“Hey, will you still be able to make it?” Jungkook says to you through the phone. He was currently preparing the “date” he was going to have with you.
The“date that isn’t a date but is a date” according to Taehyung. Actually, Taehyung was with him right now, helping him out.
“Of course, I’m on my way. The park by campus right? Jimin’s dropping me off as we speak,” you say. Jungkook’s eyes go wide.
“Oh, you’re almost there?” He says, turning to Taehyung in panic.
“It’s okay,” Taehyung says, “don’t worry.”
“Who’s that?” you question, hearing a voice that doesn’t belong to Jungkook.
“The friend I told you I made in class. Taehyung. He’s helping me with something. Anyways, I’ll see you in a bit. Get there safe,” Jungkook says, not waiting for your response before hanging up.
“She’s going to get there before me,” Jungkook says, grabbing his camera and backpack. Taehyung grabs the blanket and the plastic bag full of your favorite snacks on top of the bed.
“Don’t worry about it, Jimin sucks at driving. We’ll get there before he does,” Taehyung says, walking nonchalantly out of Jungkook’s dorm.
Jungkook told Taehyung about your study session with Jimin earlier today and he mentioned how Jimin is his best friend and roommate.
“Oh Yn is the one that needs a calc tutor?” Taehyung says to Jungkook with a huge smile on his face. “My best friend is the one tutoring her!”
“Your best friend is Jimin?”
“Yup. Best friend, roommate, soulmate, you name it,” Taehyung says, taking a seat at Jungkook’s desk. “Have you met him? He’s a great guy. Smart, nice, adorable..”
“Are you in love with him or something?” Jungkook says, handing him a drink. Taehyung grimaces at him, taking the soda can from his hand.
“No I hate that guy,” he says, cracking it open. “But a lot of girls and guys do fall for him. He’s really pretty.”
“Oh,” Jungkook sits down at the foot of his bed, facing Taehyung. “Do you… Do you think Yn would like him then?”
“Of course, everyone likes him!” Jungkook frowns and Taehyung quickly shakes his head. “No no, not in that way of course. He’s still single for a reason.”
“Oh, is he like a bad guy or something,” Jungkook says.
“No, he’s the sweetest.”
“Taehyung!”
–
“Thanks for dropping me off Jimin,” you say, taking off your seatbelt.
“Of course, I wouldn’t want you to go here all alone. Is your friend here?” Jimin says, taking off his seatbelt as well and stepping out of the car.
“Jungkook should be around here,” you say, “you don’t have to wait for me, I’ll be fine.” Jimin shakes his head, walking to your side of the car. He opens your door and holds his hand out to help you get out. You blush as you put your hand on his.
“It’s dangerous for someone to be out alone this late,” Jimin says. He’s still holding on to your hand.
“No worries, she won’t be alone,” you hear someone say. It’s Jungkook and he’s walking up to the two of you. He glances down at you two’s hands for a second too long and Jimin lets go.
“Okay good,” Jimin says, smiling at Jungkook. “It’s good to see you again by the way. The four of us should hang out sometime.”
“Four of us?” you ask. You know you’re bad at math but not that bad. You point at yourself, then Jungkook, then Jimin, holding up three fingers at him. He laughs at you, his eyes forming little crescent moons. He turns to Jungkook and points behind him. At the car parked just a few feet away, a boy with super fluffy hair and a boxy smile was waving at you excitedly.
“HI YN. JUNGKOOK TOLD ME A LOT ABOUT YOU. I’M TAE BTW,” he yells at you, making you laugh.
“NICE TO MEET YOU TAE. JIMIN NEVER MENTIONED YOU,” you yell back, giggling when Tae’s jaw drops.
“Sorry,” Jimin says in a normal tone of voice.
“I’M EATING YOUR LEFTOVERS,” Taehyung says, getting back in the car and quickly driving away.
“Oh no he doesn’t,” Jimin says, rushing to the driver’s side of his car. “Tomorrow again Yn?” He asks you before getting in. You smile at him and nod. “Okay, see you then. You too, Jungkook.”
“Bye Jimin!”
“Bye Jimin,” Jungkook says, waving. “By the time he gets there, Taehyung will be done with his food already,” he says to you, laughing.
“What makes you say that?”
“He drives slow.”
You look at Jungkook, quirking up an eyebrow at him.
“Taehyung told me, we left the dorms after you called me and still got here at the same time.”
“Oh,” you say. “Well anyways, what are we doing?” You look down at all the stuff he was holding. “Picnic?”
“Yeah, and we’ll take some pictures for the project,” Jungkook says, walking off. You catch up with him, sneaking your arm around his.
“Where are we going to do all of this?” You ask, looking up at him. Jungkook points to the biggest hill. “All the way up there??”
“It’s not that high,” he says.
“It’s high enough for my legs to get tired,” you mumble.
“Want me to carry you then,” Jungkook says. You think about it for a second before shaking your head no. “Okay, then suck it up.”
–
“So what do we do?” You ask as you watch Jungkook set up a tripod in front of you. You were sitting on the blanket he laid out.
“Sit, talk, eat, look at the stars. I need a candid shot,” he says, running away from the camera.
“So is it just going to keep clicking or…”
“It’s recording, I can just go through it later and take some screencaps.”
“Okay,” you say, sitting down comfortably and looking up at the stars. You even point to one for dramatic effect. Jungkook laughs at you as you do this.
“You don’t have to act, just be natural,” he says.
“Fine. What are we taking pictures for again? Your movie poster right? What’s it about? Two friends going on an evening picnic?” Jungkook lets out a nervous laugh.
“Umm… more like two friends at the meteor shower. Making wishes.” You smile at him.
“So basically us the other day?”
“Yeah, basically. But it’s a love story.”
“Ooohspicy~”
“More like sweet,” he laughs. “See, the boy is in love with the girl. But she doesn’t know it yet. In this story, every wish that’s made comes true. At least the non silly ones.”
“Was my calculus wish silly then?” You say, making a face that Jungkook laughs at.
“Not at all. Passing calc is important for you, it’s going to come true.”
“So what are their wishes? The kids in your story.” Jungkook bites his bottom lips, looking away from you for a second before he answers your question.
“Uhh,.. Well the girl wants to pass her class and … well the boy wants the girl.” He says. Turning to you. “Because he’s been in love with her. Since she drew him that heart on his notes with her purple highlighter back in high school.”
Suddenly your heart stopped.
You let out a small, awkward laugh.
“Are we still talking about the project?”
“Y-yeah, of course,” Jungkook says, looking away from you. You didn’t know how to feel. Did your best friend just confess to you? Isn’t this a bit too… out of nowhere?
“Jungkook,” you say, grabbing his hand. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make this awkward.”
“No, it’s fine, it was my fault, I should’ve just kept it to myself.”
“Was that really your wish though? You like me?”
“Is that pathetic?” He says quietly. You smile, shaking your head.
“No, of course not. I would’ve done the same.” He nods, smiling at you as you squeeze his hand.
“I hope this doesn’t change much between us. It’s okay if you don’t like me back. I at least had to tell you.”
“Yeah, no, it’s– it’s fine, don’t worry. You’re still my Jungkook.” He laughs, wrapping his arm around your shoulders and pulling you in for a hug.
“And you’re still my seaweed.”
“UGh,” you groan. “Ruined it.”
He laughs as he pulls away. “Anyways, I brought your favorite snacks.”
“Ooh thank you~ but is it okay if we eat them later instead? I’m still kind of full.”
“Oh did you just eat?”
“Yeah, Jimin took me to Pied Piper. He has a friend that works there. And you’ll never guess who it is.”
Jungkook laughs, rubbing his hand on his forehead. “I bet it’s that Jin guy.”
“YES.” You shake your head. “But don’t worry. Turns out, he flirts with all the cute girls for tips.”
“But he never flirted with you,” Jungkook says, trying not to laugh.
“He probably sensed that I’m broke.”
“Or that you’re not cute,” he responded. Without hesitation. Making your jaw drop.
“Says the one who likes me.”
“Hey, it’s the personality that matters.”
You smack him hard on the arm, making him get up and run a few feet away.
You two are going to be just fine.
“You’re annoying.”
“But you love me anyways,” Jungkook says, running to his camera. “Okay, but I think we’re good with the shots.” He hits the stop button and turns the camera off.
“So that’s it?” You ask, helping him pack everything into his bag.
“Pretty much. Why? Do you want to do anything else?”
“I’m in the mood for coffee..”
Jungkook laughs as he swings his backpack on. “Coffee? It’s like 10. In the evening.”
“So?”
“You’re not going to sleep tonight.”
“When do I ever?”
“You literally sleep all the time.”
“Jungkooooooook,” you whine. “Please. You can’t let me walk to get coffee alone.” Jungkook rolls his eyes, giving in. He extends his hand out to you and you happily grab his hand. “Thank you.”
“Yeah yeah. Which cafe do you want to go to?”
“Well there’s this bakery in between Magic Shop and Pied Piper that sells some good coffee. I’ve never been but I’ve heard good things.”
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HIHI WELCOME BACKKKK
ngl my heart was beating so fast during that ligtle confession part and AHHHHH KOOKIE ITS ALL GOOD BBY YOU’LL GET THE GIRL SOOON. also also, jungkook without a filter is a mENACE and should be warned /j
After a failed attempt at working on homework together, Jimin and you are now at his friend Jin’s apartment! Along with Taehyung and Jungkook of course. And one more friend you were about to meet.
“Did you bring it?” Jungkook asks you right when you enter the door. You nod, walking up to him and handing him his switch. “Thank youuu~” He says, immediately sinking into the couch next to Taehyung.
“Hi!” You hear someone say excitedly behind you. “I’m Hobi,” he says, already leaning in for a hug.
“Hi, I’m Yn,” you say, giggling.
“Yn!” Jin yells from the kitchen. “Are you hungry?” You peek behind Hobi and smile at Jin.
“Yes,” you say. Jungkook taps your leg with his foot.
“Sit next to me,” he says. You turn around, flopping down next to him. “How was the study sesh?”
“Well I spent half of it on my phone and so Jimin scolded me a lot,” you tell him, resting your head on his shoulder. You watch the television as Jungkook and Taehyung play Mario kart.
“She’s very stubborn,” Jimin says, pointing at you. Jungkook laughs, nodding in agreement.
“I just, really don’t like math,” you say. “… anymore.”
finally we got some really help (sorry taehyung <3) and AH THAT PHOTO SEQUENCE OF SEOKJIN REALLY DID SOMETHIMG TO ME AHHH coffee? don’t need that, all i need is kim seokjin
BTS Reaction to your pregnancy test finally coming back positive.
Warning: Vomit (Morning sickness)
Namjoon
He waits anxiously in the living room as you take the test, wringing his hands.
