupid cheap fridge. Freezes over literally monthly.
SuperNova: I hate it here.
Lolovely: oooh that pic…
Lolovely: kinda….sexy hehe
SuperNova: ???
You set your phone aside and take to cleaning the floor. Last thing you need in this shithole is an ant infestation. Your music bumps gently through the sound bar beneath your TV. Sure, your apartment is decked out in tech, but the place itself?
You glance around the kitchen, a sanitary white with pretty fixtures, and suppress a sigh. It’s all for show anyway, this apartment. Like almost all the others in the area, it only looks nice. The reality, however…
Well, it’s melted popsicles and a shower that only runs lukewarm.
You check your phone with a hip against the countertop.
TikiTikiRoom: lewd lol
SuperNova: Shut up lmao nothing lewd about my shitty fridge.
SuperNova: Anyway, no I’m not gonna help you bully Saph.
SuperNova: Leave him alone or I’ll bite your ankles.
Lolovely: !!!
Lolovely: qu'est-ce que pas?
Lolovely: Nova…you’ve been defending Saph lately…
Lolovely: hold on i’m seeing something…
CodenameZer0: Don’t threaten my ankles.
SacredSapphire: nova baby ur the only loyal one here
Laughing, you type your response and make your way to the couch, falling flat on your stomach with an unpleasant thump.
Jeon Jungkook sits still, swiveling in his gaming chair with a soft smile as he watches the messages surge through the Discord group chat. Even though they’re busy teasing him, Jungkook can’t help the swell of fondness in his chest for his group mates. He leans back precariously far, the room nearly pitch black save for the shifting LEDs on his keyboard and the purple screensaver on his monitor.
SuperNova: It’s you and me, Saph.
SuperNova: Now come here and get your kith :3
Jungkook chokes a laugh with his hand, covering his mouth as his eyes squint. He tosses his head to the side, lets out a sigh. Quietly, he touches the photo you sent and lets it spread across his screen. He chuckles, examining your expression. Displeased, you eye the camera with furrowed brows and a pout. Briefly, Jungkook considers telling you it’s cute.
But he quickly clicks out of the photo, clears his throat, and catches up with the chat.
CodenameZer0: God, barf.
TikiTikiRoom: no kithes for zero
Lolovely: lolol i want a kith :(
SuperNova: Get in line then. Saph first.
SacredSapphire: i….*blushes*
SacredSapphire: N-N-Noona!
CodenameZer0: FUCKING BARF GOODBYE
Zero’s icon goes offline and Jungkook laughs in earnest now, his head lolling back. But before he can respond, the door to his studio opens with a robotic jingle. He jumps a little, turning his whole body toward the door. He nearly falls off the chair as he swivels.
In the doorway, Kim Seokjin shuffling across the threshold with two cups of coffee in a carrier. He looks a little disheveled, hair windswept and eyes scanning the room round and round. His gaze lingers here and there: resting on Jungkook’s wall of figurines, then on the futon still pulled down and covered in a messy heap of sheets, then on Jungkook’s face as he sits perfectly still, perfectly redhanded. Jungkook’s mouth agape, his fingers poised to type another message to the group chat, his computer monitor showing no lyrics, no notes, no Ableton. Just his screensaver.
Jungkook had planned to pull up his WIP song before Jin arrived, but the opportunity to do that has long since passed.
“Uh…,” Jungkook says, dumbfounded with round eyes glowing in the flashing keyboard lights. “Hey, Seokjin.”
Jin’s nostrils flare, his expression fiery. His attention flashes to the sensor gloves, the controllers sitting beneath them, the sensor jacket left astray on the ground, haphazard.
“Jeon Jungkook-,”
“I can explain!”
Seokjin glares at him, cocks one single brow. “Uh-huh?”
“I…,” Jungkook begins, flustered as he rises to his feet. He feels like he’s in school again. Seokjin’s gaze is disarming, intense, and his knuckles are white as he crushes the cardboard handle of the coffee carrier. “Uh…I was taking a small tiny little break.”
“A small,” Seokjin begins, placing the coffee on Jungkook’s work desk and resting his palm beside it, “tiny,” he continues, leveling his eyes with Jungkook’s, “little break?” Jin’s jaw is clenched.
Jungkook swallows hard. “Mhm…”
Jungkook expects Seokjin to bare his canines, to sneer at him, to scold him to kingdom come. But his manager simply eases into a sigh and leans away from Jungkook, rubbing his forehead. It’s clear the will to fight with Jungkook is slowly leaking, and before long Seokjin has fallen backwards onto the futon, crushing the blanket mountain in his descent.
“Listen,” Seokjin says, fatigue in his voice. “You’ve got…so much going on in the next few months, you know?”
“I know!” Jungkook says, quick to sit beside Seokjin, brows knitting. He feels like a kid again, and the disappointment laced through Jin’s words feels like his childhood. “Trust me, I’m not just…like, procrastinating. It’s not that.”
Jin eyes him sidelong. “Then what is it?”
Jungkook stiffens, his back straight as a board. He clears his throat, stares at the coffee. “Let me get those,” he says, rushing to his feet with a clumsy stumble and grabbing the coffees before returning to his spot beside Jin. He hands Jin a coffee, expectant and, begrudgingly, Seokjin takes it and sips.
“Don’t avoid the question,” he says, stern. “If anyone’ll understand, it’s gotta be me, right?”
Jungkook nods. “No, you’re right!”
“Like, we’ve gone through some hard shit and where have I been? Right behind you. From day one,” he says, leveling a serious look at Jungkook. The lighthearted mood has fled from the room through the cracks in the walls. “All I’m asking is for you to put in the effort.”
Jungkook sighs, rests his forearms on his knees, laces his fingers around the coffee cup. He stares at the space between his toes. “I just…,” he begins, voice choked with insecurity. He doesn’t want to say it. In fact, he’d rather do just about anything else.
Because, after all, saying it means it’s real.
And if it’s real, then it’s a real problem.
“Listen,” Jin begins, patting Jungkook’s back. “I get it. Making music…it can be really tiring, right?” he says. Jungkook can only shrug. “And sometimes you might not feel like you can do it. Like you don’t have the inspiration.”
“Mm…”
Seokjin gives another pat, stronger this time. “But that’s how life is, Jungkook. Work doesn’t just wait. You’re an adult now. You’ve got adult responsibilities. And when you make a passion into your full-time job, you kinda sacrifice the freedom. Deadlines are a thing. You can’t just…be flippant and casual about it.”
“I’m not being casual,” says Jungkook, and for the first time since Jin walked in his voice is strong and steady. He sits up straight and meets Jin’s imploring eyes.
Seokjin offers a small smile. “Good,” he says. “I trust you. And, you know, you’ve got a whole team of producers behind you who wanna see you succeed. All you’ve gotta do is call.”
“I know.”
“You’re not doing it alone, alright?” he asks, and Jungkook’s throat tightens a little. “That’s the good thing about making your passion into your full-time job, huh? Now…well, now it’s not just your responsibility. It’s divided.”
“Yeah.”
“Well…,” Seokjin says, patting his thighs as he pushes to his feet. “Just wanted to drop by and check on you.”
Jungkook offers a smile and nods, standing with his manager. “Yup.”
“You do remember what’s on deck for tomorrow, right?” asks Seokjin, cocking a brow as he takes another swig of coffee.
Jungkook nods again. “Screen test with the drama people.”
Jin smacks the side of Jungkook’s head and crosses his arms. “Not the drama people!” he says, rolling his eyes. “It’s IJBC.”
“IJBC, right,” Jungkook says as he tenderly rubs the side of his head. “I remember.”
“Do you even know the name of the drama?” The younger boy falls silent, sheepish. “It’s called Give Up Generation, Jungkook.”
“I remember,” Jungkook says, pouting a little. “I just…forgot for a minute.”
Jin can’t help chuckling. “Get to bed early then so you don’t have dark circles,” Jin says with a smile, nodding as he turns toward the door. “Ah!” Seokjin pivots around, casting a disdainful look over Jungkook’s shoulder at the foldout futon. He pulls a scowl. “Sleep at home tonight, will you?”
Jungkook chuckles. “Alright. Stop nagging now,” he says, patting Jin’s back as he guides him out the door and into the hallway. “Bye, Jin!” he calls, not awaiting a response.
Slowly and with his head down, Jungkook shuffles back inside and slumps into his gaming chair, staring at his screensaver. He heaves a deep down sigh, lets it escape through his lips nearly pinched shut. Like exhaling cigarette smoke.
His phone pings to life with an incoming message.
SuperNova: Alright, I had your back before but I don’t cosign the Noona Agenda. I don’t even know if I am your noona.
Lolovely: seconded.
Lolovely: plus it’s icky.
TikiTikiRoom: boooooo
SuperNova: Wait, I think I just heard something in the hallway. Hold on.
Lolovely: SCARY!
TikiTikiRoom: burglars lol
Lolovely: ctrl z yourself, tiki
Lolovely: what if it is though…?
TikiTikiRoom: doubt it.
SuperNova: !!!
SuperNova: Lol it was a package…?
Lolovely: so late…?
SuperNova: Yeah…Lemme open it hold on.
The next message that comes through is a photo you send. Jungkook sits up straighter, opens it quick, and grins once he realizes what it is. A cardboard box, relatively big, sitting torn open on your kitchen floor, the photo features a look inside at several pretty makeup palettes and brushes. Jungkook doesn’t know the names of everything he sees, but he knows why it’s a big deal.
SacredSapphire: !! they finally sent it!!
SuperNova: They did!!
Lolovely: wait what? what did who send?
SuperNova: Lol, sorry. Uh I guess I only told Saph. But the brand I’ve been communicating with actually sent me a PR package! I’m gonna use it on my next job.
SuperNova: This shit’s super expensive too, so I’m lucky I’ve been in contact with a rep.
SuperNova: Gotta use the best to be the best!
TikiTikiRoom: i forgot ur a makeup artist lol
TikiTikiRoom: .-.
SuperNova: …
SuperNova: We’ve been group mates for like four months jfc
SuperNova: Anyway, yeah I’m glad. I guess they sent it to the wrong apartment? So my neighbor brought it over. He just got back from work.
Lolovely: neighbor?
Lolovely: cute neighbor?
SuperNova: He’s like seventy so no, not really my type.
SacredSapphire: nova, that’s super cool. i’m sure you’re gonna get big gigs soon.
SuperNova: Well, I can hope haha.
SuperNova: No, well…all I can do is work hard.
SuperNova: >:-)
All you can do is work hard, huh?
Jungkook tosses his phone to the side and rubs his hands up and down his face. He pinches his eyes shut and relaxes into the back of his chair, feeling the lull of sleepiness finally pulling at him.
And instead of going home like Jin asked, Jungkook simply pads over to the futon and, without moving the blankets, collapses atop them and falls asleep where he falls.
“I’m very sorry.”
“No…uh, no it’s fine.”
“Of course, you can keep the fees or whatever.”
“Oh, um, I…no, I’ll refund those too.”
“Really? I’ll give you a really good review!”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I’m really sorry.”
You sigh, plant a hand on your forehead and heave a sigh. Forcing a smile, you shake your head and press your phone into the crook of your shoulder, bending down to give your fiddle-leaf fig a hose down with your watering can.
“It’s fine. Things come up, you know?”
The girl on the other side of the phone, a young independent model going in for headshots, had called you an hour ago and had spoken at length about why she has to cancel her appointment with you today. How the photographer did this or that, how she actually watched a few tutorials online and figured she could do it herself, how she felt so so bad. You feel bad for her, of course. Kind of.
“Listen, I’ll give you a shoutout on my page, alright? I’ll tag you in my story,” she says.
You shake your head. “No, that’s fine. Just, um…you know, take care. Remember to clean your brushes.”
At this, she laughs. “Thanks for being so cool. I was actually super nervous to call and cancel. I’ve had to cancel a few things like this before, and I’ve had bad experiences,” she says. “Anyway, I’ll recommend you!”
“Alright.”
“Thanks!”
You nod as she hangs up the phone. Gently, you rise to your feet and set your watering can aside on the kitchen table. You set the phone beside it, pausing to glare at the black screen. Well…there goes your Sunday. You turn over your shoulder, pad to the window, crack it open a little. A bracing breeze whistles through, cooling your skin. You shut your eyes against it — only for a moment — before you turn on your heel, shove your feet into your sneakers sockless, swipe your phone and house keys, and shove out the door.
The florist’s is a healthy walk away, but the weather is nice enough and you’re too tired to brave the subway even if it’s only a few stops. You pass buildings and parks as the landscape becomes more and more urban and the high rises look like they could puncture the cloud layer. Before long, you’re standing in front of Happy Garden and, stepping through the sliding doors that are always left open and all-but nonfunctioning with the lush green plants climbing all around. You breathe a sigh of relief, pat your chest a little as the fresh, grassy scent settles your heart.
You aren’t there for more than half a minute before Hoseok stumbles out from the back room, grinning wide with a bouquet of hydrangeas in his hands, wrapped in butcher paper and twine. He curves around the stumbling greenery littering every surface and encroaching on every walkway and comes to a stop in front of you. He smiles.
“Hey,” you say before he gets the chance. You hold up one limp hand in a lazy wave.
He glances up and down, from your head to your toes, and sighs. Still holding the hydrangeas, he rests a hip on the checkout counter and cocks a brow.
“That is the opposite of encouraging,” you remark with a scowl.
He chuckles, pats your arm. “What’s up?” He jerks his head toward the front of the store where bouquets are displayed and you follow behind him as he leads you there. “Unsuccessful raid?”
“Contrary to popular belief, my life doesn’t revolve around video games, actually,” you say, but his laugh wipes the grimace from your face.
His fluffy hair bounces as he bends down to add the hydrangeas to the display and when he stands upright once more he crosses his arms. “You know what I mean. You’ve been in here a lot lately.”
“Pardon me for trying to raise plants,” you say with a pout.
Again, he laughs. “Jesus, stop trying to pick a fight!” he says. “You must be in a really bad mood if you’re here acting like this.”
“Well what’s that supposed to mean?” you begin, outrage all over your face, before locking eyes with Hoseok and composing yourself. You sigh, nod your head. “Yeah, no I’m being annoying.”
He smiles, heart-shaped, and the apples of his cheeks grow rounder. What a joyful guy, you think to yourself with a wistful sigh. “Tell me about it then.”
He pulls one of the empty display boxes over and offers you a seat as he begins tending to the plants all around. You oblige, settle in, and sigh again. “It’s just…everything kinda feels like a dead end right now.”
“Hm?” he asks over his shoulder, graceful hands guiding a waxy leaf back in place.
“Like with my work,” you say, then shake your head. “No, that’s not it. Not entirely.”
“What do you mean?”
“Like…things are okay, you know? I’m getting PR gifts. I’m growing my following on Instagram. I’ve got consistent clients,” you say, nodding. “Like everything is fine, you know?”
“But something feels…missing maybe?” Hoseok offers as he moves to spraying the ferns with water.
You shake your head. “More than that, it’s…like, I feel like I’ve hit the ceiling of what I can do, you know? Like what if this is the best I’ll ever do?”
“Is that bad?” he asks.
You sigh. “Not bad, just…disappointing,” you say. “I wanna work on movies. Red carpets. Editorials.” You rest your chin in your hand and your elbow on your knee. You stare up at Hoseok, now trimming brown leaves from another plant across the store. “I don’t wanna be stuck doing birthday parties forever.”
Hoseok hums, turns toward you with his hands in his apron pocket. He offers a smile. “You sound like a brat.”
You stiffen, eyes wide. “I-,” you start, but there’s really not much you can say to retort. So, softly, you slump once more and shrug. “Yeah…”
“And if you keep that attitude, you’re never gonna be an editorial makeup artist. I can promise you that,” he says with a nod as he approaches once more and crouches before your knees, still smiling. “Everyone has to grow somehow, you know? Be grateful you’ve got opportunities to build your resume.”
You nod. “Yeah.”
“What brought all of this on?”
Shrugging, you glance away toward the big croton plant in the corner, basking in morning sunlight, leaves all stiff and red and green. It’s a pretty plant. You tilt your head to the side, stare longer.
“That model bailed,” you say, but you’ve almost forgotten the self-pity of a moment ago. You stand to your feet and wander toward the plant, hitting halfway up your thigh. You crouch before it and look it over. “Hoseok, this is a really big croton.”
He laughs. “Mhm.”
“How much?”
“With the pot and given its height, it’s going for thirty-five-thousand won.”
You raise your brows. “I expected worse.”
“We’re fair here!” he protests, wagging his finger at you as he comes to stand beside you.
You smile softly, run a finger along the edge of a leaf. “It’s really pretty.”
“Suits you,” he says.
Without noticing, your anxiety begins to subside. “I think I’ll take it.”
“I’ll give you five-thousand off since you’re having a bad day,” he says, patting your back.
You turn to him with a smile. “Thanks.”
He chuckles. “I’ll loan you the dolly so you can get that thing home. Just bring it back before two.”
You stand up, stare down at the plant, nod once. “Mhm.”
Hoseok makes his way toward the cash register, punches in a few numbers. You linger a few steps behind, still staring at the croton. You get a good feeling off that one. Hoseok would tease you if you said as much, but you know when to listen to your intuition.
“Your big break will come Y/N,” Hoseok says as he rings you up, not once glancing to meet your eyes. “Just keep going.”
Jungkook sits with his head leaning against the rattling van window, eyes half-shut. Seoul blurs past him in shades of silvery grey and it’s all he can do to keep himself from falling asleep. For all his nagging, Seokjin had been right about one thing: Jungkook was sporting purplish bags beneath his eyes from a restless night’s sleep. Jin sits beside him now, frowning at his phone as he scrolls through Twitter. He’d given Jungkook a very stern talking to once he’d seen him, and really Jungkook deserved it. He knows that.
“Your voice is in good condition, right?” asks Jin.
Jungkook sits up straight, clears his throat. He shrugs. “Yeah. Why?”
Still stewing over his phone, Seokjin waves his hand without looking up. “Don’t worry about it.”
Jungkook sighs, leans back once more, gazes out the window once more. His phone buzzes once and he grabs it quickly, eager to distract himself.
BeastSlayers™
SuperNova: [image attached]
SuperNova: check him out OJO
Jungkook clicks the image you sent and chuckles as it loads up. The photo features nothing of you save for one hand, reaching out from behind the camera, throwing up a peace sign. Behind your hand, a houseplant. A pretty big one at that.
Jungkook smiles and drafts his reply, but the others are quicker.
CodenameZer0: Another plant? Lol isn’t your apartment overflowing with them by now?
SuperNova: Hush. Look at him.
LoLovely: cute!
LoLovely: does he have a name?
SuperNova: I don’t name my plants.
TikiTikiRoom: lol
TikiTikiRoom: because THAT would be weird
CodenameZer0: At least Nova can care care for a plant in the first place.
CodenameZer0: Let’s be honest here, Nova’s probably the only one among us who is even remotely responsible enough.
SacredSapphire: Nova it’s cute!
SacredSapphire: name him after me ;3
SuperNova: Sapphire?
SacredSapphire: hmmm say my name hehe
CodenameZer0: STOP IT FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST
CodenameZer0: IF THE FLIRTING DOESN’T STOP I’M GETTING YOU A TWO-WEEK BAN ON ARCANA
SacredSapphire: SHIT okay okay, let’s just take it easy
SacredSapphire: talk this out like adults…
SuperNova: Once I’ve finished setting up my new plant, I’m gonna play Animal Crossing. Anyone free to join? I’ve got oranges and mums.
SuperNova: Also had a meteor shower last night and have leftover star fragments first come first served.
The offer is tempting, to be sure. Not only would he receive star fragments, he’d be able to wander your island with the others. It might feel like you guys are side-by-side for real. Jungkook reaches into his backpack, slumped between his knees, and rifles around for his Switch. But as he produces the case, Seokjin shoots him the evil eye.
“If you’ve got time to play games, you’ve got time to review your lines,” he says, cocking a brow.
Jungkook sighs a little, slides the Switch back inside his bag. “I’ll look them over again.”
“Good.”
He takes one last look at his cell phone, checking the group chat with a frown that pinches the sides of his lips.
TikiTikiRoom: MEMEMEME
TikiTikiRoom: if any of you fakes get there before me ill go apeshit
TikiTikiRoom: i need so many
LoLovely: don’t need fragments, just wanna see ur cute face hehe
SuperNova: /blushes
SuperNova: I’ll open the gates once Sapphire Junior is nice and settled.
CodenameZer0: I’ll come too. I wanna shop.
SuperNova: Can’t you be cute like Lolita?
CodenameZer0: /gags
SuperNova: You coming, Saph? I’ll save a few fragments for you.
TikiTikiRoom: FAVORITISM
SuperNova: I am transparent about my favoritism toward Sapphire.
SuperNova: Because he is indeed my favorite.
LoLovely: *shocked pikachu face*
SacredSapphire: soz :-( i can’t
SacredSapphire: working
SuperNova: :-(
SuperNova: Next time we’ll all come to your island.
Jungkook tries not to feel that twinge of melancholy that tugs at his chest. That one he always gets when his friends go out for barbecue or grab drinks and hit the karaoke rooms. The one that feels like he’s really, deeply, fundamentally missing out on something important.
No, he doesn’t feel it. Instead, he focuses his attention on the printout Seokjin had given him three days ago. He scans the lines over and over, committing them to memory.
“No! That’s the thing, she didn’t even tell me!” says the girl below your brush.
You attempt to guide the highlighter across her cheekbones, but before you can make contact with her skin she’s jerked away once more, talking so animatedly that you can’t even tell if you’ve made her eyebrows even.
“That’s shitty,” says her friend beside her, likewise preoccupied as Jieun struggles to match her skintone.
The two of you lock eyes, both hovering over the two women as they chat over matching cups of coffee. Jieun puffs out her cheeks, raises her brows, and goes back to work, smoothing foundation on to the client’s chin with a brush.
You stand in a nice apartment — all marble floors and high ceilings and windowed walls overlooking Seoul. When you’d gotten the offer for a Seoul gig with Jieun, you’d been hesitant. The subway ride is long and you prefer to stay relatively local. But something made you agree. You don’t know exactly what. Call it divine intervention or epiphany or Jung Hoseok, but the words just keep going had been replaying in your brain since you last saw your friend. The pair of women — likely in their thirties — had booked both you and Jieun to do their makeup for a Sunday luncheon.
“And you know she’s looking out for him,” says Hyejin with a scoff. “As if I’m gonna bite the kid’s head off.”
“Maybe you will,” jokes the other woman, laughing just as Jieun reaches in to apply some liquid blush to her cheeks. “You know she’s got a soft spot for him.”
“Yeah well it’s a soft spot in all of our wallets if he doesn’t get his shit together,” says Hyejin, sighing. There is real woe in her expression and you can feel from the shift in atmosphere that things have turned serious. “He’s talented, you know? But…sometimes I think she goes too easy on him,” she continues, and this time her tone is decidedly softer, the movement of her face less pronounced.
You use the opportunity to work some powder beneath her eyes with a sponge. “Well, that’s motherhood for you,” says the other, flippant.
“Have you seen what the folks are saying on Twitter?” asks Hyejin as you apply shadow to her eyelids. “About his voice.”
“Hm?”
“Well some of his bigger hate communities have been compiling all the footage of his stage mistakes and they’re spreading it around,” Hyejin says with a huff. “Stupid, honestly. They’re making it out like he makes those mistakes all the time.”
“Netizens are like that, Hyejin,” says the other woman, now easing into her chair with her eyes shut as Jieun can finally get to work setting her base.
“Still…”
“Nowyou’re the one defending him,” she remarks with a laugh.
“It’s not that,” Hyejin says, scoffing. “It’s just…like if he doesn’t prove himself soon, all those commenters are gonna have more ammunition, you know? Which is annoying for all of us.”
“Sounds like you care a little bit.”
“I dont.”
“Hm.”
