Were Dripping In It

We’re Dripping In It

Chapter 18: Dope

Jimin met Jungkook at the door of their Political Science class, he chuckled at the sight of the motorcycle helmet underneath his arm.

“Isn’t it a bit cold to be riding this morning?” Jimin asked, following behind Jungkook as they made their way inside the classroom and walked up the steps to the back of the room. A row of girls giggled as Jungkook passed in his black leathers and wind swept hair.

“It actually wasn’t that bad this morning,” Jungkook dismissed, placing his helmet on an empty seat and sat down next to it. That was only half a lie, it was freaking cold to ride in but Namjoon’s sultry eyes on him as he left had been worth it.

Jimin eyed Jungkook’s smirk as he sat down next to him, “Namjoon-hyung left in quite a hurry last night, anything you want to tell me Kookie?”

“Nope,” Jungkook answered, pulling out his notebook and phone. There was a message from Namjoon on the screen, Jungkook opened it and smiled at the words ‘If you get any sexier, I think you might kill me’ with a burning hot emoji at the end.

‘I thought you were into knife play, guess I’ll have to table that’ Jungkook sends with a pouting face, snickering under his breath as the professor stands at her desk and calls the class to order.

‘I’m in the middle of a meeting, baby. Don’t give me ideas.’ Namjoon texts back with a prayer hands emoji.

‘I’ll take bondage off the list then,’ Jungkook sends back, ignoring Jimin’s kick to his ankle as he stares down at his phone. He glances up to see the Professor only just starting to get her slides organized on the screen, so he takes his time getting his pencils out.

‘Jungkook,’ is all Namjoon sends back in reply. Jungkook bites his lip to stop his giggles at his boyfriend’s distress.

‘Have fun in your meeting, I have class now’ Jungkook types, adding a kissy face at the end before closing his phone and tucking it into his inside jacket’s pocket.

Jungkook spent the rest of class listening to the professor drone on and on while taking his notes and trying to ignore the suggestive looks he was getting from the row of girls in front of him. There was one girl in particular, with long blonde hair, that kept trying to catch his eye.

Jungkook desperately hoped that Yoongi’s jeweler was fast, cause it seemed like he needed those couple rings just as much as Namjoon did.

The bell rang and people were out of their seats before the professor could even call out the assigned homework for the day. Jungkook stuffed his notebook into his backpack and pulled his phone out again, he had a message from both Namjoon and Yoongi.

He opened Namjoon’s first and snorted at the reply of ‘I’ll deal with you tonight’ to his last text. He sent a quick ‘Looking forward to it’ with an angel emoji before opening Yoongi-hyung’s message.

‘Your rings will be ready tomorrow and you need to give me your stage set for next week, you have performances on Tuesday night and Saturday.’ Yoongi said with his usual cat emoji at the end of his message.

Jungkook didn’t feel that he was up to a full performance of dancing and singing, but he did have a few songs that could just be sung. He sent Yoongi his two selections before moving to stand with Jimin to leave.

“Excuse me,” a sweet voice muttered just as Jungkook was standing from his chair, he looked up to see the blonde girl smiling shyly up at him. Jimin snickered behind him, the bastard, as the girl blocked their path towards the stairs.

“Can I help you?” Jungkook asks politely, picking up his motorcycle helmet from the chair and swinging his backpack onto his shoulder.

The girl giggled, “I’m Kim Soyeon.” She bows slightly with her introduction.

“Jeon Jungkook,” he replies, bowing even shallower to her. “Is there something I can help you with?”

Soyeon smiles widely to him, “I’ve seen you perform at D-Town, it was amazing! Have you always been into dancing?”

“Thank you,” Jungkook says politely, glancing at the clock on the wall. “I’m sorry, I can’t chat, I have another class to go to.”

“Oh,” Soyeon’s expression drops and she scrambles to pull out a post-it note and write her number on it. “Maybe we can meet up after one of your performances?”

“Sorry,” Jungkook says, raising his hands apologetically, not taking the offered piece of paper. He smiles gently at her fallen face, “I don’t think my boyfriend would appreciate that, he’s kinda claimed all of my free evenings. Did you have an interest in performing at D-Town?”