When you don’t come out after 15 minutes he starts to worry and goes to find you
You’re sobbing on the floor when he walks in
Immediately he is at your side telling you it’ll be okay you can try again
You’re crying too hard to tell him, so you hand him the test and he freezes his soothing motions
Tears well in his eyes as you watch for his reaction
Suddenly you’re being lifted off the floor and carried towards your bedroom he lays you down carefully, but he doesn’t let go.
His hands trail down your sides and lift the hem of your shirt.
He leans down and presses hundreds of kisses into your tummy as you giggle, trying to wriggle away from your husband’s affectionate assaults
Seokjin
You find out while he is on tour
There’s only a month left so you don’t tell him
He would only want to fly home immediately and there’s nothing for him to do yet
Hiding from him is torture when he checks in everyday and all you want is to spill the secret and see the joy on his face of finally…
But you know it’ll be worth it
He comes home to string flower petals leading to your closed bedroom door
He opens it to find a tray of goodies laying out for him and a jewellery box with a note that says ‘find me waiting in the bathroom’
He doesn’t open the box too eager to see you after so long he takes the box and heads straight for you
He is more than confused to find you sat on the closed toilet lid in a fluffy bathrobe instead of in a bubble bath like he was usually greeted with
You roll your eyes and gesture to the unopened box he still looks very confused at the little white stick displayed under new cufflinks that read “daddy”
Eventually you just stand letting the robe fall to display your rounding belly.
The shock finally hits him, and he sweeps you into his arms, cradling you close with one arm, the other hand on your stomach.
Yoongi
You are out shopping with your little boy
Daddies black card burning a hole in your pocket as you treat the birthday boy
You’d just finished lunch when the overwhelming urge to vomit hit
The next three days you struggled to keep anything down
Yoongi eventually convinces you to go to the hospital even though you think he’s being a bit dramatic for a stomach bug.
The news you are six weeks pregnant hits you like a truck after what the doctors told you last time
It’s one of the few times Yoongi lets you see him cry off stage.
Hoseok
It’s a joke when he says “maybe you’re pregnant” after developing a weird craving for spray cheese on salt and vinegar crisps
This wasn’t even that weird
You laughed
It’s not exactly out of character for you to try weird food combos
Except spray cheese is disgusting
You still feel a little silly when you go out to buy the test
Lo and behold the little plus mark appears and you are left in shock
Fully on autopilot you walk into your kitchen test in hand
Hobi looks up confused, glancing at your outstretched hands and makes one of those noises only he can
He sweeps you off your feet and dances you around the kitchen pulling you out of your shellshock.
Jimin
You’d never seen someone so excited yet so close to an obvious breakdown
There are 30 swatches of paint on the wall of the spare room by the end of the week
Trying to remind him that if there is still 32 weeks to go does not slow down the process
He enlists the boys while they have time off because he is worried he won’t be around to help as much when their schedules pick up again
Every detail is run by you before it’s placed in the nursery
And he has a baby shower party planned long before your second scan.
Taehyung
The moment the at home test comes back positive Tae has booked you in for a hospital scan
You sit in the private hospital room twitching as you wait for the ultrasound technician to come in
Taehyung squeezes your hands reassuring you after so many negatives and false starts
This time feels different though
Eventually the doctor comes in and you lie back ignoring the discomfort that comes with a transvaginal ultrasound
It was early on and you needed to be sure
The doctor’s brows furrow and you steal your nerves for the news that it was another false alarm
“Are you prepared for the possibility of multiple births?”
Taehyung can’t contain his excitement head whipping to look at your pale complexion
The doctor doesn’t get to say triplets before you’ve blacked out
You thought you were around 12 weeks and starting to show
Nope! Six weeks and very bloated
Jungkook
Five nights into your private luxury yacht honeymoon you are vomiting over the side of the rails while your very confused half naked husband watches on
You’re taken to the doctor at the next port
You laugh when he suggests pregnancy you’ve only been off birth control for a month now
Everyone said it would take forever and you’d already waited for so long
Turns out the universe just didn’t want you living in sin
They did several tests
Each positive
You do wish the little bean could have waited to make you sick when you weren’t living on a boat for a month
You cut the trip short
But JK already had you rebooked for six months after the due date for your first family holiday
➬ Summary | When your countdown appeared on your wrist right on the morning of your eighteenth birthday, you had thought that perhaps the universe was on your side, especially since the final seconds were already ticking so soon. You just never expected to have your first meeting with your soulmate to be the day when you had to let him go. But hope was not lost when you still found love without the bond, and Jungkook showed you that it was possible to find happiness beyond the system that was written for you. Except that the universe doesn’t seem to have enough of its game, when your past sacrifice comes back hitting you straight in the face, just when you had believed that you had written off the perfect ending to your bittersweet tale.
↳ Pairings | Jungkook x reader / Namjoon x reader
↳ Genre | Soulmate!au, Second Chances!au, Angst, Eventual Smut
There is nothing that Namjoon despises more than waking up to a warm morning with vicious throbbing happening inside his head.
The ache feels so potent that he can hear the sound of each throb echoing against his temple. He can even feel it all the way to his toes, feel how the world seems to move with it even when he is still lying in bed, unmoving. The kind of feeling that is completely unwelcome that he dreads opening his eyes.
He may not have always been a morning person, but Namjoon isn’t someone who would find himself in this predicament during a regular weekday, jeopardising what should have been a normally productive day for him. For years, Namjoon has maintained an image of himself where he is in complete control of his own self and need, always knows how to keep his composure in any given situation possible.
And yet, for the first time, he finds himself breaking all the rules and habits that he has created for himself. He can feel that contentment and control slipping out of his fingers only because he gave in to his sorrow. Even his body feels as if it is no longer his own, when every move he makes becomes a struggle and whatever he does only escalates it further.
Fucking hangover.
The entire room seems to tilt over whenever he tries to get up, while the spinning still doesn’t stop even when he closes his eyes to put everything to a halt, just like how he feels his world tilting and spinning in all directions. And it has been this way ever since the night he saw you at Bovine.
When his headache becomes too much, Namjoon gives up on trying and falls back on the bed. So far, his memory is a bit fuzzy and unclear. But as the pulsing headache slowly becomes numb, and just when he is not forcing himself to remember, they simply return to him, random bits and pieces of what had happened—starting from the night before to all day yesterday and then ending on the events unfolding just last night—come flooding back to him.
He remembers coming home late from the studio two nights ago, pissed at himself and feeling incredibly frustrated after his encounter with Jungkook that he decided to grab a bottle of liquor to soothe his uneasiness and wash down the aggravation that followed him home. Things didn’t turn better the next day, when he heard nothing from Jungkook and after he found out that his friend didn’t even make it to work.
Feeling lost, and distraught, thinking that Jungkook might have decided to spend the day with you to salvage and find some reassurance in his relationship with you, Namjoon spent the entire day being holed up inside his home, wallowing in his misery with the collection of liquors that he had kept in his home. He must have passed out or fallen asleep at some point because the next thing he realised, he had lost an entire day as it went past him. It was a miracle that he didn’t poison himself with all that alcohol, though he did remember stopping once in a while and the short naps he had in between helped him sober up each time. And yet even as time went by, even after all the effort that he had done to wash everything away with those liquors, the unsettling feeling inside his chest still lingered, as if it had been rooted so deeply inside him ever since the moment he had the talk with Jungkook.
It was sometime around sundown when he was awakened from another nap by the quick call that his assistant made to him from the lobby, notifying him about a guest who had come asking for him. The nap did so little to sober him up, and yet he made it to reach the front door, even with a few struggles as he tried not to stumble or fall over the coffee table on his way there.
The urgency of the phone call and how his assistant had stressed that he needed to hurry made him think that perhaps there was an emergency, something so urgent that he needed to deal with that nobody else could. He clearly was not expecting to find that the surprise guest that his assistant had sent to his door would be you.
It had taken him quite some time to process what he was seeing. At first, he had thought that he was dreaming when he saw you standing right outside of his home not too long after he was mulling over his situation with you. But then you charged at him, shoving him in anger and the pain he felt in his chest was enough to let him know that it was real. And he took every single thing you were throwing at him—every punch you gave to his chest and every word you screamed at him—so willingly. Because even in his haze, he still knew that he was responsible for everything that was happening.
That he was the reason why you were here.
And then you broke down right in front of him, and he nearly fell down with you when seeing you in that state had made him feel weak. Even now, as he is struggling to recover from his hangover, the dread that he felt from that moment still lingers inside him.
Once he feels steady enough to sit up, Namjoon leans back against the headrest, rubbing his palm across his bare chest as he can still feel the ghost of your touch that he had gotten from the moment you pushed him away and the fading warmth that he felt when he took you in his arms. The pain that you had inflicted on him was nothing compared to what he is feeling inside, though he knows now that he was also far too numb to feel anything last night compared to how raw he is feeling everything now.
But does he have a right to complain when he knows that you might be feeling more pain after what had happened? When what you had experienced had been too unbearable for you to deal with that not even his touch or his embrace had been enough to fix you.
That was why he had accepted everything that you gave him. Because he understood. And he took you in his arms because he understood how much you needed someone to hold you up and keep you from falling. Even if he couldn’t erase your pain, he knew that he had to offer you what he could give you then.
Although it doesn’t exactly justify what he did next.
It is the feeling of rage and disappointment that he has in himself that forces him to get up and leave his bed. He wastes no time and quickly freshens up, getting himself ready to face the repercussions as he marches out of his bedroom with the constant throbbing in his head accompanying every step he makes.
As he trots down his empty and silent home to reach the kitchen, Namjoon’s eyes linger on the locked door of the guest bedroom, the only other room in his penthouse that has rarely been used. Knowing what is waiting from the other side of the bedroom door gives him a sense of longing, even if he knows that he doesn’t deserve to even hope that something good may happen. Looking away from the room, his gaze falls on the foyer instead, right at the corner where he held you tight last night in his arms, holding you as an anchor that kept you from falling apart.
When he closes his eyes, he can still sense everything from that moment. Your warmth, the scent of your shampoo, the way you fit perfectly in his arms and how right it felt when you laid your head on his shoulder. That moment had been short, and yet it was still enough to make him feel complete. He felt as if his soul was awakened then, as if there had been a huge hole inside him that he kept carrying with him for years and you had managed to fill it so easily just by falling into his arms.
He had welcomed that feeling, just as he had welcomed his punishment from you. And he still remembers promising himself not to let you go, that he would always hold you up the same way, that he would never take any of it for granted just as long as he could keep you in his arms for as long as he could.
If only he didn’t royally fuck up right after, and let every chance of making it happen to slip away from his hands almost too soon.
Tormented by his guilt, Namjoon becomes determined to make things right. But first, he needs to make sure that he would do it while sober and that he would do everything the right way. While he has the coffee brewing on the kitchen counter, he picks up the phone and contacts the staff to take that first step of redeeming himself.
