"Don't sit here, Bam. I'm saving this seat for Kook."
Bambam retrieved his bag with a huff from the top of the table where he had placed it just a second ago and stomped over to the other side, but not before throwing Youngjae a tight lipped smile to show his displeasure.
And displeased, he was, since the day was being such a bitch to him, right from the moment he'd opened his eyes to Yugyeom yodeling in the bathroom up till he'd been uselessly yelled at by a professor in the last period.
Now Youngjae, his only decent roommate and supposed friend, was making him shift seats and whatnot when he was already quite done with things, as if that weren't already visible on his face.
He was sure nothing—or no one—could tick him off more now since he was damn certain that what he was experiencing right now had to be the epitome of aggravation, but, in the next moment, he was proved wrong when his gaze landed on the only other empty seat at the table and how Yugyeom sat next to it, watching him with a sleazy look on his big dumb face.
Oh, fuck, no. There was no way Bambam was spending this 'group meeting' beside Yugyeom's weird ass. It was enough that he had to share a room with the other as there was nothing he could do about it after so much time into the semester.
However, he had taken a serious vow to avoid Yugyeom in all social settings, not shying away from making vivid threats of violence against him to discourage the odd, fuckboy kinda attitude that he'd recently adopted exclusively towards him.
Yugyeom's behaviour both annoyed and perplexed Bambam, but never to such a degree for him to probe into the other's rationale regarding it.
Something already told Bambam that he wouldn't be pleased by his friend's reasons.
Hence, he'd been trying his level best to abstain, though he didn't know how he could do the same right now. Should he throw a fit? Or maybe drag another chair from somewhere and position it away from where Yugyeom was?
No, that probably would not work. Youngjae had already determined that he needed to be next to Jungkook for this talk.
Moreover, if Bambam were to be vocal about his wishes, he'd probably get a prissy remark from Youngjae before getting manhandled by the boy himself into settling beside Yugyeom.
Yeah, he was out of options and his day was about to get way worse.
"Hey, sunshine."
The remark came even before Bambam could properly seat his ass in his chair, and as much as he willed himself to believe that he must have at least breathed wrong in Yugyeom's direction, that just hadn't been the case.
"Sunshine?" Bambam could not help but question. "Did you forget that you were the one who called me a reprehensible fuck waffle this morning?"
Even in the face of such accusation—which, by the way, did happen—Yugyeom remained dauntless in his endeavours. "Yeah, and now I'm comparing you to sun rays. Your point?"
All fight drained out of Bambam's system as he begged, "Please don't talk to me."
The response was instantaneous. "Yeah, that's not really possible."
"Then I'm just going to conveniently ignore you."
"Oh, sunshine, how you wound me."
The theatrics had a muscle ticking in Bambam's jaw. "Are you gonna shut up on your own or should I physically make you?"
For his next dialogue, Yugyeom decided to increase the proximity between them. "When it's you, I always want to get physical."
Bambam was in shambles. "What is the matter with you, you— you, you perverted apricot!"
Now, for whatever purpose, Yugyeom seemed disappointed. "C'mon, sunshine. You know you can do better than that."
"Stop, stop calling me that!" Yugyeom really needed to stop because Bambam's face was flaring up.
"But why? You're the sunshine in my life."
And now Bambam was rendered positively speechless.
Good thing Youngjae came to rescue, even though he did not have their best intentions at heart.
"If you two losers are done flirting, can we turn to our dear Jungkookie's problems since he's almost here now?"
Taking his attention off of Yugyeom's beaming face, Bambam looked ahead only to witness Youngjae staring at them like they were sheer pathetic creatures.
The judgement drove Bambam to instantly defend themselves. "What the— we weren't flirting—"
"Save it. I can deal with only one oblivious idiot at a time." Youngjae waved his hand around in a gesture to both silence Bambam and call Jungkook over who'd just entered their field of vision. "I'll get to you losers later."
The statement went very much unheard by everyone present since the focus had now shifted to their newly-arrived friend.
With Youngjae enthusiastically ushering Jungkook in the chair next to him, the tension between Bambam and Yugyeom was forgotten and not mentioned further since the trio was much more interested in the news the brunet had.
"Sorry, I'm late," Jungkook huffed, glancing around the table apologetically, "I got caught up with helping a teacher in the staff room."
His friends were too quick to brush it off as their forearms came to rest on the tabletop almost in sync.
"It's fine," Bambam said nonchalantly before the look on his face turned serious. "So? What all has happened between you and V since Visiting Day? I feel like the last we talked about you two was way before that."
Nodding in assent, Jungkook pulled back at the sleeves of his flannel shirt before speaking. "Yeah, things have been sort of crazy. So much happened, and I don't even know where to begin."
"Um, I might have something for you then," Yugyeom stated, "How about you start off with the insane hickeys all over your chest?"
Letting out a shrill squeak at that, Jungkook hurried to close the front of his loose shirt before realising that his chest was already shielded by a white t-shirt. Shaking his head at exposing himself, he said, "How do you even know about them?"
"You're almost always over at our dorm, and that leads us to witnessing things we'd rather not see," Youngjae unhelpfully explained.