Jungkook asks the question with innocence, as if he doesn’t know why she’s asking to meet up with him. Ignoring Jimin’s snort behind him as he stares at Soyeon’s small shake of the head before heading down the stairs to join her friends.

“It’s never a boring day with you, Jungkook-ah.” Jimin teases, sliding over to his shoulder as they watch the huddle of girls leave the room.

Jungkook sighs, glancing down at the post-it note that was dropped to the floor before stepping over it and walking down the stairs. “I hate upsetting people.”

“It’s not like you’re wearing a sign that says ‘Come try your shot with me’.” Jimin scoffs, punching Jungkook’s shoulder as they exit the classroom. “Who would you rather upset anyway? Your actual boyfriend or some girl from class?”

Jungkook elbowed Jimin’s side, “You already know the answer to that, I’d never want to upset Namjoon.”

Jimin scrunched his nose, “It’s so weird for you to be calling Leader-hyung by his name, he’s older than you!”

“He told me to!” Jungkook says defensively, then scrunches his brow in thought. “Should I start calling him hyung?”

Jimin only shrugs as he opens the door for them to enter the history lecture hall. “How much you wanna bet that Namjoon-hyung might be into that?”

Jungkook gives Jimin a hard look as they sit down, Jimin only cackles in response before the bell for class rings.

The cold air whips around his body as he speeds down the busy streets towards Namjoon’s apartment. He pulls up in front of the tall black building and cuts off the engine. Pulling off his helmet he sees one of the guards that had taken Jin up to the apartment approach him. He hands him his helmet as he swings off his bike before heading inside, saying a quick ‘thank you’ to the man as he passes.

Another guard meets him at the elevator and takes them up to Namjoon’s penthouse, Jungkook leans back against the wall of the elevator as they slowly climb. When the doors open Jungkook steps through and comes face to face with his brother.

“You have a motorcycle!” Jin burst out, waving his arms around wildly as Jungkook passed him to go into the kitchen. “Do you know how dangerous they are! And in Seoul especially!”

“No! Are they? I had no idea!” Jungkook snarked, setting his backpack down on a bar chair, pulling off his leather jacket to hang on the back of it. Unfortunately, this was not the jacket Namjoon had given him, Jungkook had no idea where that one had disappeared to since he was taken by the Stray Kids Gang. He was really bummed about it, he had started to love that jacket.

“You really need to stop being a sarcastic little shit, I’m your hyung Jungkook!” Jin barked, blocking Jungkook’s path to the refrigerator.

“Everyone in this house is my hyung, Jin-hyung” Jungkook corrects, folding his arms over his chest as he stares at his brother. “Being blood related means nothing to me at the moment.”

Jin stares at him and takes a step back, “You think you mean that now, but just you wait. This choice of yours is going to bite you in the ass one day and I don’t want to be around to see it.”

“It’s already bitten me in the ass,” Jungkook glares, side stepping Jin and grabbing a banana milk from the fridge. “I’ve already been kidnapped and held hostage for leverage. And then I had to chase after your sorry ass, so really it’s bitten me twice.”

“You’ve been what?!” Jin yelped, he stared at Jungkook sipping on his banana milk, his face growing red with agitation. “When the fuck were you kidnapped!?”

“Just before we had to go looking for you,” Jungkook answered with a shrug, sipping through the little straw as he looked at his brother. “I think we need to sit down and talk about this, instead of just yelling at each other.”

Jin huffed as he followed Jungkook into the dining room and sat down across from him at the table, he crossed his arms over his chest as they stared at each other for a moment. The only sounds in the room was the slurping of Jungkook’s banana milk carton, he set it down on the table after finishing it.

“Alright hyung, I want you to give me all the reasons why you think I’m being stupid for trusting my hyungs, who I’ve known for years, and my boyfriend, who has done nothing to hurt me.” Jungkook says, waving for Jin to go ahead.

Jin scoffed, “He hasn’t hurt you yet, you mean. He will one day, I guarantee it.”