“Yes, sir?”
Namjoon clears his throat and keeps his voice low when he responds to his assistant. “Can you have the cook send out a complete breakfast set to my loft, please?”
“Anything specific, sir?”
Thinking and talking only worsen the ache lingering in his head. Closing his eyes, he presses his fingers on the bridge of his nose to try and stop his headache from rapidly increasing. “Nothing—just get me today’s special and some fresh fruit,” he says before quickly adding, “Make that two sets of everything.”
A movement catches his attention just as he ends the phone call, and he looks over to the guest bedroom and finds you standing in the doorway, looking like a deer caught in a headlight with your eyes looking around warily and your fingers fidgeting, as if you need to hold onto something to stop yourself from falling down again.
But what has his chest grow tight is the sight of you wearing his t-shirt, how it seems to be hanging loose on your body and its hem falling on your thighs. And he cannot deny how good it makes him feel to see you wearing something of his. The possessiveness that is building up inside him is driving him crazy, even more than how alcohol had driven his sanity to nothing but an intangible mess when he was supposed to be in control, even if it was only to offer support when you had most needed one.
His heartbeat starts pacing rapidly as he looks at your face and catches your eyes looking back at him, and more images from last night come rushing back to him. Not only for the comfortable warmth that he felt when he was holding you, but also for the cold realisation of how hurtful his actions had been to you last night.
“Perhaps it is a good thing that he is gone. Have you forgotten? You were supposed to be mine. Always have been.”
The dick comment that came out of his mouth makes him wince when he remembers ever voicing it out loud. He should have been consoling you instead of being a jackass about it and acted as if he was celebrating while you were in pain.
Namjoon would never be able to forget your reaction that came right after he said those things to you—the crestfallen look that took up your entire face, the pain in your eyes that became clear to him when they widened in shock after hearing his words, and how you pulled back so quickly, leaving Namjoon feeling mesmerised and too stunned to notice what you were about to do until it was too late. He didn’t realise what was happening until your palm landed right on his cheek and the sound of the loud slap you had landed on his face echoed through the foyer. He didn’t realise what had happened until his skin stung and the horrified gasp you made snapped him out of his shock.
Just as he recounts that very moment, his hand comes up to his cheek, touching the numbing pain on his skin. He is not entirely sure which one hurts the most—the slap of your palm that seems to linger or the constricting pain inside his chest that keeps rising and building when he tried to imagine what you were feeling then. But then everything comes to a halt once he looks at you again, the sight of you being engulfed in his oversized shirt and the knowledge that you had slept on his bed seems to calm his restless soul.
You clear your throat, looking flustered as you avoid his gaze while you remain standing there. “I think I should go…,” you murmur softly with a hoarse voice. “I know that I’ve overstayed my welcome. I shouldn’t have stayed anyway.”
“I was the one who offered. I couldn’t let you leave in the state that you were in last night,” Namjoon quickly says, wincing when he remembers how that night had ended. How right after you slapped him and while he was stunned into silence, you had somehow realised that he had been drunk when he opened the door for you, and how it pushed you to go around his kitchen and living room to find the missing bottle of liquor that he had left behind. His chest tightens when he recalls how you had then grabbed the bottle and started drinking your pain away, and how he couldn’t stop himself when—
Clearing his throat, Namjoon shakes the thoughts away and forces a smile. “And I don’t believe you are ready to go either. Why don’t you stay a bit longer and take your time until you settle down? At least stay for coffee and join me for breakfast. Maybe we can start all over and then later on, if you’d let me, I can lend my ear to listen or my shoulder to cry on if you want to.”
You open your mouth—ready to refuse him, no doubt—but stop yourself when you look conflicted. Knowing that you are at least considering it, Namjoon jumps at the chance and asks again,
“Please. It’s the least that I could do,” he says, quickly biting on his tongue to stop himself from saying, ’—after acting like such a schmuck to you last night.’
“We haven’t had a chance to talk either, have we? For us to talk properly, I mean, and without yelling at each other and while we are both sober,” he adds later on, drawing a smile to your face when you seem to realise that he is right. Namjoon’s lips turn to a wry smile when he realises that he had wasted the last few chances he had to talk to you before, how it had always ended with the both of you yelling hurtful things to each other instead of trying to figure out how to deal with the situation.
“Okay,” you whisper after a moment of silence, much to his relief, though he is still surprised that you would agree with him. Your gaze flickers toward the coffee machine as you sigh, before you meet his gaze again. “But I should probably freshen up real quick. Would you mind if I use the shower?” you ask him as you tilt your head towards the en-suite bathroom inside the room you had been sleeping in.
“By all means, help yourself,” Namjoon says with a genuine smile on his face, trying his best to hold back from adding—
Everything in this place will also be yours anyway. All of it.
It took you about 30 minutes to finish washing up.
Though it might have been more. You just know that you have lost track of time as you indulged in the luxury that the marvellous hot shower inside Namjoon’s en-suite bathroom had provided you.
It had not been your intention to stay that long in the shower, but after spending the first five minutes admiring his spacious guest bathroom and its entire fancy setup, it took you another five minutes filled with a lengthy pep talk about how much you deserved to enjoy this moment after what you have gone through before you could finally step into the shower. And you were soon filled with relief that you had talked yourself into taking it when you realised how good it felt as the hot water came running down your body. It almost felt like everything was being washed away—your fear, your pain, whatever was left from last night’s debacle—while the falling water felt more like magical fingers massaging your tense muscles until you could slowly relax. It had been too good and it felt like such a waste to step out early that you stayed longer than you should have, and you had only left when the hot water seemed to cool down and once your stomach began to protest, begging for breakfast.
After coming here completely on impulse and without carrying any personal belongings other than your small purse, you had worried about not having anything to change into. You can only sigh in defeat at the thought of the clothes that you were wearing yesterday turning into a complete mess after spilling some alcohol on yourself at some point following your impulsive act of barging into his home—hence why Namjoon had let you wear his t-shirt when it was somehow decided that you were staying for the night.
You had settled to the thought of wearing your dirty clothes again after your relaxing shower, telling yourself that you would only need to wear them on your way home anyway. But as you step out of the bathroom, wrapped in a fuzzy towel that you had found in the vanity earlier, you are surprised to find a pair of grey sweatpants and a fresh t-shirt left on the bed for you.
Taking no time to dress up, you bite down the smile that keeps trying to sneak its way to your face from thinking about how thoughtful he turns out to be. It feels like a complete turnaround after seeing the side of him that he had shown you last night, knowing that he cares enough to figure out about these things before you could.
The lavish breakfast setup and the scent of freshly brewed coffee welcome you when you walk out of the bedroom. For some reason, they bring some sense of warmth into Namjoon’s home, when all you had felt ever since you walked into this place has been nothing but hollowness. The place had seemed cold and so unfamiliar that it took you a lot of effort to feel comfortable when you laid to sleep last night. Seeing the vacant dining seats, you turn to find him standing all the way in the living room, looking out the massive window to watch over the city as it comes to life.
“This is a lot. Were you trying to feed an army?” you comment loudly before you can stop it, gaining his attention as he turns away from the window to look at you. The moment you meet his gaze, the smile on your face just comes to rise so easily, much to your surprise. And his, judging from the way he blinks rapidly as if he cannot believe what he is seeing. “Thank you for the clothes, by the way. I was already preparing myself to get through the day with the same clothes I was wearing yesterday.”
Namjoon smiles and shakes his head. “I thought you’d want something more comfortable to wear to make you feel better after that shower,” he says while making his way to you. The movement seems so natural that it almost feels like he is used to doing this—that he is used to having you here in his home. But Namjoon is quick to catch himself before getting too close, swiftly stopping and going around the table, taking the seat across from the one you are standing close to and putting the necessary distance between the two of you. “Come sit and eat with me.”
For a moment, you still feel hesitant to take his offer. Sitting here at the dining table with him seems too intimate, too soon, and too confusing. But there is something in his presence and in his words that seem to compel you into moving, eliminating every excuse that you could think of to escape as you easily slip into the empty chair right across from him without so much of a word.
The breakfast starts with silence, and for some reason, it feels oddly comfortable rather than it is being awkward to share this moment with him even when you barely know him. Things continue this way until Namjoon clears his throat and speaks first. “I want to apologise,” he starts, stopping briefly until you pay attention to him so he can continue, “I shouldn’t have said what I said to you, that was wrong of me. I won’t even justify my condition as it happened. I was drunk and caught off guard with the situation, but none of those things should give me the excuse to be an asshole.”
Your lips curl up to a small smile before you can stop yourself. “So you do realise that you were being an asshole?”
Namjoon scoffs in response to your teasing, though his shoulders sag in relief somewhat when you merely joke about it instead of yelling at him like how he seemed to have expected you to. “It’s quite hard not to,” he says with a shrug while giving you a remorseful smile that seems genuine. “I shouldn’t have said such a thing when you were going through so much already. Your life had changed irrevocably in the span of, what—hours?—after years of living in the stability which you had built with Jungkook as a huge part of your life. While it sucks for me to think about it, I understood. And it was way out of line for me to say such a thing when what you needed was someone to hold you up while you were falling.”
Once again, you are stunned speechless. His apology was something that you had expected to hear, but you had initially thought that he would simply say “I’m sorry” and then be done with it. And yet here he is, giving you such a lengthy apology and looking so terribly sincere with every word he says that you feel warmth blooming in your chest. There is also something else tugging within you as he was speaking, something that has your heart pumping and coming alive.
“You’re forgiven. For now,” you whisper to him as you return his gaze. With a sigh, you shake your head and murmur softly, “It must’ve been a shock to you when I came here unannounced, and to top it all, I created a scene—” you stop for a moment and your gaze flicker towards the living room, where the ‘scene’ from last night had happened. You wince when you remember how unruly your behaviour had been and add, “—and made a whole mess at your home when you probably wanted to have some alone time. And for that, I owe you an apology too.”
Instead of taking it, Namjoon only shakes his head. “There is no need for that. You were frustrated and needed someone to yell at. Someone you could put the blame on for everything that had gone down and I had been the most eligible bastard who deserved it, so I’m not going to blame you to take that opportunity when you could,” he says with a smile, drawing a chuckle out of you. But then he lowers his gaze, and the look that he is giving you is filled with concern as he watches you from under his eyelids. “Not to mention—it wouldn’t be fair for you to deal with this on your own when I have just as much part in this as you are.”
With his words reminding you of what had happened, the pain returns inside your chest, and you swallow hard to stop it from becoming stronger before it takes away your calm just when you finally start feeling better. Saying nothing about it, you lower your head and nod. “I didn’t know where I should run to,” you whisper, admitting how lost you had felt when Jungkook left. “And you were right, the moment I found out that Jungkook had learned everything from you, I acted out of instinct and rushed out here to—”
You look up at him just then, finding him lifting his eyebrows when you fail to finish your sentence. “To do what?” he asks, speaking softly and teasingly at the same time. “To punish me? To punch my face and release your anger?”
