It's a Tuesday afternoon when Jungkook finds himself transfixed by Seojun.
She has just entered the apartment, a streak of flour on her forehead and lips stained purple with icing. The golden rays of the setting sun are filtering through the blinds and are hitting her face, illuminating her cheekbones and eyelashes and everything.
"Hey." She smiles at Jungkook, who is sitting on the sofa with his laptop and a textbook in front of him. "Is Jihyun still taking a nap?"
"Yeah." He wets his lips. "You have flour on your forehead."
Her cheeks glow a light pink in embarrassment as she reaches up and wipes some off, staring at the substance on her fingers. "Whoops."
Jungkook smiles at her hesitantly and looks back at his textbook when his phone screen lights up with a notification.
Taehyung: jungkook i feel like shit pls talk to me
His brow furrows in concern as he quickly hammers out a reply.
Jungkook: What happened???
Taehyung: idk i jsut
Taehyung: its abt jiminnie
Taehyung: please
Jungkook: I'll be there in less than ten minutes, please don't do anything stupid.
Taehyung: ill try
That ambiguous response does nothing to ease Jungkook's worry as he hurriedly shuts his laptop and packs everything into his bag. "Noona, I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"
"Wait," Seojun looks perplexed, "what happened?"
"One of my friends—" Jungkook sighs and shakes his head. "I'll tell you later, I really need to go."
"Okay. See you later."
"Yeah, bye." He practically runs the whole way to Taehyung's house, pausing several times (although just for fractions of seconds) to apologize to pedestrians that he bumps into. When Taehyung opens the door, his cheeks are blotchy and his eyes are red, lips stretched in a watery attempt at a smile.
"Hi."
"Tae." Jungkook wraps his arms around his distressed friend, worry increasing when Taehyung lets out a small sob. "What's going on?" The two enter the apartment, sitting at a tiny table as Taehyung attempts to stifle his cries.
"Jimin," he starts, "he— Yesterday— So—"
"I'll get you some water," Jungkook interrupts gently, standing up and walking the few strides to the kitchen, filling up a tall glass with water and handing to his friend, who gulps it down quickly. "So, tell me now," Jungkook says a few minutes later when Taehyung seems less upset, "what happened?"
"Yesterday," Taehyung starts again, significantly calmer but voice still shaky, "Jimin and I met up, after a while. We hadn't talked since I'd asked him about dating."
"What did he say?"
Taehyung looks a bit embarrassed. "We didn't really talk much, it was mostly just— physical stuff—"
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"He must have said something, though, right?" Jungkook pries. "I mean, it's not like he'd just come over and you guys would fuck without saying a word about the stuff that had happened earlier."
"Well," Taehyung says, pausing as he thinks it over, "he just texted me earlier that day. It was just like our texts before I'd mentioned dating; he just texted me something like I'm so hard or whatever—" His cheeks redden. "— and so I just went with it. And then he came over, and then— you know. And after Jimin left, I just really missed him, and— I— God, I'm sorry to bother you like this, I know you have stuff to do, I just—"
"It's fine." Jungkook pats Taehyung's arm, frowning as the elder's face begins to crumple. "Tae, don't cry."
"I'm s-sorry," Taehyung hiccups, eyes welling up with tears. "I'm a fucking mess."
Jungkook reaches up and wipes Taehyung's tears away just as they begin to fall. "Don't be sorry."
Shaking as he cries, Taehyung leans forward and pulls Jungkook in for a tight hug, saying, "I don't know what I'm missing."
Jungkook is puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know why Jimin doesn't want to date me," Taehyung elaborates, sniffling. "What does he want that I don't have?"
"Try asking him," Jungkook suggests, patting Taehyung's back. "Even if he doesn't reply at first, don't let him go until you have a proper answer."
"What if he refuses to talk to me at all after that?" Taehyung's voice sounds panicked, terrified, and only then does it hit Jungkook as to how strong Taehyung's feelings towards Jimin are.
Jungkook exhales. "I'll ask him."
Taehyung pulls away, eyes wide. "Will you really?"
The teenager nods. "Yeah. I'll ask him."
"Okay." A small, hopeful sort of smile upturns Taehyung's lips. "Thank you."
Jungkook offers his friend a smile. "No problem."
。。。
A/N: AGHH so that happened
also I have the intro to another jinkook fic up, you guys should check it out if you're interested! (I'm jinkook trash and they're not even my otp smh)
please vote and comment if you enjoyed this chapter, and excuse any typos as usual, thank you!