"Oh, yeah." Jungkook blushed, now messing with a loose strand on the hem of his shirt. "The hickeys are no biggie. V and I just hooked up in his dorm a couple of days ago."
A peculiar silence followed the statement, and Jungkook glanced up only to be met with his friends' anticipating and impatient gazes.
When Jungkook continued to cluelessly blink back at them, Bambam lost it. "What the fuck, why aren't you elaborating on it, you sadistic freak? Who just stops after giving such bomb scoop with the bare minimum information?"
A resounding yes followed the outburst, and Jungkook was startled into a flurry of motions. "Oh, my god, I'm sorry! I'm just so nervous and freaking confused, I don't even know why!"
"Jungkook, breathe." Youngjae put a calming hand over the dip in Jungkook's back while Yugyeom materialised a bottle of banana milk from thin air and handed it to the brunet.
Bambam looked on, the impatience in his form not diminishing even a bit. "Yeah, calm down. No one here is gonna judge you. We just want the gossip for research purposes."
That brought Jungkook out of the mini-panic he was going through. "I'm baffled at the way you guys treat the very serious events in my life as some sort of comic entertainment."
"What the— I just said that it was for educational reasons." Bambam had the audacity to roll his eyes to which Jungkook responded with a tiny glare of his own.
"Can we have one straight conversation without any disagreements for once? Or is that too much to ask from y'all?"
Upon Youngjae's stern request, the swiftly heating atmosphere between Jungkook and Bambam evened out, the former popping a straw into his bottle before taking a sip of the banana milk.
"As I was saying," Jungkook said and cleared his throat, "V and I are back on civil terms as I have decided to continue with the plan to bring him down."
"But how? You were so hurt and really opposed to seeing it through after the near-kiss thing." No matter how much Jungkook and Bambam squabbled, the latter's concern for his friend shone through when the time came.
Jungkook didn't miss a beat before agreeing. "I know, and I had believed that I could not do it anymore, but what happened over Visiting Day really fucked with my head."
"And what did happen over Visiting Day?"
Flitting his gaze over to Youngjae at his inquiry, Jungkook took another sip of his banana milk to soothe his suddenly parched throat. "V, um, he joined me and my family for the day, and we kind of spent the day together?"
"How the deuce did that happen?" No one questioned the unusual choice of words on Yugyeom's behalf, the boys too focused on how Jungkook was going to explain his statement.
"And even if that's true, then how's V still alive?" Bambam voiced out what was probably everyone's query. "'Cause back then you were like dead set on murdering him if he happened to cross paths with you."
Jungkook turned to stare at Bambam as if he'd suddenly grown two heads. "You are making me sound terrible. Like, I wouldn't have seriously harmed V, you know." When his friends started to avoid his gaze, Jungkook scowled and continued speaking. "Anyway, I had no choice in the matter. Jimin hyung took the liberty to invite V over 'cause he was himself spending the day with my family."
Just like that, the air of doubt around them disappeared, the teenagers now nodding along to the brunet's words.
"Oh, now it makes sense."
Throwing his hands up in the air in response to Yugyeom's exclamation, Jungkook added, "And that's not all."
"Ooh, drama?" Bambam said, starting to rub his hands together where they were resting atop his bag.
"V's parents didn't show up at all, so he stuck with us for the entire visit, and my dumbass family kept on embarrassing me." Jungkook went the extra mile and sank his head into his open palms as if he were reliving the events of that day.
"Humiliation? That's right up my lane. Tell us more!"
Deadpanning at Bambam, Jungkook shifted his focus onto Youngjae to complain. "I literally hate him."
Youngjae, however, refused to entertain him and rather rolled his eyes. "No, you don't. You'd be so lonely without Bam." Not even bothering with Jungkook's whines, he turned his head away. "Now continue with the saga of your humiliation at the hands of your beloved kin."
Looking like a wounded pup, Jungkook clicked his tongue at his failure to gain any sympathy from his peers before going off on a tangent about his Visiting Day experience.
"Well, my mom thought that we were still preschool kids and gushed over V, asked me to recite a nursery song, and then threatened to disown me when I didn't. Gran had her own ulterior motives, and I'm pretty sure that she dished about me with V. I really don't appreciate her meddling sometimes.
"But my dad really came through with how he kept messing up V's name. That was fantastic."
"Isn't this the normal amount of chaos for your family though?" Yugyeom procured yet another bottle of banana milk and handed it to Jungkook to replace the empty one in his hold.
"Yeah, for you guys! But they behaved this way in front of V who had never met them before." Jungkook's hands flew around as he tried to emphasise the difference. "Although, I should give the guy some credit. He seemed spooked at the sight of my family in the beginning, but he bounced back real quick. He also told me that he enjoyed his time with us, but I can't really tell if that's the truth."
Bambam's stare didn't waver as he observed Jungkook get to drinking his second bottle of banana milk. "When did you get the time to take feedback from him?"
"I asked him to meet up that night in the garden." The statement was so casual that Bambam had to backtrack and recall whether he'd asked the right question.
"Wait, so you decided to look past his breaking your only condition that fast?"