“All of the above, I suppose,” you answer him, allowing a shy grin to take over your face when he simply does the same. Although the grin quickly fades when your gaze falls onto his cheek, seeing the slightly pinkish shade on his skin which seems to take its time to fade and feeling the tingle on your palm that returns when you remember what you had done.
“I’m sorry, though. For assaulting you last night,” you start to apologise. Your cheeks are beginning to feel warm when you think about how reckless you had been, but you disguise it when you lift your hand and point it at him. “You know, the uhm—” you say to him, stopping to wave a hand at his cheek. “I’m sorry for slapping you.”
Namjoon laughs. “I already told you, I deserved it,” he says with a dimpled smile that has your heartbeat going so fast it nearly takes your breath away with it.
Your gazes lock to one another for a brief moment, and the air around you seems to sizzle. It prickles on your skin and makes your cheeks grow hot that you instantly look away to cease whatever it is that seems to be building between you. It is the connection, your conscience continues to remind you, but you deny it by simply ignoring it, refusing to acknowledge it for the sake of keeping it from becoming real. Thankfully, Namjoon no longer pays attention to you since the moment you severed that connection, already has his eyes on his phone as he continues to finish his simple meal, unaware that you now have your eyes on him again.
Your eyes linger on his face for a moment, silently taking him in while you have the chance to. The memory you have had of him from college and the pictures you have seen over the past few years have done no justice to what you are seeing up close. If you had thought that Jungkook is a perfect specimen of a human being, then Namjoon is—well, a different kind of perfect. While you have no intention of comparing him with your missing fiancé, there is no helping it when you keep seeing Jungkook’s face inside your head while you have your gaze on this man.
The one thing that you love about Jungkook is the soft features he has on his face even when his body is all firm and strong, but with Namjoon, everything about him is all hard, and all male. From the sharp lines on his face to his hard chest—you still remember how he felt under your palms when he pressed you against him—and his strong arms that made you feel small when he held you in his embrace.
As much as you hate to admit it, there is simply no way that you could possibly deny the attraction that is slowly beginning to sink in before you ever had the chance to realise it. When did it happen? Was it an instant pull, right when the soulmate bond snapped into place the night Namjoon’s mark appeared on his wrist? Or did it happen last night, right after you unleashed your anger on him and then you—
Your gaze trails down to find his lips, and almost instinctively the tingles start appearing on your lips just as you are once again taken back to last night, when in the middle of your frenzy, right when your mind was still clouded in the thick haze of your heartbreak and while you were slowly losing all control against the soulmate pull that your body simply—gave in. Right at that moment, you close your eyes, hoping that it would be enough to erase the flashing image of what happened in your blunder, only to feel your stomach dip when you fail and the memory returns.
Why did I have to kiss him?
You reach up and press your fingers on your lips, hoping to wipe the sensation away. But even as you try to do it by brushing your fingers across your lips, you can still feel it coming back to you each time the memory returns, and every single time it happens, your chest tightens with guilt.
It wasn’t that the kiss had been intended. Your emotions had been completely out of control, and the strong alcohol that you had drunk in the desperate need of erasing your pain must have clouded your judgement. You faintly remember Namjoon rushing to stop you from finishing his bottle, yet it only caused your rage to rise further, and you pushed him away while calling him names and accusing him to be petty and selfish for not wanting to share his drink. And when he finally caught your arm and glared at you to reprimand you, when the shove you gave against his chest wasn’t strong enough to draw him away, you ended up grabbing him by his collars and pulled him down until you could press your lips on his.
The kiss was meant to be brief, just something to shut him up because half of your mind had been thinking of smacking his lips with your palm and it was almost as if your body simply decided that using your lips would be a better idea. Clearly, your mind had already short-circuited just then to react so impulsively before you even realised what you were doing.
Despite the numbness and everything about last night that had become nothing but blurry fragments of moments, you still remember everything about the kiss. You still remember how his body stiffened when you reached out and pulled him down and how he was unmoving for a moment when you pressed your lips on his. You still remember how soft and tender his lips had felt when he began to reciprocate and pressed them against yours instead of pulling away, how he took over and seized control until your head spun with delight.
And you cannot deny the fact that your body came alight upon contact and how the tingles kept rising in the heat of the kiss, how it felt just as intoxicating as the drinks that you stole from him that you kept leaning in when he started to deepen the kiss, allowing his tongue to slip in while his hands pulled you closer to him. But the worse part of it all is the fact that instead of pushing him away, you simply relished the way your whole body was burning from the inside and out.
Thinking about it now makes your cheeks burn and your body heats up once more, but you shake it away. You had tried to convince yourself that it would be better for you to forget that it ever happened and move on. But now that he had put everything out in the open, after both of you had been so willing to own up to your mistakes, that decision simply flies out the window and you give in to the guilt that you are feeling inside.
Lowering your head to hide your burning face, you murmur to him, “Then I’m sorry for kissing you. That was—for the lack of a better word, completely inappropriate.” Unsurprisingly, hearing this only makes his smile grow wider, the dimples on his cheeks deepen when he chuckles so pleasingly as if he enjoys seeing you so flustered.
“I’m honestly not too sorry about it,” he softly says, and you almost swear that your heart nearly jumps out of your chest, most specifically when he slowly lifts his intense gaze to yours. You try to act like his words have no effect on you, but you doubt that you can hide it well when a grin comes onto his face. “But all is forgiven. Neither of us had been in our right minds when it happened.”
His words should be giving you some sense of relief, and yet again, your body reacts differently, when a rush of warmth engulfs you. It makes it even harder to deny it when both his words and the way he is looking at you are making you feel—wanted,even if you know that it is only coming from the bond you have between you and nothing else.
Nothing like what you share with Jungkook.
You say nothing to respond to his words, then simply turn away to enjoy your coffee so you would stop getting drawn to his intense gaze. “I don’t remember seeing you cook and there is no traces left in the kitchen showing me that you prepared breakfast while I was in the shower. Except for the coffee. Do you have staff helping you with all of this?” you ask him once another moment of silence settles in, choosing to change the topic just so you can stop thinking about the kiss again, which happens whenever your mind is idle.
Namjoon smiles bashfully. “I do. The staff belongs to the exclusive floors in this building, though. My boss, the benefactor behind the recording company, owns this building, and the staff is always on standby just in case we need anything. They always send me breakfast in the morning. All I had to do was ask for some extra portions so I can have you join me this morning.”
“You must have done it often, haven’t you? Invite someone to stay the night, feed them with lavish breakfast in the morning to woo them—” You have no idea where this thought had come from or what you are trying to accomplish by saying them out loud. And you certainly have not expected to feel a pang of jealousy for picturing all those women he had taken photos with sitting on this very same table with him, possibly in a more intimate way. You clutch onto your cold glass of water to stop yourself from pressing your palm onto your chest, right where the sting is coming from, though the feeling is quick to be replaced with guilt.
Because if knowing that he had shared his life with others before hurts you, even knowing that all he had gone through had been nothing more but short term relationships or flings, then how had he felt when he had to watch you with Jungkook?
“You may not believe me,” Namjoon speaks after clearing his throat, and you lift your eyes to find him looking straight at you so intensely that it makes you shudder in your seat. “But I’ve never invited anyone to stay the night here, or have the staff cook for them. Except for my family, of course.”
“Really? Not even your past girlfriends?”
You immediately regret asking him this when a spark of mirth comes to his eyes. When he seems intrigued at the fact that you are asking him about his past love life.
“How did you know that I’ve been with anyone else before?”
Gritting your teeth, you bite back the response that might end up with you confessing to him that you have been keeping up with his life over the past few years. It didn’t happen often, and not always on purpose either, when his photos just basically appeared even when you were not searching for anything related to him. With a forced smile, you simply answer him with, “Lucky guess. After all, you have always had a date clinging to your arms on the two occasions we met. Surely, it wouldn’t be wrong of me to assume that there are others in between.”
Namjoon blinks. Whether or not he believes you is not really your problem, though you are surprised to see a mix of shock and guilt in his eyes for a brief moment—and maybe a semblance of shame—before everything fades in the next blink. However, he still keeps his eyes on you when he says, “There had been a few casual relationships that I’ve shared in the past, some casual flings, nothing truly serious. Some of the women that people may have seen with me as my date have also been a part of—” he grimaces, “Well, you may call it as special arrangements.”
“What do you mean?”
Namjoon shrugs and gives you a small smile. “It means it was nothing but that, a front to show the public that I had connections. It helped boost the business when I showed up on dates with people who mattered in the business and it mostly helped them at the same time as showing up with me in public put their name out there for people and the media to recognise,” he says, once again surprising you when instead of telling you this while wearing a sense of pride on his face, all that you see on his face is a hint of shame, before he puts on another mask, and he wears a determined look on his face when he says, “So, the answer is no. They’ve never spent the night here and I’ve never opened my home to them. While I can’t say that I’m a saint either, I have had flings, friends with benefits, women that I could call when I needed a company, and oftentimes the public date that people were seeing me in would continue for the rest of the night, if you know what I mean. I can’t tell you all the details, but—” he stops to look at you in the eyes to add, “The time I spent with them had never been spent here, not in my home.”
Clearly, you have no idea how to react to that, or how to respond when he is looking at you with some sort of a hopeful look in his eyes. How could you even say anything when he just opens up that part of his life so easily, to be so easily honest instead of putting up a front just to amuse you? Unable to find anything to say, you look away, nodding at him as you tell him, “I see. Well, what you do at your personal time isn’t truly my business, is it?”
“Did. What I did in my personal time—” he quickly says with a firm voice, drawing you to find his eyes again. “Things have changed. It has to be.”
“You don’t have to change anything just because—” you begin to speak, hating the way your heart is giving some happy little flops in your chest just for hearing him say those things. Because it doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter. And you shouldn’t be jumping up and down in joy when his life doesn’t concern you. “We don’t even know each other to be saying things like this.”
“Then perhaps we can change that.”
“What?”
With a sigh, Namjoon leans forward to get closer to you, his eyes never waver from your face as he speaks, bringing back everything that had once been said between you the last time you met.
Before Jungkook left to give you space.
“Perhaps we can take this chance to get to know each other better. Past the memory of me being the douchebag who talked shit about the soulmate system and ignored you while you were waiting to see me, past the knowledge of me being Jungkook’s friend or the man who put up a front as if I have had a glorious love life in the past,” he says, and you can swear that there is a fire in his eyes, a look that tells you that he is not backing down. Not from this one.
“There is a reason why the universe had put the both of us together and matched us since birth. There is a reason why fate still insisted that we met, regardless of what had happened to us in the past that had kept us apart. Don’t you want to know what reason that might be?”