You focus on Hyejin’s full lashes, applying mascara with delicate, steady strokes. She hums a little as you use the pad of your fingertips to tame stubborn eyeshadow into blending more seamlessly. It seems, at least, that the conversation has died down. For that, you are very grateful.
“Say, do you two know anything about k-pop?” asks Jieun’s client.
The two of you lock eyes once more. It’s true that you are well-versed in pop culture: video games, TV shows, YouTube drama. But you’d be lying if you said you tune in to Inkigayo every week. And despite Jieun’s age and her trendy look, you know she’s not the type to keep updated on current idols. And you see in her brown eyes your own shock mirrored.
“Um…no, not particularly,” you answer for the both of you. Jieun releases a breath she’d been holding and smiles her thanks. “Do you two work in the field?”
Hyejin waves her hand and sighs. “Don’t go bothering them with those sorts of questions,” she says, and you notice for the first time the easy poshness that this woman has. Even with her head tilted back and her eyes shut tight, she seems sure of herself.
You envy her just a little for that.
“What? They’re young,” says the other woman, grinning with her eyes shut as Jieun works on her eyeliner. “You ever heard of RTE?”
“Hey now,” says Hyejin, warning in her voice.
“I’m just curious,” the woman continues with a sigh. “Look us up if you haven’t.” The woman chuckles, reaching out blind to smack Hyejin’s upper arm. “Hey, maybe even tweet something nice about our artists!”
“Knock it off and let them work,” Hyejin says, prying open one eye to meet yours. She offers a smile, apologetic, and sighs. “She’s just playing around. You can ignore her. It’s what I do.” She nods her head and leans it back once more.
Quietly, you get back to work. But you can’t help but feel like this woman’s incredible presence makes you paler somehow.
“What’s the point if it makes me unhappy?” Jungkook shouts, brows knitting, eyes growing watery. “The money, the lifestyle…what good is it?” his voice settles into a bare whisper, cracked.
“You only say that because you’re young! You’re stupid! You’re naive! You think things work out just because you want them bad enough?” says his costar, glancing down at the script every now and again as the two stand across from one another.
The set bustles on behind them, crew carrying tall lights and fixtures as they scuttle by. But Jungkook and his costar — a man named Namjoon acting as his older brother — continue their scene under the watchful eye of the cameras, trained right on them. Less of a screen test and more of a chemistry check between actors, Director Lim watches the monitor closely with his scrabbly chin in his palm.
“So what if I fail?” Jungkook asks with a quiver, referencing his script once to make sure he got the line right. “What’re you gonna do? Tattle on me to Dad?”
“I won’t have to,” Namjoon says, sighing as he grips the bridge of his nose. “He’s got his watchdogs trained right on you.”
Jungkook stiffens. “He’s been…following me?”
“I told you you’re too naive for the real world, Jiwon.”
Director Lim claps his hands and in an instant the tension and the scene are broken. Jungkook takes a respectful step back from his costar, and Namjoon offers him a bow of the head. Jungkook returns it, fighting off a nervous grin, and turns to the director as he circles around the equipment to stand in front of them. He’s a middle-aged man, handsome in a way with salt-and-pepper hair and eyes that seem to grab you and hold on like a snare. Jungkook is pinned in place like a bug in a shadowbox.
But Director Lim’s face splits in a crooked smile and Jungkook feels himself ease, exhaling long and slow. “Great job, boys!” he says, clapping both of their shoulders. “You were selling it well.”
“Thank you, Sir,” Jungkook replies too quick, like an eager child.
Director Lim chuckles, pats him again. “I’m praising you, kid. Don’t look so scared.”
He swallows hard. “I…I know. Um…thank you, Sir.”
Behind the trio, a group of stylists cart a rack of costumes quickly to the other side of the set, snagging the back of Jungkook’s shoe as they do. Jungkook stumbles to his knees, caught off guard, and the girls jerk to a stop as they catch themselves on the clothing rack. The two stare down at Jungkook, wide-eyed, and each of them covers their mouths. Immediately, they bow their heads in apology, both muttering sorry, so sorry almost too quietly to hear. Jungkook shakes his head and stands to his feet.
He too bows his head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been standing there,” he says gently, hoping to assuage their concerns.
But the girls remain bowed, as if too afraid to even lift their heads. Jungkook, puzzled, leans down slightly to meet their eyes, but they glance away so quickly that he can’t even get a proper look at either of their faces.
“Um…it’s really not a problem,” he says, but before he can say more Director Lim approaches with a grim severity in his eyes. Jungkook, quick to stand up straight and face the director, stutters a little as he settles himself in front of the stylists. “It’s no big deal,” he says to Director Lim, but it’s like the man can’t even hear him.
“We were distracted, Sir,” says one of the girls, raising her head slightly to meet Director Lim’s gaze. “We are very, very sorry.”
“It really isn’t-,” Jungkook begins.
“You think it’s appropriate to crash into my actors? In the middle of a conversation about their performance?” Lim asks, but it’s clear the question isn’t meant to be answered. His tone has shifted into something cold. “You could have very well injured Jungkook.”
“I’m fine-,”
“But what if you weren’t?”
Jungkook shuts his mouth, staring helpless at the girls as they both stand up straight once more, eyes on the floor and hands knitted in front of them. He feels a hand on his back between his shoulder blades and jumps a little, turning quick to find Namjoon standing close.
“Don’t,” is all he says, voice terse and so quiet Jungkook almost doesn’t hear it, before dropping his hand and taking a half step back.
Jungkook’s jaw clenches, his hands work into balls as he stares. The lighting is low, dramatic as if a scene composed by Lim himself. The two girls lift only their eyes to gaze up at him.
“We’re very, very sorry, Sir,” says one of the stylists, guiding a lock of dark hair behind her ear.
“Mhm,” he says, looming. “Make sure it doesn’t happen again. Can’t afford to replace two stylists and a makeup artist in the same week.”
Jungkook simply stares, Namjoon’s warning freezing through him like ice. His limbs feel leaden. And as the two girls rush off, dragging their rack behind them, Jungkook focuses again on Director Lim.
He swivels back around to the two actors with a bright, fatherly smile. “Pardon me,” he says, waving his hand with a warm laugh. “Gotta keep the crew in check otherwise they’ll slack off.”
“Ha,” Jungkook puffs out in response, smiling in turn.
Namjoon hums a little. “Why don’t we try the reconciliation scene?”
“What in the world do you mean?” Hyejin yells into her phone just as she ushers you into her apartment. You eye her as her face grows red, her brows coming together. “He’s not quitting!”
Hyejin pauses to offer you an apologetic smile. She’s dressed in a modest pajama dress, padding barefoot along the cool marble floors. She leans against the arm of a nice black leather sofa, raises a hand to her flushed cheek, looks at her toes with vexation. Carefully, you set your makeup kit on her kitchen island, meeting her eyes with raised brows as if asking permission. She waves her hand, nods once before pinching the bridge of her nose between her index finger and her thumb.
“Listen, we knew Lim was difficult. But this is a huge opportunity for his career.” Hyejin rubs her kneecap, massaging. Her short hair falls along the line of her jaw as she dips her head in a deep sigh. “I know you know that, Seokjin. But you’re his manager. You’ve gotta keep convincing him.”
You begin unpacking your things, setting them neatly along the edge of the countertop, and try not to eavesdrop as Hyejin continues letting out chopped sighs. You can hear her fidget around the apartment behind you. She’d called you again, only a few days later, to secure you for another important event. A meeting, she’d said. You didn’t want to agree. Wanted to say you were too busy, that the commute was too much.
“Hey,” she whispers behind you. You jump, but turn nonetheless to find her cupping one hand over the phone’s receiver. Her eyes are severe, jaw clenched. “How long can you stay? This call might take a while.”
You raise your brows, think back over your schedule. “Hm…,” you respond, then shake your head. “I’m free all day. But…when’s your meeting?”
She stiffens, eyes flashing to the clock on the oven. “Shit,” she mutters. She approaches you with a frown. “I’ve only got two hours to get everything ready—Yes! Yes, I’m still here Seokjin. Stop panicking, for Christ’s sake—,” she says, her shoulders pinching. She glances at you again. “Um…”
You glance around the apartment. It’s spotless, as usual. But you spy in the corner beside a massive potted umbrella tree a taupe pantsuit, hanging beside a steamer. You’d have thought someone in her position would have sent it to the cleaners to be properly steamed, but perhaps it had slipped her mind. With the way she’s pacing around the apartment, still dressed in her pajamas, you wonder if perhaps she’s not as put together as you thought.
“I’ll steam that,” you say with a nod, pointing to the suit.
She stares at you, wide-eyed. “Oh, no. You don’t have to do something like that-,”
You shake your head. “No problem. What else do you need done here?” you ask, consulting your wristwatch with a hum. “If we keep it light, I can have your makeup done in forty-five minutes.”
She blinks at you. “Uh…well…,” she begins, then jumps a little as a voice in the phone shouts loud enough for you to hear. “No! No! Can you relax? I’ll talk you through it in just a minute! I’ve gotta sort some things out,” she shouts back at the phone. She turns her attention back to you with a sheepish smile. “Um, I need to steam the suit, wrap the fruits — they’re a gift for the client —, call the restaurant to confirm the reservation, shine my shoes, organize our documents chronologically and set them up in a binder,” she says.
You have to admit that the sheer volume of busywork has you taken aback. But you steel yourself with a bracing sigh, nod once, and offer her a smile. “Consider it taken care of,” you say.
“Ah! I…I really feel bad dumping all of this on you,” she says, crossing her arms with knit brows. “Normally I’d have my assistant doing all of this, but she’s ill.”
“Not a problem,” you say, smiling once more. “Just take care of your phone call and leave the rest to me! As long as we’ve got forty-five minutes for makeup, we’ll be fine.”
She lets out a sigh that seems to deflate her, shoulders slumping as if in profound relief. She nods once, smiling, and turns on her heel. “I’ll be in my office, alright? I promise I’ll be out in time!”
You give one wave as she rushes through a clouded glass door and shuts it behind her. You roll up the sleeves of your sweater and get to work on the suit.
Two hours later, and you’re accompanying Hyejin out into the apartment hallway. She pauses as the door clicks shut, waiting for it to give a chime, and turns to you with a sigh. She looks pretty. You had to rush a bit once she emerged from her office, and after taking care of the other chores you found it difficult to focus on her makeup, but you’re proud enough of your work given the circumstances. You’ve managed to match her eyeshadow to her pantsuit with gentle oranges and reds.
Since you were rushing to finish everything in time, the two of you hadn’t had a chance to exchange words. Perhaps you are curious — just a little — about the emergency she had to quell over the phone. Or maybe you just want a proper thank you. So you linger beside her in the well-lit hallway, you let your eyes wander to a potted fern in the corner by the elevator, wait for Hyejin to say something.
“I’m sorry,” she says, sighing. She glances at you through her lashes.
Your eyes go wide. “Hm? What for?”
“For having you do all of that,” she says, flitting one manicured hand. “I feel guilty.”
You shake your head. “No,” you say with a smile. “It’s no problem at all, honestly. You had me booked for an hour and a half anyway.”
She sighs again. “I really feel bad.”
“Don’t worry about it…,” you say, eyeing her. She crosses her arms, vexed, and purses her lips a little. “Um…was that call about an artist?” you ask.
She snaps back to herself, glancing at you. “Oh? Yes. That was about our biggest artist actually,” she says. “I think I’ve got it taken care of though, thanks to you.” She guides the two of you to the elevator. “I’ll pay you extra, alright?”
You laugh. “No, no. It’s fine! I’m just glad it all worked out.”
She stares at you, scanning you for a very long moment as the elevator rises to your floor. You try not to fidget, not to shrink under her scrutiny, but you feel yourself recoiling just a little. Her gaze is intense, knowing, as if she can see right through you and she’s looking for something. And as the elevator arrives, she gives a hum that sounds contented and you wonder if she’s found it.
Jungkook glances around the empty pavilion, scanning the cobbled streets for any sign of escape. From above, a dark mage is laying waste to the small shanty town. Not a single player has ventured out this way, all following a lead in the Elysian Forest to the west. But after you had mentioned a tip you got from researching at the Library of Arcana, you’d suggested visiting the seaside nook on the far south of the map. A legendary evil slumbers hidden, you’d recited over voice chat with a laugh, Sounds about right.
Only now, Jungkook’s alone. His hands are sweaty around the controllers in his palms and the realistic graphics are serving only to make him more nervous as the mage swings low near the central fountain and sets off a spray of fire just in front of him. Jungkook can almost feel the heat.
Jungkook had set out to do some scouting. Nothing extreme. Just a simple peek about, seeing if he could find any clues. He sent a message to the group chat, but he hadn’t waited on a response before he signed in. He’d had no idea that the Big Bad herself would come flying from the fountain the moment he touched the water with his sword. And now she’s circling him like some sort of hawk. Quickly, Jungkook calls up his inventory menu and searches through his items. A few extra swords he picked up, some ritual herbs, his old chainmail armor, some healing potions and…
The fragment…
If this mage takes him out, he’ll end up dropping his entire inventory. Including the fragment.
And by the time he can make his way back over here, other players will have come running from the commotion.
And the fragment will be gone.
“Shit,” he hisses out, dismissing the menu and focusing back on the mage as she releases a chilling cackle.
The quaint village is smoking, with thatched roofs catching fire and whole storefronts crumbling into piles of simmering stone. The sky is nearly blotted out with ash, and all he can see is that mage, swirling around up there in billowing black robes and shiny white teeth exposed in a wicked grin.
Jungkook glances over his shoulder toward the street he’d taken in to the village, but it’s too smokey to see anything more than the outlines of ruined buildings. There’s no way he’ll be able to navigate his way out of here without a lantern. And if it’s this smokey, he’s absolutely positive that nearby players have noticed. Which means more competition.
And more people to snatch his fragment when he falls.
The mage gives a cry, shouts her line, “Not enough yet?!”, and swoops down at a dizzying pace. Jungkook stumbles back, but he’s not fast enough. She’s approaching in a dark blur, too quickly for him to counter. A flash of regret washes through him as he squeezes his eyes shut inside his VR headset. He doesn’t want to see this.
He waits for a tense moment that way, anticipating the melancholy piano chords that accompany in-game death, but none come. Instead, he hears very keenly the sound of the mage grunting as if in pain. And, in an instant, he opens his eyes wide to see standing on the other side of the fount
Request: fluff: Friend group travelling (wherever inspires you most! I’m thinking someplace like Hawai where they visit secret beaches and stuff! Site-seeing in the city could also be interesting!). Jimin and and OC know eachother through friends. OC is independent and not TOO into the whole adventuring deal but does it to enjoy some quality time with her friends. Jimin is flirty and playful and makes the trip all the more interesting for her. (I don’t know how you want to set it up but maybe two friends are dating and they invite their two seperate friend groups on this trip to meet. Or maybe it’s a wedding and OC is a bridesmaid? Anything works honestly!) - @silviasgotyourback
Description: You’re not too keen on…you know…risk-taking. In fact, it scares you to your core. But when your close friend Kim Namjoon gets in your head, you agree to a crazy trip to Fiji with him and his pals. But what happens when one of those pals – specifically Park Jimin – sweeps you off your feet not only figuratively, but literally?
A/N: Wow what a long break I’ve taken haha! But I’m back (kinda) to post some one shots (slowly)! I’ve been working really hard on my graduate school writing sample and auto statements, and I’ve just started my senior year of college AND started a new job so I’ve been incredibly busy! I apologize nonetheless for my absence. It’s felt horrible being away. Very guilty lol. Anyway, thank you my dear for requesting and for being so so so SO patient with me. I hope you like the result!
Also, if you want to follow me on Twitter please do so! My handle is @/nirvana_namu. I would post a link, but rumor has it Tumblr killed links and I’m not taking any chances.
- Mercury
You’re not sure why you agreed to this.
Standing at the tippy top of a mountain, looking out over the entire surf as it roils in the golden island sun, you watch your best friend get strapped into a harness with a laugh that echoes through the humid air. His gaze is focused downward, along the slope of treetops leading to the water. A zipline. A really steep, really fast one. One of the longest in the world! Namjoon had proclaimed with no small measure of wonder in his round eyes before you’d boarded the plane side by side only a day prior. If you weren’t so scared, you’d want to paint it.
You really don’t know why you agreed to do any of this.
The vested employee adjusts the straps secured around Namjoon’s hips, tugs them once or twice — not nearly enough by your standards — and mumbles something unintelligible into the receiver of a walkie-talkie. Enveloped in greenery, Namjoon pauses to turn and look at you and, upon snagging your eyes, offers a big, stupid, dimpled grin. He waves one hand over his head at you as you wait to be loaded into the next harness. And it looks like his eyes are squinted against the sun, but really they’re squinted from the sheer force of his joy. A joy too big to be contained in a smile alone.
That’s exactly why, you think to yourself with a grimace as you shamble forward along the worn footpath, second-to-last in line, arms crossed over your torso as if they can protect you from whatever fresh hell Namjoon’s planned out.
The employee pats Namjoon’s bare shoulder before releasing him and sending him speeding down the swaying cable with a scream so loud it pierces your ears. His body falls out of sight for a frozen millisecond before the cable gives a mighty bounce and his head reappears, bobbing up and down as he slides toward the bottom. You wince, more out of fear than discomfort, and pause to peek over the edge of the loading platform, following the line of the cable all the way to the bottom. Your heart races as your eyes trace the dense tree line, seemingly endless, and the sheer drop that had claimed Namjoon just seconds before.
And that’s when, as you sweep your twitching gaze out behind you, you lock eyes with Park Jimin. Standing behind you, the very last of the group to depart down the cliffside, his lips are quirked into a smirk that reads cocky and his brows are raised, unyielding eyes stuck on you like tree sap. Of all people to be stuck with on the top of a mountain…
Your face goes hot and your spine stiffens by a few degrees. You stare back at him, trying to discern any measure of fear in his smiling expression, his half-exposed teeth, his rosy cheeks, his teasing brown eyes. But instead all you see is, as usual, a perfect facade of composure.
Well, that and a sinfully handsome face.
He saunters up beside you, scans you from head to toe, and hums a little. “Nervous?” he asks, as if he doesn’t already know.
You clear your throat, fan yourself with your hand as a futile defense against the jungle heat, and nod your head once. “Mm.”
Upon hearing your response, Jimin’s demeanor shifts a little. He uncrosses his arms and his smirk slips, brows raising. He leans closer to examine your face and you avert your gaze, heart hammering. “Whoa, you’re actually spooked, huh,” he remarks before glancing around the platform. “Shit, I don’t think the guide’s gonna let you turn back now.”
You’d expected him to make fun of you, perhaps laugh at your weak constitution. But this…
This is new.
Though well-meaning, Jimin’s words serve only to set your palms sweating and your heart racing faster. Your throat feels a little funny, tight like asthma. You shift your weight from foot to foot. “I-It’s fine,” you mumble, sliding past him as the employee beckons you forward with a lazy wave. “I’ll just…do it.”
Jimin hangs close behind you as the employee begins strapping you in, not sparing even a single word for you. “Hey, uh, my friend’s a little nervous,” Jimin says lowly to the young man working on hooking the harness around your hip. He glances up to meet your eyes before looking toward Jimin. “Any way you can, like, go gentle or something?” Jimin offers a convincing smile, the kind of grin that could get anyone to do anything.
The employee surprises you by releasing a puffy laugh and straightening to his full height, pausing to pat the dust off the backs of his legs. He chuckles and pats your back. “I can’t control the cable,” he says, then pauses for a moment to think. “But…,” he continues as Jimin turns pleading eyes his way, “if you’re feeling really nervous, I’ve heard it helps to shut your eyes and count to ten. Like, tell yourself you’re definitely gonna do it once you reach ten and just…go.”
You swallow hard and inhale sharply through your nose. “Alright,” you say, but his words have fled from your brain as soon as they’d been uttered. Your voice is shaky. Almost as shaky as your hands as you raise them to grip the straps of your harness.
Have you always had such a strong grip?
Your brain goes a little fuzzy, looking out over the precipice on which you stand, unsteady feet and rushing pulse. It’s dizzying. Like the world is spinning, but you’re not spinning with it. Or perhaps you’re spinning and it’s the world that’s gone still. Either way, the stretch of trees extending far beyond the tips of your hiking boots looks like it’s swaying on an axis, and each blink tilts the view some different way. You wonder if you’re breathing enough, or maybe too much, because your head is spinning. Like when you stand up too quickly after sitting for a while. You wonder if you’ll pass out before you reach the bottom.
If you reach the bottom.
Jesus, you hadn’t even considered the possibility of this stupid cable snapping. It doesn’t look too stable, upon closer inspection. Bouncing in the breeze. And as the employee finishes strapping you in, you pause for a moment to move your legs about and find, to your horror, that the straps are slightly loose.
Oh God.
You’re gonna throw up.
“Hey,” says a soft voice from beside you.
You feel a warm hand slide along the skin of your upper back, resting to cup your shoulder. Slowly, you turn your toward Jimin, standing with one arm wrapped around you and the other braced on his own knee so he can level his eyes with yours. He’s smiling a little. A different one this time, a soft one. The wind blows his dark hair from his eyes and carries the scent of his cologne. Somehow, you feel yourself relax a little against his side.
“It’s gonna be okay, alright?” he asks gently, and this is an entirely new Park Jimin to you. A tender young man with kind eyes. He smiles again and gives your shoulder a squeeze. “I’m right behind you.”
And for some reason, that comforts you. You don’t have time to dissect it however, as the employee takes up your other side and raises his brows, asking silently if you’re ready to go. Of course, you aren’t. How can you be? But again, Jimin squeezes your shoulder and seizes your attention with another smile, this one turning his eyes to crescents as he nods his head.
“Um…yeah,” you say, taking a moment to focus on your breath.
“Remember,” says Jimin as he steps away from you. “Count to ten, okay?”
“Okay,” you say, shutting your eyes.
One.
You’re gonna do it.
Two.
On ten, you’re just gonna go.
Three.
It’ll be fine.
Four.
Joon did it, and he’s fine.
Five.
And Tae before him, and that guy Jimin brought.
Six.
Nobody’s died yet.
Seven.
You can do it too.
Eight.
And even if I’m scared, at least you’re not alone up here.
Nine.
Jimin’s right behind you.
Ten.
Your scream rips through the valley below.
And, seconds later, so does your unfettered laughter.
You met Park Jimin on the worst day of your life a month ago. Freshly laid off from your job as a financial analyst — a job which Namjoon disliked from the start —, and disappointed by a string of bad dates after a catastrophic breakup, you’d agreed to meet up with a few college friends for a drink at your local stomping ground. You’d found Jimin sitting in the middle of a smoky bar with a girl on one arm and a guy on the other. Gross, was all you’d thought in passing. You’d paid him little mind, too busy wallowing in your own self pity to think too hard about any one thing, but it seemed he was incessant on grabbing your attention by any means necessary.
You’d sidled up to the bar, awaiting Namjoon’s I’m here text, and had only just ordered your drink when the strange young man with the unusually bright smile took up the space beside you. Now alone, he offered you a grin and his hand for you to shake. For a few seconds, you only stared at his outstretched palm. At the lines cutting across it. What was that long line called? The life line?
Eventually, however, you realized he wasn’t going anywhere, planted firmly in the wobbly barstool to your right, and you relented with a handshake. But that wasn’t what this stranger was after. He yanked you just a little once your hands connected.
“Hey, honey!” he said as he pulled you in toward his chest, sweeping you up in a tight, firm hug that knocked the wind from your lungs.
You were neither playful enough nor drunk enough to reciprocate and instead sat there stiffly, arms pressed against your sides as the stranger with the cute face hugged you close. Over his shoulder, you locked eyes with the girl who’d previously ornamented his left arm, watching you keenly, and it didn’t take you long to understand what was going on.
“Dodging an ex?” you whispered without moving your lips too much.