“How do you think he’s going to hurt me?” Jungkook asked seriously, if he was going to have to listen to his brother’s rant he might as well try to take him seriously.

“Namjoon has a lot of enemies, Jungkook. Obviously you know that, since you’ve already been taken by one. Considering they didn’t hurt you too badly, they probably weren’t any of his big enemies, so you got lucky. You might not next time.” Jin began, glancing over at the healing rope burns on Jungkook’s wrists. Luckily the bruise on his cheek was basically gone now.

“I don’t need to hear about all the outside forces I’ll be up against, hyung.” Jungkook cut in resting his arms on the table, not at all bothered by his brother’s eyes on his marked skin. “I want to hear your reasons about Namjoon and my hyungs, not their enemies.”

“How can you be so dismissive of it? Some of these people won’t be…” Jin started to say but Jungkook held up a hand.

“You’re focusing on the wrong things, Jin-hyung. I’m not going to continue this conversation if you won’t put that aside.” Jungkook said with a sigh. “But I’ll tell you why I’m not worried about any of Namjoon’s enemies, no matter how big they are. It’s because the next time they come after me, I won’t be helpless against them. I won’t be ignorant about the risks of being on the streets alone. And one day, I’ll be just as much of a threat to them as Namjoon is.”

“Why would you want that Jungkook-ah?” Jin asked lowly, his shoulders deflating in defeat. “Why would you want to become a part of a company that kills people? That tortures them for information, that puts drugs on the streets, and controls whether the city will eat or not. Namjoon could get bored one day and burn Seoul to the ground and build his own city in its place. Are you really going to be by his side standing on the ashes of millions of bodies?”

Jungkook leaned back in his chair and tapped his finger against the wooden table as he thought over his brother’s words.

“Does that put it into perspective for you, little brother?” Jin asks, leaning forward to catch Jungkook’s eye.

Jungkook raises his eyes to his brother, “Yes, it does.”

Jin started to smile but froze when Jungkook continued to speak.

“It may seem cold to you, but I genuinely could care less for the people of Seoul. When I was on the streets for three weeks, no one looked twice at me or stopped to help.” Jungkook said coldly, standing to his feet as he looked at his brother. “You weren’t home when mom kicked me out. You never seemed to be home after getting back from killing dad’s murderer, you jumped to the conclusion that I had ran away. I didn’t! I came back for two weeks while you were gone and waited for you to come back! But you didn’t! No one helped me until I came to Yoongi-hyung’s door. I’m going to stick with them hyung, they’re the only ones that have given a damn about me since they met me!”

Jungkook left his brother in the dining room and headed up the stairs to Namjoon’s bedroom. He opened the door a bit surprised to see the man lounging on the bed, Namjoon looked up and blinked as Jungkook shut the door behind him.

“Hey baby, how was…” Namjoon grunted as Jungkook flung himself on top of Namjoon, sending them tumbling down onto the mattress.

Jungkook wrapped his arms around Namjoon’s neck and settled his legs on either side of his waist. “I’m abandoning my brother, he doesn’t listen to me.”

Namjoon hummed as he wrapped his arms around Jungkook’s shoulders, “You have another hard talk with your hyung?”

“Not my hyung anymore,” Jungkook grumbled against Namjoon’s neck. “Just an idiot that my mother gave birth to.”

Namjoon chuckled and ran a hand through Jungkook’s hair, “Have you had dinner yet, baby?”

“Does banana milk count?” Jungkook asked, lifting his head to look at Namjoon and place a kiss onto his cheek.

“No baby, it doesn’t.” Namjoon replied, placing a kiss on Jungkook’s lips. “What do you want to eat?”

Jungkook hummed in thought, “Grilled Pork Belly sounds just about right, right now.”

“Then that’s what my baby will get,” Namjoon said, placing another kiss on Jungkook’s giggling lips as he moved them off the bed to order some food into their room.

We’re Dripping In It

Chapter Interlude: Daydream

Hoseok found Jin clutching his head and bowed over the dining room table as he left his office from a meeting. He caught a glimpse of Jungkook’s back retreating up the stairs and disappearing into Namjoon’s room. He looked back at Jin and sat down in the chair next to him, clearly the brothers had another spat.