The weight of Namjoon’s offer sits with you all through breakfast. While it doesn’t do much to ruin the serene moment that you have been sharing with Namjoon right until the moment he said the words, it still has you growing weary and uneasy for the rest of the morning you spend with him.
It becomes a wonder for you when you manage to walk away from the dining table completely unscathed, even if your mind continues reeling over it without even being able to give him a sold answer. As if he can sense it, Namjoon merely smiles when you fall silent after hearing his offer and suggests that you would take your time to consider it.
“You don’t have to give me an answer or agree with it right away. Try to think about it, don’t let me force or affect any decision you make,” he says, before changing the topic just when you come close to start thinking of ways to escape and flee out of his home.
By noon, you are back at your apartment, sitting on the sofa right in front of the television, its empty screen looking back at you. Namjoon had sent his driver to take you home merely an hour ago, right around the same time he had suddenly acquired some motivation to get back to work and had decided that the driver would be of better use to drive you home while he did his duty from his fancy penthouse.
Feeling drained and sensing no other emotions but the emptiness that had followed you since the day before, you had fallen onto this sofa moments after you walked in and you have yet to move away from it since. You should be mulling over his offer, or perhaps plan out what to do to get Jungkook back and have him talk to you. But you are too numb to do anything, much less to function when you can barely think clearly, as if both your body and mind have shut down ever since you returned to your empty home.
Home.
Looking around, you take in your surroundings, gazing at the space that you had built together with Jungkook as a place where you would be—should have been—building your future together. You look at the beige-coloured walls around you which have been adorned with various framed pictures of the two of you and posters of everything that you both enjoy in life, at the room that is filled with all the mementoes that you have collected together with Jungkook through all the years you spent together.
Your mind takes you back to Namjoon’s home, which had appeared a complete contrast to your own. Despite calling it his personal space, Namjoon’s penthouse seemed scarce of intimate touches. It had felt too impersonal for you, with only essential things filling his home instead of the things that would make his personal space homely, with monochrome colours painting all the walls, spaces, and furnitures which seemed to be the opposite of the vibrant colours that you could find in yourhome.
And yet, as you are sitting here on your own, this apartment suddenly feels colder, hollow, as if the warmth that has been a huge part of it has been sucked dry the moment Jungkook stepped out of the door, the moment every bit of hope that you have built simply shattered when he turned away from you, taking all of that hope and your joy away while taking away your right to choose.
With a sharp inhale of breath, you finally snap out of it, and you soon fall in motion to start picking your life back up as much as possible.
You start by contacting your workplace, while you had informed your co-workers of your absence for the past two days, you decide to make it clear that the ‘family emergency’ you are currently dealing with will take some more time to fix and that you will need to take an early vacation leave before you can return to work. Then you start making more phone calls, sending out texts, doing the best you can to trace Jungkook’s whereabouts and confirm that he is okay, that perhaps you can find him and drag him back home to you.
Your stomach dips when Jungkook’s brother contacts you back only to let you know that your fiancé has yet to appear back at their hometown—not at their parents’ house, not at the brother’s house, and nowhere near their other relatives or old friends. Another call confirms what Namjoon had told you that Jungkook has yet to step foot at the company either, while none of your close friends claims to have been contacted by Jungkook since the day he was gone.
It takes a lot of convincing and pleading to Jungkook’s brother to make him believe that nothing is wrong and to make him promise that he wouldn’t let the news reach their parents. And it takes you a lot of vague explanations to answer all the questions that your friends throw at you with each call or text to keep them from finding out what is actually happening.
Your sister is the last person you call, and her voice immediately feels like a warm hug. Even before you start explaining to her all the details, Gahee seems to have sensed it, as if she had been expecting to receive this call for a long time.
“Gosh, I’m so sorry, _____, I have no idea what to say. Do you want to stay here with us until he comes back? Youngjae has a conference to attend out of town this weekend and I was just about to ask you to stay here to keep me company and help out with Gyeoul anyway,” she softly says.
“I don’t know,” you whisper into the call. “I want to be here if—when he comes back.” Your throat feels constricted that you can barely say those words, and you realise just how unconvincing you sounded even to yourself. Your eyes begin to prickle and burn with tears for the lost hope, but you suck a deep breath and hold everything in. Only for your effort to turn futile when your sister offers,
“I know that you want to wait for him. But would it be a good idea to wait on your own? At least when you’re here, you have Gyeoul and me to distract you. You wouldn’t have everything that reminds you of him suffocating and torturing you in your wait.”
Suffocating? Is that what this place is making me feel?
You begin to wonder about this just when your chest grows even tighter the moment your eyes fall on one of the photos that Jungkook had put on display. An old photo of you taken on your birthday two years ago.
You close your eyes briefly before taking another look around you just as you end the phone call. Not a moment too soon, the silence sinks in, as if it has been waiting in the shadows, lurking around you until the moment you are no longer busy with calls and texts to finally notice it and it would finally engulf you, wrapping itself around you until you find it hard to simply breathe.
Right at that moment, you know that you would never be able to survive sitting here in your silence and in the not knowing only to wait helplessly for Jungkook’s return. Determined to not let yourself drown in sorrow, you finally make your move.
By dusk, you have your personal things packed up. Essential things that you would need to get through the upcoming days and only enough spare clothes to get through the week. By nightfall, you are sitting inside an Uber ride taking you across the city. The hollowness follows you even after you are kilometres away from your apartment, though you can slowly feel it fading, chipped in with every added distance. You try not to think too much about where you are heading to, keeping your eyes looking out the window and watching closely at the city that still thrives while your entire world seems to be falling apart.
By the time you reach your destination, your chest no longer feels tight, though you still feel completely numb. And it doesn’t help eliminate your spiking nerves as you stand right in front of the doorway, your heart stammering in your chest as you are waiting for it to be opened.
The sound of the keys and the door clicking open feels like a gavel coming down to seal your fate. A sense of uncertainty plagues you as you are standing there, though it all fades so quickly when you lift your face and meet Namjoon’s eyes.
“I—I don’t know why I’m here, but—”
Once again, you feel as if your throat is clogged when you are not even completely sure how to explain yourself. The last thing you remember was feeling the dread of loneliness while being alone inside your home. That intense feeling had pulled you right out of it to find solace, only to lead you all the way here, back to his door.
While you are busy questioning yourself, Namjoon simply smiles at you and steps aside, widening the door behind him so you could step right past him. There is no question in his eyes, no doubt in his smile, and there is nothing but pure warmth engulfing you when he says,
“Come in. You’re always welcome here, _____.”
➥ Author’s note | Forgive me for the wait, but this one took a bit of time to finish. As you may have noticed, I have added another chapter on the masterpost. I have decided to split the original chapter into two, with chapter 8 as the filler chapter, while more intriguing stuff will happen later on chapter 9. I hope you enjoyed reading this one. Thank you for joining this emotional ride. Any feedback is welcome!
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!”
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
⤑ 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.
“Welcome to my dorm~” You say, moving out of the way to let Hobi walk in. He looks around, nodding his head.
“I know, it’s messy, but I didn’t really have much time to clean. I thought you’d be away from campus right now,” you say, closing the door and walking by him. When you texted, he happened to be right outside the dorm building. He laughs at you.
“It’s fine, really. The boys are much worse than this.” He sits down at the foot of your bed. “Is there a reason why you invited me over?”
“Yes! Actually. I wanted to talk with you,” you tell him as you sit down beside him. “I didn’t have anyone else to talk about it with and out of the group, I’d feel like you’d be the best person to help.”
“What is it about exactly?” Hobi asks, turning his body to face you. You could already tell that he would give you solid advice by the way he looks eager to listen.
“My feelings.. About Jungkook.. I- I usually talk to him about everything and … well this is about him so I can’t. And I can’t talk about this to Jin, because I feel like he’s helping him out and so his advice would be biased.” Hobi smiles at this, but you didn’t notice because you were looking away from his face. “And, well, Taehyung would want us to be together, so his advice wouldn’t be helpful at all. Lastly, I don’t know if Jimin would even give good advice! He’s good at math, but I just have a feeling he’d suck at this,” you say, turning back to look at Hobi. He has a big smile on his face now.
“What?” you ask him, awkwardly scratching your arm.
“Okay, well first of all, I’m honored that I’m the one you’re trusting with this. Which is a valid choice considering all the reasons you mentioned about the boys. They are correct. They made a group chat with all of us in it, without you, to help Jungkook out.”
“REALLY?” you yell out of surprise, making Hobi jump a little. “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry,” you say, putting your hand on his arm, letting out a giggle. You didn’t know he was jumpy. “But ugh, I knew it!”
“I saw the messages before I got here, they were texting in the group chat. I haven’t gotten to respond because your message popped up for me to come over. But I saw that Jungkook was a little upset that you left or he thinks he might’ve scared you off.”
“Noo, ugh, it’s not his fault, it’s mine,” you say, burying your face into your hands. You drag your hands down just slightly for your palms to cup your cheeks. “He was being his normal self but I was overthinking everything. And I’m sure the guys are giving him advice on what to do but it honestly felt like we were doing the same thing we always do. Does that make sense?
It’s just… now that I know that he likes me, they started feeling different. Like we always go on breakfast dates and cuddle when watching movies.. But for some reason my mind is going everywhere and I can’t focus on what we’re doing.”
“It seems like you’re starting to like him,” Hobi says. His face was serious.
“No,” you say.
“Is it wrong to like him?” Hobi asks you. You nod.
“He’s my best friend,” you say. “If I like him, I’d lose my best friend.”
“No you won’t. He likes you, and if you like him, you’d both like each other. You would have a best friend, and a boyfriend.”
“But what if something happens? What if our relationship doesn’t work out?”
“Then if you two have loved each other enough, you can just go back to being friends.”
“That sounds easier said than done,” you say with a slight laugh. “How can you go back to before like nothing happened.”
“Some people were able to go back to being just friends and end up perfectly fine,” Hobi says.
“That’s just some people. Just because it’s happened to someone, doesn’t mean it’ll happen to me.” Hobi quirks an eyebrow at you and starts to slowly smile.
You furrow your brows at him. “What…”
“I wasn’t going to mention it, but since you said that, I will,” he laughs. You started to get nervous. “When we were out getting ice cream yesterday, I asked you if Jungkook and you were together and you said no. Then I said, oh, you two would look like a cute couple and you laughed and said we could never be together and I said why not? and you said my friends in high school dated each other and it didn’t work out and it ended up breaking our friend group apart, i don’t want that to happen to me and Jungkook.” Your eyes widened as he said it word for word.
“You just said just because it’s happened to someone, doesn’t mean it’ll happen to me,” Hobi says. “What are you doing right now? You like him don’t you?”
It was a Sunday morning and you spent it in bed, just about waking up.
*ding ding!*
You rubbed your eyes, feeling around under your blanket for your phone. It was Jungkook.
