"i wanna see you."
"hello to you too, hyung, im kinda busy—" jungkook starts, tying the grocery bag full of taehyung's snacks to the handlebars tightly. he flickers his gaze to taehyung who sits on the motorcycle, sniffling and shoving sour candy into his mouth. "— to come and 'play' with you."
"yeah, joon hyung tells me you're doing tasks again — im glad — but it's not that," the boy on the other side of the phone clicks his tongue, "it's something else."
"then what is this something else?" jungkook questions with slight impatience lacing his words. he pulls his phone away from his ear momentarily to look at the time: 5:22pm, any more wasting of time and they'll be behind schedule—
"it's about. . . um, junghoon."
jungkook stiffens, junghoon?
"fine, ill come by."
+
taehyung focus
"what are we doing here?" taehyung questions as he holds out a wary hand, waiting for jungkook to take it and help him climb off the motorcycle. jungkook with an eye roll, grips the boy's hand and helps him down on to the littered ground below.
at 7:29pm, they stand outside fairy ong's lovely laundry!! a small laundromat found in a tiny crevice between a convenience store and a garage. it's a pretty conspicuous building despite being so small; it's painted a pretty lilac shade and the floor to ceiling windows that should display the washing machines inside, are covered with old posters about youth group and drug abuse as well as yellowing notices declaring "buy two fish for the price of one at [insert shop name]!" and "green vegetables are now going on sale!! buy them at [insert shop name]!!"
taehyung looks at jungkook.
"don't ask questions, kim." jungkook murmurs, tugging taehyung closer to fairy ong's lovely laundry!! jungkook places his palm on the door and pushes it open, sounding the silver bells hanging over the door frame.
jungkook takes taehyung down the linoleum floor and past all these unattended washing machines that whir silently with clothes swirling inside, the garments mixing in with soapy suds.
the inside of the laundromat is pretty simple; it's painted a similar shade of lavender and washing machines sit in lines on either side of the room, standing to attention like soldiers. brown wicker baskets are balanced on top of each other in a corner, ready to be used.
jungkook ignores the washing machines and walks to the right back of the room where a woman sits behind a thin desk, busily sifting through receipts whilst raking her wrinkly hand through her greying hair.
"auntie! can i go upstairs?" jungkook calls out as he approaches the lady.
the woman looks up and glares at the boy over her round spectacles, "go ahead-- oh, and tell my idiot nephew to stop stealing my electricity to power those stupid computers. i have my washing machines to power, for god's sake." the woman, mrs ong, mutters, looking away and returning to her receipts. she thumbs through them as if she doesn't want to talk anymore. so jungkook doesn't bother speaking any further, instead, he pulls on taehyung's shirt, guiding him towards an inconspicuous door set in the wall. he yanks it open, revealing a small box of a room where a set of concrete stairs start, and motions for taehyung to go first. feeling hesitant, taehyung walks through the doors and up the steps with jungkook following close by.
the hard grey stairs shortly come to a stop outside another door, one that's locked. jungkook shuffles behind taehyung and the latter turns to see him pulling out a set of keys which he fiddles with for a second to find the right one. once found, jungkook leans over taehyung to reach the lock. he shoves the key in and twists it, unlocking the door.
taehyung has never felt so relieved when hears the door click open and feels jungkook move away — that was too close again abdvsnahdjjsknwddhs, he thinks as he steps over the door frame and into the hallway of someone's one floor apartment.
"hey midget, im here! where are you?" jungkook yells, closing the door behind him.
seconds later, a small "jungkookieeeeeee!" come from somewhere in the house.
jungkook sighs, "idiot's not meant to say my name," he murmurs to himself, almost inaudibly but taehyung just about catches it.
taehyung doesn't bother telling jungkook that he already learnt of his name back in the love nest when he had accidentally flashed his credit card at him.
jungkook walks past taehyung, moving out of the hallway and into the small but homely looking studio apartment. taehyung follows.
"be careful of the wires." jungkook warns.
"what wires— oh." taehyung stands in the doorway, looking around the one floor apartment with widened eyes. the slightly cramped apartment was overrun with black snaking wires and extension sockets, all plugged up and in use, powering the four computers fixed into a wall. the wires litter the entire floor, making it difficult for taehyung to walk over without yanking some essential wire out with his flip flop or trip over.
beneath the wires, the actual foundation of the place, is nice, comfy, homely etc. green potted plants sit in the corners of the room and mismatched (but somehow still stylish) cushions are thrown over a kinda slouchy corduroy sofa.
but back to the computers and wires; by the four HD computer screens attached to the wall is a desk, a desk that overflows with post it notes and manila files, the aforementioned acts as a pillow for a male not too older than taehyung; he's a petite sized boy who sits hunched over the table, sleeping, chopsticks in hand and rice grains pressed into his cheek.
jungkook rounds the boy and frowns, "tsk. hyung, you're meant to eat all your food and then sleep. not fall asleep on your rice halfway." jungkook tuts, taking the bowl of rice in his hands and pulling the chopsticks out of the sleeping boy's reluctant grip.