Hoseok leaned back in his chair and waited for Jin to speak. He was just starting to think of what he should order for dinner when Jin spoke up.

“I didn’t know he was on the streets, she didn’t tell me.” Jin whispered hoarsely, into his hands. He pounded his fist onto the table in anger. “She lied to me!”

“That seems to be your mother’s M.O. at this point, I’m sorry to say.” Hoseok murmured, ignoring the glare that Jin threw his way. “Why weren’t you there Jin? Why weren’t you home to watch over your brother?”

Jin sniffed and looked back down at the table, “We were broke, dirt broke. Mom was still using, it was draining any funds we had from her retirement and from what dad had left us. I barely had enough to send Jungkook to school in Seoul and afford his travel there, but I was making it work. I took as many jobs as I could, I stayed out of company business but it wasn’t enough. So, I started taking the odd job from any company that would hire me. I was working to feed him when he ran away to live in Seoul.”

“He didn’t just up and leave, Jin. He was kicked out. He probably didn’t even know what you were doing for him.” Hoseok said softly, looking over at Jin’s slumped form.

“I know that now, I didn’t then.” Jin said softly, his hands slumping on the table top. “All this time, I’ve been thinking that you guys corrupted my little brother. Not that you saved him from much worse.”

“I told you that I kept my promise Jin, I kept him safe and trained him while he was with me, secretly of course. But all the credit goes to Yoongi-hyung and Tae, they’ve taken the most care of him. They’ve treated him like the son they can never have.” Hoseok says, laying a hand on Jin’s shoulder.

“I don’t know what to do now, Hoba. How do I mend this?” Jin whispered, looking over at Hoseok with shining eyes.

“Be there for him now,” Hoseok says softly, brushing a hand through Jin’s hair before resting it against the back of his head and scratching the short hairs there. “Don’t fight with him about his choice about being here, he’s already made up his mind. Get to know him, spend time with him, and listen to him. He’s a good kid, he’s got a big heart. If you show him how much you care about him, he’ll let you in. It’s just going to take some time.”

Jin sighed and leaned his head against Hoseok’s shoulder, “It’s not fair how good you are with words.”

Hoseok chuckled and placed his arm around Jin’s shoulders, “You can blame Joonie for that, you need to have a way with words to compete with him.”

Jin chuckled hoarsely and laid a hand on Hoseok’s stomach, “I’m going to have to apologize to everyone, aren’t I? I’ve been a bastard this whole time.”

“You’ve always been a bastard,” Hoseok chuckled when Jin smacked his stomach in response. “An apology would be nice, but I would have a conversation with everyone. They need to hear your side of the story, they’ll understand.”

Jin hummed, “I’m sorry, Hoba. I shouldn’t have left the way I did.”

“I knew you weren’t going to stay Jin,” Hoseok sighed, placing a hand on top of the one laying on his stomach. “It didn’t make it hurt less when you did, but after killing your father’s murderer I knew you wouldn’t stay.”

“I’m sorry for just leaving a note though, I should have said goodbye properly.” Jin sighed at the memory of his sudden departure all those years ago, Hoseok hummed in acknowledgement. “Did you ever find your birth parents?”

“I did,” Hoseok sighed, leaning his head back against the wooden chair as Jin settled over his chest. “They’re dead in a ditch somewhere, drug overdose. Serves them right.”

“You don’t mean that,” Jin scowled lightly, intertwining their fingers over top Hoseok’s toned stomach.

Hoseok scoffed, “They sold their son for their drug addiction, then promptly died of an overdose from those drugs. Karma killed them, I’ve had enough time to be thankful for it.”

“Are you still having any episodes?” Jin asked softly, running a thumb across Hoseok’s knuckles.

Hoseok hummed, “Not often, I’m more determined than ever to help Namjoon take control of the drug cartels. I don’t want any other parent to have to deal with what mine did when they brought me home. I don’t want anyone else to grow up with the lasting effects.”