You felt a wave of shivers trace up your spine and it only took you a few seconds to realize why. It was just the sort of thing you imagined Hanseul doing if he ever bumped into you…
He chuckled. “Two, actually,” he responded as the young man he’d been entertaining also lifted his eyes from his drink to give you a once-over.
You sighed. “You’d better be buying my drink,” was all you said as the two of you broke away.
He’d laughed — that melodic sort of laugh that made you feel a little floaty — and rubbed your shoulder with a grin. “I’ll buy you twenty,” he joked, sliding the bartender a bill as he returned with your cocktail.
“So how’d you manage to get caught up with two exes at once?” you asked, nursing your glass.
He rubbed his jaw and shook his head, smiling at the bar table before him. “They were friends to begin with,” he said. And when you said nothing, only recoiled slightly, he met your eyes with a bright laugh. “C’mon don’t give me that look!”
You cleared your throat, turned away, and worked your straw between your teeth. “I dunno, sounds like maybe you brought it on yourself then,” you said, taking a healthy sip.
The stranger laughed again — more like a disbelieving scoff — and adjusted one of the several rings on his slender fingers. “Well I didn’t ask the two of them to come out tonight,” he said with a shrug. “And besides, neither of them looked unhappy to see me.”
“Ugh,” you mumbled, eyeing him sidelong as he chuckled.
He smirked and leaned across the bar toward you. “What?” he asked, and something about the heavy-lidded look he gave you, the simmering something in his eyes, made your pulse quicken. He rested his cheek in his hand and cocked his head to the side, now close enough to smell a whiff of his cologne. “You think I’m a bad guy?”
You swallowed hard before downing the rest of your drink and slamming the glass back on the bar. You waved the bartender over and pointed to the empty glass. Wordlessly, he began fixing you a replacement. You peeked back at the guy to find him smiling at you, musing perhaps, with the strangest mix of curiosity and pity in his expression.
You were definitely going to need another drink.
“Do good guys usually do stuff like that?” you asked, watching the bartender as he shook your drink around his metal tumbler.
He chuckled. “Can goodness be quantified by things like who we date?” he asked.
You stiffened. “Not by who you date,” you continued, shaking your head as memories of your own ex resurfaced. “But who you hurt, sure.”
He rolled his eyes, swiveling in his barstool to look at you head on. “Why’s it my fault who gets hurt?” he asked.
You cocked a brow. “You…can’t be serious…” But from the expression he wore you were certain that he was indeed quite serious.
He shrugged. “It’s not my intention to hurt someone, so why do I have to take responsibility if they get hurt?” he asked, then smirked and gave your thigh a nudge with his knee. “The way I see it, if you get hurt you’re the one whose expectations were too high.”
“That’s gross,” you said, inching away. You were inclined to simply leave, abandon this conversation and the bar at large and call it a night. But the bartender wasn’t finished with your drink and you weren’t about to piss him off. Not on a day like today. “If you’re dating someone, you’re committing to them.”
“What about polyamorous people?” he countered with a smug grin.
You rolled your eyes. “I’m not talking about polyamorous people. I’m talking about monogamy.”
“But why does everyone expect monogamy?” asked Jimin, tossing his hands up in the air with a breathy laugh. “Anyway, I always make it clear from the start that I’m not the kind of person who wants to be…well, you know…,” he started, then furrowed his brow and waved his hand. “Like, in a relationship.”
You sighed, nodded your thanks to the bartender as he slid you your drink, and watched as Jimin again offered cash in return. “And that’s fine, but you can’t expect someone to stick around and be okay with that.” You rubbed your temples as memories swirled together. “Be okay with half of you.”
If you really loved me, you’d understand that I could have any person in the world and you’d still be my number one!
Scumbag.
This gave him pause and, slowly, he shifted his eyes your way once more, scanning you. “Half of me?”
You nodded and downed a gulp of your drink with a wince. “Giving half is fine if the other person is giving half too. If you both only expect half,” you began, then ran your hands along your neck. Your skin was feverish, alcohol making your head light. “But if one person wants more, it’s not fair to string them along.”
He stared at you gravely, eyes hard and jaw set, and furrowed his brow. “That’s too old-school,” he said.
You huffed and crossed your arms. “It’s not old-school!” you said, wagging a finger at him. “It’s about respecting the other person enough to let them go when you realize you can’t be what they need.”
He pouted a little and rolled his eyes. “You sound ancient,” he said, then paused to give you a knowing smirk. “Wait, don’t tell me,” he began, scooting closer with a conspiratorial look. “You were scorned by your ex. Like…I dunno, like they cheated or something. Broke your heart, ruined your trust, blah, blah, blah. And now you’ve got this vendetta or something because you got hurt.” He grinned and wiggled his brows.
You stiffened, eyes wide, and stared at him. “I…,” you began.
He laughed from his gut and nodded. “Ah, nailed it, didn’t I?” he asked.
There was a cruel edge to his teasing, an ill-intentioned bite that felt like it was made to injure. You couldn’t quite put your finger on why, but you knew you felt it in that hazy bar, surrounded by throngs of people gathered here and there, enveloped in smoke and conversation. But like a heat-seeking missile, it seemed his words were engineered to uncover the softest parts of you and destroy them.
Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe it was something else, but your eyes welled with tears and your throat constricted. You stared at him, this stranger who had pegged you without err, and felt the weight of your frustrations pressing down on the tops of your shoulders like sandbags. And as he perceived the shift in your expression, his own face changed from a cold sort of scrutiny to a round-eyed concern that washed away all evidence of his previous behavior.
“Oh shit,” he said, standing up and blocking your face from view. You felt a few hot tears spilling over and were quick to wipe them, but the humiliation was there on display whether you cried or not.
He’d gotten you.
Luckily for you, Namjoon’s timing had been particularly impeccable that day and he’d barreled into the bar with a lopsided grin and clapped both you and the stranger on the backs, Taehyung and Yoongi sauntering behind him. You’d startled a bit, jumping slightly at his approach, but once again luckily — or perhaps unluckily — Namjoon seemed to have little regard for the poor mood he’d stepped into and didn’t seem to notice your glassy eyes as you buried your nose in your drink.
“Well jeez, look at you two already getting acquainted!” Namjoon exclaimed with a big laugh.
You paused your sipping for a moment to slide only your eyes up toward your friend. “Huh?”
He blinked down at you, one hand still clamped onto the stranger’s shoulder, and raised his brows. “Didn’t I tell you I was inviting some work friends?”
You spat your drink, sending droplets of sweet alcohol splattering across the bar. Quick to right yourself, you faced Namjoon properly and, sputtering, replied, “Him?”
Namjoon laughed and rolled his eyes. “Don’t tell me you guys didn’t introduce yourselves,” he said, adding theatrics to his heavy sigh. “This is Park Jimin. That choreographer I’ve been telling you about? He’s coming with us to Fiji.”
Still coughing up the remains of your rum and Coke, you pat your chest. This was the kind-hearted dance major wunderkind who dazzled everyone at Namjoon’s entertainment company? This was the kid who, at the age of twenty-four, had more accolades than both his predecessors combined? This was the guy who befriended all the trainees and brought them sports drinks during long days of practice?
This was the guy you were going to spend two weeks with on an island in the middle of the Pacific?
Namjoon, standing between the two of you, moved to taste your drink and as he leaned forward you locked eyes with the acclaimed young choreographer over the plane of his back. Park Jimin stared at you with wide eyes and lips parted as if to speak. But even after Namjoon had straightened up and begun complaining about your drink order, Park Jimin, still with mouth agape, said nothing.
And so, as you go ripping through the jungle on a wobbling cable, screaming and laughing and crying just a little, you wonder how exactly that very same Park Jimin is the one who comforted you into taking this leap of faith. Below your dangling feet is a patchwork of different greens, all bleeding into a motion blur as your body is propelled down toward the bottom platform. As you slide along, you can just see Namjoon’s figure, reduced to a small silhouette amongst the trees, as he stands waving like mad at the edge of the platform. Laughing, you shoot both hands above your head and wave them around, causing you to sway on the cable. Startled, you quickly return your hands to gripping the straps near your chest.
You feel like a bullet whizzing through humid air and then, all at once, friction takes hold once more and you seize, eyes squeezing shut from the whiplash, head throbbing just a little, suspended over the platform. You are greeted by a chorus of applause and hollers of encouragement as the employee begins the process of disconnecting you from your harness and, as your feet land stiffly on the concrete slab, you lift wild eyes to meet Namjoon’s. You find him still with that grin plastered across his face, hair windswept, shirt askew.
“Wow!” is all you can say as the group laughs.
Namjoon smiles and claps your shoulder. “Right?” he asks and you can only nod and turn your eyes back up toward the cliff from which you’d descended.
Now far too distant to discern amongst the foliage, the loading platform sits somewhere lost in green. And, without meaning to, your mind wanders back to Park Jimin and you wonder idly if he’s counting to ten.
Sunset drenches the island as you lounge on the warm sand, leaning back on your elbows with eyes half-shut as you gaze out at the glittering ocean touching the horizon line. The sky is darkening by degrees, with vibrant reds and oranges spreading like watercolor into the navy blue edges. And for a blissful moment, you’re alone with it. Alone with the profound. And you’re not thinking about the new job you’d taken, or the text messages Hanseul left you this morning, or the bills you know you’ve got to pay soon. You’re not thinking about anything.
It’s beautiful.
Of course, it’d be more beautiful with a pina colada, but you don’t let your mind linger there too long. After all, Namjoon said this trip was supposed to be about adventure and ‘finding yourself’. You aren’t sure how much of yourself you can really find at the bottom of a fruity drink.
Namjoon invited you on this trip a year ago. He’d done it in typical Namjoon fashion: calling you up at two in the morning and rambling incoherently for a while before eventually getting to the point. You’d become so used to his pipe dreams that you’d half expected this plan to fall through like the others. The second the words left his lips, you’d rolled your eyes.
“What I’m saying is,” he began, breathless over the phone, as you push yourself up onto your bottom, bed sinking beneath you, “let’s go to Fiji.”
“Joon…,” you groaned. “Please, I have work tomorrow-,”
“Listen, fuck your job,” he said and you could practically see him waving his hands like a man gone mad. “This is important. Like…might be the most important thing we’ve ever done together, you know?”
“Where is this even coming from?” you asked, stifling a yawn. You glanced out your window and saw the city painted black, pinpricks of yellow office building lights.
He sighed. “I was looking up tropical music for this new song I’m working on for the trainees and I stumbled upon this incredible video about Fiji.”
“Like a generic white girl vlog?” you asked with a laugh, but Namjoon seemed deathly serious as he remained silent. You paused a moment. “Wait, you’re like…for real with this, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, of course.” He was quiet. “I just…I dunno…I guess, while we’re still young enough to do it, I wanna experience something incredible. While we still can. While things are still like this.”
“What do you mean?” You raised a hand to open your window, let in some cool night air, but as you jammed your hand along the pane, the thing only rattled dumbly in response. You huffed, focused.
“I mean life is transient and nothing’s guaranteed,” he said. “Who knows who we’ll be tomorrow, you know? Who knows how long these moments will last?”
You stilled for a moment, staring out your closed window, hand still poised to force it open. You glanced over your shoulder at your tiny apartment — clothes strewn over every piece of furniture, easel gathering dust in the corner of your living room, unused for the better part of a year, paintings still unhung propped against walls on the floor — and couldn’t help but sigh. As silver moonlight filtered in through your curtains, you felt an unfamiliar tug in your chest. A longing that didn’t make sense.
You had the job, the boyfriend, the social life…
You had it all.
But why did Namjoon’s words make you feel so hollow?
And before you even realized what you were doing, you replied, “How much is it gonna cost?”
“What’re you thinking about?” asks a soft voice from beside you.
Startled, you scramble slightly, sending a spray of sand flying through the air. You sputter a little, having inhaled too quickly for your lungs to handle, and squint against the golden sun. But as you settle enough to face the person beside you, you’re surprised to see it’s Jimin. Sunset drenches the expanse of shoreline, catches in the ends of his black hair, outlines the side of his rosy cheek as he gives you an easy smile.
You raise your brows. “Hm?”
He chuckles, rubs the back of his neck, and shrugs as he digs the heels of his hands into the sand, leans back on them. “Just…looked pensive.”
“Pensive…,” you repeat, mulling it over. You purse your lips. “I guess just…thinking about this trip.”
“What about it?”
“Just…why I even bothered coming,” you begin, then chuckled and eyed him sidelong. “You saw how I was today. The whole…adventure thing isn’t really my scene.”
He smiles, revealing on closer inspection one charming crooked tooth, and tilts his head to the side. “What do you mean? You looked like you were having the time of your life!” he says, nudging you with his elbow.
You smile at your knees, now pulled toward your chest, and sigh. “Thanks for saying that, but you know I was a mess.”
He pouts a little. “You weren’t.”
Glancing his way, you find him with furrowed brows staring distantly at the ocean. “Mm…,” you mumble in response.
He sighs. “You were scared,” he begins, then shrugs. “But you did it anyway. What’s so bad about that?”
You sense that he’s perhaps talking about something else while talking about you. Like he’s saying two things at once. But you don’t bother prying. Instead, you simply sigh and join him staring at the surf.
“It’s beautiful, huh?” you remark as the two of you sit side by side. And there’s a gentle sort of quiet between you, one you never expected to share with someone like Jimin.
But somehow, here he is. And looking at him as he watches the waves splash forward and recede, you can’t help but feel a little guilty for your attitude towards him. Guilty for the dread you’d felt as you boarded the plane behind him. Guilty for the scowl you’d worn as he walked beside you on the trail up to the zipline today. Guilty for the complaints you’d aired to Namjoon about him.
“Yeah,” he says with a pleasant, lazy smile.
Birdsongs welcome you to the fresh island morning. Lazily, you roll onto your side and peel your eyes open, straining against the sunlight pouring in through your ocean-facing windows. You yawn, pushing yourself up onto your bottom to stretch sore arms above your head. You twist your torso this way and that, crack your knuckles, point your toes as you extend your legs before you. The room is filled with bright morning light, all hardwood floors and tapestries on the walls. You glance around your bedroom – one of eight private rooms in this massive Airbnb – and realize with a start that this is the first morning in years that you haven’t immediately grabbed for your phone to check for work emails.
You expect, perhaps, to be unnerved by this. This lack of structure, lack of organization.
But, perhaps more unsettlingly, you are…
Surprisingly calm.
You shake your head and pad on bare feet into the bathroom beside your room. As you brush your teeth, you lock sleepy eyes with your reflection and can’t help but crack a little smile. For the first time in a long time, you look like you’ve had a proper night’s sleep.
You emerge in the living room a few moments later to find Taehyung – Namjoon’s stylist friend – and Seokjin – Namjoon’s actor friend – still sleeping on the couch, the TV still droning on as they’d likely forgotten to turn it off. And, standing in the kitchen by himself nursing a cup of coffee and a calm smile, is Namjoon. He’s caught a bit of a tan, glowing in the gentle sunlight, and his eyes are warm and fond as he looks out across the living room at his friends.
As quietly as you can manage, you maneuver around the sleeping boys and take a place beside Namjoon, resting a hip against the marble counter. “Morning,” he says softly.
You nod once. “Morning,” you repeat, and hold your hand out for his mug of coffee, wiggling your eager fingers. He chuckles and relents without much fight, offering the handle to you carefully. You take a warm, welcome sip and sigh. “How’d you sleep?” you ask.
He hums a little and adjusts the sleeve of his loose tee. “So tired I didn’t even dream,” he says with a laugh.
Smiling you reply, “Me either.”
He eyes you with a knowing smile and squints a little. Like he’s teasing you. “You like it here, don’t you?” he asks.
You roll your eyes and give his shoulder a healthy shove. He laughs in response, but says nothing more as you sweep your gaze out toward the wall of windows leading down to the beach. It’s immaculate in the morning time. Not a single silhouette dots the shoreline, only fishing boats just beyond the surf. Tourists are still asleep, you reckon, and you feel a little proud to not be one of them sleeping away the most beautiful hours of the day. You can see faint traces of clouds ringing the horizon, and the pastel yellows of sunrise giving way to the azure blue sky.
“It’s…really nice,” you admit with a nod, sipping the coffee once more. And, without meaning to, you think of Jimin yesterday. His hand on your shoulder, his comforting words reminding you to ground yourself before you floated away. “Yeah…,” you add, concealing an unintended smile.
Namjoon, however, has always been the smarter one out of the two of you and, predictably, he catches this shift in your expression and turns to you head on with raised brows. “Whoa!” he remarks with a grin. He points to your face with his index finger. “Look at that!”
You swat his hand away with a laugh and roll your eyes. “Lay off, alright? I’m having a good time. Isn’t that the whole point?”
He chuckles and sighs as he rests once more beside you. Gently, he lifts a hand to softly pat the top of your head. You’re certain your shock registers plainly on your face as he pats again. “I’m proud of you,” he says.
And in the simplest of phrases, he’s managed to pluck something profound from inside of you. You don’t need to ask to know precisely what he means.
Why does it make you want to cry?
“Morning,” says a quiet voice from behind Namjoon and, leaning slightly so you can see around your friend’s broad chest, you notice Jimin standing there and can’t help but smile.
He glances between Namjoon and you for a few seconds, brows lifted as if in question, before Namjoon clears his throat and wordlessly excuses himself, snatching his coffee on his way back into the living room where he begins rallying the boys awake.
You sigh, running a finger along the countertop’s perfect edge. “What’s on the agenda for today?” asks Jimin as he settles beside you.
You pause to think. “Um…,” you begin, tapping your lips with your fingers. “I think…,” you continue, musing as you begin to work your lower lip between your index finger and thumb. “Something about ATVs.”
But before you’ve even finished your sentence, Jimin has seized your hand in his and is now standing so close you can smell the scent of his detergent wafting up from his pajama shirt. He stares down at you with heavy-lidded eyes and a smirk, gaze flashing around your face before landing on your lips as he pulls both your hands down toward your shoulder. Your heart begins to race, eyes wide, skin hot where his fingers touch yours, and you swallow hard as he chuckles a few times, his breath fanning out across your warm face.
“Sorry,” he says, voice low and breathy. “It was distracting.” He then drops your hand and swivels on his heel, back toward the hallway from which he’d come. He pauses, however, to shoot you a wink over his shoulder. “Hard to focus when you do that,” he says, tapping his own plump lower lip with his fingertip before offering a wave and meandering down the hall.
And you stand there dumb, heart pounding so loud you can’t hear the crashing waves just outside the window.
You were shocked when you found out Hanseul had been messing around behind your back. Gutted, really. If it hadn’t been for Hanseul leaving his Instagram logged on to your phone, you’d probably never have found out to begin with. He’d always been that sort of guy, though.
Reckless.
And how very cliche, you’d thought as you read through months of exchanged messages, that he’d exchanged you like a used car for a newer model once he’d gotten tired of you. You dragged your finger almost lazily across the screen, brows raised as you rested on your couch, reruns of The Office blending into background noise. And where perhaps you’d expected hurt and resentment, you found only a grim acceptance.
Of course, you thought to yourself with a strange chuckle as you read the most recent message. A sappy sort of love IM that made your stomach churn. Riddled with sentimentality and grand platitudes, the messages reminded you of the ones you’d exchanged with Hanseul in the beginning. The ones that made you hopeful. Of course.
Somewhere amongst that grim acceptance, however, was something you didn’t expect. Something primal. A sort of fear that had no name.
Fear, perhaps, of the implications.
Fear of all the things that would have to change, all the comforts you’d known for years chipping away like old paint left on the wall too long.
And so, like a house of cards, your world shook and crumbled mightily down to its very foundation.
You’re slack-jawed as you stare at the row of ATVs standing equidistant before you. Eight identical machines pointed down the rolling hills behind you. An instructor standing with a grin and hands on her hips as she watches you scan the locomotives with your eyes wide and round. Beside you is Namjoon, smiling too broadly for his face to accommodate, with Seokjin and Taehyung drowsily fighting yawns. Jimin stands on your other side, arms crossed as he smirks at the ATVs like he’s done it all and seen it all before. His friend Jungkook is practically vibrating with anticipation, and Hoseok – another choreographer from the company – stands whispering in low tones with Yoongi, the young PD Namjoon never stops talking about.
The imposing green trees sway in the breeze around you: all potential threats as your group nears the line of ATVs. You wonder just how long you can manage on one of the things before hitting one of those tall waving trees. Anxiously, you glance over your shoulder at the hills extending as far as you can see. More possibilities for horrific injury.
As you tromp through the yielding sand underfoot, you feel someone step closer to you and you don’t need to lift your eyes from your boots to know who it is.
“You know, if you’re scared-,” Namjoon begins, but you silence him with a look, gaze severe.
He raises his hands in surrender before chuckling and patting your shoulder. He says nothing more as he swerves around you to hook his elbow around Taehyung’s neck. The two, laughing, continue toward the row of ATVs. Taking a moment to manage your breath, you press your palm against the rubber handle. You shut your eyes.
One.
You’re getting on this fucking ATV.
Two.
You’ve come this far, you can’t chicken out now.
Three.
You always chicken out.
Four.
When was the last time you did something that scared you this much?
Five.
Well…yesterday.
Six.
Before that though.
Seven.
When was the last time you took a risk?
Eight.
When was the last time you did something you wanted to do?
Nine.
Something you really wanted…
Ten.
You take a long inhale, nod once, and swing your leg over the side of the ATV. With both shaking hands gripping the handlebars, you glance to the side to see everyone else has mounted their vehicles, except for one. Jimin stands at the end of the line, talking with the guide too quietly to hear, but the way he’s waving his hands makes it seem like there’s a problem. The guide glances around, brows knit, before shrugging his shoulders and cupping a hand around the side of his mouth to shout.
“Hey guys! Looks like we’re one ATV short! Someone’s gonna have to share!” he calls, and grumbles resound around the group.
Beside you, Namjoon and Taehyung complain about having to share, both clearly not too keen on offering Jimin a spot on their ATV. You briefly feel bad for him, standing on the edge without a place to go to. You wonder if he feels left out, or if perhaps he’s considering staying back so the guide can show you the way. Without meaning to, you turn your head and lock eyes with Jimin and the instant you to you wish you hadn’t. Because now his eyes have lit up and his face is splitting in a small, hopeful smile.
And you know you’re cooked.
With a sigh, you raise your hand and wave it like mad, beckoning Jimin over. After all that, the breathing exercises and everything, after finding your courage, here you are handing over the reins.
“You can ride with me,” you say with a sigh as Jimin emerges at your side, smiling bright.
“Thank you,” he says with a laugh before hoisting himself up behind you.
“Oh!” you exclaim as Jimin rests his hands on his knees, right beside your thighs. He leans around your side and eyes you with wide brows. “I figured you’d wanna drive…,” you say, face going hot.
He blinks at you for a moment longer than normal before splitting into a grin and nudging your hip with his knee. “Well why would I do that?” he asks, rolling his eyes. “You looked really determined.”
Just like that, he understands exactly how you feel.
Startled, you turn to face him halfway, twisting your torso awkwardly as you lock eyes. He’s still smiling, still bright. The apples of his cheeks are redder than yesterday, and the bridge of his nose. A sunburn. He looks peaceful. As if he trusts you to drive this massive machine. As if it’s not even a thought that’s crossed his mind.
As if he never even considered taking this ATV from you.
“You guys ready?” shouts the guide with a hoot.
The boys around you holler their responses but you stay silent, still just staring at Jimin as he shields his face from the sun with one hand, still smiling, still peaceful.
You grip the handlebars and kick the ATV to life.
You first met Namjoon when you were in high school. He was a grade above you, so you’d never had reason to speak with him. Aside from passing him in the halls every now and again, you didn’t really interact with him at all. But things changed when he approached you after class as you finished cleaning off the blackboards. You’d stayed behind not because you wanted to, but because your classmate had pawned their classroom duties on you after a miserable game of Gin Rummy at lunch. You hadn’t protested much once the responsibility had fallen on your shoulders.
Another excuse to avoid going home.
