UNIVERSE / BTS.

87: back to ninety four / jingguk

what he'd encountered, instead, was a very sweaty, very suntanned and very shirtless seokjin, doing chins-ups in the garage. and now, jeongguk didn't mean to stare, didn't meant to gawk at the way seokjin's abdominal muscles clenched as he pulled his body up, didn't mean to almost choke on his saliva as seokjin's biceps flexed beneath his skin. he didn't meant to run back to his house with a growing boner and flushed red cheeks — putting off those sugar and coffee requests for another time.

jeongguk had thrown himself onto his bed, running hands through his hair, staring at his hard on and telling himself 'this is wrong. he's fourteen years older than me. he's a father. he's my neighbour. i shouldn't.'

but it just wouldn't budge.

he couldn't close his eyes without picturing seokjin's flexing muscles, the sweat dripping down his body, his hair stuck to his forehead. he knows it so, so wrong, but he ends up with his hand shoved down his boxers anyway ( because who said he had any self-restraint? or self-respect, for that matter ).

now, a year or so later, jeongguk watches his still-very-much-married neighbour jump into the pool with his kids, laughing as he scoops yoobin up on his shoulders. jeongguk's never gonna be someone he even considers romantically; jeongguk's just the young neighbour who doesn't mind taking the kids to school sometimes, the sweet boy next door who plays guitar at odd hours of the morning, a kid in seokjin's eyes.

"fuck you, kim seokjin," jeongguk sighs gently, downing the last of his can of now lukewarm beer, grimacing, before picking his shit up and going back into his cool house, troye sivan playing from his speaker. he puts the beer in the fridge and looks over his lunch options, finally going for instant ramen, putting the kettle on before going to his office to find some of his work stuff that he should be looking over.

jeongguk works for a interior design company, which is sort of boring, considering he has to HGTV it and look through colour swatches with annoying women to find the exact gross shade of avocado green they want to paint their bathrooms, while their husbands pay no attention whatsoever, unless they feel threatened by jeongguk's presence around their wives ( which is, frankly, ridiculous; jeongguk's the most obvious twink, and he would also never hit on a married woman ). it pays well, so he can't really complain.

he looks over a digital mock-up of his client's living room, adding a few details that she had specified in an email. he sends it to his boss for final approval, before shutting off his laptop and pouring the hot water over his noodles.

he's just about halfway through his lunch when the doorbell rings, and he groans internally, leaving his delicious noodles for the door. when he opens it, the two youngest kims are standing, soaking wet and grinning, on his doorstep, with their dad's big brown eyes, freckled and sunsoaked.

"ggukie ggukie!" tae-o's gapped teeth stretch into a grin bigger than his face, and jeongguk can't help but retaliate.

"hey boys," he leans on the doorframe, ignoring the hot air streaming into his house. "pool day, huh?"

"dad wanted us to ask if you wanted to come over," yoobin says, while tae-o looks at jeongguk expectantly. "he thought it'd be good, 'cause you haven't got a pool 'nd it's gotta be hot here."

"please jeonggukie?" tae-o's all big pleading eyes, and jeongguk chuckles, nodding.

"i'll be over in a sec, guys, lemme just finish my lunch." despite the fact that he's going to be seeing seokjin shirtless, soaked in water, for the rest of the afternoon, a swim does sound nice.

he finishes his ramen and changes into his swimshorts, abandoning his shirt and throwing a towel over his shoulder. seokjin and seulgi smile when they see him, both sitting by the pool with their legs in the water, sunglasses on. seulgi looks dazzling in her crimson bikini, and jeongguk has to admit, if he was at all straight, he'd definitely find that a lot more attractive.