“Are you going to shut them down, once you have them?” Jin asks, making a confused noise when Hoseok makes a negative one.

“I wish we could, I wish we could just destroy all the drugs across South Korea, but people will just get them from somewhere else. We can’t stop that, but we can stop the mass produced junk from getting on the streets.” Hoseok explained gently, running his other hand up and down Jin’s shoulder. “Right now, the stuff that’s being put on the streets is killing people. Namjoon and I want to put a stop to that, we want to make sure that the doses are controlled and as safe as they could be.”

“You can’t stop all of the corruption.” Jin pointed out lazily.

“No, but we can sell our better product at half the price. We’ll run the rest of the dealers out of the country.” Hoseok chuckled, picking up one of his legs to stretch it over the seat of another chair.

Jin hummed, “So, what’s been going on between you and Jimin? I sense tension.”

Hoseok frowned and looked down at the crown of Jin’s head on his chest, “Tension? Do we seem angry with each other?”

Jin scoffed, Hoseok could practically feel the eye roll against his chest. “Not that kind of tension, Hoba. Sexual tension, you dummy.”

“Oh,” Hoseok murmured. “Right that, Jimin and I have only really started flirting with each other for the past two years. I’ve been hesitant to start anything with him, because of the kind of company he came from. I saved him from it and he needed time to heal from his past. Yoongi-hyung and Tae have helped him a lot with that.”

“Don’t wait too long Hoba, he’s not going to wait around forever. And he’d be a fool to let you slip away, like I did.” Jin sighed, removing himself from Hoseok’s embrace and started moving out of his chair. Hoseok reached a hand out and grasped Jin’s, he looked down at the man in question.

“I didn’t slip away, Jin, you just haven’t caught up to my pace yet.” Hoseok said, standing to his feet, he leaned forward and placed a kiss against Jin’s cheek. “Get some rest, we have work to do tomorrow.”

Hoseok slipped his hand out of Jin’s and walked up to his room, he caught a glimpse of Jimin’s door swiftly closing and sighed as he passed it. Pausing in front of the door he whispered, “Come talk to me when you’re ready, Jimin. I don’t need miscommunication on both sides.”

He moved to walk past to his room but stopped when the door swung open. Jimin glared at him, his face streaming with tears.

“What the hell do you mean by that?! It seemed pretty obvious what you meant!” Jimin whispered hoarsely, clutching the door knob in his hand with white knuckles.

“Did it?” Hoseok asked, stepping towards Jimin with a challenging look. “Then you weren’t listening hard enough.”

Jimin scowled and moved to shut the door in his face, Hoseok hesitated for a second before slamming his palm against the door and pushed himself into Jimin’s room. He let the door swing closed behind him and got into Jimin’s space.

“Are you going to listen to me Jimin, or are you going to continue jumping to conclusions?” Hoseok asked softly, his nose brushing lightly against Jimin’s. He caught Jimin’s fists in his hands and pushed him to the bed, forcing him onto his back onto the mattress and straddling his waist. He planted Jimin’s hands above his head, holding tight to his wrists as the man struggled underneath him.

“Jimin,” Hoseok scolded, dodging a headbutt from him. “Be reasonable here.”

“You’re the one pinning me to the bed!” Jimin grunted indignantly, thrusting his hips up to try and flip them over but was unsuccessful.

“Fine, then you can just listen while I hold you still.” Hoseok sighed, adjusting his weight to keep Jimin’s legs from kicking him. “I’m not choosing between you and Jin.”

Jimin froze and stared up at him in confusion, “What do you mean by that?”

Hoseok wished he could scratch his nose in embarrassment, his cheeks felt hot as he looked down at the comforter and not at Jimin’s confused face. “What I feel for the two of you is different. I don’t like you in the same way that I like Jin and vice versa and I’ve never been one to… settle with just one person. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Hoseok glanced back at Jimin’s face blinking at him as he tried to process what he was hinting at. Then it clicked and Jimin deflated on top of the bed.

“Does Seokjin know that? About you?” Jimin asked as Hoseok slowly released his hold on Jimin’s wrists.