Bony knuckles rapped against the blackboard beside your head and you jumped out of your skin, releasing a scream several octaves higher than you anticipated. But as the moment of panic passed, you realized with a start that the one who’d roused your attention was indeed upperclassman Kim Namjoon. And there he stood with a small dimpled smile and gentle eyes scanning you. You weren’t sure what he was looking for when he looked at you, but the way he tilted his head to the side made you think that perhaps he’d found it.
“Hey,” he said, face outlined by the last golden rays of autumn daylight.
You swallowed hard and took half a step back toward the podium. “Uh…hi…?”
“This yours?” he asked, dangling a sketchbook before you with one hand.
It took you several moments of squinting at the Strathmore sketchbook to realize that, in fact, it was yours. Your name was right there in the right corner where you’d scribbled it a month ago. And there was the tear in the cover from when your mother had tried to rip the thing from your hands – unsuccessfully.
A rush of fear swelled through you and you snatched the pad from his outstretched hands like you were a prisoner and he was offering you food. Scared he’d rescind his offer if given even a moment to think it over. And as you clutched the thing to your chest, you scanned him with narrowed eyes.
“Where did you get this?” you asked. You were certain you had kept it safely in your bookbag since lunch. But glancing at the bookbag again, you found it surprisingly empty.
Namjoon raised his brows and raised his hands in surrender. “I didn’t steal it, if that’s what you’re thinking,” he said, then chuckled with a shrug. “What kind of thief would return the thing they stole anyway?”
You paused for a moment, brows furrowed, before sighing and nodding. “I guess that’s true,” you admitted before gently guiding the sketchbook back into the mouth of your backpack. “Um…,” you hedged as you turned back to the guy. You held out your hand to him and he rolled up the long sleeve of his uniform cardigan to take it in his own. “Thanks,” you finished with a shake.
He shook his head. “Don’t mention it,” he said, laughing a little. “Had to ask around to find out which class you were in though.”
You felt a warm bloom of embarrassment and pulled your hand away, shoving it back into your pocket and averting your eyes. “I don’t have a job or anything,” you said.
He blinked at you. “Hm? What’re you talking about?”
You rubbed the side of your arm and shrugged. “My family’s kinda poor too. Like, we do fine, but my parents are really serious about money so…,”
“What’s your point?” asked Namjoon with wide, curious brown eyes.
You stared at him for a moment, puzzled, before continuing. “Aren’t you gonna ask for, like, reward money or something?”
He released a booming, chesty laugh before waving his arms like mad and shaking his head. “No! God, do I look like a thug to you?”
You eyed him from top to bottom and shrugged. “I don’t really know what a thug is supposed to look like.”
He sighed and gripped the bridge of his nose between his fingertips. “Forget the money,” he said, pausing to give you a warm smile. “I just wanted to meet the person who made those drawings.”
You went stiffer than a board. For a moment, time stood still. Namjoon froze before you, the gently falling leaves outside the classroom window froze, and you froze too. Like your feet were rooted to the ground.
“You…did you look through it?” you asked softly, too horrified to raise your voice above a bare whisper.
He nodded. “Of course,” he said. “I was looking for a phone number or something on the inside flap, but then I got distracted by the art.”
“You…”
“You’re really talented,” he said, offering another big smile. “Like, you could go pro if you wanted to.”
You swallowed hard, your throat constricting, and chucked the dirty blackboard eraser on the podium with a puff of fine dust. Without another word, you zipped up your backpack and slung it over your shoulders. You walked past him quickly, not even sparing him a glance, and walked faster when he followed you, calling after you and begging you to turn around.
Namjoon followed you around for a month after that: waiting outside your classroom after school, catching you off guard as you sketched in the courtyard during your lunch break, walking his bike behind you as you led the way to the bus stop, cheering for you at the sports festival and causing you to miss the volleyball coming straight for you. Every time he’d come around, you’d turn grey with horror and you wouldn’t say a word. But luckily for you, Namjoon said plenty enough for both of you. It was always, When are you gonna join the drawing club?or,You should start working on a portfolio, or, If you love art so much, why aren’t you applying to an arts college?
You didn’t bother asking how he knew where you were applying. As you’d gotten to know him, you’d begun to understand his uncanny ability to secure sensitive information from teachers. It seemed they all loved him about as much as you despised him. Not long after that comment, you finally began responding when he spoke to you. And you even began bickering like real friends.
After a while, you grew accustomed to him being around all the time. To the point that, when he graduated a year before you and went on to pursue a degree in music, you’d felt almost lonesome without him. And to the point that, when you texted him about your choice to pursue a degree in business, you were almost relieved when he caught the late bus out to your house to scold you.
One day you’re gonna snap, he’d said that night in a moment of calm. You’re gonna finally have enough of living for them. And it’s gonna hurt when it happens. Bad.
But the scolding had never been enough.
Because, in the end, that persistent fear ran like still waters through your body.
You’re realizing more and more that it’s the same fear. That it’s always been the same fear. Back then when you were so scared of losing Hanseul that you considered not even telling him you’d found the messages. In high school when you were too scared to show anyone your sketchbook. Even now, as you straddle the vibrating ATV, Jimin’s arms wrapped lazily around your middle as he giggles behind you, you’re scared to make a single sound for fear of messing up your focus on the hills before you.
If you really think about it, it’s all the same.
When you boil it down to its core, it’s always been the same.
Fear of fucking up.
Like you’ve been walking a tightrope from the start, and any small misstep will result in you plummeting, face first, into the ground below.
Your knuckles go white against your skin as you clutch the handlebars. Stiff, you follow the guide as he vaults over a hill, having no choice but to do the same. You launch your ATV over the sandy bump, sending both you and Jimin flying through the air. And even though a part of you expects to go splat in the dirt, after a few weightless seconds of flight, the two of you return to earth in one piece. This time, it isn’t Jimin’s laughter that startles you.
It’s your own.
“Holy shit!” Namjoon shouts as he runs toward you, face covered in fine dust. He grins at you like you’re his child, and as you slide off the side of the ATV, he sweeps you up in a big hug, laughing. “You did so good!”
You laugh too, patting his flexed bicep, and lean away slightly to get a better look at his dirty face. “God,” you say with a laugh, running the pad of your fingertip along his cheek, leaving behind a stripe of clean skin. “You need a shower, Joon.”
He nods and peels himself away, turning his attention to Jimin behind you. “You don’t look so good,” he remarks with raised brows.
And as you turn to see for yourself, you notice that in fact Jimin doesn’t look so good. Up until then it had been all laughter and smiles and playful squeezes, but now that he was standing in the dirt, arms crossed, leaning back against the ATV with his helmet in his hand, he looked…less than pleased. He watches you and Namjoon with narrowed eyes.
Oh God, you think in a moment of blind panic, I bet he wanted to drive the ATV after all…
But the moment Namjoon approaches and claps his hand against Jimin’s shoulder, the latter perks up and his eyes go bright once more. He turns a grin towards you and offers a big thumbs up. The sky above his waving hair is a perfect blue, and the sun is unrelenting, but somehow his smile is brighter. Carefully, you join the duo and pat the ATV with a sigh. Looking at it now, it doesn’t seem so scary at all. And after all the tips your guide had given throughout the course, you feel ready to do it all again if you get the chance.
Jimin eyes you with a fond smile. “How’d you like it?” he asks.
You hum. “It was…really exhilarating,” you say with a grin. Gently, you reach out your hand for Jimin to shake and without missing a beat he laughs and takes it.
But instead of shaking it, he gives a sharp yank and you go tumbling into his chest. Heart hammering, you struggle to regain your footing, but before you can process what’s going on, Jimin wraps both arms around your back and holds you tight. You’re sure your face reveals your chagrin, so you’re careful to keep it buried in his chest. And although it’s muffled through the fabric of his shirt, you can hear Jimin’s heart thumping quick.
“Thanks for letting me ride with you,” he says quietly against your hair.
You swallow hard, nerves making your hands sweat, and nod once. “Um…yeah, of course.” You can’t help the nervous laugh that escapes your parted lips and, hesitantly, you reach around to pat Jimin’s back with one hand. “It was fun.”
He backs up with a smile, but keeps one hand on your shoulder. “Yeah. Let’s do it again when we get home.”
You laugh again, eyes wide. “Are there ATV courses at home?”
Jimin pauses, purses his lips, and shrugs. “Let’s find out.”
Namjoon snaps his fingers. “Shoot! What time is it?” he asks, brows knitting.
You check the watch around your wrist and squint at it, but it’s hard to focus on anything with Jimin still touching you. “Um…half past two,” you say, brain foggy as Jimin steps closer.
He glances over your shoulder to stare intently at your wristwatch. Easily, he slides his hand along your shoulder blades before letting it rest at the small of your back. You can feel the ends of his hair tickling your hot cheek. He hums a little beside you and nods once, as if he is simply verifying the time. Perhaps he is simply doing that.
“Shoot!” Namjoon exclaims again. “If we don’t leave, like, now we’re gonna be late for snorkeling!”
Without meaning to, you slide your eyes toward Jimin and raise your brows only to find him staring at you with the same expression. The two of you share a knowing look before breaking into small smiles.
“Wouldn’t wanna be late for snorkeling,” Jimin says under his breath as Namjoon jogs back toward the guide, all the while frantically miming with his hands.
You grin. “God forbid.”
Hanseul said something once that really stuck with you. Not the sort of sentimental thing that you thought might’ve stuck with you, but something entirely mundane. Something trivial, something said in passing.
It was a Sunday afternoon. Neither of you had work, so you’d decided to take a nice long drive through the city. The sky was endlessly blue and beautiful, and even though you were just one car in the infinite stream of vehicles on the highway, you felt somehow free. With the windows rolled down all the way and music bumping softly through Hanseul’s car’s speaker, you remember shutting your eyes and just…breathing for a minute. And that was enough.
“Jesus Christ!” Hanseul shouted with a belabored sigh, and your eyes snapped open once more. You were quick to locate the source of his frustration and found, merging into your lane from the right, a massive freight truck. “I will never understand the hubris of semi drivers who think it’s a good idea to pass other semi drivers.”
Settling your racing heart, you sighed and breathed a laugh. “Impatience I guess,” you remarked, but he was prickly beside you and you knew he wasn’t finished.
He scoffed. “As if passing that guy is gonna get him there any faster,” he said, then rolled his eyes and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “Everyone should just go their own pace.”
And with that, he stopped talking. And you returned to leaning your head against the passenger doorframe, gazing out at the line of cars entering the highway.
The sun is white hot on your bare skin as you tread water, face bobbing just below the ocean’s surface. Floating like a buoy, you squint into the endless blue to catch a glimpse of some wildlife. It’s not as easy as it looks on Instagram, that much is clear to you now. The waves waves are gentle but restless as they rock you around and the plastic of the snorkel pushes uncomfortably against the sensitive skin of your lips. Your arms and legs are still sore from the previous day’s hike, and now your thighs ache from gripping the ATV. But somehow, despite the hardiness of it all, as you float parallel to the ocean floor, you can’t help but stare with wide-eyed wonder every time a flash of red fin or plume of underwater dust catches your eye. And so, mystified, you swim onward.
You feel someone swim up beside you, but it’s too much labor to look and you can’t tear your eyes away from a particularly beautiful fish cresting over the top of some coral beyond your fingertips. It’s only when that someone taps your shoulder that you finally snap from your daze and, blinking quickly, burst out from beneath the water and shove your snorkel to the side. Fearing catastrophe, you turn gasping toward Jimin as he wades beside you with a grin.
And your heart settles down.
You pat your chest a little and sigh. “Jesus,” you mumble.
“Scared you?” he asks, and from this close it’s hard not to get caught up in the brown of his eyes, in the wet ends of his dark hair as they dangle just above his eyebrows.
With the saltwater and the sunlight kissing his skin, he’s practically glowing.
You shake your head. “What’s up?” you ask.
He points with one finger toward the water below and wiggles his brows. “You wanna go down with me? The instructor said it’s really awesome.”
You stare at him for a long moment, trying to discern any malintent or ulterior motive and, upon gleaning none, settle for a nervous, breathy laugh. “Ah, I dunno…,” you say, rubbing your nose with the side of your finger. You look away, toward Jungkook’s fins as they flap violently against the glassy surface of the water. “I’m happy just looking from up here.”
Jimin hums a little. “You sure?” he asks, eyeing you like he knows something you don’t. “You seemed really into it when I came over.”
You swallow hard and your mouth tastes like seawater and anxiety. “No, I’m…,” you start, but it’s weak. The sentence trails into nothing.
He smiles bright enough to blind and you almost have to shield your eyes. “Come on,” he says, offering his hand toward you. “We’ll go down together and come back up together. I’ll hold your hand the whole time.”
You stare at his outstretched fingers, pruny and slightly sunkissed, and ponder for a moment. Were you always so tepid? So lukewarm? Wasn’t there ever a time in your life when you did things just because they sounded fun? Thinking back, it’s hard to pinpoint the precise moment you became so pragmatic, so afraid. Perhaps when your parents told you a career in art wouldn’t work out for you. That you didn’t have the stuff. Perhaps even before that.
But deep down, buried deeper than you’d like you admit, there’s a part of you that’s always wanted to zipline through the jungle. To ride ATVs. To see the coral up close.
That slumbering part of you is beginning to awaken.
And you wonder as you take Jimin’s hand with an uncertain smile if this has been your pace all along.
He giggles and the two of you dive in unison. You follow the instructions the snorkeling teachers gave you on the boat, and you hold your breath just the way you’re supposed to. Nonetheless, the deeper you swim, the cooler the water becomes and the more your nerves begin to rattle.
Only this time, you don’t find it unpleasant. Not at all, actually.
Because Jimin’s hand is warm.
The two of you coast to a stop in front of the vibrant red coral as a school of orange fish rushes by in a wave. You both reel back for only a moment and then, catching each other’s eyes, exchange the biggest smiles your snorkels allow. And boy is Jimin right. It is awesome. You swear you’ve never seen colors like this. Juxtaposed against the perfect blue all around, the coral reef stands like a mountain underwater, fish flying like birds around the jagged pink peaks, hiding in the deep purple. Anemones wave so close you’re tempted to touch them, and as you lean closer for a better look, you see a red seahorse nestled beside a green sea plant. As if sensing you there, the tiny fish scoots out from its cover and makes its way toward you. Eagerly, you extend your index finger and the creature nudges you just slightly before continuing on its way to the other side of the coral barrier.
Your heart is pounding, racing like a sports car and loud like one too. You turn toward Jimin with eyes blown wide and he’s grinning at you, so fond. He gives your hand a squeeze and you can’t help but squeeze back. Wordlessly, he jerks his head toward the surface, and the way the water plays with his hair makes it look like silk. You’re distracted for a moment by how beautiful it is, how beautiful he is, but he squeezes your hand again and once more jerks his chin upward. Ah! You need air!
You only realize it as Jimin makes a motion toward the surface, but now that you’re conscious of it it’s all you can think of. Q
⤑ Paring: Jungkook x reader (with a little bit Namjoon x reader and Taehyung x reader)
⤑ Genre: wolf!au, soulmate!au, collage!au
⤑ Summary: y/n has been feeling a certain darkness ever since she got her period. Something was calling her and one day that ‘light’ came into vision. You’d never thought however, that it would be a werewolf.
⤑ Rating: 18+
⤑ Warnings: mentions of rape, depression, smut, oral sex, window-sex, shower-sex, knotting, marking and animalistic behaviour.
⤑ Wordcount: 9.5k
⤑ A/n:hey!! This will be my first story on this account. I used to run another tumblr account, but I felt like I needed a new start hehe. Hope you enjoyed this one!
‘why is it so dark?’, you ask yourself as you try to see, but nonetheless fail to do so. It’s too dark. You can’t understand what you feel, but it has been the darkest feeling you have had in your whole life, though you might not yet be that old. It is creeping up on you, like a tiger or some other creature. It might’ve always been there, but never this strong. Never since this very moment. A white ray stands tall in front of you, all too sudden but not unwelcome. You feel like you need to be there, like this might be the place that brings you the peace you have been seeking. You know the feeling, the dark feeling, ends with this light. It all fits too well…
You take a step forward, but when you look down to see where you are walking on, you don’t see your feet. It’s only you, like a floating conscious. Even though it got you distracted for the smallest second, you knew this wasn’t important enough. The only thing worth doing right now is taking another step towards this warm and sunny light. Another step was taken and you feel your body heating up. Even though the light is your answer, you are still reacting to it in all the negative ways. ‘Is this what I need? It’s probably better than that horrifying darkness around us. Around me and this light’.
So without another thought, you take three more steps. There it is, right in front of you. You can feel your whole body reacting in heath, but you still feel save somehow. It’s resisting and it feels unnatural, but you haven’t felt as connected in so long with such a simple thing. You want it. No, you need it. And it also needs you. Two sides, two consciousnesses needing one another. But it doesn’t feel enough. You need more. You need to be closer. You need hi-.
‘Y/n? You are burning up! Are you okay? Wake up!’.
The sudden voice wakes you up in one simple snap. Your eyes spring wide open as you look scared towards your friend, who just as well returns that look. Namjoon puts his hand on your forehead. You flinch as he retracts his hand as fast as lighting, making a gesture as if your forehead is about a 100 degrees. ‘Damn y/n, that should be illegal. It’s way too hot. Please go to the nurses office’, he exclaims.
You put your hand on your heart, feeling how fast it’s beating. It’s so fast that you can feel it in your whole body. You are trying to recall your dream, but you only seem to remember that you felt a dark feeling. It must’ve been a nightmare. You check out your surroundings as you felt quite out of place, but you soon notice you are still in the comfort of your school’s library. You let out a breath, shaking off that weird experience and you try to calm down your body. ‘I think I had some kind of nightmare’, you inform Namjoon before picking up your pencil.
You have been working all night with your classmate. You were assigned to work together on a project. Since the both of you had a hard time to find a good spot in your agendas to work together, you found that only today you could really work on it. So you both took the chance and ended up working all night. You pull out your phone and you notice it’s already 11 pm. Your eyes widen. ‘Namjoon, why didn’t you wake me up? We really need to get going. Can we still get out of the building?’. He chuckles and shrugs. ‘Thought you could use some rest, you’ve only been gone for twenty minutes, so don’t worry. But you’re right. We should go home’. You let out a small sigh before clearing out your desk. He didn’t mean it bad, so you let it go. You both pack your things and go home.
As you walk your way to your dorm, you can’t help but feel that same creeping feeling. You feel that darkness. It’s not uncommon for you anymore. It has been a few years already, the moment you had your period. You have felt it ever since that moment. You can still remember the first dream about it. It was like just now, dark and alone. As if there was something or someone missing from your life. Your mother showed her concern about it and took you to a doctor, who gave you a number of a psychologist. There we thorough experiments, but no one could really tell what it was and how to get rid of it. At some point you found yourself at a more spiritual room. That was even more traumatic, as she just looked at you in fear and told you to leave within a few seconds. It got you thinking. Are you some kind of devil? Some kind of lost soul from another world, what certainly isn’t holy? This time though, this last dream, it was different. Different from your other dreams. You did feel the darkness, but there was something else. It felt refreshing and warm, something you haven’t felt in so long. Whatever it is, you hope that same feeling will return to you. And this time you won’t be woken up. This time it will stay with you.
A/N: I just saw the Joker and I just HAVE to write a story about it, so here ya go :). I am thinking of maybe making a part 2 of this, so just let me know if you like that idea!
Genre: Joker!Taehyung, Angst, smut, oneshot (?)
Paring: Taehyung X reader
Word-count:6.5k
Warnings: Sexual content, groping, kissing, pinning, smoking, slapping, name-calling, Stockholm-syndrome.
Summary:You’d never thought you had to face the well-known criminal: the Joker, since he always targets rich people. Still, somehow the tables turn when you go to the famous club ‘La Farceur’ and to be faced with (maybe?) your worse nightmare.
‘Again, the so-called ‘Joker’ has raided another bank. 9 people have been shot during the raid, which of 4 have died. 20 people are badly wounded. This has been the fifth time this two weeks. How long do we have to wait for someone to act on this?’
You attentively watch the news as you see the blurred images of the man, who calls himself ‘the Joker’, and who does so much terrible things. You can’t imagine someone being so devilish; he doesn’t even do it for money you’ve heard. He is pure evil; he does it for his own satisfaction and happiness. People like this really do exist, which normally isn’t the case. People often do bad stuff because of lack of money or something, but he has all the money now and still continues to do bad stuff. Maybe he’s in depth with someone, it must be. It’s the only logical explanation.
‘That guy is plainly sick’, you hear your friend comment from beside you, eating cereal just like you are doing. It’s really a tradition for the both of you to watch the news together in the morning, making that your bonding-time as roommates. Discussing politics and such. ‘He must be on some shit’, Lisa continues before taking another bite. You huff before agreeing, that man can’t be right in his mind. Or maybe he was fucked up in his childhood by his father or something, anything. Luckily you’re not likely to ever have to face him, being a student. He mostly targets rich people, like banks and stuff. Well ‘being rich’ is something that you certainly aren’t.
‘He does have something hot though, I don’t know what’, Lisa comments, making you laugh out of disbelieve. ‘Damn Lisa, going out with criminals now hm?’, you tease her and she nudges you back. ‘I mean, it’s kind off wild. It isn’t a boring relationship, that’s for sure.’ You laugh even louder at that. ‘Well, true that honey. Still wouldn’t be my first pick though’, you response, shaking your head.
The both of you finish your food and get ready for your first class. You walk to the campus together, talking about anything you could think of. You’ve really grown to like Lisa. You’ve now been roommates for 5 months, you being the somewhat silent person and she being the outgoing on. You really always need one of the two between friends, otherwise it won’t work. She takes you out to parties and you make sure she goes to school. You’re always together, having grown a strong bond together.
‘So, still up for some alcohol tonight? How about a bar or something?’, Lisa suggests and you nod. ‘Why not? It’s not like we have anything else to do.’ She looks with exciting eyes at you. ‘Wow, really? Thought you would’ve refused. Do I see a new woman in front of me?’ Lisa takes a step back as she looks at you in awe. You chuckle, lightly punching her shoulder. ‘We don’t have any tests or assignments, so why not? Therewith, I haven’t gotten laid in ages. It’s time’, you confess, carrying a frustrated face. She frowns. ‘How long’, she asks and you hold up 5 fingers. She gasps as she stops her pace beside you. ‘No… I’m so sorry for you. Why didn’t you tell me?’ She puts an arm around you as she still has a worried face, making you huff. ‘Well damn, it’s not something to discuss on a daily basis.’ You look around you to see if anyone has heard your conversation, being slightly embarrassed. You don’t see anyone, except this big guy standing along the sidewalk. He does kind of seem odd to you, but you decide not to pay any attention to him and to continue your walk with your worried friend.
You both arrive at the class, entering as Lisa keeps on asking about your sex life. ‘Lisa stop! I will get laid tonight and I will be okay.’ You stop her ramble. She pouts before agreeing. ‘Okay, but you’re going to have to put my sexy clothes on. A normal skirt wont do it with this mission’, she notes and you scoff. ‘Whatever makes you satisfied’, you say before you let yourself focus on the class, which is just about to start.
‘How does one own such a tight and short dress’, you complain as you walk down the street, trying to pull your dress further down. Lisa holds your arm hooked around hers, pulling you back up. ‘Don’t bend down like that, your boobies will maybe pop out doing that’, she giggles as she shakes her head. You scoff, not liking this outfit only one bit. Yeah, you want to get laid. But like this, it’s kind of cheap and that’s not really what you had in mind. You just want a one-night-stand, but not with some gross dude. He needs to have class and be a gentleman. But knowing Lisa, she doesn’t really mind about that. And there is nothing wrong with that; the girl has needs too. Your standards are just different.