"No, don't judge me." Jungkook's hackles rose in defence against Bambam's accusing tone. "There were other factors at play, like V's older cousin."
"Which cousin? Did someone show up from his family at last?" Yugyeom gaped. And maybe the others did, too. Jungkook didn't glance around to check.
Vehemently nodding now, Jungkook said, "And everyone seemed to know him while I was standing there like some kind of an idiot. It didn't feel that great 'cause V and I were close at one time, but now it feels like I don't know any of the important stuff about him."
"You're not wrong to feel that way." Youngjae was swift in his endeavour to reassure Jungkook. "Hearing you talk about your past with V, sometimes even we feel like he's kept you oblivious to a lot of stuff."
"Exactly!" Jungkook's dark irises shone with glee at the prospect of being finally understood. "And that is how I realised that I know many more things about him now as his fuckbuddy than I did as his friend. It got me thinking about all the possibilities, and how there could be so much else that I don't even know about."
"And now you're of the opinion that you could find out more if you were to continue your arrangement with him rather than breaking it off and being done with him," Youngjae said, concluding what he thought to be Jungkook's reasoning.
It turned out to be correct when Jungkook nodded in affirmation. "Yes. I guess I'm curious."
Another bout of silence followed Jungkook's honest admission which was soon broken by the brunet voicing out a vulnerable thought that had been plaguing him.
"Do you think it's dumb of me to expect something from this?"
A variety of reactions were garnered by the inquiry, but the one who was swiftest to express his surprised everyone with his unanticipated wisdom.
"Frankly, no," Yugyeom spoke, tinkering with a fresh juice box. "You never got closure from V for a number of things, and I think it's only natural for you to seek it yourself now that you can."
Turning towards his friend, something soft passed over Jungkook's irises, Yugyeom's empathy feeling reassuring.
"Moreover," Youngjae added, "we all have firsthand seen the change in V's attitude towards you since you two started sleeping together. Maybe he's involuntarily letting things slip for you to make whatever you want of them, so your taking a chance on this should only be natural."
Bambam, although not expressing his own opinion, nodded along to the previous statements, and Jungkook felt a weight being lifted off of his shoulders at his friends' collective agreement with his ideas.
"All right then, I now have an additional goal to find out whatever V'd hidden from me and possibly get some closure."
Small cheers rang out around the table while Jungkook got back to drinking his banana milk now that he'd gotten his biggest concern out of the way.
"I'm actually glad to hear your reasoning for this," Youngjae said after a few moments, not really looking at the brunet next to him, "because, believe it or not, I was going to advocate for you to maybe let this thing with V go."
Turning to his side with a start, Jungkook nearly choked on his drink as he gasped, "Really?"
"Mmm-hmm." Youngjae solemnly nodded. "You were very upset and hurt over the incident, and we didn't want you to continue doing something that would only bring you more anguish."
Jungkook melted at the concern, and before he could go soft on his friends, Bambam piped across from him.
"You did have a conversation with V about it, right?" The query was alight with suspicion. "Like, a proper one to discuss your boundaries and not some stupid screaming match."
"Yes, yes, we did." Not being able to help it, Jungkook rolled his eyes with the straw still clenched between his lips. "We had a great, mature, adult-stylez conversation."
"Hearing you say that makes me very doubtful."
Jungkook almost punched Youngjae in the shoulder. "Stop worrying. Have some goddamn faith in me."
"That, we all do."
That rewarded Yugyeom with another soft look from Jungkook; albeit the moment was soon ruined by the former.
"It's great seeing you take charge, by the way. When Youngjae had given us the gist of the situation, both Bambam and I thought that you'd given into V's charms again."
"Yeah. For one crazy second, I thought that you had lost your conviction and indulged V all on your own."
Jungkook's face contorted at the utter blasphemy Yugyeom and Bambam were saying about him. "Fuck you, I'm not pathetic like that."
"But you do admit that you are in other ways?" Bambam never held back from pushing Jungkook's buttons.
"Don't make me break this bottle over your head."
"See? Violent." As if his point were proven, Bambam exasperatedly leaned back into his chair.
"I'm gonna cut you off from this conversation, Bam, I swear to god."
Bambam glanced at him like he couldn't be bothered with his hissy fit. "Okay, okay, don't go sulking now, you absolute infant."
"Yeah, absolute infant with hickeys."
After that, the ambiance of their group shifted terribly.
"Ew, why would you put that image in our heads?" Bambam knew that Yugyeom was in the middle of some weird phase, but even he hadn't expected this.
Kicking Yugyeom under the table, Youngjae shuddered. "Gross, don't talk about babies having hickeys."
"Yugyeom, just don't." Those three words were all Jungkook could manage, considering he was said infant with hickeys.
"I think I've pointed out a vital matter, but go off."
That shifted the paradigm of their conversation once again.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Yugyeom's right." Bambam was the first to agree. "We actually began with enquiring about some very serious love bites, but this asshole derailed us."
Said asshole's hackles rose in defence. "I didn't derail. It's just that I'm not obligated to tell you guys everything."
"But you're like our walking, talking telly!" Yugyeom whined pathetically. "Please, Jungkookie, give us some tea!"