Hoseok scratched the back of his head, “Yes, it came up in conversation once, but I wasn’t with anyone when he came the first time around.”

Jimin hummed and placed his hands on Hoseok’s thighs that were still on either side of his waist, “What exactly happened between you and Seokjin? I know he left after killing his father’s murderer but you guys seemed close just now.”

Hoseok sighed, “Nothing really ever happened, we just bonded easier than the others. I trained him before Namjoon did, but it never led to anything. Jin was too focused on finding the man that killed Jang-ssi and I needed to keep my brother from burning himself to the ground.”

“What did Seokjin mean when he said you have episodes?” Jimin asked, tilting his head as he looked up at the man.

Hoseok blinked for a moment, “Haven’t I told you that my birth mother took drugs while pregnant with me?”

Jimin blinks back at him and scrunches his brows, “No! I didn’t even know you were adopted!”

“Oh,” Hoseok murmurs, giving Jimin a sheepish look. “Namjoon’s parents found me in a rival company's warehouse, my birth parents sold me for their drug addiction. I had withdrawal symptoms as a baby and while growing up. They aren’t as bad now, I’ll only get them if I’m not sleeping well or I’m under too much stress.”

“So how did Seokjin find out?” Jimin asked, clutching his hands on Hoseok’s hips.

Hoseok shrugged, “I told him, it helped us bond. And then he witnessed some of my seizures, it was a very stressful time then. I’m thankful for it though, it helped me keep Jin under control. He listened to me better than Namjoon and Yoongi, especially after seeing me like that.”

Jimin nodded in understanding and his gaze returned at a teasing one, “So, when you say that you feel differently for each of us, what do you mean by that?”

Hoseok scratched the end of his nose and looked away from Jimin’s sultry eyes underneath him. He mumbled incoherently as Jimin started running his hands slowly up Hoseok’s chest.

“What was that? You were mumbling,” Jimin teased, sliding his hands up to Hoseok’s shoulders and suddenly flipping them over so that he was on top and straddling Hoseok’s waist.

Hoseoked looked anywhere but at Jimin’s teasing face, “I’m not sure what you want me to say, Jimin.”

Jimin hummed as he settled over Hobi’s pelvis, running his hands up and down Hobi’s chest. “I want you to tell me what you feel about me and Seokjin, and how you want us to move forward.”

“Well, I like both of you. I’m attracted to both of you,” Hobi mumbled, catching Jimin’s hands before they wandered lower on his stomach. “But I don’t want to pressure either of you into a relationship with me if both of you hate each other.”

“I don’t hate Seokjin, I barely know him.” Jimin countered, twisting their fingers together. Smiling when Hobi finally meets his gaze, “And he can’t be that bad if you were willing to share your past with him. I’m willing to see where it goes with the three of us, if Seokjin is willing. This needs to be an agreement between all of us.”

Hobi nods in agreement, “What do we do if Jin isn’t willing to try?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Jimin says with a shrug, before leveling Hobi a very serious look. “I can share you with him, Hobi, but only him. I understand your preferences, but we’re not immediately looking for another person if Seokjin doesn’t agree.”

“I know that, Jimin, I didn’t mean it like that.” Hobi assured him, pulling him down to hold him against his chest. “I’ve usually joined someone else’s relationship, not start my own. I was shocked how long I liked Jin for, then you came along and the feelings for both of you just grew, even in his absence. I’d never try to force you into a relationship with someone else. It’s Jin for us, or no one.”

Jimin hums happily as he settles across Hobi’s chest, tucking his legs between the other man’s. “You have good tastes in men, I must say. Have you seen how hot that man is, damn I would have jumped his bones if you hadn’t.”

Hobi snorts as he reaches over and turns off the lamp, bathing the room in darkness. “Trust me I know, try sparring with him some time. It’ll take every level of self control you have after hearing the sounds he makes while being tossed onto the mat.”

“I’ll spar with him tomorrow then,” Jimin says cheerily, pulling the comforter over the top of them. He smiles as Hobi’s chest shakes with his sunshine laughter, closing his eyes and tucking his face into the man’s neck as he starts to drift off. The smell of Hobi’s vanilla body wash soothing him into a gentle sleep.