You arrive at the familiar club ‘Le Farceur’, being one of the hottest clubs in the city right now. You often come here, knowing you’d get the optimal club-experience. You’d be surprised how many clubs aren’t great at all. Some clubs have old gross men on the side who keep on looking at you with there old eyes. Others just have awkward young people who don’t know how to party nor to throw one. ‘Le Farceur’ really knows how to do it having: great DJs; cute barmen; great lights and a beautiful dance floor made out of glass. You love the club and you always feel like you walk into another universe.
‘May I get that coat?’ The doorman asks and you nod, giving him exactly that. Lisa also gives her coat to the other man standing a bit further in the hall. You can already hear the music dancing off of the walls. When you take a turn to Lisa, you already see her flirting with that very guy. You don’t know how she does it with that much ease, you simply can’t. You can already hear Lisa say: ‘What makes you different, makes you special.’ Yeah, say that to the girl who will stay alone forever in her little house with her thousand cats.
‘Ready?’, Lisa asks as she approaches you. You nod and the both of you enter the hall. The club is already full with sweaty dancing people. The smokers are fully on and everything looks blurry as you enter the room. Immediately Lisa grabs your hand and pushes through the crowd, trying to find the bar at the other side of the club. The music is loud as you walk through the people. Some people are singing, some are talking with their friends; some are trying to flirt with others. You like this, it’s as if anyone can finally let loose in this room. There are no worries, just maybe the growing feeling that you might throw up because of the many drinks one has taken. No tests, no pressure from school. Just loud music and beautiful people around you.
‘You want the usual?’ Lisa asks and you nod. You look around as Lisa starts ordering. You can see a few familiar faces in the crowd, being people you know from school. You’re not surprised, this is a well-known club. Everyone at the campus talks about it. About people who have hooked up there, or even split up.
‘Here you go, one tequila shot, a lemon and some salt. Let’s go!’ Lisa yells after putting some salt on your hand. You immediately lick it off of your hand, shot the tequila through your throat and put the lemon in your mouth. You frown out of disgust, but then laugh because of the thrill it gives you. Lisa mirrors you exact, making you laugh even more. The both of you do a few more shots before heading to the dance floor, dancing together before Lisa finds a very handsome young man to dance with.
You can feel yourself getting drunk by the second, loosing up and dancing more freely. You let yourself focus on the music, though you don’t know the song. You don’t really care though.
Suddenly you feel a hand on your shoulder, making you turn around. A tall guy stands in front of you. You giggle as you take a step closer and you can recognize his face. It’s the guy from this morning, he was standing along the sidewalk. I guess he did hear us talk and probably wants a peace. He looks mysterious, having dark glasses and this black suit on. It’s like he’s straight out of Man In Black. You just know he could take you just the way you’ve needed someone to for the last 5 months. A strong tall guy, maybe even a gentleman.
He now firmly holds your arm, almost painfully as he start dragging you through the crowd. You don’t know how to react, but you’re kind off too drunk to know how. You start pulling on your arm, hoping that the guy will just let go. It’s now that you’re beginning to panic, what does this guy want? Why is nobody stopping this guy? People see me right? They see me getting dragged out of the crowd? Or maybe I’ve done something wrong and is it security trying to escort me out. I just can’t remember myself misbehaving.
You arrive at a door in the corner of the club. The guy has been silent the whole time as you were trying to follow his fast pace through the crowd. You want to be sober so you could try to make sense out of this, but you can’t. You’re stuck being this drunk fuck that’s busy trying to keep her balance.
‘Who are you?’ you manage to get out. The man doesn’t answer and just starts dialing some number beside the door. You figured he is taking you in there. But why? This can’t be something bad, right? People didn’t just let a girl dragged through the club only to get raped. Or do things like this happen this easily? Thinking about it, drunk people don’t really keep an eye on others around them. So it’s possible. You begin to pull harder on your arm, even wiggling in hope that he magically let your arm go. The guy grunts, making the grip on your arm tighter. You let out a small yell out of pain, body falling in each other. You try to stay up, but together with your drunk mind you can’t really keep it that way.
You hear a soft beep and the door in front of you opens. The guy drags you through the door and closes it behind you. He didn’t come along with you; you’re just alone there in this room, that’s what you think at least. You don’t dare to look up; you just look down at your hands, which you can’t quite get focused because of the alcohol that flows through your system. You do notice the room is pinkish and the floor from is wood. Your eyes slowly make their way up and you now see a white carpet on the ground. Something like a sofa is on the end and a little coffee table on the side.
‘He hasn’t hurt you, has he?’ You suddenly hear someone say at the end of the room. Your body shocks by hearing this sudden voice. It does sound familiar, like you’ve heard it somewhere before, but not face-to-face. The voice doesn’t give you a good feeling though. You want to look up, but you’re a bit too dizzy to do so. At this point you don’t really know what’s real anyways.
‘You look weak, I didn’t fucking ask for a weak one’, the person says again, talking in a irritating manner. You frown, still looking down. ‘Then why don’t you fuck off’, you reply, not caring for the words you are using. You slowly sit up, finally finding your balance. You scan the room. You notice how the walls are red, the black ceiling and the golden decorations around the room. At the side you see a pole and you realize this must be some sex-room. At the end you see a big sofa with a man sitting on it. He’s sitting with his legs crossed and his head hiding behind a newspaper. You frown as you start to scan the man. He has a colorful appearance, wearing some form of a suit. You can even see the top of his head, showing a green color or maybe blue? You can’t really see that well, not with the blurry vision thanks to the alcohol. You do see some kind of smoke surrounding the man and when you start to smell, you just know it’s a cigarette.
‘So you are feisty’, you hear him say with a smug sound. You scoff, trying to prove you’re not scared, but you fucking are. You don’t know what to do, but you do know this man has power.
Then his newspaper goes down and the painted face looks back at you, a cigarette resting on his lips and showing a cocky expression. Your eyes go wide and your heart starts to race a million times faster than it already was. It’s the fucking maniac. The guy you’ve now seen for months upon months, doing terrible things against the nation. It’s the man who has stolen billons of dollars from rich people and not hesitating to make a few kills for it.
He has a dark grin on his face, as he looks you up and down, standing up from the couch in the uncanny manner. You move your body as far as possibly away from him, that being your natural actions. How the fuck did I get in this situation. You try to move further back, but your head still tolls by the alcohol you’ve been drinking merely moments ago. He walks up to you with a fast pace, making you scared. He knows what he is doing and he loves it. He loves to make people scared.
He crouches down beside you and grabs your hair, pulling it back harshly so you look into his eyes. You can hear a soft thud beside your face, being it the cigarette he puts out on the wall you’re pressed up against. His face is very close to you now, his lips hovering above yours and breath hitting against your skin. The smoke is still coming out of his mouth when he starts speaking.
‘I’ve heard you that you are looking for something naughty, my ‘lady ’, he says with a low and dark voice, now letting himself sit down on your lap. You don’t know how to react to this, but your body does the job as you feel a certain warmth stream through you. You feel yourself now breathe much louder and your body wants something, you can feel it. You know the feeling all too well, maybe even loving the adrenaline flowing through your body that goes with it.
No, stop (y/n). It’s just the alcohol. You can’t feel this way towards this ‘man’.
The Joker smirks down at you upon seeing you struggle underneath him. He yanks your hair back ever so slightly, exposing your delicate neck to him. His eyes meet yours, still as dark as they always are, before he reaches down and gently kissing the exposed skin, surprising you with the gently touches. It’s not something you’d expect from such a masterminded criminal like him, the Joker. Your body shakes as you let yourself embrace the tinkling feeling on your skin, which are vastly changing into sloppy kisses and making you moan ever so quietly. Why is he so damn good at this?
‘Let’s see what you’ve got, baby’, he whispers into your ear after parting his lips with your neck, he even had inspected the red skin it had turned to. Suddenly he yanks on your hair as he stands up himself, forcing you to get off the ground. You let out a small whine as you try to follow his forcing moves. He pushes you towards the couch, not so gentle anymore, and bends you over right on that spot. You inhale sharply upon this action, but you don’t fight it for some reason. Your brains are telling you to scream and kick your way out of it, but the alcohol is letting that voice fade into the background together with the pounding noises from outside the wall, where people are still dancing and shouting along the music. The only thing you can focus on now is his groin pressed up against your ass, feeling so thick and long, and the way it makes your body ache for more.
‘You know what ‘Le Farceur’ stands for baby?’ His hands are finding its way around your butt, tracing soothing circles and making it hard for your knees to stay up. Then, with no warner whatsoever, he pulls his hand up and lets it down with great force against your ass. You let out a small high-pitched moan, making yourself again amazed at the way this man can make you weak like this. You can hear him laugh behind you, cocky that he could make you feel this hot by only slapping you. ‘It stands for ‘the Joker’’, He says, both hands groping you harshly, your body pleading you for more. You lean into him as he does so and you can’t do anything but to plead out your pleasure.
‘F-Fuck daddy.’
You feel another slap on your butt, but this time a bit stronger and with more passion than before. You hiss this time, not feeling any pleasure by that, rather pain. But not the kind of pain you want to run away from. Your arms almost give in by the force of the slap. He grabs your hair again and pulls you up straight against his body, his hard cock pressed up against your butt with more force. You can already taste it on your mouth.
‘who?’ He asks as he moves his hips forcefully against your ass, making your back to arch into him. You love this, you love the way he makes you dripping wet, the way his cock forces its way against your ass and making you hope you didn’t have any panties on.
‘J-Joker’, you reply, almost moaning, as he remains to move against your ass from behind you. You can practically feel the way he smirks behind you, eyes printed on you as he does so. He lets go of your hair slowly, his fingers wondering down. He touches every single feature of yours, beginning from your neck, down to your arms and gently groping you and making you rill all over. His hands grab the soft fabric of your dress and pull the strings over your shoulder. The newly exposed skin are immediately marked with his wet kisses, making you arch into him. You want to be closer to him. He doesn’t react to it, he just continues his way down, letting the dress slowly slide off your body. You feel nervous as he does his action, too much anticipated and wanting him to fuck you already. You even let out a soft whine, hoping he would punish you or anything, but he doesn’t. A mastermind indeed.
When your dress finally hits the ground, only wearing your panties now, you can feel his hands caressing your breasts. You can hear him grunt when he start pinching your nipples, pleasure getting ahead of him as he does so. You hum when he gropes your breasts with more force, pulling you closer against his body and you feel his dick again close against you. He is such a tease, being so slow with you, not fucking you immediately.
‘Patience my baby girl’, He whispers into your ear as he lets go of you. You let out a small noise, feeling so naked and untouched when you don’t feel him against you anymore. You want to turn around, but you can hear a disapproving sound when you almost did. ‘No can do, baby doll. Patience I said’, he instructed and you obeyed. How hot he might be and how much you want him inside of you, he still is one of the biggest criminals. He is still dangerous and you wouldn’t want to get actually hurt by this little game he is playing with you.
You can hear something hitting the ground, some kind of fabric maybe. You don’t really know where he is in the room since the noise from outside is still pounding through the walls, music and talking people getting right through. It makes you even more wet upon knowing he’s about to fuck you so hard while people are right there outside. Oh, you want him to. So badly.
‘Lay down’, you suddenly hear from behind you. You say as you are told, lying down on the sofa in front of you. First you sit down, making eye contact with the man in the room and you are not upset with what you are met with. He is standing in front of you, fully naked. His body is painted with thick caramel-colored muscles, shining under the dim-pink lights around you. His legs look strong and his chest looks so inviting, something you want to have a taste of. His cock is standing strong and proudly, looking so good and delicious. You just know he’s going to fill you up the way you want him to and with that dazzling expression, he is promising he will just do that.
‘You like what you see, don’t you baby?’, He declares as he sees your longing eyes, finally laid down on the sofa. You swallow back your words, knowing you can’t get too excited. You’ve learned your lesson now; you won’t let him tease you that long again. You need him right now and toying with you is definitely not the way to go.
Your eyes are widened when he decides to slowly walk up to you, making your body ache of desire. His muscles move strongly, but still so delicate. You hate the fact that you can’t see his face, though you still find the façade kind of exciting. His eyes still look dark when he finally reaches you, like he is fucking you with them, but not touching you yet. You squirm on your place, trying to calm yourself down and to net get too excited.
In one swift move he had placed himself above your waist, his dick throbbing as you can basically taste him. He is so close, you just have to lean forward and you can just-
‘No no, sweetheart. I’ll guide you’, he says as he pushes you back on your place, making you whine once again. You knew you shouldn’t have whined that much, because suddenly his eyes looked angry, making you shiver. He grabs your hair once again and yanks it back. There flew a shot of pain through your neck, since he has bend your neck over the handrail. You let out a small yell upon feeling that, but before you could say anything was his face already close you yours.
‘Whine fucking once again and I will snap that neck.’ His threat got through to you and you just nod, eyes wide open, as you feel terrified. He sits back on your waist as he suddenly puts a cigarette in his mouth, lightening it with a small lighter. You look at him with awe as he pulls his hair back and taking a deep inhale of his cigarette. Though he had just threatened you, you still think he is so beautiful, in some ways.
‘Now, darling. Open wide’, He says as he suddenly closes the gab between you and his cock, his body now placed above you. You open your mouth as far as you could, your hands finding its way to his cock and placing it right in your mouth. You can hair him grunt as you lick his dick wet, making it ready for you to suck on. You begin slowly, making your mouth hallow as you let him enter your mouth. You can taste the saltiness of his skin, but still the way it’s so delicious. His hips slowly begin to rock with your movements, making a pace onto your mouth. You can now smell the smoke again and when you look up, you see him exhaling all that smoke out of his lungs.
How can one be so damn hot when smoking?
You begin to suck, making slurping sounds with your mouth as you do so. It’s now that he grabs your hair and starts to moan a little upon feeling your mouth surrounding his cock. You make sure your hands are making rotating movements around his dick while sucking him dry. He feels the urge to go faster, so he starts pulling your head and you let him guide you. His pace is fast and it’s not easy to keep on sucking, so you instead make your mouth hallow again and let him go as deep as he wants. He loved that move and immediately makes use of it.
‘Yes baby, let me fuck that mouth hmm’, he grunts as he rocks his dick as far as he could into your throat. You make gagging sounds and you have to gasp for air, but somehow that makes him hornier and he only goes faster by it. You don’t really care about it, you want him to abuse your mouth like this.
‘Fuck I need that pussy.’ He thrusts his dick as far as he could into your mouth for the last time, staying there for a few seconds, making your gasp as you almost past out for air before releasing you. You lay back as you have to come to your senses for a few seconds and look back up, seeing his cocky face with his dark eyes. He again blows out some smoke as he had just taken an inhale from that cigarette. It makes you frown in the haste of the moment, thinking of how bad smoking is. But it occurred to you that he isn’t a healthy man and that a cigarette is probably the least of his problems.
He puts the cigarette down on the edge of the coffee table beside the sofa. You look at him, anticipating on his next actions.
He grabs your hips and lays you on your belly in one swift move. He then pulls your hips up, leveling with his cock. He starts dragging his cock against your damp panties, which you sadly are still wearing. Your body leans into the touch and you start to wiggle your ass, hoping he would feel more tempted to fuck you. Instead he lets his hand fall down on your butt with a great force, making you exhale sharply and feeling the way your skin burns under his touch. If anything, that made you want him even more. You could never find a better sex partner than him.
‘P-Please’, you breathe out, arching yourself into him again. He presses his dick further up against you, rubbing up and down. ‘Please what, my princess’, he asks and you immediately reply. ‘Please… Joker’
He suddenly pulls your panties to the side and you are met with something other than his dick. You can feel his tongue gliding between your folds, licking up and down. Your body sinks down and your ass perks up, wanting him to hit certain spots. He finds your clit with ease and his hand begins to toy with the little nub, making circular motions. You moan into the sofa as he finally gives you the relieve you’ve been searching. He even ads another finger into the mix, inserting it into your hole. His fingers a tall and thick as it moves through your insides, hitting al the right spots when hit curls inside of you. Nobody has ever known to pleasure you like this, not even once.
Through all of this he hasn’t stopped to taste you and even groan when he does so. He seems to enjoy you so much; he has never felt such passion with anyone before. Nobody ever really wants to fuck him, he is the Joker nonetheless. They are always afraid of him; so he often has to force them, really, and after that probably kill these women. But you, you have the same kind of crazy mind like he has. The way you want to stay good, but for him you’d do everything. His little slut. And no way he will throw that away. He will keep you, his own little whore to enjoy.
Your body begins to shake as he keeps on pleasuring you and you feel great heath rising in you. You can’t help yourself but to reach behind you and grab his hair, you need to hold something. In return, he grabs that hand and forces it down beside you and pushing your ass way further back so he can insert his tongue into you. Out of pleasure, you begin to moan loudly, calling his name multiple times. He keeps on thrusting into you and rubbing your clit when you finally come, the heath finally bursting out of you and leaving you breathless on that sofa.
You can feel his eyes on your back, probably smirking for the thousandth time as he sees you laying there, body still weak as you’ve just cum. That rest didn’t take long as he turns you back on your back and pulling your legs upwards, hooking them on his shoulders. You look up into his eyes, still breathing loudly as you do so. He looks back in yours, an uncanny grin on his face as his cigarette is back in his mouth. He blows some smoke out into your face, making you cough slightly. His grin turns into a small laugh upon seeing you like this, taking another inhale before taking out the cigarette and connecting your lips.
You inhale the smoke into your lungs as he kisses you with all the passion he has to offer. Your tongues immediately connect an you again can feel his cock pushing up against your entrance, making your inhale against his lips. He explores your mouth with his tongue as he slowly rocks his hips up and down, feeling your wetness against him. He grunts and his breath begins to make a pace. He makes one swift move, putting his cigarette back down before saying: ‘You really are one special slut, aren’t you my love?’
With that he suddenly thrusts his cock inside of you, breaking your lips apart as you inhale sharply. The pain shoots through your body, not being used to his size and also not having had sex for a couple of months. You grab his arms out of discomfort, nails digging into his flesh and making him his too. He stops moving by that as he looks at you, expression filled with passion, though you can’t see it since your eyes are tightly closed in pain.
‘Easy baby doll, relax’, he says, leaning down to your ear. He slowly starts kissing you on that spot, trying to make you focus on his lips and not on the pain that shoots through you. Like magic, you can only focus on his kisses and you start to hum in enjoyment. You thought he wouldn’t stop for you to adjust, but he does. That isn’t something the ‘Joker’ would do, is what you thought. Maybe he is just a big softy from the inside?
As his kisses become rougher, his hips slowly start to move, at first a bit rough, but slowly better and better. You begin to moan against his shoulders as his pace goes faster with the second, eyes frowning by the pleasure it is bringing you. Your arms find their way around his neck as you try to get him closer to you, smelling his scent and savoring it in your memories. God, you hope you can remember this tomorrow.
His pace has gone up again and is now pounding into you, skin making loud noises against each other in the room. Your moans are just as loudly heard, slipping through your lips when you are not kissing his neck. You love the way his body is so close to you, how he feels so good and big inside of you. He fills you up better than you’d thought he would. Everything is better than you’d thought, he is the perfect man. He knows just the right ways to please you, like how he angles his hips to hit that special spot inside you. Damn Joker, you look like a criminal but fuck like a goddamn god.
‘Fuck, you are so tight and so good. So well behaved, my little doll’, he mutters under his breath as he grabs your throat, putting a soft pressure on it. You feel the way your air ways are getting blocked until you can barely breath and you can’t help yourself but to moan. You want him to own you like this, to make you his slut. ‘Such a fucking freak.’ His eyes are so dark as he leans down to kiss you again, hand still on your throat and hips slamming into yours. You don’t know what to do with yourself as the pleasure rushes through you, heath again growing inside of you.
It’s then that he pulls out of you, making you pout as he does so. He smirks down at you before he grabs your legs and unhooking them from his shoulders. He sits down on the couch, legs spread widely as he grabs his still-lightened cigarette from the little coffee table. He takes another inhale before exhaling again, letting the smoke wander into the room. You look at him in awe as you sit right up, admiring his looks again. His silhouette looks so beautiful from this angle and the smoke seems to almost dance around him.
‘Take a seat, darling.’ He really loves naming you things and it always seems to work on you, since you get wetter every time. You do as he tells you and sit on his lap. He looks up at you, silent as he observes every single detail of your face, taking a few smokes a he does so. He then leans in to slowly lick your breast, making circular movements around your nipple. You hum in pleasure as you push your panties to the side and lining his dick up with your entrance. You slowly sink down on it until you can’t get any fuller. He grunts against your breasts, loving the feeling of you around him.
You move your hips up and down, slowly building up. He keeps on looking at you as he takes his inhales from his cigarettes, making you feel enchanted by his state of being. He does it just so well.
He puts his cigarette down again and starts to move with your hips, making a faster pace. You now are breathing loudly again as your body works hard to keep the pace that he wants and you can’t help but moan loudly because of it. He grabs your hips as he bounces you up and down his dick, making wet noises with your pussy rushing against his skin. He seems to love the noise as he keeps on trying to go harder into you. You pull your head back as you get lost in the pleasure he is giving you, body slightly beginning to tremble as the heath slowly grows into you. It only takes a few hard strokes for you to cum even harder than the last time. Your pussy clenches by the feeling and your body twitches, as you can’t help but to fall into his arms. He holds you, but doesn’t lose his pace as he also finds his own high. He makes a few hard thrusts as he suddenly comes into you, dick buried deep inside of you as he does so.
You both breathe loudly as you lay on top of him. He holds you tightly against his body when he still makes the last few strokes inside of you. He wants to burry that cum very deep inside of you, you’re his and that’s where his cum should be too.
‘Crazy girl’, he breathes out into your neck and you can’t help but to chuckle at that. You’ve just fucked the Joker, the person you basically hated. But you couldn’t get enough of him, though he might be a criminal. This must be some Stockholm syndrome or something.
‘You’re now mine, baby girl.’
Your eyes widen for a second, but then you realize that you probably don’t have a choice. He’s one of the bad guys and is probably the best one there is. You don’t have any input in this. That’s what you tell yourself at least. What’s really going on is, he fucks well and he feels good with you. You know it’s not good for wanting him, but it’s the plain truth and you actually don’t give a shit about it anymore.
‘You will live with me, you don’t have to do anything but to fuck with me like a good girl’, he says before leaving small kisses on your neck. You hum by the feeling, again tingling your neck. ‘I don’t care, as long as I stay with you’, you answer and he huffs. ‘You really are my crazy doll, aren’t you?’
He hooks your legs around his waist, dick still buried inside of you and standing up. You cling close to him, as he seems to walk to a wall, pinning you up against it and pounding a few times into you, making you moan by the similar sensation. Then he continues his walk towards some door and opens it without hesitation, you still clinging onto him. A man is standing there, the same man who had brought you into this room. You widen your eyes and you try to hide yourself, but instead you only hear the Joker chuckle.
‘We’ll be staying here for a couple of hours, get it done’, he says to the man before closing the door again. He lets you slowly slide down, his dick now out of you as he pins you to the door, which has been closed. He looks deep into your eyes with a small smile, looking like a different person.
A/N: I have this story originally on my new Wattpad account: @a_sad_pandas_corner, where I will poste the episodes of this series more frequently. So if you want to keep up with the story I recommend you read it there :).
Chapter: Pilot
Genre: Loverboy!Taehyung, Fluff, Angst, smut
Paring: Taehyung X reader
Word-count: 945
Warnings: Abuse, unjust, anxiety, force, loverboys, sexual abuse, swearing, sexual content,
Summary: Only few can keep the good and the bad people apart in one look. When your first look upon Kim Taehyung found place, you thought you knew which of the two he was. Some people are wrong in those moments and will move on, but you aren’t ‘some people’ and that has gotten you at wrong places.