Looking at Yugyeom like he'd lost his mind, Jungkook let out a long exhale and set his empty bottle aside. "All right, but only 'cause something weird happened this time, and I'd already made up my mind to bring it up today."
"Well, whatever it is, you have our full attention."
Youngjae's words gave Jungkook the last bit of reassurance he needed, and so he began.
"So, I went over to V's a couple of days back, and we were, like, doing it on his couch— god, this is weird."
"Yeah, we get it, so can you get to the point already?"
Reeling back his urge to cringe upon Bambam's impatience, Jungkook continued. "Yeah, I, I lost my balance and kind of slipped, and V got really worried, so I was afraid that, you know, I had spoiled the mood. Therefore, I said some very well-meaning things that didn't sit well with V, and he outright snapped. It's all bygone now, but I still can't figure out why he got so mad."
"You're making it sound extremely innocent despite how bothered you look." Youngjae was almost too quick to catch on. "What exactly did you say to him?"
Wiping his suddenly sweaty palms against his jeans, Jungkook was barely able to croak out a response. "I might have suggested, totally in the heat of the moment, that we could call someone over and, and— I can't say the rest!"
"And what, Kook?"
The whine Jungkook released at Youngjae's prompt was too helpless but his friends were supposedly monsters since they refused to relent. "Use your imagination. Don't make me say it."
Following his request, Jungkook was expecting a small discussion amongst his three friends; so the atrocious interrogation he was hit with left him absolutely bewildered.
"That y'all could have a threesome?" Yugyeom's guess was met with an instant shake of Jungkook's head. "The third person could watch you and V get freaky?" This time, the brunet's head shook vehemently as he still remained silent. "You could watch V and the other guy do the wiener tango?"
"No!" Yugyeom simply shrugged at Jungkook's horror and seemed to give up.
"That only leaves—" Bambam said, now taking the initiative. "Did you perhaps suggest that V could watch you guys fuck?"
Jungkook's outrage transformed into embarrassment and cringe as he hid his steadily burning face behind his hands. "That's more or less what I said."
"And then V got angry?" Bambam confirmed, seeming strangely alert along with Youngjae.
The brunet hummed in agreement, his eyes peeking between his fingers. "And it wasn't the normal anger; V was enraged. Like scary-level mad."
"Huh." Youngjae crossed his arms and moved back in his chair. "What did he say?"
"First he told me to shut up," Jungkook winced, recalling the events of that day, "and then he went on about how he wouldn't let anybody see me in that state. Then he yelled some other things before he locked himself in his room."
When Jungkook looked up from where he had been fiddling with an idle straw on the table, the eerie gazes of his friends, Youngjae and Bambam's in particular, caused him to put up his guard.
"Why're you guys looking at me and each other like that?"
Bambam gestured for Youngjae to take up the query, and the latter cleared his throat before speaking. "Tell us something, Jungkook: why did you say that to V in the first place?"
"I told you." Jungkook bristled at the unending probing. "I thought I'd ruined the mood, so I just wanted to get things rolling again."
"And you couldn't think of anything else?"
The disdain in Bambam's cross-question was blatantly clear, and that proved to be the last straw for the brunet. "Hey, it's not my fault! Usually, in porn, stuff like that ends with good results, but when I did it, V stormed off like he didn't even want to touch me."
This, right here, was exactly what had been plaguing Jungkook since the day of the incident.
Strictly from his own perspective, he had only mentioned another person because, according to whatever content he'd consumed in the form of cinema and actual porn, stuff like that always led to some good, hardcore fucking—which is what both he and Taehyung had wanted at the moment.
But the redhead had reacted so badly to it, almost like he couldn't stand the notion of Jungkook even playing around with the concept of being with someone else.
He'd looked like he'd much rather tear out his own skin before he'd let that happen—or maybe not even after that.
All of which was weird, right? He really hoped for his friends to hold the same opinion and help him reach some reasoning.
"Before we offer you any of our wisdom, could you elaborate on what happened after that?"
Frankly, his friends were taking too long to come around, what with their endless questioning, but Jungkook figured as long as he could make them see things from his perspective, it'd be worth it.
"Sure. I went up to V's door to apologise and leave, but then he rushed out and carried me to his living room where he further yelled at me and asked me for my reasons, much like you guys." Jungkook couldn't keep the bite out of his words, sue him. "He also said that I shouldn't try to make him mad—which I wasn't aiming for anyway—and told me not to say stuff like that ever again to him."
As far as a recount of the incident went, that was it. However, some of Jungkook's internal emotional dams had opened up and he added, "He was being so mean the entire time, I couldn't make sense of anything. I was just really afraid."
"That V would hit you?" Bambam questioned instantaneously like he couldn't help it.
"No, god," Jungkook exclaimed and hastened to clarify. "He would never physically harm me. Just, suddenly he'd seemed terrifying—like he was going to do something to someone."
"Let me guess, the hypothetical guy you were going to bring in?"
"Quite possibly."
Getting a satisfactory answer, Youngjae went on to finally deliver his inference of the matter. "I don't get what you're so worried about. This incident is proof that the plan is working."
