You're in a bakery.
The air is alight with a warm fragrance of chocolate and cinnamon and spices, notes of vanilla floating through. Wide windows let in radiant sunlight that caresses each curve, edge, and dip in the simple room.
Honey-golden wood floors and rustic, light tables fill the space with airiness and openness.
A long glass bar showcases freshly basked muffins, cinnamon rolls, and a tray of chocolate chip cookies.
You inhale deeply through your nose, reveling in the ambiance.
"Oh! You're here!"
A cheerful voice pulls your attention to the doorway to the kitchen.
In it stands a man in a soft, creamy sweater, whose smile makes a calm, peaceful feeling settle in your chest. His face is clean and clear of all piercings or tattoos, only skin and angles and the natural beauty of him.
"Hi, Namjoon," you breathe, staring at the tray of sweet rolls he's cradling to his chest.
His dimple makes an appearance as he motions back to the doorway through which he came.
"We've been waiting on you," Namjoon says sweetly. "Jin made your favorite brownies. Everyone's in the back."
After nodding you back, Namjoon whisks the tray off to the counter in order to put the sweet rolls inside.
Meanwhile, you wander through the door into the back, peeking your head around the frame.
Within is an elegant man in an apron, stirring a bowl of dough with a wooden spoon in the midst of a homey kitchen. He's splattered with flour, his rosebud lips pursed in a slight smile.
Behind him at a round table sit two more men, chattering with each other and with the cooks
They're all dressed in shades of white and cream and eggshell, the slightest glow gracing their skin to the point that you have to almost squint when you look at them.
None of them have their normal piercings and tattoos.
The way the two at the table speak to each other reminds you of a pair of close siblings.
"Jin," you murmur absently. "Jimin, Taehyung."
The three look up from their playful banter, each gifting you with a bright smile.
"Y/N!" Jimin cheers. He pops up from the table and embraces you for a moment, then motions back to the table. "You're here! Look, these are for you and your..." He trails off, shooting a sly grin at Taehyung and wiggling his eyebrows. "...your man."
Your man?
Your peering gaze of confusion doesn't register with the men as they all laugh at Jimin's statement. Taehyung passes off a small plate of thick, chocolate-studded brownies into your hands.
"Peanut-butter chocolate chip," chirps Jin. "It's your favorite. Eat them all, or I'll stuff them down your throat."
Okaaaayyy.
You break off an edge of one and pop it into your mouth, gasping at the vivid tumult of flavors that cascades across the surface of your tongue. Your shocked expression prompts another round of laughter from the men in the kitchen.
"That face gets me every time," Taehyung giggles. "You always look the same when you eat Jin's brownies."
Always? Something about this whole situation is off, but you can't put a finger on why...
The kitchen door swings open to admit a sweet baby face with the nose lifted into the air, like a hunting dog on point.
"Brownies?" Yoongi questions eagerly. "I smelled brownies." And when he smiles widely, you have to blink in surprise to make sure the adorably gummy grin is real.
Jin jumps across the room to stand in between you and Yoongi, protecting his brownies.
"Those aren't for you," says the oldest. "Get out, you vermin!"
Yoongi groans and persistently attempts to reach around his elder, his long, pale finger grasping for the plate in your hand.
"I'll die without them," groans the man dramatically. "Y/N, do you want me to die?"
"Hoseok!" Jin yells as he simultaneously runs interference. He's swatting at Yoongi's hands with weak blows, mainly using his tall body as a shield between the smaller man and the plate.
Like a knight prepared to slay a dragon, the lean Hoseok comes roaring into the kitchen at his friend's call.
"Protect!" Jin shouts, pointing at you and the plate of brownies.
Hoseok performs a tiny military salute and then takes the brownies in his hand, throwing you over his shoulder in one smooth movement.
You let out a tiny oof! when all of the air is forced out of your lungs at the impact.
"I needed to find you anyways," Hoseok says, his voice jumping up and down in pitch as he runs. Once you make it out the door and into the front again, his footsteps slow down. "He asked me to come and find you."
He?
"This feels so weird," you mumble to yourself. It's not normal.
This isn't normal.
Why are you just letting these men lug you around wherever they want?
Your mind is foggy and vague. How did you get here again?
Hoseok carries you through another staff door, into a small room that's equipped with a table, refrigerator, and microwave. It looks like a break room of some sort.
At the table sits another man.
His black eyes are trained down on a sheet of paper, fingers clasped lightly around a mechanical pencil. His full lower lip is trapped by white teeth, nibbling as he concentrates.
When Hoseok lets you down, your feet thunking to the floor, the man looks up.
And when his gaze clashes with yours, all of the breath is knocked out of your chest, like someone just sucker punched you in the lungs.
"Jungkook," you breathe.
He tilts his head, watching you with haunting doe eyes the color of the deepest space, of the darkest storm.
"Hey, princess," he says.
You wait for it. You wait for your blood to boil in your veins, for your jaw to clench, for that blinding anger to take over and melt your body into a puddle of venomous, spitting acid.
Your body does melt.
Not in the way you expected, though.
His voice tumbles through your chest like a bolt of thunder, the pet name sending waves of warmth screaming through you. Without your consent, your body drops into a chair across the table from him.
Hoseok sets the brownies on the table and slips out the door, leaving you and Jungkook alone.
Said ebony-haired man drops his pencil and stretches his arms over his head, yawning.
"Mm, you brought me brownies," he groans, reaching for the plate. He takes one and chomps a huge bite out of it, chewing happily all the while as you work to process what's going on.
Parallel universe?
Did all of you die?
You don't understand.
"Here," mumbles Jungkook through a mouthful of peanut butter chocolate chip crumbs. "Eat some. I know Jin hyung made them for you."