You put your phone down, sitting up as your door opened and a smiley Jungkook walked in.
“Good morning beautiful,” he says, sitting down right next to you. You gave him a sleepy smile. Your hair is tangled, the scrunchie was lost somewhere in the mess.
“Good morning ugly,” you replied, in which he shoves your shoulder in response.
“Wake up, we’re going out,” he says, you groan, scooting closer to him.
“I’m still a little sleepy,” you said, dropping your head on his shoulder. He wraps his arms around you and you sink into his warmth.
“Well we’re going to get food. Then we’re going to watch a movie, or binge watch a drama back in my dorm, whichever you want.” You lift up your head and look him straight in the face. Your noses are just about to touch each other.
“Why? What’s so special today?” You ask. Jungkook shrugs.
“I can’t spend time with my favorite girl?” You squint at him, pulling away from his hug. You cross your arms over your chest.
“You’re being reeeeeeaaaally weird today,” you said. “And the day had just started…”
He shrugs… again.
“Well there are 4 other guys in your life right now,” he says, referring to Jin, Jimin, Taehyung, and Hobi. “I need to make sure I stay on top.” That wasn’t the real reason, but that’s what he was telling you anyway.
“You’ll always be my number one,” you reassure him.
“Good,” he says. “Now get ready,” he says, pushing you out of bed.
“I can’t go out looking like this?” you joke. You were wearing an oversized shirt that was revealing one shoulder because of how loose it was. Your hair was coming out of a bun, the scrunchie, again, still lost. And lastly, you had some gunk in your eyes. “ I thought you said I looked beautiful.”
“You called me ugly so I took it back,” he says, reaching out to wipe your eye. He grimaces. “Plus, your breath stinks.”
“Alright, alright. I’ll be back,” you say, rolling your eyes, getting up and walking to your bathroom.
Jungkook waits until you close the door before going on his phone to the group chat Jin made. Without you in it.
“I’m ready, where are we going anyways,” you say, stopping right in front of him. Jungkook looks up from his phone and smiles at you.
“You look pretty,” he says. You nod.
“I know, let’s go,” you respond quickly, tugging his arm. Jungkook sighs as he swings his feet over your bed.
“We’re going to have breakfast at Pied Piper,” he tells you, swinging his arm over your shoulder. “Jin hyung’s cooking for us.”
“I thought he was off on the weekends?” You say, frowning. Jungkook shakes his head.
“Not today.”
-
The two of you wait for Jin to come by and take your order. You had your head hanging over the menu as you kept your hands warm between your legs.
Jungkook looks over at you and reaches his arm out. You notice and you look up, right when his hand touches your hair. He tucks it behind your ear.
“Are you okay?” He asks you. You nod.
“Just a little cold,” you tell him. Autumn is just about a few days away from its official start and it isn’t cold just yet. Although your seat was right under a vent that blew cold air. Jungkook looks up and sees the air conditioner.
“Do you want to switch seats?” He asks you, already standing up.
“No it’s okay, I’ll be fine,” you tell him. He’s about to sit back down when he makes eye contact with Jin.
“Your jacket,” he mouths, motioning to the jacket Jungkook was wearing. He wore jackets often, or long sleeves in general. It didn’t matter if it was hot out or not. Jungkook looks down at you and watches you as you continue to go over the menu. He then quickly takes off his jacket, walking over and putting it over your shoulders. You look up at him surprised. He ignores your expression and sits back down across from you, grabbing the menu and beginning to look at it. Trying to look effortless and cool.
“Jungkook you don’t have to–” You start, you sigh anyways when he looks up at you with his big, doe like eyes. “Thank you,” you say, pulling your arm through the sleeves. He smiles softly at you before looking back down at his menu.
Jungkook was always this nice to you, but today felt different.
Was it because now… You know that he likes you?
He said he’s liked you since high school, so it should be the same feeling but being aware of it felt so different.
It’s not the first time he’s called you beautiful, or touched your hair, or even given you his jacket. Heck, your closet is full of his sweatshirts that you have failed to return.
But he likes you.
And not just as friends.
So it’s different.
The same
yet different.
And now you’re confused.
“So what are you getting?” Jungkook asks you, closing his menu and distracting you from your thoughts. You look up at him in surprise. You weren’t really paying attention as you flipped through the menu. He was kind of on your mind. You furrow your brows at the thought.
“Uhh.. I don’t know. What should I get, what are you getting?” you ask, glancing back down at the menu. Jungkook laughs at you.
“Are you okay? You’re not being you right now,” he says. You shrug.
“I don’t know, it just kind of feels different.”
“What does?” He asks you.
“This,” you gesture to each other and to your surroundings.
“What do you mean? It’s us getting breakfast, we always get breakfast together. And it’s not like it’s our first time here,” he responds, with a smile.
“Yeah but… I don’t know, but it feels like a date. And not like a Yn and Jungkook bestie date but like a… date date. And I don’t know I feel nervous for some reason,” you respond truthfully.
Jungkook glares at you, then he quirks up one eyebrow.
“I mean, this is a normal bestie date. Unless you don’t want it to be,” he says. He smiles at you. That cocky smile he does whenever he’s being annoying. “Do you want it to be a date date?”
You scoff, feeling like it was a set up and the tables have been turned.
“I gave you my answer the other night Jeon Jungkook,” you say, lifting up the menu and hiding behind it. Jungkook laughs, looking up to the side to glance at his hyung. Jin gives him a thumbs up.
-
After breakfast, the two of you were now at Jungkook’s dorm. The two of you decided on watching a drama instead of going to the movies. There weren’t any new movies out that you two haven’t watched yet, but Netflix does have plenty of dramas to choose from.
“Which one should we watch?” Jungkook asks you, clicking through the shows. He had his laptop on his lap while your cheek was pressed up against his arm.
“Ooh, that one looks interesting,” you said, pointing to “Her Private Life”.
“Okay we’ll watch it then.” He clicks on the drama, pushing the laptop back slightly as he sunk into the pillow behind him. He then lifts the arm that you were laying on, pulling you in instead. You snuggle into his chest as you two watch.
-
“Can you imagine having two completely different lives?” Jungkook says, referring to the main character of the show. “I mean, she’s basically Hannah Montana. If she takes off the hat and hoodie and puts on a blazer, she’s not ‘The Road to Sian’ anymore, she’d just be Deokmi.”
To be honest, you couldn’t focus on the show at all. All you could hear was Jungkook’s breathing and his heart beating. You don’t know why you were focusing so much on it.
“But would she as a fangirl be her true self, or would she as the curator be her true self…” Jungkook wonders out loud. “It could be both right?”
“Yeah… I guess so. I don’t know, I’m kind of confused with what’s going on,” you say, sitting up.
“Oh, do you not like it? We can change what we’re watching,” he says, quickly exiting out of the screen.
“No, it’s just,” you sigh. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m so off today.” You say, looking up at your best friend. He’s frowning, looking over at you with a very worried expression.
“Did anything happen? Do you want to talk about what’s on your mind?” he asks you, reaching for your hand. You grab it, shaking your head and smiling up at him.
“I’ll be okay, but maybe we can continue this another day?” You tell him. “I might just need some time to think.”
“Okay, uhh.. think about what?”
“I’ll let you know after I think it through,” you laugh, leaning over to him to give him a hug. “Thank you for this day. I really enjoyed it. My treat next time, okay?”
“Yeah,” he says, watching you pull away. You then get up and grab your things. “Okay.”
you
๑๑๑๑๑๑๑
feelings
๑ part eight: she’s flustered ๑
pairings: jungkook x reader
a/n: i feel like i do this all the time with my aus where yn is so confusing and so the reader gets confused but like the next few updates explains it all and so you won’t get confused anymore does that make sense? i feel like it’s been so long since i’ve done this, i don’t want you guys to be lost T.T
After a failed attempt at working on homework together, Jimin and you are now at his friend Jin’s apartment! Along with Taehyung and Jungkook of course. And one more friend you were about to meet.
“Did you bring it?” Jungkook asks you right when you enter the door. You nod, walking up to him and handing him his switch. “Thank youuu~” He says, immediately sinking into the couch next to Taehyung.
“Hi!” You hear someone say excitedly behind you. “I’m Hobi,” he says, already leaning in for a hug.
“Hi, I’m Yn,” you say, giggling.
“Yn!” Jin yells from the kitchen. “Are you hungry?” You peek behind Hobi and smile at Jin.
“Yes,” you say. Jungkook taps your leg with his foot.
“Sit next to me,” he says. You turn around, flopping down next to him. “How was the study sesh?”
“Well I spent half of it on my phone and so Jimin scolded me a lot,” you tell him, resting your head on his shoulder. You watch the television as Jungkook and Taehyung play Mario kart.
“She’s very stubborn,” Jimin says, pointing at you. Jungkook laughs, nodding in agreement.
“I just, really don’t like math,” you say. “… anymore.”
“You’re majoring in architecture,” Jimin says.
“Okay, and?” you answer back.
“I like her,” Hobi says, smiling at you before walking to the kitchen to help Jin. Your eyes follow him and you see Jin putting meat on a chopping board.
“WOAH. You’re cooking all that? For lunch?” You say, immediately getting up and following Hobi. Jimin passes by you and takes your spot on the couch.
“Yeah, why? Are you not as hungry?” Jin answers. You put your hand over your mouth in awe, not knowing he was a good cook.
I mean, you’re assuming he is by the way he was prepping everything.
You take out your phone and take a picture of him. He looks at you surprised.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“This makes you even hotter,” you say, snapping another picture. He laughs, getting embarrassed. He then raises his hand to hide his face from the camera. “I’m posting this on twitter,” you say, leaning over the counter.
“So nothing changed?” Taehyung asks, screaming right after Jungkook passed him in the game.
“Between me and Yn?” Jungkook asks, leaning forward and keeping his eyes locked on the screen. “Are you trying to distract me? I’m not going to let you win.”
“Of course not, but yes between you two.” Jimin turns to the two, looking back and forth between Jungkook and Taehyung.
“Wait, do you…” Jimin says, turning to Jungkook.
“Have feelings for Yn?” Jungkook says, “yeah.” Jimin nods.
“Yeah and he needs help with winning her heart,” Taehyung says. “Oh– OH!” He yells, slowly standing up as he passes Jungkook and crosses the finish line. “YES! WOO!”
“Oh,” Jimin says. “Does she know? Or..”
“Yeah… I told her last night after you dropped her off,” Jungkook says, sighing as he puts the switch down.
“Why do you look like that?” Taehyung says, looking at Jimin and furrowing his brows. “Don’t tell me you like her too.” Jungkook looks up and stares at Taehyung for a few seconds before turning to Jimin.
“Oh. It’s okay if you do. She doesn’t like me back anyways. I’m sure you two would hit it off,” Jungkook says, smiling at Jimin before standing up and going to where you were.