"that's my food." the boy groans in response, rubbing his nose as he yawns and sits up in his desk chair. he looks around the room with bleary eyes and it's not long before his gaze lands on taehyung who stays firmly by the doorway, still looking a little freaked out about the thick black wires that course across the room.
"oh. who's this? your delivery package?" the boy questions quietly, voice croaking a little. "worth?" he asks, looking at jungkook.
taehyung holds his breath because he's attractive, so freaking attractive; black hair falls into his face, styled so effortlessly that it looks almost natural. and don't get taehyung started on the boy's face — his facial features are super pretty; all rounded and indescribably cute that it makes taehyung wanna poke the boy's chubby cheeks and cuddle him to sleep every night.
"eight point four million." jungkook just about manages to say over his huge mouthful of egg fried rice.
the boy raises his eyebrows slightly, "damn, joonie's feeding you good." he comments before running a hand through his hair.
"perks of being his favourite dongsaeng." jungkook shrugs playfully, nonchalantly smirking.
"you say that but im the one he offered to give twenty million dollars in exchange for simply cracking open someone's security system on their macbook." jimin smiles sleepily.
"that doesn't mean you're his favourite." jungkook scoffs petulantly as he forces rice into his mouth.
"mmm, whatever you say, kookie." jimin hums, tipping his head back a little to reveal a smile on his face. jungkook scowls.
"im jimin." taehyung looks up to see the boy looking at him with a corner of his lip tugged upwards, "make yourself at home, jungkookie's — i mean, jeon's gonna be here for a while."
"what do you mean 'for a while'? it's only a bit of information — we're not gonna go on a task or something—"
"i know that it's only an bit of information and it won't take long but im talking about after hearing the information; how you're going to react." jimin murmurs quietly. jungkook frowns.
jimin hastily changes the subject.
"also because ive missed you so much!! look at you!! oh my, you've grown more!!1!1 whatta surprise." jimin starts happily but finishes dryly, clear distaste covering his round features upon mentioning height.
jungkook laughs and jimin, suppressing a smile, pokes the boy in the side. "don't lauuuuugh" he whines, "please tell me ive grown."
jungkook clears his throat, "alright. ahem. jiminie hyung, you've grown so much over these past twelve months — you're almost the same size as the green giant11!1!1! or goliath!! kim, isn't he goliath??? you could be called jiminiath!! or golimin!!" jungkook stops when he starts to laugh too hard and cause bits official rice to fly out of his mouth.
jimin recoils away in his seat, "you and the way you eat and give compliments disgusts me." jungkook only laughs harder, repeating the word "golimin".
is this really jeon jungkook? taehyung thinks, staring at the aforementioned boy with awe. jungkook continues to laugh with his eyes and nose scrunching up in a wide smile, not once noticing taehyung was watching him with widened eyes.
this isn't jeon. this is an imposter, taehyung concludes. mhm, jeon isn't smiley–smiley.
disbelieving and confused, taehyung, takes jimin's advice and seats himself on the brown corduroy sofas and opens one of the (many) snacks he made jungkook buy. although taehyung was thrown off by jeon's sudden new persona, he stifles a smile at jungkook's and jimin's bickering: it was funny, okay? sue him. and (the imposter's) jungkook's smile and laugh was too contagious; sue jungkook.
so, entranced by the laughter coming from jungkook, taehyung rips open a packet of spicy potato chips and digs in, watching his choice of entertainment: jungkook and jimin, argue and insult each other.
"no, but im joking, hyung — you have gotten taller right? you look like 100cm now."
"im 175cm!! point 6! 175.6cm!"
+
ten minutes later, taehyung is sat at a stool by the kitchenette, his cheek in his palm and a small pout on his face as he stares out of the window. he had wandered round the apartment earlier and had somehow ended up in the kitchenette.
he was bored out of his mind; both jungkook and jimin had halted their comedic chatter and developed into a serious talk that bored taehyung, the topic being something difficult to understand.
taehyung sighs and lifts his other hand to his face as well, helping to prop up his heavy head. he stares up at the skyscrapers and other apartment blocks standing clustered outside the window.
his gaze follows down to the fruit bowl sitting not too far from him. the bowl's laden with mainly fake plastic fruit but there's some real looking ones on top; a couple of oranges, a rotting banana and a handful of green grapes. taehyung takes one of the oranges and busies himself by peeling the orange in one go, unfurling the orange skin with determination that he'd be able to rid the peel in one try.
jungkook focus
"so what's this about junghoon? what's so important that i had to come down here?" jungkook asks as he sets down his now empty bowl.