Ended up writing my own fic based on my own dialogue prompt 😂

Dialogue prompt:

Character A: I would never put bruises on your knees like he does, sweetheart.

Character B, with a confused look on his or her face: I work in a dog kennel, these bruises aren’t for anybody!

Character A stares in disbelief before shuffling off awkwardly.

We’re Dripping In It

Chapter 17: Reflection

Jungkook left his hyungs’ apartment, after being shooed away from helping with the dishes, and took the private elevator down to the fifth floor. When the doors opened he stepped into the dark space and flicked on a light in the hall. He turned and watched as the door to the elevator slid closed, seamlessly integrating itself with the wall. If he hadn’t spied the small call button hidden as a light switch, he’d never know there was an elevator posing as a wall.

He chuckled to himself, wandering further into the apartment, taking in the empty space. The apartment layout was similar to Yoongi and Taehyung’s penthouse, it was just smaller. It was cozy, Jungkook could already tell how much he was going to like living here and mentally cursed himself for not taking the offer from Yoongi-hyung sooner. Independence was overrated anyway.

He made his way into the main bedroom and placed his backpack onto the mattress as he headed into the bathroom. As he washed himself and pulled on some loose sweats to sleep in, Jungkook took this rare moment alone to just reflect on what had happened to him over the past few days.

He had been kidnapped, then saved by his boyfriend. Found out that said boyfriend was the leader of the asian mafia. Then found out that his entire family was also a part of this secret society, as well as all the friends he’s made over the years living in Seoul. Then his brother decided to be an idiot, piss off the leading company of South Korea, and now was locked up in his boyfriend’s house. And he was being trained to fight properly while still going to college for a Visual Arts degree.

Jungkook wondered if he had much sanity left to think of any of this as ‘normal’. Though there weren’t many moments in his life that he concerned himself ‘normal’ by any means. It wasn’t exactly ‘normal’ to have your older brother teach you how to put a grown man into a choke hold at the age of thirteen. And it wasn’t ‘normal’ to have scars running down your body because of fights at school.

In Jungkook's opinion, his current state of life seemed to be right on par with his past. Only now he felt more connected to those around him than ever before. His relationship with Jin had never been on the best terms, but with new revelations he felt that the two of them could become more like brothers than before. There were no secrets between them anymore and there never would be, if Jungkook had anything to say about it.

The conversation with Namjoon about his past on the street also drifted back into his mind, he still needed to talk to his hyungs about why he had left them last year. But it never seemed like the right time to do so, Jungkook wondered if he’d ever be ready to talk to his hyungs about that. He knew it would hurt them to know what Jungkook thought when he had seen Jimin’s adoption papers. That he had assumed they didn’t want to do the same for him.

Jungkook rolled onto his back as he pulled the covers up to his chin. Even if it had only been for a few nights, he found himself already missing being wrapped around Namjoon as they fell asleep. He felt like all his troubles just melted away when he was in his boyfriend’s arms. He rolled over to his side and tried to will himself to sleep.

“Stupid ‘too early to move in with each other’ bullshit,” Jungkook muttered to himself, cursing his past self for even protesting the idea. While he did agree, logically, with that statement it didn’t help him currently. And the ache in his chest was starting to grow. The minutes seemed to tick by at snail's pace as he tossed and turned in the effort to chase after sleep.

He glaring at his phone laying on the nightstand, wishing he could ask Namjoon to come over. As if sensing his narrowed eyes, the phone lights up and pings with a text message. He reaches out of the clutches of his blankets and pulls the phone to his face. He smiles at the message from his boyfriend.

‘If I send your brother to an early grave, how angry would you be with me?’ Namjoon asks, with an eye roll emoji at the end.

Jungkook types back, ‘Depends, who do I get as a replacement?’

‘You can have Hobi, he’s annoying me again. Seems like a fair trade to me.’ Namjoon sends back.

Jungkook giggles, kicking his feet at Namjoon’s silliness. ‘That may sway in your favor then, I’ll be sure to put Jin-hyung’s favorite flowers on his grave everyday.’