Taehyung punches Jimin’s arm, making him flinch.
“Ow,” Jimin says, rubbing his arm as he frowns at his best friend.
“You can’t like her,” Taehyung says. “That’s against the rules.”
“What rules?”
“The bro code! You can’t like another bro’s crush,” Taehyung explains. “That will ruin our friendship.”
“Yeah, I know, I won’t don’t worry,” Jimin says, turning to you. “I like her, but not in that way.”
“Then why did you react the way you did?” Jimin shrugs.
“I was just surprised I guess. I didn’t think any of them had feelings for each other. I was just thinking about how I probably made Jungkook uncomfortable when I’m around.”
“Is it because you’re really touchy around people you like,” Taehyung says, looking down at Jimin’s foot that is now on his lap.
“Yeah, I was literally holding her hand when he came up to us last night when I was dropping her off,” Jimin says, dropping his head on the couch. “I must’ve given him the wrong impression.. I have to tell him I don’t like her like that.”
“Wait, did you guys get the ice cream?” Hobi suddenly asks, looking at you with a worried expression. You felt your cheeks suddenly heat up.
“We forgot,” you whisper. “I’m sorry.” Jungkook laughs at you, shaking his head. Your eyes were big and your cheeks were noticeably more pink.
Hobi smiles at you, shaking his head. “It’s okay, we’ll just get some right now.” He then walks to the living room where the two boys were at and grabs his wallet and keys that were on the coffee table.
“Come, let’s buy ice cream,” Hobi says, gesturing for you and Jungkook. You and Jungkook were about to follow the older one when Jimin yelled.
“Jungkook!” The two of you froze and turned to him with both of your eyebrows raised. “Sorry,” Jimin says with a small laugh. “Yn, you can go with Hobi hyung, Jungkook, stay.”
Jungkook looks at you and you nod.
“He said stay Jungkook, be a good boy and listen to your hyung,” you joke, pushing him towards the boys on the couch. Jungkook glares at you as he walks towards Jimin.
“See you guys later,” you yell, walking out with Hobi.
“And again, I’m cooking alone,” Jin mumbles to himself, looking at the half chopped vegetables that Hoseok was helping with.
“I’ll help hyung,” Taehyung says, standing up and running next to Jin.
“I don’t like Yn,” Jimin says, loud enough for Jin to hear from the kitchen. Not that the kitchen was far from the living room. Actually, the only thing that separated the kitchen from the living room was the kitchen counter.
“You don’t like her?” Jin asks. “Why not? I think she’s great. She’s funny, she’s sweet, and she tells me that I’m good looking.” Jin finished it off by winking at Jimin. Taehyung laughs beside him.
“Yeah you’re right, she is funny. I think that last part that you just said was her best joke.” Jin turns and glares at the younger boy.
“Keep chopping those carrots.”
“No, not like that. I like her, she’s great. I meant that I don’t like her in a romantic way,” Jimin explains. “It might’ve come off wrong, I don’t want you to think I was trying to hit on her or anything. I’m sorry if it did look like it.” Jungkook shakes his head.
“No, it’s okay, don’t worry about it. If you do ever grow feelings for her, don’t let me stop you. I just want the best for her.”
Taehyung quirks an eyebrow at the two. He scoffs, rolling his eyes.
“Jungkook, you’re too nice! Stop that, go fight for your girl!” He yells, holding the knife up. Jin’s eyes widens as he reaches around Taehyung and slowly brings his arm down.
“That’s enough of you in this kitchen, go sit down, thank you,” he says, pushing the younger boy away.
“Anyways,” Jin says. “Can someone explain to me what’s going on? What am I watching here?”
“Jungkook likes Yn. Jimin likes Yn as a friend but you know how Jimin is with his friends. He’s very touchy,” Taehyung explains while he walks to the couch. “Jimin found out like ten minutes ago that Jungkook has feelings for Yn and felt bad that Jungkook might’ve thought that he was trying to flirt with his crush because he was caught holding her hand last night, but really, Jimin was just being Jimin. And so Jimin is explaining to Jungkook that he only likes Yn as a friend. But Jungkook is too nice and is saying it’s okay if he does end up liking her in the future. Because he confessed to Yn last night and Yn didn’t feel the same way. He says that he just wants her to be happy so if Jimin is the one that can do that, then he’s okay with it. Even if it breaks his little heart.”
Jungkook blinks at Taehyung and Jimin laughs at the newbie.
“Taehyung’s favorite pastime is being a hopeless romantic. He lives for these moments. He really wants you to be the one that makes Yn happy.”
“Ooh, so the little one doesn’t know what to do with his feelings now does he?” Jin says.
“Yeah, I don’t. I didn’t really know what it would be like if I ever did confess to her,” Jungkook says. “It was either we ended up together, stayed friends, or stopped being friends.” He shrugs, “I was always scared it would be the last one so I never did it. But now that I did and we’re just friends… I don’t know how to get rid of the feelings right away.”
“You can’t just get rid of feelings after having them for so long– assuming you have liked her for a while,” Jin says. Taehyung nods.
“Since high school,” he answered for Jungkook.
“Then don’t give up. I’m sure if she stayed with you for this long, she’s bound to have some feelings,” Jin says.
“Okay, but, and I’m just playing the devil’s advocate here,” Jimin says. “I’m seriously rooting for you two. But let’s just say, what if she doesn’t?” He says, crossing his arms and looking back and forth between the three guys. “A guy and a girl can be friends. It’s happened before.”
“That’s true,” Jungkook says. “For anything, I could just be a brother to her.” Taehyung winces at the thought.
“Jungkook, you two have so much potential,” Jin says. “I’m sure she’ll end up falling for you eventually. Now that she knows that you like her, it’s in her head. She’ll notice all the little things you do with her and she’ll start to realize that she actually wants to be with you. Trust me.”
“But what if she doesn’t,” Jimin says, resting his head on his hand.
“Are you sure you don’t like her?” Taehyung says. He pushes Jimin slightly. “Who’s side are you on?”
“Okay, I’ll stop, I’m sorry. Hyung?”
“Okay, okay,” Jin says, wiping his hands on a towel. “So this is what you’ll do.”
๑๑๑๑๑๑๑
feelings
๑ part seven: be a good boy ๑
pairings: jungkook x reader
a/n: i’m going to say this now before anyone comes at me in the future LOL but guys and girls can be friends without any romantic feelings!! for the sake of this au and my hopeless romantic self, that isn’t going to apply in my bts ff universe okay :) lol at least for the two main characters
It was 8 in the morning and you were, for the most part, awake and in a cafe. This time with Jimin and you two were doing math homework together.
Yes, math on a Saturday morning. It was so shocking to you that you had to tweet it.
Okay, you didn’t have to, but you needed an excuse to get on your phone because this was getting boring.
You snap a quick picture of Jimin with your books and work on the table, quickly typing up a caption and posting the tweet. Replying to yourself right under it.
Jimin looks up and sees you smiling down at your phone. Glancing at your screen, he sees that you’re on twitter. He quickly pulls out his phone and finds your tweet, smiling at himself as he comments on your post to catch your attention.
Right when his comment pops up, you look up and glare at him. And all he does is just smile sweetly at you before popping one earphone in his ear and going back to his work book.
You sigh, putting your phone down. You grab your pencil again and tap it on the table as you read the next problem on your worksheet.
You blink at it for a few seconds before glancing up at Jimin. He’s focused on his own work so you quickly grab your phone and slip it underneath the table.
You text Jungkook.
–
Jungkook was currently with Taehyung and his friends. Which quickly became his friends as well. Seokjin and Hoseok aka Jin hyung and Hobi hyung.
The four were walking up to Jin’s apartment when Jungkook’s phone dinged three times in a row.
“Woah, who’s texting you so much?” Hobi asks Jungkook as he takes his phone out of his pocket. Jungkook looks at his screen and smiles when he sees that it’s you and that you’re looking for him and want to hang out. Even though you told him that you were spending the morning with Jimin.
“Is it Yn?” Taehyung asks. “Can I text her back?” Jungkook furrows his brows.
“What are you going to say?” He asks, handing him the phone anyways. The other two boys gather around Taehyung as he types a response. Even taking a quick picture to send to you.
“Here,” Taehyung says, handing Jungkook back the phone. “I’m going to make us six a groupchat.”
Jungkook takes his phone back, reading through the responses Taehyung wrote to you. He laughs at them and smiles when you text again, asking for him.
“Welcome to my apartment,” Jin says, opening the door and letting the boys in. Jungkook looked around in awe.
Jin’s the oldest out of the 4 of them and everyone else still lived in dorms so it was cool that he lives in an apartment of his own.
He also had a lot of cool toys and gadgets lying around.
“Make yourself comfortable,” Jin says, patting Jungkook’s back. The other two were already laying on his couch.
“Come sit over here Jungkookah,” Hobi calls, patting the seat next to him.
Jungkook follows his new hyung and sits next to him before replying to your messages. He couldn’t help but smile at your replies but it disappears when you say that you had to go.
–
Jimin catches you on your phone once again and scolds you for not doing your work.
“You should put your messages on “Do not disturb” so you don’t get distracted by any messages.” He said. “I always keep mine on it because my friends like to spam on our groupchat.”
“Okay, I’m sorry, but let me just post something real quick,” you say, holding up a finger to him. Jimin laughs shaking his head.
“Yn, I thought you wanted to do our work together so that you can focus and have someone to hold you accountable,” he says. You smile at him sheepishly.
“I know I know, I’m sorry. Studying or doing work in general is just so hard for me. Especially if it’s a subject I don’t particularly like.”
“I understand, I’m the same with History. You just need to be more strict with yourself, let’s just keep working for a few more minutes and we can call it a day.” You nod, about to put your phone away when Taehyung’s replies pops up.
“Oh, Taehyung messaged me,” you say. Jimin sighs, dropping his head. He nods and closes his workbook and you look up at him confused.
“Wait, why are you packing up?”
“It’s Taehyung, you won’t get anything done now for sure,” he says.
“So I guess we have mutual friends now huh,” Jimin says as you two walk out of the cafe together.
“I guess so,” you say. “Guess we’ll be spending more time together.”
“Great,” he says, smiling at you with those darn moon eyes. You quickly slap your cheeks to hide the blush and he laughs, putting his arm around your shoulders as he walks you to his car.