Your face remains down as you hear the door open. Every second suddenly feels like 10 more as the time goes on. You’re just sitting there, fixated on your feet which are carefully crossing each other on the ground, your hands squishing the fabric of the unfamiliar sheets. You can see your bruises, handprints which now paint your skin. It’s all so unfamiliar. The only thing that does feel familiar is that feeling. The feeling you always have during these 'moments’. Your heart pounds like you’ve just ran three marathons. Your head spins and you can’t fixate. You know that doesn’t just happen, that’s not something you’d usually do. It must be something in that damn drink they always give me. Sweat begins to drip off of your face, though he told me so often to stop that. How can I stop it?
It’s common for you to have these kind of 'thoughts’ during these 'moments’. You call them 'moments’, because the correct words make your heart ache. You know what’s awaiting you and you know you will feel about a thousand times worse and terrified than you are right now. If I just knew where I was. But you don’t and it wouldn’t matter if you did know. He says I can’t know anything, and that’s what you will go with. Knowing nothing will always be better than knowing something, certainly in this industry.
The door closes. finally, Just get it over with already.
The time it takes for these men to close the door, is nothing compared with the time they take to have to walk to you. It’s the moment they slowly reveal their ugly selves. They have zero shame for the things they do to girls like you. Though they are 'costumers’, it’s well known this isn’t legal. These girls aren’t allegedly letting themselves getting punched, tortured and sexual abused. They know what they are doing, but they don’t really give a fuck. And here you are, right on the spot where no fucks were given and you are the one getting literally nothing out of it besides hurt.
It has been about 2 days since you’ve been here, since that 'person’ had taken you to this place. It had been about 12 days since you even met this person and began to trust him. It’s so easy to fall for lies from others. So easy to fool others and get profit out of it. You knew this world excised, but more like 10 years ago. They were just stories and happened to a couple of girls around the country, you thought. But that It’d ever would’ve happened to you wouldn’t be something you would’ve expected. But here you are, in an unknown bed. Your own familiar clothes burned to ashes, letting you only wear the slightest of lingerie. Forcing you to lay there, chained up in this bed and letting men use you for nights-and-nights on. If you could choose between death and this, it wouldn’t be a hard choice anymore, if you were to ever get to a balcony. Or if they even have a balcony. Am I even in the city?
You slowly dare to look up at the man. He is tall, probably about mid-40s. His face is pale and tired. He could be someone’s father or husband, but no, he is in this room waiting for you to stand up and let him use you the way he wants to. Or maybe he is one of those gentle customers, though that isn’t common. With you, in your 2-day experiences, that hasn’t happened yet. Other girls in the building would be all happy when they had a 'softy’ and they would have finally been treated like a 'princes’ again. For these girls it has been too long. Too long that they had been suffered through these people and it has become the only thing they know. I need to stop fucking thinking. Thinking makes you feel just miserable. You will realise, over-and-over again, how bad your situation is. How bad you miss your family, your life. How much you regret you’ve chosen the wrong fucking guy. You could’ve just looked a little bit further than that fucking face of his, there must have been signs. How could you ever let this happen to you, why couldn’t you have been more careful?
Train of thoughts, which all these are, they will go away. Just like the saying goes: they are like trains. They come on by in a high speed, wheels making loud noises, making you feel nervous. The moment it passes you, you feel overwhelmed and a bit shaky, because the train is going so-so fast. It’s almost when it’s gone, that you’ve realized it was just a train and it’s nothing to be overwhelmed about. It passes like any other thought, it’s just a bit more scary than others. You just need to remind yourself to stay calm, then nothing will go wrong. But can it even get more wrong than the situation you’re already in and can’t get out?
'Hi sweetheart, you ready?’
You again look up at the big man. He is unbuttoning his blouse, dark eyes on his face as he does so. You feel all kinds of shivers running through your body as he seems to undress you with those bleak eyes, your alarm bells are going off like crazy upon seeing this man disclosing himself. Your body screams for you to stand up and walk right out of that door. But fuck, you know better. You know better than to walk out of there and let those men push you straight back inside. You know it is no use; you will only make it worse. They will make you worse.
'Why don’t you get on your knees?’
And it starts.
I guess I’ve become a emo now, but I don’t mind some depth in my work :)
Jin always made sure to treat you like a goddess. He has gentle touches on your body, especially with your nipples. His fingers would trail down from your collarbones, down to your breasts as you ride. His breathing would be loud and a moan would leave both of your mouths when he starts pinching your nipples. His touch left goosebumps all over your body. This man really knew how to make love to you and you wouldn’t trade it for anything else.
Yoongi:
Yoongi just loved your boobs. He would always put it in his mouth, as if he couldn’t live without them. His moves were always rough and it wouldn’t take him long to destroy your pussy after you released your boobs out in the air. He’d suck on your nipples hard and his tongue would make fast circles around them, making you just as hot as he was for you.
Hoseok:
For him it wouldn’t be necessary to have sex to play with your breasts. Sometimes he would just pin you down on the bed, sit on your waist and pull off your shirt. Your bra was off in no time too and then he’d start squashing your breasts together, of course in a gentle way. His thumbs would glide over your nipples, making them hard and perky. He loved the sight. he could do this the whole day, just laying on you and playing with your boobs until the time had come to sleep.
Namjoon:
Namjoon had the biggest kink for your boobs. He knew they were your weakness too and as the kinky shit he was, he would throw some BDSM-equipment into it. He’d attach your nipples to some chains, making them sensitive and maybe hurt a bit. You both liked it hard like this and he made fully use of that through these chains. He loved the way your boobs would bounce and swing around as he pounds into you from behind.
Jimin:
Jimin didn’t need to do much to turn you on. He would just have you seated on his lab, half naked. His hands would slowly make circles around your nipples. The tingling sensation would send you straight to heaven, getting your panties weak in a minute or less. Jimin loved to make you horny and needy like this for him. He didn’t need to do much more before you would go down on your knees and repay the favor. ‘You’re always so good for daddy.’
Taehyung:
Just as he had arrived home, he’d see you stand in your black lingerie. He noticed you were waiting for him, waiting for her boyfriend to fuck her right. He’d let his bag fall on the ground and would walk up to you. He’d loosen his tie before he scoops you up from the ground, bringing you to the couch and letting you down on his lab. His hands would pull down your bra and his lips would immediately be planted on your nipples. You’d moan out of relieve, being happy your boyfriend finally fulfills your needs. The one hand he has free, he would use to aggressively play with your nipples. This is why he loved to come home to you, you’re always full of surprises.
Jungkook:
Jungkook loved to play with your nipples. He’d always take his time with you, giving every boob it’s own amountof attention. His tongue would make small circles around your nipples before pulling on it, leaving your nipples hard and perky. He loved the moans and whines he dragged out of you by his actions.
Author:vyduan Pairing: Jung Hoseok | Reader, Min Yoongi | Kim Seokjin, multiple pairings Genre: spy au, spy vs spy Rating:Mature Warning: extreme stupidity, guns, swearing, legal alcohol consumption, questionable legality of things, things go explody bang [AO3]
Summary:This series will follow the shenanigans of spy Jung Hoseok, his handler, Min Yoongi, spy you, and the rest of the gang gang mthafkrs!
1)An Economy of Words Masterlist[COMPLETE]:A spy v spy fic of epically stupid proportions featuring Jung Hoseok and his handler, Min Yoongi. Shenanigans and things that go boom ensue. Also, you are a mysterious spy of mysterious origins causing all the explody things so there’s that.
2)The Man, the Myth, the Sad Panda With a Beanie Masterlist[COMPLETE]:Picking up after “An Economy of Words,” the shenanigans continue as Min Yoongi runs his own agency and maybe, just maybe, finds love. Too bad that guy is the very loud and very angry Kim Seokjin.
@ficscafe AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH OMG!!! This is so awesome and I am so excited!! Thank you so much!! I appreciate you and the nominator!! (is nominator a word? I don’t know but I’m so grateful thank you!!)
Somehow, the enemy was able to find the location of the Yongsan division office. They must have followed your van here after the incident at City Hall or used some other undetectable means to trace you. Perhaps that was their plan all along, to discreetly tail your vehicle during the hectic escape to safety. Whatever the answer is, it no longer matters how they managed to discover your haven.
They’re here—and you’re under attack.
The fire alarm is shrill and seemingly perpetual in its shrieking pattern as it drills into your head with each blaring reiteration. The halls and rooms are echoing with the sound to alert the inhabitants of what they already know—the structure is starting to go up in flames with the source of the disaster well below the level you are currently on but advancing its spread with persisting speed.
You’re running down the stairwell of the building, moving as quick as you can to see if there is still a chance to escape. Even if there isn’t, there’s no way you’re going to stay in your room and accept the charred fate that awaits you. Ignoring the restriction of movement in your arm and the searing pain that overwhelms your back from the brash stress you’re putting on it, you keep a steady and brisk pace down the seemingly unending steps.
Until, you can’t go any further.
You freeze at the top of another flight of stairs as you were just about to get ready to conquer it. At the bottom, the fire is now clearly visible, and the heat emanating from it is so blisteringly strong, it feels as if your skin will start boiling if you go any closer. The embers lick dangerously under your feet, and the smoke not only proliferates from the lower floors to obscure the rest of the path you were planning to take, but the suffocating fog ascends in billows to scorch your lungs, eyes, and everything in between.
If the conditions are this bad when you’ve barely made it to the fourth floor, then it’s a guarantee that your exit route must be overtaken with flames, seeing how the building is burning from the bottom up. The threat is drawing nearer with each passing second, which effectively wipes any idea you had in your mind that this could be a viable path to take.
Turning back around, you begin a sprint up the same stairs you rushed down on, hoping that your legs won’t give out on you in this more difficult trek to your new destination. Since you can’t even dream of going to the ground floor, the only place you can go now is up. There’s no need to stop and take a peek over your shoulder to check the status below, because you’re fairly sure that the fire and smoke are rapidly advancing.
You can feel it.
Once you reach the top of the very last set of stairs, you’re met with an exit that is labeled “roof access” in bold, red letters. You throw yourself onto the metal bar and shove the door open, not stopping your winding feet until you reach another roadblock: the edge.
Above your head, the sky is nothing but a murky shroud, but below, you are able to see the hellish illumination of the fire that has already devoured half of the structure. You strain your eyes to look beyond the smog and sparks, and when you focus on the ground near the sidewalk, you detect numerous dim figures you can only assume are onlookers of the spectacle. It definitely looks to be a long way down with nothing to break the fall but the unforgiving pavement.
Remarkably, that doesn’t stop the people trapped inside the building.
Movement coming from the upper levels catches your attention, and when you try to discern what it is, your vision follows the descending shadows as they fall out of the windows and make their way towards the cement. Judging by the rate at which they are dropping, you can easily distinguish that those forms aren’t just papers or objects from the offices floating through the wind. Bodies are flying out of even the tenth floor windows, plummeting down with increasing velocity until they crash onto the unrelenting surface with sickening splits and splatters. Everyone is desperate to escape this burgeoning inferno, and you can’t say that you’re too far behind the tipping point yourself.
Actually, you’re about a step away from it.
Staring down at the scene below, you can determine that while the threat is coming ever closer, there are no other escape routes available for you to choose from. There are only two options: you can either stay here until the building burns up or collapses beneath you, which could be any minute now, or you can jump off and join the rest of the agents who took the leap of faith. Maybe you’ll be able to get away with your life in exchange for broken legs if you position your landing correctly, as slim of a chance it may be.
You take a deep breath, immediately regretting it as you inhale a lungful of the all-too-familiar fumes of ash and carbon. Your time is running out, and you know that there’s only one thing left to do.
Wake up.
You jolt awake with a start, your eyes shooting open to meet the same insipid ceiling from your previous awakening, except this time, it’s eclipsed by a looming shadow above you. Your first reaction is to lunge up from your bed, reach out for a nearby item to protect yourself with, do something so you can ensure your safety and stability, but you can’t move.
That’s when you realize that someone is hovering over you, clamping your wrists and shoulders down in an attempt to hold you down. Since flight is not an option, you start to kick into fight mode, but when your frantic eyes land on the face of your supposed assailant, the tension relaxes from your body in a wave of relief.
“Sorry,” Namjoon says, slowly releasing his grip and straightening himself up from the leaning position. “I thought it would be best to wake you.”
Your heart is still racing from the residual adrenaline pumping through your veins from the unpleasant awakening and even more unpleasant dream, but you start to steady your breathing after grasping an understanding of the circumstances. At least he took caution to restrain you before attempting to wake you. It seems as though he has learned from the mistake he made last time—of course, the nasty bruise and near concussion probably served as a lesson he wouldn’t forget anytime soon.
“Why are you here?” you question, subtly trying to move past the embarrassment of having to be woken up like a child who was acting out because of a nightmare.
“To tell you that you’ve been discharged,” he states as he watches you prop yourself upright on the bed. “You can leave whenever you’d like as long as you stay on the other side of the Han. I was just about to head back to HQ, so I wanted to stop by and see if you were up yet.”
“I’m up now,” you begrudgingly declare. You rub your eyes of whatever remnants of sleep are still leftover and push the sheets off of you. “I’ll be out in 10.”
“Take your time.”
Namjoon leaves with a click of the door, leaving you to your own devices. You take this time to release a well-needed sigh in appreciation for your body and mind finally calming down. It’s much too early to be in inner turmoil right now, but apparently your brain thought otherwise and felt the need to grace you with the highly unnecessary and unwelcomed dream.
You couldn’t fall asleep for the longest time last night, and it was only when you could almost perceive the first rays of the morning sun brightening the dark blue sky that you managed to slip into a slumber.
Evidently, that didn’t last long.
Even though the couple winks you were able to squeeze in leaves you feeling wearier than ever, you still can’t relinquish the chance to get up and leave this stuffy room, even if it’s just to return to the comfort of your own bed. You keep that thought in mind as you go to change out of your hospital garments, but you having a strong feeling that it’s going to be a long while until you have the pleasure of getting some real rest.
As you pull out of the parking garage, you brace yourself to face something similar to a warzone, but much to your surprise, things are completely and utterly normal. With the flow of the traffic and the stream of pedestrians filling the streets, everything is business as usual, almost as if a violent crime didn’t just take place in the heart of Seoul yesterday. It could be because you’re heading back to Gangnam, which is on the opposite side of the Yongsan office from the crime scene, but nevertheless, is seems as though the city is an unstoppable, well-oiled machine.
That is, until you step foot into Kim Daily.
On most days, it’s the upper levels of the 54-story structure, the quarters where the assassins spend the majority of their time, that are bustling with activity, but today, the lower precincts where the news company works its journalism magic are just as busy, if not more so, as the rest of the building’s denizens.
You have grown to admire their hard work and their ability to stay on top of things, because among the many powerful resources Mr. Shin possesses, this news company is one that proves to be most reliable time and time again.
It has not even been a full 24 hours since the incident occurred, yet it seems like the situation is well on its way towards being resolved. The whole of yesterday was dedicated to revising the print for this morning’s paper and filling the online news platform with all the necessary information that needed to be distributed to the general public.
The big headline doesn’t include the gritty details of the violent turn of events that you would usually find on cover stories such as these. There’s nothing specific about the one dead and nine injured, numbers that are blown up with prominence on other news outlets, nor are there profiles of the shooter and his associates, a decision no doubt to keep your identities safe.
Instead, the main emphasis is on reform—how we will recover from this tragic event and the steps we need to take in order to prevent it from happening again in the future. It’s an extremely well-written, convincing, and thrilling exposé on the nation’s gun control regulations that most definitely will leave readers nodding their heads in agreement or at least scratching their chins in contemplation.
On top of that, quite literally, is Mayor Moon’s face plastered on every front page. The photo is not taken from the press conference that transpired yesterday, despite it being fitting for the article, but instead, it’s one of his more professional shots that you would spot on posters for his campaign tour. The Mayor of Seoul looks like a jolly man with thin-rimmed oval glasses, neatly-combed black hair, and a smile that ironically brings out the prominent frown lines on his forehead.
Within the exposé, quotes from the press conference concerning the attack at Seoul Plaza have been included. Mayor Moon responded to the early criticisms and vowed to do everything in his power to make the city safe again. To win over the public even more, he also discussed his proposition of restricting firearms to a greater extent by requiring GPS tracking of all guns that are in circulation from now on.
Between this incident and what happened in Sejong earlier this year, you have a good hunch that the new regulations will be put into full effect soon enough.
It’s all good in theory, but you know that there’s no way that a law like that will reign legitimately, at least not for you guys. If anything, it’ll just become that much easier to monitor the authorities and any other low-class criminals who are unlucky and ignorant enough to carry around bugged weapons.
Come what may, Mr. Shin is managing to make the best out of a situation that could have gone terribly wrong and should have had no upsides whatsoever. You thought it would certainly take more of a strenuous effort to bury things and cut all loose ends; shootings in Seoul are exceptionally rare, and even for a man of his capabilities, you were sure it was going to be difficult to sweep under the rug and cover up. Not only is he doing exactly that though, but he is also helping to paint Mayor Moon in a better light, fruitfully furthering the solidity of both of their positions.
A true win-win scenario.
By the end of the scramble, you stand corrected, having taken your boss’s professional prowess too lightly. Mr. Shin has been running the game for decades now, so you doubt that this is the worst thing that he has witnessed during his lifetime. It was foolish of you to think that any other undesirable outcome would have spawned from this situation.
In the following days, it seems as though the shooting and the subsequent proceedings that occurred afterwards are all that is being broadcasted and covered by news companies and major media sites alike. It’s all that comes up on the TV at the apartment when you have time to turn it on, which you do have plenty of recently as the assassins have been told to put down their guns and knives and lay low until things get concluded with ink strokes and keyboard clicks.
It’s times like these where the pen is, in fact, mightier than the sword.
“I am here to confirm that we have successfully captured the offender and have taken him into custody.”
An astute voice leaks through the speakers as you watch the announcement on screen. Cameras are flashing and shuttering at amazing rates, but that doesn’t seem to faze the Police Chief, Cho Ryeowoon. This uniformed man of experience has a rigid stance and hardened facial expression that makes him appear almost immune to the commotion around him. He’s standing behind the podium to carry out a simple task, one that will hopefully be the bow that wraps up this entire case.
“Everyone can rest assured that the streets are safe. With the recent mandates that have been passed, there is no need to worry about something like this happening again.” Sure enough, it only took a span of a few days for the gun control regulations to be imposed. Chief Cho’s guarantees sound so matter-of-factly, and you’re impressed by his ability to turn such a dubious subject into a highly persuasive speech. “As for the culprit, I think I speak on behalf of everyone when I say that it is only right that he be brought to justice—and you have my word that he will.”
After a few seconds, a picture of the alleged criminal is pulled up onto the screen by the broadcasting station. The man in the photo isnot Jungkook in any way shape or form, but since the CCTV footage of the actual wrongdoer was never released to the public, the viewing citizens will be none the wiser. Even those who were physically present won’t be able to say a word otherwise, because with a beanie and a mask, any male with the same build and basic traits can probably pass as Jungkook.
You can’t help but wonder who the poor sap going under the guillotine is, but you guess it doesn’t hold significance. If it did matter, he wouldn’t be where he is right now, taking the blame for your teammate’s actions for the sake of your organization and its allies. Besides, if you know anything about the organization, it’s almost guaranteed that the man did something foul for him to be placed on the hot seat like that—this is just a slightly less practical way of getting him where he needs to be.
Truthfully, you’re pleased that this is being covered up so competently. None of you need the stress of the aftermath weighing down on you, especially not on top of all the other baggage you have to carry. It’s a bit selfish to say the least, but being in the position that you guys are in, it can’t be helped.
It’s merely self-preservation.
Since the effort to recover from the close call went better than you could have hoped for, especially after the “culprit” was captured, the status of the organization returned back to normal in record time. Following suit, your stitches were taken out after about a week of having received them, and by now, the wound is no longer hindering your movement and performance.
The situation seems to have blown over in the blink of an eye, but on the contrary, those few days of unemployment were arduous for the business. While you were all preoccupied with the large-scale affair, it was not quite as impacting to the rest of the city’s population who weren’t directly affected by it. Even in the madness of everything that happened regarding the wanted man, clients were not holding off on placing orders and requests, so to act in accordance, the organization accepted them like they always did.
This is a business, after all, and these are your jobs—your livings. Everything else was continuing on with its fixed pace after acknowledging what has passed, and you guys couldn’t afford to be bumming around for any longer when there were contracts to be signed and orders to be fulfilled. Especially after the news broke that the organization had quite possibly been infiltrated by a mole, not another minute can go to waste.
Just like that, life goes on.
Jungkook was transported back to headquarters shortly after you returned, and yet, even as the days go on, you don’t catch so much as a glimpse of him.
It’s rather strange if you think about it. There are many times when both you and Jungkook are busy with your own assignments, and during those periods, days or even weeks can go by until you two see each other again. Currently, it has only been a little over a week, but these are not the same circumstances. It’s a completely different story because you know that he is in the same building as you, conversing with the same people as you, probably even eating the same food as you, but he himself is choosing to keep you distant and away.
You hate this feeling that is planted within you, growing each day that it’s left neglected like intrusive vines that spread through every fiber of your being. You wish that you could at least apologize in person or even see with your own two eyes that he’s really okay, but so far, you haven’t been given a chance to clear up the mess.
Some of the others are doing their best to keep you in the know, so when they relay to you that his condition is progressing well, you have no choice but to take their word for it. He’s apparently healing up quite speedily—to your liberation, there are no persisting damages from the bullet wound—but you didn’t expect any less from Jungkook. Sometimes, you seriously believe he’s just built in a different way from most people in this world.
From what Jin has graciously taken the time to tell you, Jungkook has been put under special care until he is completely healed. You’re grateful for your supervisor, because even scraps of information such as this is not necessarily mandatory to divulge to the rest of the team. Perhaps he’s so attentive at informing you because he feels guilty about the whole exchange at the Yongsan corridor. Even if that’s not the case, Jin does tend to have a bit of soft spot for you—Lord knows you’ve been softening him up by poking and prodding him for details since the dawn of time. It’s not that you take advantage of this fact at all, but more often than not, you are able to coax something useful out of him.
This is one of those times.
It became clear to you that this “special care” wasn’t just to track the superficial injuries Jungkook sustained once Jin uttered that single word, one that you realized was the true reason for the elongated recovery time and temporary removal from the team.
Therapy.
Yes, assassin therapy is not only a thing, but a quintessential aspect of the system. Just as important as physical health, if not more, mental health is dealt with the utmost care, precision, and promptitude.
The organization holds monthly evaluations for all members working within it, and among the several tests is a mental state check, one of the practices in which everyone’s psyche is measured and monitored. These examinations are tedious at times, but they are essential not only for curing anomalies but for preventing those imbalances from happening in the first place, and the consequences of deciding to omit this facet of the assessment are far too high. The officials and even other members need to know that the inner workings of an operative are not abnormal or unstable in any way before setting them out into the field with the potential to inflict adverse harm and wreak havoc.
Furthermore, this arrangement proves to be amply effective.
There have been a few instances where you have heard of assassins being pulled from their roles on the team, almost always at the end of the month and with minimal repercussions. There was only one deviant from this otherwise efficacious procedure you remember hearing whispers about that concerned a particular agent whose primary job was interrogation—just like Jimin. His personal methods, however, became too eccentric, even for the organization’s tastes.
To put it bluntly, he was discovered to have been cutting off and eating the hostage’s fingers in order to force them to comply.
Admittedly, it was an effective torture technique—there’s really nothing like watching someone eat your own body parts in front of you—but unsurprisingly, it didn’t go over well with the higher-ups, or anyone else for that matter. Shortly after he was caught—it didn’t take long after the initial episode—the agent was removed from his post before he could go off the deep end, as if that line hadn’t already been crossed.
This entire screening process is in no way a perfect one, but without its implementation, the organization could very well have seen greater calamity or even collapse by now.
Jungkook’s behavior certainly raised some red flags with the company officers, and while you can argue that it’s not nearly as bad as Mr. Finger Fetish, you have to agree with the call for rehabilitation that they made. It still gives you shudders when your mind travels back to ponder what kind of mentality Jungkook held in that moment that drove him to go through with his erratic actions. It makes you wonder if you should have paid more attention to the signs that led up to that point.