Not expecting such speculation from his wisest friend, Jungkook turned to him with a start. "The plan entails V liking me in at least a sexual way. All I did was drive him away to the point that he left me mid-sex."
"Yeah, I agree that was a weird reaction," Youngjae carefully enunciated, sensing the brunet's confusion, "but it speaks volumes. Do you not see it?"
"See what?"
As Youngjae observed Jungkook, Bambam stepped up to lay out their deduction in the simplest of words. "Um, that V got insanely jealous at the prospect of your hooking up with another guy."
That, apparently, made matters worse since Jungkook's frown deepened. "Is that what happened?"
Bambam seemed prepared to shake some sense into Jungkook before Youngjae held up a hand to halt him. "Bam, I think he really doesn't see it."
"Again, what am I supposed to be seeing? That V got jealous?" The cackle that followed did not sit well with the group since it reeked of ignorance. "Pftt, V never gets jealous of anyone or anything 'cause he already has everything he wants."
"Nah," Yugyeom said, at last contributing to their discussion. "I don't think he does anymore."
Meanwhile, Bambam's aggravation had reached new heights. "How dumb are you?"
The loud shout distracted Jungkook, and he failed to process Yugyeom's words. "What? I'm the smartest here."
"Yeah, you might wanna rethink that."
"Let me rephrase that for you: how dense are you?"
Once again, Yugyeom's reply and Bambam's vigorous skepticism overlapped, and Jungkook was able to rise up against only one of them.
"What the— I'm not dense!"
Parallel yells resounded in the area, and simultaneously Jungkook heard his phone go off in his back pocket. Pulling it out whilst mentally coming up with comebacks for his friends' outrage and accusations, his demeanour entirely changed when his eyes landed on the reminder he'd set.
Shooting up from his seat, Jungkook hurriedly explained. "I have to leave now because V must be done with his practice and we're supposed to meet."
"You didn't mention that before and now you're just gonna leave?" Yugyeom looked at the brunet helplessly whereas Bambam continued the train of thought. "But we're in the middle of a critical discussion?"
"Yeah, we can continue that later. Besides, you guys are only spouting some serious BS; thank god I set an alarm otherwise I would've sat here and unnecessarily argued with you."
"BS? We only speak of logic and reason, Young Jeon."
Quickly giving Youngjae the stink-eye, Jungkook said, "Yeah, no, I need you guys to perform better and think of something that isn't totally laughable."
"But we already told you what we think—which is also the only truthful explanation!" Youngjae could only yell after Jungkook who'd already left their vicinity at amazing speed.
Baffled at how ardently Jungkook chose to be in denial of the only reasoning that made all the sense in the world, Youngjae turned to his other friends for some answers. "Why is he like that?"
"The magic of trauma, dude."
Bambam nodded along, surprising himself with being in agreement with Yugyeom a second time today. "Yup, sheer fabulous trauma."
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
The sun was still high in the sky when Jungkook arrived at the field, the crowd filtering through the entrance taking him slightly by surprise before he remembered that match season was starting in almost every sport their school participated in and that things were going to get busy for the jocks.
Before he could properly look around for the redhead he was here to see, a familiar, agitated voice caught his attention.
"I believe I've earned the right to visit Monie this weekend."
"And what do your beliefs have to do with me?"
It took Jungkook hardly two seconds to ponder the pros and cons of hopping over to his friends in their current state before he decided that he wanted to get into whatever this specific line of conversation would shape up to be.
"Hey, Jin hyung! Joon hyung!" He nodded his head once at each of them, knowing that Seokjin would notice and be pleased by how he'd greeted him first, just like he had once vehemently emphasised that everyone should.
"Oh, Jungkook-ah!" Seokjin exclaimed with equal fervour, "I didn't think we'd run into you here."
Oh, shoot, Jungkook had not thought through this kind of questioning before coming here.
Still, he tried to play it off. "Yeah, I'm here for Hobi hyung. I just, uh, had this . . . intense urge to see him."
"I see. Hope you're someday also hit by an intense urge to seek me out." In response to the sarcasm, Jungkook decided to act cute and knew he got away with it when Seokjin just rolled his eyes at his antics and called him a brat.
However, maybe Jungkook didn't need to stoop so low, because, in the next moment, their attention was swooped away by a third entity.
"Hyung, please!" Namjoon's loud plea to be heard had taken even Jungkook by surprise if the way his hand shot up to cradle his chest were any indication.
Seokjin, on the other hand, merely glanced at his boyfriend as if he and Jungkook were discussing international trade relations and he was being a major inconvenience to them.
"What are you whining to me for?" The eldest fired back. "Your spider is with Taehyung now. You should ask him about your visitation rights."
"Tae wouldn't mind, obviously." Namjoon slightly rolled his eyes, and Jungkook felt relieved on his part that Seokjin had somehow missed it. Then, under his breath, he murmured, "I just don't want to piss you off."
Now that Seokjin didn't miss.
Swivelling his head almost instantaneously—in a way that concerned Jungkook about a whiplash injury—Seokjin gritted his teeth. "Then maybe you should start off by shutting your mouth."
