The Benefits- Jikook

Chapter 26: Locked in the friend zone

"Yeah, I know that very well." Jungkook smiles. His eyes are not so playful this time.

And Jimin can imagine how red his face is. Jeon Jungkook, the king of making people blush by just being himself. He doesn't need to do anything to come off as flirty, but did Jungkook have to flex his muscles while resting his hands on the kitchen island like that?

Jimin doesn't want to be delusional again with those big doe eyes turning so warm and kind like Jungkook adores him so much. "Ahem. Just help me chop some onions." He orders before he takes the eggs from a bowl on the kitchen island. "You know where the cutting board is?"

"You put onions in there? Wouldn't it taste weird?" Jungkook then turns around and grabs a cutting board from the cabinet.

"Just do what I said." Jimin says, earning a chuckle from Jungkook before he cracks two eggs into a bowl. Chopping raw shrimps into tiny pieces, Jimin then starts to mix them into the eggs. "Hmm wait? I almost forgot the sauce."

"What sauce are you putting in?" Jungkook asks. "And is this much enough?" He points down at his cutting board.

"Yes, more than enough." Jimin says before he pours a few drops of soy sauce into the bowl. "And lime." He then pours some lime in the bowl. "Oh shit. I poured too much." Looking at Jungkook with worries in his eyes. "We need one more egg then." Jimin then grabs the egg from the same bowl. "Should I put fish sauce in it? Yes, I should try that."

"Why don't you use a spoon? That way it tastes the same every time."

"Yeah yeah. I should do that, but first, fish sauce."

"Do you normally put that in too?" Jungkook raises his eyebrows.

"We can try, yeah?" Jimin then grabs a little spoon before he pours the fish sauce into the bowl. "Oh shit." He poured on the spoon. It's true, but it was a little too much because the sauce didn't stop. There's a lot more escaping the spoon. "Oh god Park Jimin. I poured way too much. This is going to turn into a salty fried egg. It will be 4 eggs if I add one more. Who's going to finish that?"

"I'll finish them. I guess." It's amusing in Jungkook's eyes. Never in his life that he sees Jimin cook. The Jimin in front of him was so focused on pouring the sauce, acting all bossy while being clumsy. Jimin still seems clumsy at cooking, and it's, again, so cute.

"We don't know if it will come out good."

"Hey, it's fine. I think adding one more egg would balance the taste." Jungkook says before he suddenly cracks one more egg in. "Now putting the onions in?"

"Mhm." Jimin nods. "And we're going to stir it."

"For how long?"

"Ah uhmm... as long as we feel it's ready?" Jimin replies. He's also unsure. It's just fried eggs, and he doesn't need to feel this excited, but it's Jungkook who's tasting his food. It has to be good. Setting the pan, Jimin turns the stove on before he comes back to stirring. "I thought you'd judge me for being clumsy."

The sentence makes Jungkook turn his head to Jimin. "Before, my stupid mouth would have said some sutpid things. I was such a jerk."

No words being uttered from Jimin whose expression is unreadable. Just focusing on the eggs in front of him. "You were."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. It's the past. Now we are on good terms again, and it's good." Jimin then turns around to pour the eggs into the pan.

"Wait, I think the pan is too big." Jungkook grabs a smaller pan from the cabinet. "We're not making a shrimp crape." He smiles, warmly.

Like never before, Jungkook is not complaining about Jimin being clumsy.