No, you were well aware of them—you just didn’t act upon them.
You figure that it’s no use in making yourself feel worse than you already have been feeling all week. Now that the problem has been uncovered, the focus now is to make sure that it’s extinguished and won’t be rekindled again. You’re relieved that he’s undergoing the proper treatment he needs, and thankfully, everyone’s extremities are still intact.
Plus, you know Jungkook will make it through to the other side better than ever.
All of you are a little broken in your own way, whether you’ve been bent and twisted or torn and frayed. There is not one person among you who doesn’t struggle with your own self, because regardless of if you like it or not, residing inside every single one of you is the good, the bad, and the ugly. Not only do you learn to live with this reality early on, but you are taught to overcome it and manipulate it to your advantage.
Human emotions are such frail constructs to begin with, but even with what could easily be considered weaknesses, you’re trained to hone them—control, not erase. You are to amplify them when the situation calls for it and to suppress them when they run the risk of getting in the way, but you are never to dispose of them.
In spite of everything, you are human, and they are what make you so.
You can only attempt to hold something in for so long until you explode; it might not always be the cannibalism route, but an eruption is imminent. There have been plenty of instances of this happening—examples, if you will—with the orphans and assassins before you, displayed in the various ways they fought with themselves, whether they couldn’t pull the trigger or they pointed the gun at themselves.
The organization allocated the time and effort to refine their training and selection program so that the possibility of those outcomes has been reduced to the lowest prospect, but even so, they did not resort to producing mindless drones. You are all still your own individual person with innate strengths and weaknesses, the former being polished and the latter being purged.
In Jungkook’s case, he is currently in the process of having his faults expelled, and in harmony with that, you need to make sure that your strengths have been toughened after the experiences you overcame. You can look at it like he is working on his own mission at the moment, so the only thing left for the rest of you to do is continue on your own missions as always.
Word Count: 5,885 // angst (toxic relationship, friends to lovers, yandere behavior, possessiveness, jealousy, mention of physical harm, mention of neglect), smut (rough sex/slight dub-con, fingering, omorashi, asphyxiation, forced creampie), no fluff
Childhood friend!Taehyung X Childhood friend!Reader
Summary: You and Taehyung were inseparable once. When you come back to your hometown after three years, fate pulls you back to him. And this time, Taehyung won’t ever keep his eyes off of you.
➬ Summary | Ever since the day he walked through the front door of your cafe hand in hand with his sweet daughter on one gloomy afternoon in the middle of winter, he had captured your heart without him even knowing it. All the time, you had chosen to stay on the sidelines, watching him mend his broken heart in silence while he teaches his own daughter that it was okay to be a kid despite the pain that they shared. You know you shouldn’t be so infatuated with him or let this feeling go any deeper. Because nothing could prepare you when you are forced to watch him move on, completely unaware that he is about to be breaking your heart into pieces.
It takes another two weeks before Minnie joins Seokjin and his daughter as they return to the cafe. This time, it had been Minnie who requested to go before Seokjin even had the chance to arrange for a special visit where they could all come together.
The moment Minnie suggested for them to go after working hours that day, he could already tell that there was something going on. That something wasn’t quite right.
As a matter of fact, he had noticed a lot of changes happening with his girlfriend for quite some time. Especially since she hasn’t been joining them on their hot chocolate and cinnamon bread dates after what had happened on their last visit to your cafe together.
yesssssss!!! finally!!! we’re almost finish (if Dia behaves & does not spend any time at her dungeon we only have 2 chapters, but knowing Dia she might end up having 1-2 extra chapters more, lol). honestly, i super love the development, Seokin finally realizing things and its ok that he took his time really. i admire Minnie, she wasn’t vindictive or angry at all. it takes so much maturity to read the situation for what it is and to let go peacefully. waiting for this fic was so worth it!
After going through the inbox and organizing all our requests by member, I can tell you that y’all are some thirsty people!! XD You’re definitely the most thirsty for Suga who by far had the most requests, and least so for poor Jin. Overall there’s SIX PAGES of requests, not including ships!! Hopefully I’ll get started on that huge list soon!
I want to connect with you guys more and maybe get some ideas from you about what I’m going to write next. Would you guys want to know my kik, kakao talk, Snapchat, or personal Tumblr?
Message me if you’re interested :)
~Admin Sugar
Since quite a bit of people wanted my Snapchat ID I figured I'd just post it publicly.
My Snapchat ID is tigersaretigers and anyone can add me if they’d like to. Don’t be afraid to send me stuff. I’ll respond to you (and I'll probably do it quickly lol).
“I don’t remember falling in love with you, I just remember holding your hand realizing how much it was going to hurt when I would have to let it go” - Unknown
***
“Taz!” Jungkook exclaimed frantically.
“Jungkook? What’s wrong?”
The three men all turned their attention her way.
“Put it on speaker,” Hoseok demanded, grabbing her phone and doing it for her.
“-what happened! I just-I left to use the bathroom for like 2 seconds! That’s it!” Jungkook trailed off, Korean tumbling out of his mouth in what she knew was panicked curses.
“Hey, it’s okay, just tell me what happened. You’re okay,” She consoled, doing her best to bring his attention back to her.
“I won’t be after I tell you what happened,” He mumbled.
She paused. “…What the hell did you do, Kook?”
“I maybe, sorta, kinda…lit…your kitchen on fire?”
“You did what?”
“It was an accident, I swear!” He exclaimed and Anastasia could hear Jimin and Hoseok snickering behind her.
“Sh!” She snapped, making them flinch.
Turning back to her phone she asked, “are you fucking with me right now?”
“No”
She pinched the bridge of her nose, “Okay, so, how did you manage…that?”
“I was making food and I didn’t see the kitchen towel by the stove and I just left for a second to use the bathroom and when I came back….there were a lot of flames”
She hung up, rushing to the bathrooms, making it all the way into the hallway before slumping into the wall. She slid to the floor, clutching her mouth as she fought off the rising urge to puke.
She was going to be evicted, she was going to have to pay for repairs, she wouldn’t have a place to stay.
She flinched violently when a hand landed softly on her shoulder. “Don’t touch me.”
“Maybe it’s not that bad,” Jimin murmured, crouching beside her.
She could feel the tears welling but nodded nonetheless. They stayed there for a while, Jimin affectionately brushing her hair back behind her ear and rubbing her back.
“Come on, let’s go,” He hummed a minute or two later, encouraging her to stand up. “Hoseok, take-” Jimin hesitated, not remembering Beatrice’s name, “-Anastasia’s friend back, we’re gonna get a car.”
Anastasia didn’t have it in her to argue, so she just weakly said goodbye to her new friend and followed Jimin out.
It was a pretty busy area so there was a plethora of transportation available, Jimin quickly flagging someone down. He helped her in, sliding in right after, and told the driver her address.
***
The hoards of policemen and firefighters outside when the cab pulled up threatened to send Anastasia over the edge again, but Jimin was quick to comfortingly wrap his arms around her. She couldn’t fathom why she felt so safe when not even a half-hour ago she wanted the ground to swallow her whole every time he so much as glanced her way.
“Taz!” She was tackled the second she stepped out.
“Get off.” She wasn’t stable enough to put any emotion into her voice.
Jungkook flinched back, not expecting her cold demeanour.
“Taz?” He murmured cupping her cheeks but she shrugged him off.
If she paid him attention, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop herself from doing something she might later regret.
Nervously, she approached her apartment, her heart clenching uncomfortably at her roastedkitchen.
“Excuse me, Miss Lloyd?” She turned at the sound of her last name, coming face to face with the landlord.
***
Breach of contract. Evicted.
Anastasia sat on the corner of her mattress with her head in her hands. What was she going to do? Where would she go? So many thoughts swirled around until she couldn’t understand them anymore.
With a heavy sigh, she got up to take a shower. There was no way she would be able to sleep, so after the shower, she zoned out to a crappy tv show.
The next time she looked at the clock it was 4 am. She had class at 8 am.
Shutting her laptop and tossing it to the other side of the bed, she scooted down and rolled onto her side. She was so frustrated, too frustrated to sleep, so she tossed and turned until the sun began to rise.
The day continued in a blur and luckily no one came over to try and talk. She thought she might combust if Jungkook or one of his friends came over and hounded her for attention.
She had been left alone the whole day, so she was startled when a familiar hooded figure was leaning against her door when she came home from her evening class.
“Yoongi?”
He imperceptibly titled his head as his one visible eye met hers.
“What are you doing here?”
“Do you wanna get out of here?”
“Excuse me?”
“Jungkook, Hoseok, and Jimin are all in your apartment right now,” He said in his lazy drawl.
Anastasia glanced at the door, hesitating. “Okay”
She wanted to get away if only just for a little while, she didn’t want to be responsible and in charge of her future. She wanted to be free to run away.
The two made it all the way back down the stairs and around the corner before Anastasia started hyperventilating and had to sit down with her head between her knees.
Breach of contract. Evicted. The words repeated over and over until her head spun. Relaxing her head back against the wall, she closed her eyes.
Time passed unacknowledged until she eventually calmed down, and when she opened her eyes again, Yoongi stood beside her. His dark hair was almost completely covering his eyes and he had a black mask covering the rest of his face, but his silhouette was somehow comforting.
Holding her hand out, she silently asked for him to help her up.
There was a beat of silence before he cautiously pulled his hand from his jean pocket and gripped hers, pulling her up with more force than expected. Unprepared, she stumbled into his chest.
“Payback?” She snickered, deranged, into his chest.
What had gotten into her? Was she really that desperate that she’d run off with someone she’d just met? Someone that didn’t even like her?
Maybe so, but running off with him felt more favorable than facing her anger towards Jungkook and the weight of homelessness and responsibility.
And so they ran, hand in hand, away.Neither of them seemed to have a destination in mind, only away. When she looked back, his eyes were as blank as ever, but there was humor in them.
Taking a chance, they sprinted across the too-busy-to-be-jaywalking street and kept running until they could no longer see the dreaded apartment building. Multiple times they saved each other from hitting people until they eventually slowed to a stop, clutching their sides, laughter bubbling up inside.
Somewhere along the way, Yoongi had removed his mask and suddenly Anastasia was struck by his beauty. The sun was setting, complementing his expression with a beautiful pinkish-orange hue. He wasn’t quite laughing, but there was a grin on his lips that she’d never seen before.
Slowly, their smiles faded as they stared at each other, not saying anything. Anastasia furrowed her brow, what was this feeling?
“Come on,” She nudged, motioning to the taxi that rolled to a stop a little ways away.
There was an elderly woman inside the cab and Yoongi gingerly helped her out as Anastasia slipped in through the other side.
They drove in silence for around thirty minutes before they got to the more tightly populated part of the city, filled with little boutiques and tourist attractions.
“Here’s fine!” She called, startling the driver a little. Yoongi had his mask up again, but Anastasia thought she saw his cheeks lift and so she grinned back at him.
She felt good, happy.Nothing mattered at that moment.
Yoongi slipped the driver some cash and they both tumbled out of the vehicle, small giggles leaving her lips.
The foot traffic was considerably heavier there and, not wanting to lose Yoongi in the crowd, she laced her fingers with his. Or maybe she just wanted to hold someone’s hand.
Spotting what had prompted her to tell the driver to stop, she tugged gently on Yoongi’s hand and began making her way to the entrance. It was a small bar that she’d never been to but had always intended to visit
A little bell chimed the moment they stepped in and Yoongi pulled his mask down to rest under his chin, looking around. The place was beginning to fill up, but there was space by the bar for them to sit.
Grinning, she turned to Yoongi, “Let’s drink.”
That was how the night continued on, filled with alcohol and reckless decisions. As the hours passed, they ended up at a club, Anastasia dancing freely while Yoongi watched from the bar. She was still in the cropped t-shirt and jeans she wore to class, not nearly club-appropriate attire, but she didn’t care. For once she didn’t care.
“Yoongi! Yoongi!” She stumbled over, almost too drunk to stand.
“Yes, jagi?” He hadn’t drunk nearly as much as her and if she was a little soberer, she would have noticed the mirth in his expression.
“I had a th—I had a thought,” she giggled, leaning heavily into his side.
“Oh? What was your thought?” He humored.
She cupped her hand over her mouth like it was a secret, then proceeded to say loud enough for everyone around them to hear, “What if we got a hotel room? I don’t want to go home~” she whined.
Yoongi quirked an eyebrow but didn’t argue, the intoxicated woman reminding him of Jungkook and Jimin when they drank.
“Whatever you want,” He agreed easily, standing up and placing a hand on her back to guide her to the exit, making sure he grabbed her bag that he’d been watching.
Anastasia bounced to the music as they moved, her head bobbing offbeat.
…..
Let’s drink. Anastasia should’ve known that nothing good ever followed those words.
Where was she? Minimal light was shining through the cracks in the closed drapes, but she could still clearly see the room she was in. It was clean and empty of anything personal, just a dresser, a mirror, a small bench, and the bed. A very large bed at that.
She winced at the taste in her mouth, her tongue feeling like it was glued to the roof of her mouth. The pounding in her head was irritating, but not intolerable.
Rolling over deeper into the covers, she contemplated her life choices. She couldn’t remember most of what had happened the night before, the last thing she remembered was bar-hopping with Yoongi.
I’m never drinking again. She thought, her breath catching when the bedroom door suddenly clicked open. Please be Yoongi, please be Yoongi.
She held her breath as they clumsily plopped onto the bed, rolled closer, and wrapped an arm around her waist. She risked a glance down, closing her eyes in relief when she recognized the ring and bracelets adorning the hand.
Why was he hugging her? What happened last night?
“You scared the shit out of me,” She sighed, pulling away.
Yoongi didn’t fight her, letting out a muffled hum, his face pressed into the bed.
“Where are we?” She grimaced at the taste in her mouth, somewhat regretting opening it.
He let out an annoyed sigh and shifted to lay on his back.
“A hotel room.” He deadpanned.
“Did…did we do something?” She sat up, biting her lip nervously, her eyes not missing the opportunity to appreciate his good looks.
His hair was messily strewn over his closed eyes, his face a little pink from having just woken up.
He cracked one eye open, unexpectedly sitting up too, the proximity making their noses brush. “Why? Do you want something to have happened?” There was a mischievous glint in his eye, his minty fresh breath fanning across her lips.
She pulled back, self-conscious about her own breath and her heart beating too fast at their proximity.
“I have to use the bathroom!” She blurted, stumbling out of the bed.
The pressure in her head got exponentially worse at the sudden movement and she had to wait a second for the pain to ebb away.
“You good, jagi?”
“I’m —what did you just call me? ” She’d heard Jungkook call her that a few times before, but he’d always made it seem like it was a slip of the tongue. Yoongi had definitely just said it with intention.
“Ja-gi-ya.” He enunciated, slow and mocking.
She huffed, “What does that mean?”
“It means your breath stinks. Go brush your teeth, I’ll order breakfast.” He smirked, rolling off the bed and leaving the room.
Anastasia narrowed her gaze, glaring at the door he’d just exited out of before scoffing and stalking off to the bathroom.
She might’ve felt more comfortable with him, but he was now proving to be an ass.
Sitting on the marble countertop was an unopened toothbrush and some toothpaste placed next to a second, used toothbrush. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered when he got toothbrushes and toothpaste, but she was more concerned with her missing memories of the previous night to give it much attention.
With her mouth full of sudsy paste, Yoongi walked in.
“What do you want?” He asked. He was the one that walked in, why was he asking her what shewanted?
She realized he meant breakfast.
Thinking about it, she spit and rinsed, almost choking when Yoongi carefully tucked a stray hair behind her ear before she spits on it.
“Thanks,” She muttered shyly, wiping her mouth.
He nodded in dismissal, “So?”
“Oh, um, anything is fine.”
He frowned but didn’t argue, closing the door in her face.
“Eggs and bacon!” She called out the first thing that came to mind, suddenly concerned that he was upset with her. Her shoulders drooped when there was no response.
Shaking it off, she turned back to the mirror and cringed at her reflection. Her hair was an actual rat’s nest and her complexion was worse for wear with mascara smudged around her eyes.
She tried to finger comb her hair as she slipped out of the bathroom, but quickly gave up and put it in a bun. Now that she was awake, it was clear they were in a hotel suite. She didn’t even want to think about the money Yoongi had spent just because she hadn’t wanted to go home. She had money on her but she couldn’t recall paying for anything.
How much did a room like this even cost? She wondered fleetingly. Oh no, and all the drinks!
She groaned into her hands, how was she supposed to pay him back?
Following the sound of Yoongi’s low voice, she found him on a couch with the phone the hotel provided pressed to his ear.
Noticing her in the doorway, he hung up and beckoned her over.
“They said it will be 15 minutes. How’s the head?” He asked, mocking her alcohol consumption the night before. As if she needed the reminder.
“It’s fine.” She snapped, cheeks red, “What time is it? And where are my shoes?”
He vaguely motioned to the end of the couch, his eyes not leaving her as she stalked around to find them lined up beside his own with her socks neatly tucked inside.
“Are you usually this grumpy in the morning, or is it just the hangover?” She glanced up in time to catch him brushing his hair out of his eyes and the arrogance in that simple action was infuriating.
“Are you flirting or just trying to piss me off?” She accused, hoping for somekind of reaction, be it irritation or, better yet, embarrassment.
He shrugged, noncommittal.
Scoffing, she plopped down onto the couch, as far from him as humanly possible.
Anastasia knew she didn’t have the right to be annoyed with him, he hadtaken care of her the whole night but she still was. A lot of it stemmed from her own embarrassment and she begrudgingly had to be thankful that he seemed to realize this as well.
A comfortable silence ensued, him scrolling through his phone and her staring absently out the window. The view was incredible, an oceanfront. There were tourist families already on the beach, their children running around delightedly.
When the table of food was wheeled in, Yoongi unpacked everything and handed her a plate full of food. Sitting down beside him on the couch in front of the trolley, she unraveled the napkin-wrapped utensils and prepared to eat.
“Do you want my bacon?” She offered.
He shook his head, “You eat.”
She winced, “I-I don’t actually like bacon…”
He squinted at her for a moment, probably trying to decide if she was mentally challenged or something. She avoided his glare, nibbling on a slice of apple.
The food was consumed pretty quickly, not much conversation made, and after they were done, Anastasia slipped away to take a shower, washing off the night before.
When she stepped out of the bathroom, half an hour later, she found Yoongi sitting in the bed, arms crossed and eyes closed. Perfectly poised yet still relaxed, how’d he do it?
Was he asleep? She couldn’t tell.
Deciding not to risk it, she tiptoed out of the room.
“Stay in here.”
Jumping at the sound of his voice, she squeaked, “Huh? Okay”
Walking over to the other side of the bed, she crawled in, careful not to jostle him too much. She squeaked again when he suddenly leaned over to rest his head in her lap. “What are you doing?”
He shifted his body so it was better aligned, “Getting comfortable”
***
Anastasia grit her teeth as Yoongi’s phone vibrated for what felt like the hundredth time and he still hadn’t shown anysign of getting up and checking who it was.
Noticing her glare, he rolled his eyes and sat up to check. Nodding, he turned to her, “It’s Jungkook. He’s worried about you.”
Her face dropped and she brought her knees to her chest. Inside her head was a mess of anger, guilt, and embarrassment. She had an audience for her life falling apart! How did one handle that? And then she’d just run off? What had she been thinking?!
She groaned and dragged her hands down her face.
If she was being honest, she was ready to forgive Jungkook, but she was notready to face the embarrassment. The walk of shame had a whole new meaning to her.
With Yoongi it was becoming comfortable, everything else could be forgotten. She just wanted to stay with him and perfect the feeling.
Sniffling, she mumbled, “I guess we should head back and face reality, huh?”
His lips twitched, “I’m not in a hurry.”
“I think he’s been stewing in guilt long enough,” She disagreed.
Yoongi stretched his arms over his head and nodded, “Whatever you want, jagiya”
She huffed at the nickname and got up to gather all her things, which wasn’t much, just her shoes and socks.
He’s so annoying, she thought.
After checking out, they decided to walk somewhere less popular to try and get a ride. Yoongi was prepared this time and had called an uber.
Walking out of the hotel, Anastasia was suddenly plowed into, sending her and the other person straight to the ground.
Yoongi immediately helped her up, glaring at the perpetrator. It was a man, around their age. His face was hidden by the blue hoodie he wore, but Anastasia instantly got a sick feeling in her gut.
“My bad,” The man mumbled, jogging off.
“Asshole,” she huffed, nudging Yoongi to continue walking.
HEy guys….sorry it took so long. I was on some meds that had me super anxious and for a while, I was convinced anyone who read something I wrote would hate me.
“The ‘you’ I used to know is gone and the 'me’ you used to know is gone” - Agust D, Dear My Friend
**
After Jungkook left, slowly like a shunned puppy, Anastasia crashed onto the couch with a hiccuped sigh, emotionally drained. Time passed, unacknowledged, as she mapped out images in the paint on her ceiling until her lids began to droop. Before she knew it, she was asleep.
Hours must have passed, because when she opened her eyes next, her body now half off the couch with her feet in the air, it was dark. She checked the time on her phone with a groan, wincing at the brightness.
9:38 PM it read. Still groggy and uncoordinated, she rolled off the couch with a thump. She stayed face down in the rug for a moment before slowly raising herself up, blurry eyes searching the room. For what, she wasn’t sure.
Her stomach decided her next move as it gurgled angrily at not being fed.
She nodded in agreement with her stomach. Food.
Rising clumsily to her feet, she barely escaped face planting again after tripping over her own toes and stood still for a moment with her arms out and eyes wide, waiting for her brain to catch up. Nodding a second later, she took a careful step out from behind the coffee table and relaxed once she trusted she wouldn’t fall victim to her own clumsiness.
Focusing back on the task at hand, she turned her attention to what to eat. She didn’t feel like cooking and going to a restaurant seemed far too big a feat, so pizza it would have to be. Making a mental checklist of what she needed to bring, she began grabbing things.
Phone, wallet, keys, jacket…she checked off as she went about grabbing the items. And shoes, she ended, dropping all the collected items onto a heap on the floor as she bent down to slip on some shoes.
Finally walking out the front door, she awkwardly shuffled into the jacket. It wasn’t all that cold outside, in fact, there was a pleasant, warm breeze blowing through her hair, but something about a coat made her feel safer. A feeling akin to hiding from the monsters under a blanket as a child.
Jogging down the steps, she hurried towards her destination. The pizza parlour that she had in mind wasn’t too far from the apartment complex, maybe a fifteen-minute walk, but there were a lot of deep alleyways and daunting buildings along the way.
Not long after she crossed the street and headed down the road, she felt eyes on her. She could feel them raking over her skin — following her — and it had her skin prickling and her hair standing on end as she contemplated just turning back. Instead, she pulled her jacket closer and gripped her phone tight, picking up her pace to just short of a jog.
She kept up the pace for a couple of minutes, but the feeling of being watched never faded. Unsure if it was just paranoia, she paused and looked around, searching the streets for anything suspicious.
Coming up empty, she huffed, “You’re so paranoid, Taz.”
However, even after double and triple-checking her surroundings, the feeling didn’t go away. Every crime show she’d ever seen was coming to mind and horrifying possibilities manifested themselves in her head. She was going to end up cut up and dumped in the ocean!
A few more minutes passed before she swallowed her pride and unlocked her phone to dial the only person she knew would make her feel safe. Cautiously moving forward, she waited impatiently for him to answer.
“Hello?” Her shoulders involuntarily relaxed at the sound of his soft voice.
“Jungkook, I—" What was she supposed to say? That she got scared of her own shadow? Her own thoughts? She hadn’t thought this through.
She squinted and covered her eyes when a passing car’s headlights shone right into them.
"Are you outside?" He must’ve heard, she thought.
"I was just going to get some pizza,” She explained, lowering her hand as the car turned the corner, not sure why she felt like she’d done something wrong or that she needed to defend herself.