Poor Namjoon lost all his fight in the face of his seething boyfriend and withdrew his offensive forces, making himself scarce.
Laughter bubbling up his throat at the sight, Jungkook discreetly turned away from the warring duo in hopes to compose himself when his eyes caught something red in their periphery.
Previous mirth dissipating from his form, the brunet became alert as he tried to investigate the figure by following it with his gaze, and, at last, he was greeted with the view of the one person for whom he'd made this whole journey.
Taehyung stood near the benches reserved for the team members as part of a small congregation of both players and cheerleaders, though he wasn't engaged in conversation with anybody and simply seemed to be catching his breath whilst listening to the chatter around him.
Jungkook, obviously, could not take his eyes off of Taehyung's sweat-glistening, slightly heaving form as he reached for a mid-sized water bottle and poured all of its contents onto his face and neck, the liquid travelling to his jersey and darkly staining the fabric which then perfectly stuck to his chest. He also couldn't help the bite to his lip when Taehyung started to wipe himself with a thick towel which then ended up around his neck.
Mind emptying of all thoughts of meeting and talking with Taehyung, Jungkook just stood in his spot getting hot over the other's totally effortless sex appeal—an appeal that only magnified when Taehyung took a band to his hair and tied it into a ponytail at the base of his neck.
Later, he might finger himself to the image of this Taehyung.
Right now, he had to snap out of his horniness and let the guy know of his presence.
Gathering all his willpower, Jungkook willed himself to fucking move towards the really hot piece of ass on the other side, completely forgetting about his being a spectator of Namjoon and Seokjin's argument.
He wasn't even a decent number of steps in when he had to abruptly stop because of what was about to go down at his destination.
A girl—specifically a cheerleader—approached Taehyung, trying to start up a conversation with him as she coyly looked up at him through her lashes.
Whapass bitch.
Jungkook could simply look on as Taehyung turned to her and indulged her—oh, that motherfucker's gonna get it.
However, what else could he expect from Taehyung? That he'd turn away a totally hot chick who'd come to him on her own very long legs? (Was it a cheerleader thing though? 'Cause her legs really were long.)
Now standing fuming in the middle of the field, Jungkook was glaring daggers at the couple and was really hoping for one of them to look over so he could charade to them the manner of their gruesome death.
Alas, that didn't happen, and Jungkook watched as Taehyung turned away only to put down his wet towel and glance at his phone. When he swivelled back around, something about his expression seemed to have changed and he now seemed indifferent.
Before Jungkook could inspect any closer, Taehyung had stopped replying to the girl at all, barely making the effort to nod his head as she single-handedly carried on their rapidly sinking conversation.
Whatever ugly emotions had previously reared their head inside Jungkook dissipated, and all that was left was puzzlement and a little pity for the girl.
Deciding that he'd just text Taehyung to tell him that he was there, Jungkook shifted his focus to his phone. Once the deed was done, he shifted to get a view of Taehyung and his heart suddenly banged itself against his ribs when he found the redhead's gaze already trained on him.
A part of him started to panic at the prospect of being witnessed standing alone and sticking out like a sore thumb, but before he could salvage the situation, Taehyung had already turned in his direction.
Before long, the older was jogging up to him, leaving the cheerleader confused and slightly gaping, and Jungkook went instantly red in the face because Taehyung—Flaming Hot Taehyung—was practically running up to him.
If the current spiral of thoughts in his head were a text conversation, Jungkook would've keyboard smashed right about now.
"Hey, I thought I missed you."
And now again in all caps, because being out of breath did something to Taehyung's voice which, in turn, did a number of things to Jungkook.
Gathering his low-running moxie, Jungkook peered up at Taehyung, staring back into his irises right away, and maybe Taehyung liked that since the loose smile already gracing his lips widened.
Jungkook's knees almost buckled at that, the proximity not helping his case at all. He also became suspicious that some part of him wished for him to fall in front of the redhead just so he'd pick him up.
Although he had no idea when he'd transformed into one of those people who should spend their entire lives in horny jail, he knew that he needed to pull through this daze to decently hold a conversation with Taehyung, who, for once, seemed to be in a very good mood.
Huh. Wonder what brightened up his day.
"No, no, you didn't," Jungkook said, swallowing heavily around the words, "Had I left, I would've informed you."
"Really? But you never text me first." The way Taehyung's arms came up to rest across his chest was as cocky as it was attractive.
Focus, Jungkook, focus.
"You keep count of that?" Jungkook expressed, a little baffled at the hybrid shrug-nod he received to his enquiry. "In my defense, I don't text anyone first. I don't even like texting."
"Oh." Taehyung's brows shot up. "From what I've heard, and personally experienced, you also don't like people calling you."
Being called out like this caused Jungkook's shyness to rear its head. "Guilty as charged," he said, biting at his bottom lip when Taehyung tilted his head as if prodding for more. "But I make up for that by holding face-to-face conversations."
"You don't talk to more than three people in a day."
That effectively shut the brunet up. "Yeah, I don't know what's wrong with me."
"A lot of things, apparently," Taehyung snorted, his gaze slightly flitting around.