Gingerly, you take a brownie and nibble on it.
"What's going on?" you ask.
Jungkook's brow furrows in question. "What do you mean? And why are you sitting all the way over there?" He leans over and hooks his long fingers under your chair, dragging you to him with a scraping noise across the floor.
When your chair is pressed to his, Jungkook grins in satisfaction and lays his arm across the back. "That's better."
Uh...
Staring at him as if he's a rabid alien, you slowly shake your head.
What the heck? The two of you are normally fighting to get away from each other!
Even as you stare at him, Jungkook's eyes soften indescribably while he gazes at you. You take another bite of brownie to hide your blush and fix your gaze on the table.
"Hey," says the beautiful man beside you. His finger hooks under your chin and directs your eyes to him.
For a moment the two of you simply watch, tracing the curves and lines of the other's face with delicate intensity.
Then Jungkook leans forward in his chair and envelopes your bottom lip with his.
Holy crap.
You don't know how to react as he licks gently at your lip, feeling the moist warmth of his mouth and tongue against you.
He draws back long enough to sigh, "You had chocolate on your mouth," before he leans back in for a deeper kiss.
You can't do anything but clutch the strength of his shoulders, letting him guide you through the soft pecks. One of his hands cups your jaw, the other trailing down to rest at the small of your back, pressing your body toward him.
Jungkook's kissing you.
Jungkook.
The guy that didn't want you to die so that he could kill you.
He pulls back and licks his lips slowly, smirking at your dazed expression.
"Yeah, Jin hyung's brownies are my favorite," he says silkily. "-but nothing can taste better than my princess."
"Holy heck," you push out in a jumble of words to create a breathy response. "What kind of drugs did you put in you coffee this morning?"
He laughs (laughs) and pecks you on the fleshy part of your cheek before withdrawing back into his space. He picks up the pencil again. "What are you talking about?"
"What am I- what am I talking about?" You're crazed, theatrical, numb with disbelief. "Since when are we on kissing terms? Since when are we on any terms at all?! We hate each other!"
A frown bends Jungkook's lips into an upside-down U.
"We used to hate each other ," he says slowly. "But that was like two years ago. We've been together for a long time now, princess. Are you alright?"
Two years.
You sit back in your chair, stumped. Is this a vision? Some kind of jacked up hallucination?
Jungkook lifts up your left hand from the table, cradling it in his bigger one like a precious treasure. His lips grace your knuckles, and his teeth nip at the tip of one of your fingers.
Then Jeon Jungkook sighs, and says, "I love you, Y/N."
And that's when you jerk awake.
Your head pounds inside your skull and you lay limply, thoughts racing over every single event that just happened inside the most beautiful nightmare you've ever had.
Jungkook? And you? Together?
Like heck that'll ever happen.
You squint your eyes open and find yourself back in a familiar gold-and-green bedroom that smells distinctly of vanilla.
Welp, that's where the bakery part of your dream must have come from.
You're alone, and all the lights have been turned off to create a peaceful quiet. From the way the sides of the curtains are glowing faintly, you assume that it is now daytime.
As your mind clears of sleep and fuzziness, you groan with the realization that you're back in the house of the Bangtan Boys.
No wonder you had such a vivid, crazy dream. You've heard that vivid dreams can be the result of copious amounts of stress. Your body must've know where you were before your mind even awakened from sleep.
Again, you think back to your dream and scoff. The thought of you and that dope-headed tattoo artist in a relationship makes you want to howl with crazy anger.
Even so, your rebellious mind plays back to you Wooseok's words from before.
Maybe, instead of hating 'him', you could try to understand why he is the way he is.
"Stupid advice," you whisper to yourself, and shake your head. Just because you had a dream in which Jungkook seemed to be a semi-decent person doesn't mean that he is one in reality. At this point in time, you don't want to even consider it.
No matter how hard your subconsciousness apparently wants you to.
"Well, well, well," says a soft voice abruptly. "Look who's awake."
You flinch, forcing your body into a sitting position on the bed. The quick movement makes your head spin, and you outstretch your arms to steady yourself.
You never even heard the door open, but it is, and Jimin's standing in the doorway. The usually cheerful man is dark, his face a storm of anger and disgust.
When you don't greet him or make any attempt at verbal communication, Jimin grits his teeth and moves inside the room.
"You know, I'm usually a pretty good judge in character," he growls. "-but you're the first person I've seemed to misjudge, Song Y/N. You're pathetic."
If you're being honest, you've never been as wary as a person's anger as you are of Jimin's. His skin is a shade of red that makes him looks seconds away from explosion and you're surprised that steam isn't coming out of his ears.
You've always been curious what it's like when a good-natured person cracks.
It's worse than being chased by Jungkook.
But also...
How are you pathetic?
"What are you talking about?" you whisper.
At the sound of your voice, Jimin tilts his head at an irritated angle and glares at you. "Like you don't know," he says. "You're really something. How can you just shove someone out of a tree at that height?"
Wait, what?
You didn't push Jungkook out! You fell together!
"I didn't-"
"It's your fault," Jimin hisses.
"What is my fault?!" you try to defend yourself. "Listen, I didn't force him to climb up after me-"
You cut yourself off when, with shock, your eyes drift over a teardrop gathering in the corner of Jimin's eye.
"He won't wake up," Jimin says, in a voice that a mixture of anger and fear. "Jungkookie won't wake up, and it's your fault."
[A/N]
Unedited
I'm so sorry for the wait!
I've been struggling with an illness over the past couple of days, and I'm just now getting enough mental concentration and energy back to write. I'll do my best to get a Honey Bunny update in soon❤️