๑๑๑๑๑๑๑
feelings
๑ part six: do not disturb ๑
pairings: jungkook x reader
a/n: bringing in the new friends!!! also i have no idea how to solve that calc problem, i got this online LOL just like yn, i did not do well in that class either i mean, i passed but idk math anymore
i was tagged by @ahundredtimesover thank you so much for this, i rarely ever look back at my works or think about them, but this gave me an opportunity to appreciate the work i’ve put into them <3
it was the first ever fic ive written in completion, it has its flaws but writing it made me feel free. writing about two people falling in love (with a few cliché’s here and there) really made me wonder about what love truly is, i still don’t have the answer but i’m gonna write till i understand it. blossom is my first baby and it will always be special to me.
when i started writing this, i felt stuck, i didn’t know what i wanted to do with the story but even if it took time, even if it drove me crazy sometimes, i love this fic a lot. it was really worth all the all-nighters for me.
this was hard to write, i never wrote about such negative emotions before and i never really made any of my characters look bad but i tried it for the first time in this, and this fic is probably my most perfect one, at least to me. it’s easily the favourite fic i’ve written so far.
help i couldnt pick one T_T because both of these are my most emotion-packed fics and they really made me sad just writing them. these two are heartbreaking and as sadistic as it sounds, it was cathartic to write about the pain of loving.
this two-part fic challenged me as a writer, it was the first request i ever got and i never thought of hybrid fics and frankly, i still don’t quite get them but upon request, i did my research i put my all into writing this demon!jk fic and i am proud of myself for not backing just cause it was different to what i wrote.
this was very lovely for me, i don’t think i realized how much love and care i held for my fics until today so again thank you @ahundredtimesover i hope you continue to enjoy my work <3
introducing my next series surrounding the bangtan boys and the various kinds of love that exist in the world. for an emotion so complex, it’s only right to explore it as much as you can and give your own meaning to it. i hope to find my meaning for love through writing these and express them through colours i know, i hope you do too <3
p.s. all the stories can be read individually and do not have a specified date of publishing, below are linked my main masterlist and very first universe, happy reading :D
summary: when jimin got the role of black swan in the biggest act of the industry, he didn’t expect himself to embrace a similar kind of obsession and actually turn into one at the end of it.
tears i cry - k.sj. (coming soon!)
summary:
on this day - k.nj. (coming soon!)
summary:
ashes we leave behind - j.jk. (coming soon!)
summary:
maybe we’ll bloom today - m.yg. (coming soon!)
summary:
is it that hard? - j.hs. (coming soon!)
summary:
what i see, what you see - k.th. (coming soon!)
summary:
all of this is fiction and i am not trying to portray how bangtan are in real life, these are my characters with their names and faces but there is no relation to how they actually are.
pairing: Jungkook x Reader | [slight] Yoongi x Reader
genre: fluff, angst, smut, roommates!au, college!au, fuckboi!jk, enemies to friends to lovers
summary: Star basketball player Jeon Jungkook has a reputation as the ultimate fuckboi. He’s loved by everyone. Everyone. And you would have followed suit if he had not broken all your strict Roommate Rules™ within the first week of his stay. Jungkook, on the other hand, thinks you’re absolutely bizarre. But there’s a silver lining — Mr. Fuckboi here knows basketball captain Min Yoongi, your dreadfully clueless crush. He strikes up a deal with you: he’ll teach you the ways of flirting if you lessen your load of rules (so Jungkook can continue perusing his way through the ladies on campus). Yet the longer Jungkook spends with you, the more he realizes that maybe he doesn’t want to be the campus fuckboi anymore. The problem is, how does he prove that to you?
rating: 18+ sexual content.
warnings: protected sex, oral (f. receiving), handjob through clothes??, cumming in pants :D, slow burn, a lot of making out, titty sucking, cursing, alcohol consumption from parties, drug (weed) consumption (but not main pairing), marking with nails (not from y/n tho omg), jk sleeps around, and he’s a basketball player oof, honestly jk and y/n are just hella confused
word count: 20.6k
a/n ✑ it’s here, part uno! thank you so much for your patience!! i hope you enjoy this fic that was originally supposed to be 15k max… i appreciate all the support/motivation mwah mwah <3 the warnings for part two are included here as well (so if they dont show,,, it’s cuz it’s in the next one)
Holy hell, this was so good. the college/roommates/jock and fuckboy jk fic of my dreams. It’s everything you could want in a story that has all the classic tropes written so well, so entertainingly, so captivating that 20k words pass by and you feel so satisfied and full.
It’s funny and amusing. OC is hilarious and a ball of wholesomeness and I just want to protect her. Like, she’s not ur usual cliche awkward girl, the way jk isn’t ur usual asshole jock (maybe a bit) and their unlikely friendship is something you just want to wrap in a blanket and gaze at for how precious it is. You just feel the comfort. And yes, the desire - all those moments they shared were so, so hot they didn’t go overboard; it was the right kind of smut, the right kind of care and adoration. And I just feel the angst and many more happening in part 2 but this, this is gold.
Jungkook stands in front of you in the open space of his dark lounge, you’re sitting on the sofa cross-legged and teary eyed as you both watch the news in horror. Toying with the hem of your white t shirt you can’t stop the cries from cascading down your cheek, the tape has been leaked to the public.
“Taehyung will fix this, he’ll get it deleted,” Jungkook nods as he reassures himself, eyes glued to the television, news reporters going into vivid details about your final night in Bora Bora - including an audio clip of the conversation that followed some of the most intimate moments of your life, “He’s the best attorney money can buy, I’m not just saying it because he’s my friend he’s going to fix this—”
“How could you do this to me?” You whisper, gaze finally meeting his.
“You thinkIdid this?” He’s hugely offended, his hooded eyes animatedly large and round, contrasting to his sharp set jaw, “You actually think I did this?” His voice is raised.
Standing from the sofa you frown, “Did you send the video to one of your friends? Is that it? Is that how this has happened?” You want to believe he’s not capable of something like this but all the evidence is against him – he filmed the video, on his camera, he was the only one with a copy. “Was it just something to send to your group chats? Is that what it was to you?”
“That video was for me and you, nobody else—”
“Then how has this happened?! Explain to me why it’s all over the internet!” Your heart hammers inside your chest as you scream, thrashing your arms about as adrenaline courses your veins.
At this Jungkook pinches the bridge of his nose, trying to calm himself down, “I-, I don’t know.” He exhales, ridding himself of his grey hoodie before he throws it on the sofa, leaving him stood wearing a plain black t shirt.
“Bullshit.” You spit, “You’re the only one who had the video, you expect me to believe you didn’t have something to do this?”
“Why would I do something like this? Hm? Financial gain? Last time I checked I don’t need the money. So what other reason would I have to do this?”
“You tell me.” You scoff, shrugging as you wipe away your tears.
The realisation that you genuinely believe he’s the one to blame suddenly dawns on him, he’s shocked and insulted to say the least, “Y/N I didn’t fucking do this, why would I want anybody to see that video? I’m on it too.”
“Right,” You laugh, though there’s no humour in your tone, “Because this is going to end so badly for you. The only thing that’s going to happen to you is now everybody knows that you’ve got a big cock, guys are going to high-five you and congratulate—”
“Stop it.” Jungkook bites, “I didn’t leak the video.”
“You know what will happen to me?” You’re furious as you continue ranting, wiping your cheeks with shaky hands, “I’ll be known as the slut that billionaire playboy Jungkook fucked. I’m just another name in your little black book! The sugar baby that he spanked in a beach hut—”
“I said stop it!” His voice is louder, “You’re my girlfriend, I’m not going to let that happen.”
“It’s already happened!” You shriek, “I wasn’t your girlfriend in Bora Bora, the media already know what our situation was back then it’s all anybody’s been talking about for the past two days. It’s all over the fucking news Jungkook! The news!”
“You don’t think I know that?!” He growls, “You think this is easy for me? Knowing that people have watched that video?” He’s pacing the room now, fingers pushing his hair back in a hurry.
“Oh I’m so sorry that you’re having a hard time, it must be so difficult knowing that the whole world knows you’re good in bed!” You know you’re being irrational with him, you know it’s hard for him to digest the events of the past three days but you can’t bring yourself to look past the fact he’s the one who’s done this.
“Y/N.” He laughs unamused, shaking his head in disbelief, “Nobody feels worse about this than me.”
“What about me?” You’re quiet, “Do my feelings mean nothing to you?”
“Of course not! That’s not what I meant—”
“Then what did you mean Jungkook? You think that you’re worse off than me in this situation? Knowing that men have watched that thing and… I feel violated. I feel sick. I haven’t slept because I know that it’s spreading like wild fire, I can’t even get into my apartment building without the paparazzi asking me for more adult content.” You’re sobbing now, your breath shaky and shallow.
“You think I don’t feel violated?!” His voice is hoarse as he yells, staring down at you with a face of thunder, “Somebody has leaked a video of me having sex with my girlfriend, not some random girl I don’t care about - my girlfriend. I feel disgusted that people are watching that thing and ogling you without your consent. My fucking parents are devastated, I’m devastated, why don’t you understand that this is hard for me too?!”
“You really expect me to believe that you’re not responsible—”
“You know what? Yeah. I do expect my girlfriend to believe me when I say that I didn’t do this, and the fact you don’t says a lot about what you think of me.”
“Why else would you want to film us in the first place?” You can barely make out his face through your tears, he’s standing two feet away with an expression that can only be described as hurt. “Did you plan for this to happen?”
“Don’t,” He warns, refusing your questions, “In hind sight, it was a fucking stupid idea. If I could go back and change it trust me I would.” There’s a moment of tense silence before he opens his mouth to speak again, “Y/N this wasn’t me, I didn’t do this, I could never do something so… disgusting and inappropriate to you.”
“Disgusting and inappropriate…” You repeat, swallowing the lump in the back of your throat, “You mean like when you wanted to pay me for sex thirty minutes after meeting me?”
At this Jungkook stills entirely, it’s his turn to cry now – he stands in front of you with watery eyes, tucking his bottom lip between his teeth as though that will catch his emotions before they escape, “That’s enough.”
There’s an uncomfortable silence, you’re rightfully upset and angry but even you know that was too far. You try to steady your breathing, toying with the idea of apologising before his words interrupt your thoughts.
“You really think I did it don’t you? That I leaked the video?”
No words are exchanged, instead you nod slowly and look away from his desperate profile, settling your gaze back to the television which is still reporting the story about you both. For obvious reasons the video can’t be aired on TV, so the news stations have settled for a screenshot of you laying beside each other in bed, his arm draped over your waist as he was about to confess his feelings for you, dazed and fucked-out beneath the sheets.
“But what I don’t understand is why…” Your voice is merely a whisper, “Why you would string me along for so long, just to publicly humiliate me break my heart.”
“If you genuinely believe I’m capable of this, you really don’t know anything about me.”
“No,” You grab your bag from the sofa and throw it over your shoulder, looking him dead in the eye for what you assume will be the last time, “I guess I don’t.”
“Y/N wait.”
You don’t look back.
Jungkook watches you leave his apartment with an aching heart, no sooner than you’re hidden behind the golden doors of the elevator he breaks down, sinking to the ground in floods of salty tears. Unbeknownst to him you too are bawling your eyes out as you exit the building, hiding your face from the dozen camera men that wait for you outside.