That made him miss the way Jungkook's face twisted, clearly having taken offense. "What the hell?! You weren't supposed to agree to that!"
It was blatantly evident that his sudden shriek had befuddled Taehyung. "What? I wasn't?" The words tumbled out on their own before the redhead asked something that'd help him make sense of things. "But why?"
"I don't know!" Jungkook really didn't, but how Taehyung had gravitated to him and had talked softly to him had possibly made him hope for something different. "Shouldn't you console me and stop me from self-deprecation?"
"But that's the foundation of your whole personality," Taehyung deadpanned like it was a universal truth.
"Fuck you, it's not!"
"Oh, you can't lie to me, Jeon Jungkook." The use of his government name snapped Jungkook out of his rage and he became hyper-aware of how Taehyung had moved closer to him. "I remember how you were in the initial years when you came here. Shy, introverted, overly conscious, and always overthinking. A total crybaby with a false tough exterior."
"Yeah, okay, okay, no need to air my dirty laundry after all these years. I agree with that, but you helped me break out of my introverted self and encouraged me to cause all sorts of chaos with you for which we'd get scolded toge —"
Stopping himself short, Jungkook caught himself before plunging the both of them into the throes of nostalgia—something they'd mutually agreed on never doing again.
Regardless, the liveliness of their banter was lost, and all Jungkook could do was kick himself mentally to make up for how much he physically wanted to kick himself.
"Uh, yeah." The sound of feet shuffling directed Jungkook's attention back to Taehyung, and he was instantly distracted by the strands of hair coming loose from the redhead's ponytail.
After staring unflinchingly at Taehyung for a beat too long and possibly creeping him out, Jungkook cleared his throat and, as usual, didn't have anything to say, so he spouted some new bullshit. "Ah, whatever. Now I'm annoyed and I think you're to blame for it."
"Then I shall take responsibility." Jungkook raised a brow not only at how easily Taehyung was going along with his mood swings but also at his impromptu Victorian gentleman mannerisms. "Just lemme tie my dumb hair up."
"Hey, don't call your hair dumb! That's the only thing I like about you."
Taehyung froze in his motions. "Really? Not my face, not even my dick, but you have a thing for my hair?"
Embarrassment crept up on Jungkook way before he could realise exactly what kind of nonsense he'd spewed. "I-I wouldn't say that I don't have a thing for the other two, um, items." Taehyung guffawed. "Zip it, let me talk!" He pursed his lips with much effort before gesturing for Jungkook to continue. "But your hair's something I can always look at, as opposed to your . . . thing."
"I could go around naked. You just have to ask, doll."
Jungkook muttered something along the lines of 'Why did I know you'd say that' before speaking more coherently. "Please, don't. It wouldn't be for my eyes only."
"Aw, you don't feel like sharin', doll?"
"Tease me any further and I will break your balls." Jungkook clenched his fingers into a tight fist for emphasis.
"I'm a certified lover boy, but honestly, never mind, that's his loss."
"Huh? Don't bring Drake into this, I am not amused." Jungkook scowled. "Anyway, as I was saying, I like your hair 'cause it's always visible and it doesn't annoy me, unlike your face. So, yeah, your hair over you any day."
"I don't get it, but I get it." Taehyung's cockiness was off the charts, and Jungkook had seen it coming so he just rolled his eyes at him.
"Shut up and tie your hair."
Giving him a mock salute, Taehyung undid his ponytail and set to putting his hair together in a better manner.
Jungkook, on the other hand, set to ogling at him like, you guessed it, a creep before blurting out the most random shit. "You know what would be hilarious?" Taehyung arched a brow at him with his hands still busy in his hair. "If you tied a ponytail right at the top of your head."
It was just that, a nonsense idea, a stupid suggestion, whatever you wanted to call it. But then Taehyung actually did it.
And Jungkook could not, for the life of him, stop howling in laughter.
"You absolute dumbass, you actually did it! It looks like there's a fountain on your head, oh, god!"
Taehyung simply stood still and then started striking cringe poses right in the middle of the field. He also supported Jungkook's weight when the latter stumbled into his arms from cackling too hard at his weird antics.
"Which style should I fashion my hair into next, my lord?" Jungkook lightly slapped his arm before reprimanding him. "Stop being dumb right where everyone can see you."
"Hmm? But I can only see you?" Taehyung delivered that line with that atrocious thing still on top of his head, and Jungkook was concerned about how it only contributed to making his heart beat faster.
"Stop it," Jungkook whined, still jostled against Taehyung's torso as the latter looked down at him with a warm smile. Jungkook knew his face was going to heat up again, so he further suggested, "Let me tie your hair up since you're so bad at it."
Not waiting for any kind of permission, Jungkook shuffled out of Taehyung's gentle hold and moved to stand behind him. Untying his hair, he carefully gathered all the loose strands of red hair and centred them above Taehyung's nape, and secured them with the tie.
"There you go." Just as Jungkook took a small step back, he saw Taehyung bringing his phone's front camera to his face to check out his hair.