“Alone?”
“Jungkook, I’m not a child,” she scoffed, kicking a loose pebble.
“Then why are you calling me?”
Her face dropped — he had her there.
“That’s beside the point.”
He hummed, unconvinced.
“Nevermind, I’m fine. Thanks for picking up.” She ended the call, trying to convince herself that the butterflies in her stomach were just her body reminding her she was hungry.
“This is getting out of hand,” She mumbled, so pathetically in love with him.
“You're disappointed with him,” She uselessly reminded herself.
The minutes passed as she carried on, too lost in her thoughts to notice the vehicle creeping up beside her or the man climbing out.
When his hand landed stiffly on her shoulder, she screamed and almost dropped to the ground in fright. Whipping around to face him, she recognized him.
“Seokjin?” She squeaked, her heart beating too fast in her chest.
The man in question stood still, hand slowly lowering back to his side.
“What…you scared me,” she scrambled, straightening out the wrinkles in her shirt as if that would make her seem more presentable. She was doing her best not to look affected or embarrassed by her reaction.
But what was he doing there? Had he been following her?
When he still didn’t say anything, she cleared her throat and began nervously tapping her thigh.
“Are you…Did Jungkook ask you to find me?” It was the only reason she could come up with to explain his presence. Other than kidnapping her, of course, but she didn’t honestly feel like she was in any danger, now. He’d been so intimidating earlier, but now, in the dark of the night, he felt…normal. He was just like any other young adult and he’d given her no actual reason to fear him.
He shrugged, turning his back to her, and headed towards a parked car. Was she meant to follow?
When he looked at her and nodded towards the passenger seat, she took that as her answer and hopped into action.
Climbing into the car, her bum sliding easy on the fancy leather seats, she admired the interior. From the outside, the car looked…average. New, but nothing that would catch the eye. The interior, on the other hand, was beautiful and sleek with a large screen on the dash showing the time and temperature. Everything was lit up, too — the dash, the overhead lights, there was even a soft glow coming from under the seats that illuminated the floor space.
When Seokjin shifted into drive, everything dimmed and the headlights lit up what felt like miles of road. Anastasia felt like she was in a sci-fi movie.
She’d never really been into cars or kept up with the next up-and-coming models, but the car felt expensive. She knew Jungkook liked to drive, but that was the extent of her interest in cars — watching Jungkook drive.
Although she hated to admit it, Seokjin was handsome. One hand on the wheel, the other resting lazily on the center divider, there was a beautiful nonchalance about the way he held himself.
“Where to?” He finally spoke, jerking her out of her staring.
“Huh?”
***
Sitting across from possibly the most gorgeous man she’d ever met, in a crowded, run-down pizzeria, was not how Anastasia had pictured her night going. The fact that he was also her best friend’s family, a family she had no idea existed that same morning, made everything all the more surreal.
But there she was, eating pizza.
There hadn’t been much conversation up until that point, neither of them having much to say. Surprisingly, it was the staring from the other customers that made her the most uncomfortable, not the lack of communication.
“How long have you known Jungkook?” Seokjin eventually asked as they left, not much later. He hadn’t admitted to it, but she was willing to bet that the stares made him uncomfortable too.
Surprised by the question, or more so the cold and uninviting tone with which it was asked, she raised her eyebrows. It was a stark contrast to the warmth that was usually associated with the question.
“Uh, since senior year, high school,” she provided nonetheless.
He nodded, checking the street for cars before they both made their way across to where his vehicle was parked.
“How’d you meet?” He asked once they were both seated in the warm vehicle. Why did he have the temperature set so high? She fleetingly wondered.
Thinking back to Jungkook’s and her’s meeting, she grinned. He had been known as the reclusive new kid, but she’d never actually interacted with him until about one or two months into the new year. Their first interaction had been when he’d walked out into the parking lot, not paying attention enough to notice the oncoming vehicle. Anastasia had grabbed his waist and yanked him back before he got hit, sending them both toppling to the ground. She’d busted her elbow and his hands were pretty scraped up, but overall, they’d both walked away with minimal injuries.
She remembered the first time she’d ever heard his voice, soft and angelic. Looking back, she probably should have expected it, after all, his appearance had been just as soft and sweet, but she remembered being surprised nonetheless.
“I tackled him,” she replied, an unconscious smile playing on her lips.
“Tackled him?” Seokjin sounded bewildered, even if his face didn’t show it.
“Yeah, he was on the phone with someone and wasn’t watching where he was going. Walked right out in front of a car,” She explained, reminiscing old memories.
“You were watching him?”
Anastasia hesitated, unsure how to respond to that. Should she be embarrassed?
“Uh, I guess. Never really thought about it,” She admitted. He nodded.
The rest of the drive was in silence.
***
Anastasia woke up the next morning feeling anxious and it took her a second to remember why — she had to face Jungkook.
After a full night’s sleep and her night out with Seokjin, she felt a little embarrassed about how she’d reacted to everything. Yes, he hadn’t told her about his friends, but it also had nothing to do with her. It wasn’t news that he didn’t like her around his friends and she’d accepted that. Or at least she thought she had. He was possessive and protective, always shooing others away when they tried to approach her — and she’d let him. Why the sudden change on her part? It wasn’t his fault that she all of a sudden wasn’t okay with it.
He was flaky and a recluse, but he was loyal and she knew he loved her. Even if only as a friend. She shouldn’t have taken it so personally and acted like a shunned girlfriend. She wasn’t his girlfriend.
Sighing deeply, she rolled onto her back and stared blankly at the ceiling. How should she approach him? On second thought, he’d probably come to her when he was ready.
Dragging her feet, she headed to the bathroom, freshening up before thinking about breakfast. However, just as she made her way into the kitchen, her doorbell rang.
Glancing at the clock, she furrowed her brow. Jungkook wouldn’t be up for another four hours at least, so who was at the door?
Approaching it as quietly as possible, she peeked out the peephole.
It was Jungkook and he was accompanied by two others — Taehyung and…Jimin, if she remembered correctly.
Eyes wide, she dashed back to the bathroom, checking herself in the mirror. Her hair was a mess and she still had her pajamas on, but at least she’d brushed her teeth.
Throwing on a hoodie to hide the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra ( she threw up the hood too, for good measure), she ran back to the door.
“Jungkook!” She greeted, probably a little too animatedly.
“Why did it take you so long to answer? Your alarm goes off at 7:00, it’s 7:30,” He started off as he invited himself inside, eyes scanning her apartment.
She rolled her eyes and stepped back, letting his entourage in as well.
“What, I’m not allowed to sleep in?” She argued. He tongued his cheek but didn’t argue.
When he didn’t immediately tell her why he was there, she raised her brows questioningly.
“Why are you up so early?” She countered.
“Oh, right, ” He seemed to jerk back to reality, “Jiminie-hyung and Taehyungie-hyung wanted to get food and I-I wanted—, I thought—, Do you want to come?” He stuttered, not meeting her gaze.
He was always so back and forth between bad-boy and innocent, she should’ve been used to it by now. Still, without fail, it made her heart race and her cheeks flush.
Hello! This is the rewritten version on MYKL! I’ve worked very hard and am eager to share! A few things have changed, like the POV, but I have also altered the events to better fit the flow of the story. Please enjoy!
“I don’t want to love you. I want to be free, I want to be me. But when I shut my eyes, all I see is you” - d.j.
***
Sweat dripped down the side of Anastasia’s face as she trudged up the stairs, her body feeling too heavy from the heat.
“Why is it so hot?!” She complained to herself, hitting the tip of her boot against the rusty steel step in an attempt to dislodge the tiny rock stuck under the ball of her foot.
The day up until that point had been exhaustingly long, filled with back-to-back classes and faceless people. When you’re younger, college is advertised as a new, free world with endless possibilities, when in reality it was just more homework, only now you paid for it. But at least she was almost inside where it was air-conditioned — things wouldn’t feel so bad after cooling down. Probably.
Reaching her front door, she fumbled with the keys to unlock it. The navy blue door was old with an even older lock which often stuck, needing a heavy hand and a specific angle to release. An annoying trait initially, but had since become muscle memory.
A gentle cool surrounded her as she stepped through the door and she let out a small breath of relief. Tossing her keys onto the small table next to the door and dropping her bag beside the shoe rack, she toed off her shoes. There was always a small pleasure in taking off the heavy boots that she never bothered to lace up all the way. She smiled, her feet finally getting a chance to breathe,but the smile quickly dissipated when she turned to face her living room. Dishes covered her coffee table, blankets and pillows were strewn across the floor, and — was that a shirt tossed across the back of the couch?
Jungkook.
It wasn’t unusual for her best friend and long-time crush to come over unannounced while she was gone; he was very introverted. Sharing a space without the other present was his way of feeling close without leaving his comfort zone. Normally, it wasn’t an issue, but every now and then he’d leave her place completely trashed. The two had gotten neighboring apartments straight out of high school four years ago — he had his own apartment to trash.
Initially, Anastasia was skeptical about more or less living together. Jungkook came from money, while Anastasia was barely middle class. Finding a place they both liked and could afford in the city just hadn’t sounded very realistic. However, contrary to what she’d assumed, he’d made the process very simple by agreeing to every place he was shown until they eventually landed in a humble apartment complex within walking distance of their college campus.
All the accumulated stress and annoyance from the week suddenly flared up as she stormed back out of her apartment barefoot and stomped her way over to her best friend’s door. Anastasia wasn’t in the mood to be patient with him today.
Pounding angrily, she waited for him to answer and the longer he took, the angrier she got. She knew he didn’t have a schedule today, he had no excuse for being a dick. As soon as she heard the door unlock, she burst through, stopping herself from spitefully knocking his things over and making a mess in hishome.
“Jungkook! Are you seriously incapable of respecting other—oh!” She stumbled back into the wall, almost tripping over a pair of shoes because the person with his hand on the doorknob was most definitely not Jungkook. Instead, a tall man with dark, curly hair falling into his eyes stood in his place. It was unsettling how beautiful he was, standing like he owned the air she breathed.
“Don’t let me stop you,” He smirked, closing the door with a small flick of his wrist as he brushed past her.
She had to take a minute to gather her thoughts and convince herself what happened had happened. She narrowed her gaze at the wall, fighting down her irritation so as not to overreact and make a scene. Just who the hell did he think he was?
As she slowly stalked into the main room, she knew she’d made the right choice to stay calm when she came face to face with two more men that had the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. An instinct deep inside cautioned danger.
The one that had opened the door was thin and a bit lanky, but there was something so intimidating about the way he met her gaze from across the room. It felt like a dare for her to do something — Anastasia had to look away.
The second man, who had yet to look up from his phone, had the majority of his face concealed by his hood. The arrogance with which he’d positioned himself with an arm along the back of the couch and his legs spread wide, put her on edge.
The last one, dressed head to toe in black, was reclined back into the couch and appeared to be asleep. Still, there was a poised aspect to his posture, like he was ready if anything happened. He wasn’t doing anything special, but something about him…Anastasia wasn’t sure she wanted to get acquainted.
Swallowing the lump of fear from being alone with three strange men, she forced herself to ask, cautiously, “Where’s Jungkook?”
The beautiful one with fluffy hair sighed and plopped down onto the couch, resting his head back onto the arm of the one on his phone. “Jungkookie is getting food.”
Their blatant disinterest in her offered the tiniest bit of solace, leaving her feeling less like she was about to become a victim of a heinous crime at one wrong move. Deciding it was the safest option, she backed up into the hall and quietly left the apartment. She would wait for Jungkook outside, in the public eye.
Paranoia had her back inside the safety of the walls of her apartment.
She didn’t feel so angry about the mess, anymore, more worried and admittedly curious about the men she could now afford to admit were attractive. Even the one sleeping was attractive, who’s attractive when they sleep?
Jungkook is. Her brain unhelpfully supplied.
Shifting her attention to cleaning the mess Jungkook had left, she piled up the dishes on the table and took them to the kitchen. As she soaped up a sponge, her mind wandered back to the three men. What if Jungkook didn’t know them, or worse, was on bad terms with them? It was very unlike Jungkook to let people into his personal space, much less leave them unattended. Did this mean they were close or did it mean he was being threatened? They wouldn’t attack Jungkook in his own home, would they? No, they were Korean too, she could tell by the familiar accent Jungkook had long since lost. They must be friends, or maybe cousins visiting. But if so, why hadn’t Jungkook mentioned anything? Given her a heads up? Did he not know they were going to show up? That meant they weren’t close, right? So he was in danger?
She gnawed on her lower lip, going back and forth, contemplating what to do.
Once the dishes were dry and put away, she took out her phone and dialed her best friend. The longer it rang for, the more anxious she became until finally, he picked up.
“Hello?” The moment his gentle tone came through the speaker, her shoulders relaxed.
“Hey, you okay?” She ought to start there.
He laughed softly, “What? So suddenly? Are youokay?”
“There’s just…” She didn’t know how best to approach the subject, “There are people in your apartment,” she whispered.
He was quiet for a moment, “Oh yeah, did you…meet them?”
She frowned. That wasn’t the reaction she’d been expecting.
“Briefly,” she admitted, hearing someone call his name through the phone.
He stuttered, trying to split his attention between her and whoever had called him.
“Taz, I have to go, food is ready. I’m on my way back now,” He rushed and shuffling could be heard. She imagined him shoving his phone between his shoulder and ear, accepting bags of takeout.
Her frown deepened, “Is it safe?”
The phone let out a small beep, signaling the person on the other end had ended the call. Anastasia pulled the device away from her ear and stared at it questioningly. Jungkook was never so flippant, his insouciant attitude rarely ever directed towards her. What was going on?
She wasn’t exactly hurt by his actions, but there was admittedly a bit of irritation present.
Tapping a finger against her jean-clad thigh, she debated her next move. She didn’t often feel nosey or curious about other people’s business — even Jungkook’s — but this particular situation had her burning with curiosity. She’d never met any of Jungkook’s friends or family from Korea, and she wanted to.
Jungkook’s past had always been a bit of a mystery. When she first noticed him back in high school, he’d been an aloof kid, sitting quietly in the back of class while diligently taking notes. Of course, being the attractive, foreign new kid that seemed to have no interest in anyone around him, everyone vied for his attention. After somewhat serendipitously befriending him, she learned he lived with a sponsor family, so even after 5 years of friendship, she’d never met his family. He never even talked about his family, always growing visibly uncomfortable and fidgety when asked about his personal life. Eventually, years of new memories together caused the curiosity to fade into the background.
Now that long-dormant curiosity was rearing its ugly head again.
Decidedly, Anastasia slipped on her shoes and exited her home. She would wait for him on the stairs, after all.
She knew it might seem like an ambush, but the desire to know beat any guilt to the side. He knew everything about her, it was about time he gave a little back.
It didn’t take long, no more than ten minutes, before she heard his familiar bell-like laugh from the small parking area around the corner. It was followed by indistinct chatter, the teasing tone the only comprehensible sound.
Waiting in silence for Jungkook to come into view, she prepared herself to meet more of his friends. How many more were there? Two at least.
When he rounded the corner laughing, someone riding on his back with their face nuzzled into his neck, Anastasia’s eyes widened. Had she taken a wrong turn on the way home and ended up in the twilight zone? The day just kept getting weirder.
As far as she’d witnessed, Jungkook didn’t like people in his space and always kept a polite distance between himself and others. She’d thought herself special for being accepted into his personal space, but obviously not.
He hadn’t noticed her yet, still a little ways away from the stairs and too preoccupied conversing with a second stranger to notice her form through the metal railing. The one Jungkook spoke with was beautiful in a way that was difficult to describe. Every feature on him was sharp and defined, from his jawline to his broad shoulders, and even his knees. And yet there was something so soft about him, something so untouched and pristine.
She had to remind herself to breathe.
An adorable noise left Jungkook when he saw her on the steps, his mouth making a tiny ‘o’.
“Taz!” He greeted her warmly, her favorite smile on his lips and if she hadn’t known him for so long, she wouldn’t have noticed the nervous shift in his eyes.
“Hey Kook,” She returned with the same warmth, even though she wasn’t exactly in a warm mood. She never did have any control when it came to her best friend.
The man on his back dropped down, almost completely out of sight behind Jungkook.
Jungkook stepped away and grabbed both the men he was with, shoving them forward to the base of the steps. They stumbled, grabbing onto each other in an attempt not to trip and fall, and the taller of the two whipped around to glare at Jungkook, who giggled nervously.
“Who are you?”
Anastasia shifted her focus to the shortest of the three, but hesitated in answering, waiting for Jungkook. When he noticed her gaze, he promptly motioned for the taller man to turn back to her.
“This is Anastasia, Taz, these are some people I want you to meet,” Jungkook filled in, shifting anxiously, but she could tell from his body language that her reaction was the one he was afraid of.
“Hello,” She greeted them, doing her best to conceal the raging feelings inside behind a friendly facade.
They both bowed and voiced their greetings, an action she had half expected after knowing Jungkook for so long.
“I’m Jimin,” The shortest of the three introduced, keeping his heavily accessorized hands to himself, opting for a nod instead.
Following his lead, the second kept his hands in his pockets, also nodding. “Seokjin.”
Making an effort for Jungkook’s sake, though she really wasn’t any more comfortable around these two than she was around the three inside, she smiled, “Nice to meet you, I’m Anastasia.”
“Namjoon is still in the car, he had a phone call, and…you’ve met the others?” Jungkook added, coming forward to meet Anastasia halfway as she descended the stairs.
“Namjoon?” She repeated, “And not really.”
“Oh, okay, I’ll introduce you,” He grinned.
Taking a deep breath, she changed the subject, “Where’s the food?”
His eyes widened comically, “The food!”
He turned and dashed back to the parking lot.
Jimin watched him jog out of sight before slipping his hands into his pockets and casually slipping past her, up the stairs. She turned to follow him with her eyes, observing the way he freely entered Jungkook’s apartment.
Turning back, she found Seokjin leaning comfortably against the steel banister. Was he waiting for Jungkook?
“So, um, how long have you known Jungkook for?” She’d never been good at small talk.
His lips twitched as if to hold back a smirk, “A while.”
Anastasia pursed her lips and nodded, she’d figured as much.
Footsteps stole both their attention and the sight of the man that rounded the corner had her reeling. He was closely followed by an unbothered Jungkook, but Anastasia couldn’t help the urge of fight or flight. She hadn’t thought it possible, but this man’s intimidation blew the others out of the water. His walk, his expression, his confidence…he had the kind of aura one might associate with the Godfather or old money.
He didn’t even seem to notice her as he passed her on the stairs, taking them two at a time as Seokjin followed closely, his hands never having left his pockets.
Jungkook smiled, nodding for her to follow as well. She wasn’t sure she wanted answers anymore, after all, ignorance is bliss, right?
“How much did you buy?! Let me help,” It wasn’t up for debate, but Jungkook just laughed and spun around to dodge her hands, jogging up the steps with all four food bags.
“Careful! You’ll crush the food!” She scolded, making him hesitate and look down.
“They’re fine.” He concluded, continuing up the stairs. She quickly overtook him, determined to at least open the door.
He snickered, scrunching his nose up adorably and she wiggled her eyebrows in return, feeling a twinge of reassurance from the familiar dynamic.
Slipping through the doorway after him, she made sure the door was securely shut before cautiously following. When she rounded the corner, Jungkook had just barely set the bags onto the coffee table before multiple pairs of hands shot out towards the food.
“Sit down,” Jungkook motioned to the couch behind him, the same couch that only had one seat available between two of his friends.
Hesitating, a sudden, overwhelming urge to run enveloped her. She felt so out of place, like the awkward kid at a house party or the only friend without a significant other.
“Uh, actually Kook, I have a lot of homework I need to get done,” She excused, backing up.
“No,” Jungkook denied, wrapping an arm around her waist to stop her from leaving.
She scoffed, “What do you mean ‘no’?”
“I said what I said.” He concluded, pushing her onto the couch and turning back to the food.
She stared incredulously at his back for a moment before meeting the eyes of the sleeping man in all black. Uh oh, had she woken him?
“Hey, how you doin’?” She waved with an obviously forced smile. Much to her relief, he cracked one in return (albeit a more amused one) and rested his head back against the couch, leaving her to spend the next few seconds wondering how someone’s teeth could be cute.
Jumping slightly, a little startled when Jungkook squeezed himself between them, she accepted the plate of food he held out. When she shifted to the side to give him more room, she accidentally bumped into the man on her other side.
The irritated and somewhat disgusted glare she received was uncalled for, confirming what she’d suspected — her presence was unwanted. It was so obvious, why was Jungkook insisting she stay? Was the tension in the room all in her head?
For the first time, she wanted Jungkook’s possessive behavior. She wished he would stake a claim like he usually did and then send her on her merry way. She wanted to leave.
Looking about the room, she tried to come up with an actual reason to leave. A reason more acceptable than just feeling like it. Consequently, she accidentally met gazes with Seokin. He was studying her, that much she could tell, and suddenly she came to the realization that Jungkook might be more important to him than she’d initially assumed.
She couldn’t help but wonder why that didn’t make her feel any better — shouldn’t him caring about who Jungkook kept in company warm her heart? Instead, she felt her blood run cold like she should be cautious of the consequences of being around.
Keeping her distance from Jungkook’s friends felt like the safest option for the time being, but of course, Jungkook had to make that more difficult.
“So you met Seokjin and Jimin, that’s Namjoon, and this is Yoongi, Hoseok, and Taehyung,” Jungkook introduced, pointing to each individual character.
Normally, the second a name left someone’s mouth it was forgotten, but there was no way she could forget them this time. The atmosphere was the closest she’d ever felt to a life or death situation, every moment was being ingrained. She also couldn’t stop her gaze from returning to Namjoon. She felt like a frightened bird keeping an eye on a predator, even when the predator seemed to have little to no interest in her.
“Hello, I’m Anastasia. You’re all Jungkook’s friends?” She was running on survival mode, trying to keep the peace by being as polite as she knew how.
Jungkook nodded, “They’re my brothers.”
Now that got her attention.
“One more time?”
“Not biologically, but we were raised together,” He continued, oblivious to the tension filling the room as he happily munched on his food.
Anastasia felt like she was spiraling. She was Alice and this was Wonderland because nothing made sense. The confusion and anxiety were only just overshadowed by the hurt she felt. She’d always assumed that Jungkook never spoke about his family because he wasn’t on good terms with them, but that was clearly not the case here.
He just hadn’t wanted to share with her and so for the first time since they’d become friends, Anastasia felt alienated. She didn’t belong in his world, or more accurately, she wasn’t welcome.
Following the hurt came thinly veiled anger. He didn’t have enough respect for her to even give her a heads up that his brothers were in town? Fine, she wouldn’t waste her energy playing along.
“I’m leaving.” She stood, stepping around Taehyung’s legs, and headed for the exit.
“What? Taz, wait,” Jungkook spoke through a mouth full of food and got up to follow her.
Not wanting to lose her cool in front of a room full of strangers, she ignored him and left.
She barely made it out the door before Jungkook reached her.
“Hey, whoa, what’s up? I know it’s a bit of a surprise, but—”
“You’re right, it was a surprise. You didn’t even have the decency to let me know you had family in town. That’s not even the bare minimum, though, no the least you could do was let me know they existed in the first place!” She snapped, roughly shoving her door open, having just enough self-control not to let it slam against the wall.
“Jagi, wait, I didn’t mean to, I didn’t know they were coming! Hey, hey, hey,” Jungkook gently grabbed her wrist, trying to dissuade her from storming off to her room where he wouldn’t follow.
“You even trashed my place, you know? I yelled at one of them thinking it was you, do you know how fucking mortified I am? Do you even care?”
Jungkook opened and closed his mouth, not knowing what to say.
She sighed, pinching her nose. As much as she wanted to solve things with him, understand what was going on in his head, she wasn’t calm enough and Jungkook had guests to get back to.
“Nevermind. Get out, we’ll talk about this later.”