"it's not that important — i just wanted to see my favourite muscle bunny." jimin coos, about to lean over and pinch jungkook's cheeks but the unmoving serious look on jungkook's face makes him stop midway though.
"what is it about junghoon?" jungkook repeats, impatience returning.
jimin sighs, dropping his hands, "my sources spotted and sent me photos of junghoon at gangnam yesterday. i was looking through them and—." jimin stops abruptly, clearing his throat. "the page should still be up on my screen so just unlock my computer and just see for yourself." he murmurs, standing up. "but seriously, it's nothing big. im gonna go get juice — d'you want some?" jimin questions.
"ill be the judge of whether it's a big deal or not." jungkook murmurs to himself before shaking his head at jimin who shrugs and wanders over to taehyung in the kitchenette.
jungkook seats himself in the desk chair and leans forward to rest his elbows on the desk by the bluetooth keyboard. he types in jimin's password (mochi1995) into the computer whilst taehyung and jimin converse about something in the background.
the screen loads to reveal a folder named "recent", jungkook clicks on it and waits for the files to load. only a few files are in the folder — maybe four? five? — and they're all photos.
what's junghoon doing now? jungkook thinks as he leans back in his chair, busy impatiently tapping his fingertips against the oakwood of the table.
jungkook clicks on the first one and prepares for the image to load on to all four computer screens.
the first image loads.
and it knocks the wind right out of his lungs.
but it also makes him laugh.
because there, on four pretty wide HD screens, are low quality yet still clear photos of junghoon and haneul. choi haneul. his ex.
photo number one is a blurred distant shot of two figures getting out of a black bmw convertible.
photo number two is a straight up close up of a laughing haneul, looking as beautiful as ever, and a smirking junghoon, standing by her, gripping her waist.
photo number three is another close up, this time the shot shows haneul rummaging through her branded purse.
photo number four depicts a grinning haneul sharing a cigarette with junghoon who leans against the car, looking suave as ever —wearing just a button down and slacks, and letting smoke drift out of his lips.
i though you hated sharing cigarettes, jungkook thinks, indirectly talking to haneul's blurry image. he cocks his head a little and allows a disdainful smile to appear on his face as he stares at the image.
jungkook clicks the 'next' button, revealing the last photo. photo number five is a blurred shot of haneul snaking one arm around junghoon's neck whilst kissing him, cigarette still burning in the other hand. junghoon has a hand wrapped around her waist. and he's kissing her back.
kinda emotionless, jungkook exits the file and clicks out of the folder, displaying the computer's desktop.
he ducks his head.
he lets go of his grip on the mouse and lifts his hands to his hair, running lax fingers through his dark strands whilst laughing softly.
"hold on, tae. jungkook?" jimin ventures out, noticing the boy was finished looking through his computers. taehyung stops what he was saying and also stares at jungkook's hunched figure.
"what do you think?" jimin questions quietly.
"i don't think anything," jungkook tilts his head back against the chair and grins widely, bunny teeth and all, staring up at the light fixtures in the ceiling, "what's there to think about? the fucking bitch left me for my own copy." he says, eyes twinkling with what? mirth? or held back tears?
"ju—" jimin looks startled.
"oh, this is too godamn funny." jungkook heaves, breaking into sudden laughter. his laughter rings across the silence of the room, concerning jimin and taehyung who watch him with round eyes.
trying to pause his laughter for a second as he wipes a mere tear out of the corner of his eye, jungkook mutters out, "god, i need a drink," before chuckling again lightly as he pushes his desk chair back, stepping out from behind the table . still lightheartedly laughing, jungkook staggers across the room, grabs his leather jacket from off the sofa and wanders into the hallway, opening the door and leaving the apartment with a soft "click" courtesy of the front door.
outside, jungkook doesn't seem to realise that tears are streaming down his cheeks as he laughs and laughs. he doesn't realise, not until he's outside the building and staring up at the sky, the wind blowing against the wet tear tracks, chilling them and causing him to shiver weakly.
he harshly wipes at his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket, rubbing the skin around his eyes a faded red as he walks down the long road, forgetting about taehyung and the stolen motorcycle, thinking only about how pathetic both he and his ex–girlfriend is.
absolutely pathetic. both of you.
you cry after her, waste a year for her, break off all your ties & refuse to do anything because of her.
but look at her; she goes missing for a year and then appears out of nowhere with him, fucking junghoon of all people.
pathetic. the both of you.
_______________
hm, i wonder what jungkookie means by "my own copy"? & who is this junghoon, 🤔?
hm. i think most of you will get what he means buuuutT whatever —— have a good day!!