The brunet decided to move away completely so that Taehyung could admire himself to his heart's content, but Taehyung grabbed onto his wrist and yanked him back behind himself and right into the camera's focus.
"At least let me take a selfie with my stylist, Jeon," Taehyung said matter-of-factly, and Jungkook gaped and froze in his classic deer-caught-in-headlights expression.
The moment was captured by the camera at the same time a voice called from nearby.
"You two seem to be enjoying each other's company for once."
Like a bubble that had been burst, the two boys separated from each other, putting an appropriate distance between themselves as they looked up at the speaker and the crowd he'd dragged along with him.
Taehyung seemed to be scowling at Minjae for his sudden comment whereas Jungkook wanted to disappear upon realising the variety of people who'd possibly witnessed them together.
It seemed like everyone was there. From the football crowd—Minjae, Bogum, Hoseok, Jackson—to Namjoon and Seokjin whom Jungkook had abandoned previously, to even Yoongi—who was clad in his own basketball jersey—and Jimin for some reason.
The last two worried him the most.
"Shut your trap, Minjae." The words were uttered with an annoyance that reminded Jungkook of when boys defended their girlfriends from their friends' teasing, and such a likeness made something burn deep within Jungkook's gut.
"He's just teasing, Tae. Why're you getting worked up?" Yoongi asked with the smugness of knowing that Taehyung wouldn't be able to behave the same way with him.
Jungkook, though, had liberty when it came to Yoongi. "There's nothing to tease about, hyung. I was, in fact, bullying V for his inane hair fashion."
"By caressing his hair and tying it up for him?" Already preoccupied with sneering at Yoongi, Jungkook ignored the look of faux hurt that passed over Taehyung's face.
"Were you watching us from a corner or something, hyung?"
"No, that was me." Words in Jimin's voice reached Jungkook, and he scolded himself for not figuring out his roommate's meddling ass being involved.
"And me." Another voice stated, this time Seokjin as he came to stand beside Jimin. "I got tired of yelling at Joon, and I saw Jimin creeping up on you guys so I thought what's the harm and went to see what was up."
"This group right here contains the worst people I've ever met." Jungkook deadpanned.
"What did we do?" Hoseok and Jackson yelled, marching up to Jungkook hand in hand.
Taken aback at their warranted aggression, Jungkook moved back. "I, I didn't mean every—"
"Get away from him, you two!" Taehyung stepped between them, dragging them off and handing them over to Bogum.
"Hmm, Minjae was right." Namjoon's words garnered everyone's attention. "Something is up with the two of you."
At once, chaos broke in their group.
"I knew it! I'd already called it!" Jimin screamed.
"Wow, even Joonie noticed. Guess it wasn't all overhyped drama." Seokjin wasn't as overjoyed as his partner in crime.
Jackson and Hoseok, the best buds they were, discussed things to reach a mutual agreement. "It's Namjoon. We have to believe him."
"Yeah, man's usually blind to social relationships and happenings," Jackson said, slithering an arm around Namjoon's shoulders who now stood helplessly.
Well, Jungkook's friends all proved to be a bunch of snakes. He hoped Taehyung's were better and would abstain from commenting on anything.
"Oh, definitely," Minjae piped up. "You guys haven't done anything in days."
Nope. Taehyung's circle was making it worse.
"Days? It's been weeks!" Bogum exclaimed. "Their last spectacle was The Gymnasium Fire."
"That was all me."
Shooting a quick disapproving look at Taehyung for that, Jungkook explained, "Which we got heavily reprimanded for. Remember my parents had to meet Mr. Bang on Visiting Day?"
"So what?"
That proved to be the last straw.
"So excuse me, but V and I are not immune to the rules of this institution. We can't keep breaking them without any consequences." Jungkook was certain that the sound of his teeth grinding must be quite audible.
"Even if it's for greater good and mass entertainment." Taehyung all but sighed, as if admitting to this was heavily taxing on his adventurous, fun-loving spirit.
Hence, Jungkook finally snapped at him, too. "V, I'm trying to defend us here and your attitude is not helping at all."
"Since when did you start expecting Taehyung to support your causes?" That was a strange line of questioning introduced by none other than Min Yoongi, and it kind of rendered Jungkook speechless for a moment.
"I don't expect—"
"Since they spent Visiting Day together."
Jimin's word bomb had the desired effect, and collective, outraged shouts rang out.
"What?!"
"Okay, no, no!" Jungkook yelled over the intense noise, violently pointing at each of them. "Go away, all of you! I don't care how much seniority you have on me, just fuck off. Now!"
The youngest being rude somehow worked, and the area was cleared in under thirty seconds.
Regardless of it, the doubts and accusations still plagued Jungkook as he stood beside Taehyung with a hand on his hip.
"You know what we have to do now, right?"
"Yes."
In a phase of mutual agreement, they blurted out their solutions in sync.
"Stage a public fight."
"Fuck under the bleachers."
Shaking his head at Taehyung, Jungkook still said, "Yeah, that, too."
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so i might have made a twitter cuz it looks fun?
i also kinda wrote an au while i was at it? (enemies to lovers cuz we all love that shit)
follow me? (@theegcf)
ok bye now i have a presentation to make