‘I’ll inform him then,’ Namjoon types back and Jungkook gets a ding from another text message. He bursts out laughing at Jin’s message of ‘Stop giving your boyfriend ideas! The knife sharpening tools give me a headache’ and he sends a simple shrug emoji in response before returning to his conversation with Namjoon.

‘Tell Hobi-hyung that I want a car for my birthday, to make up for all the years he’s missed.’ Jungkook teases.

‘We'll see if we can make room in the budget for it,’ Namjoon sasses back, sending a tongue out emoji at the end.

‘Well I hope so, remind him that my favorite color is black,’ Jungkook writes back, sincerely hoping that Namjoon wasn’t taking him seriously. He might have a heart attack if the man hands him any set of keys to a new vehicle.

Namjoon sent a laughing emoji in return, after a moment he sends ‘Why are you still awake, little one?’

‘I could ask you the same thing,’ Jungkook countered, a warm bubble bursting in his chest at Namjoon’s sweet nickname for him. It was honestly Jungkook’s favorite out of his arsenal of pet names, coming a close second to ‘baby’.

‘Baby,’ Jungkook can almost hear the scolding tone through the phone. ‘Go get some sleep, I’m sure you have a busy day tomorrow. You need your rest.’

Jungkook bit his lip as he typed out, ‘Just having a hard time falling asleep.’

A bubble appears as Namjoon types a message, but then it disappears and reappears, this happens a couple of times. Jungkook snickers at Namjoon’s hesitation and decides to help him by saying, ‘I’m just not used to sleeping alone anymore, you’ve spoiled me with your cuddles and now I miss it.’

‘Oh baby, how can I help you sleep?’ Namjoon asks and Jungkook has no idea how to respond. He stares at the message, his thumbs move to type out a message but he can’t seem to put into words what he needs right now.

The logical part of his brain says to just have Namjoon call him and talk to him until he falls asleep. That the separation between the two of them is a good thing, couples live apart from each other all the time. But the larger part of him, the emotional part, just wants to ask Namjoon to come over. To just fall asleep in his arms again. Jungkook isn’t sure which side to listen to.

‘I’ll give you two options, baby, and you can choose which you want. Okay?’ Namjoon sends and Jungkook replies a hesitant ‘ok’ back.

‘Alright, option one or option two, baby. And I’ll do whatever you choose, I promise either one will make you feel better.’ Namjoon promises, sending a purple heart emoji at the end of his message.

Jungkook has no idea what Namjoon has in mind so he just goes with the safest bet, ‘The first option.’

‘Alright, give me a moment baby.’ Namjoon replies and Jungkook lays across his bed staring at his phone, waiting for whatever he had asked Namjoon to do. There’s a knock at his front door, echoing across his apartment, his phone pings with a message from Namjoon ‘You can open the door, baby, it's just me.’

Jungkook chuckles as he hops out of bed and heads down the hallway to the apartment door. He peeks through the peephole and sure enough Namjoon is standing in the hallway in his sweats, house shoes, and a long black coat with his phone in his hand.

Jungkook unlocks the door and opens it, “What exactly was option two then?”

Namjoon smiles at him, “I come through the private elevator.”

“Do that next time, I want to keep this door locked.” Jungkook says, pulling Namjoon through the door and burying himself into the man’s arms as it closes behind him.

“Come on, let's get to bed.” Namjoon chuckles, pulling his coat off and hanging it on the hooks by the front door as Jungkook clings to his chest. He chuckles as Jungkook simply tightens his arms around him in response as he locks the door. Namjoon tugs Jungkook away from him, ignoring his whines as he does, and lifts him into the air.

Jungkook giggles as he throws his arms around Namjoon’s neck and his legs around his waist, he places a kiss against Namjoon’s dimpled cheek as he starts walking them towards his bedroom.

“You know, you’re the only person that’s ever been able to lift me and carry me around everywhere.” Jungkook observes as Namjoon settles them down onto his mattress and pulls the comforter over them.

“I’ll make sure I always can then,” Namjoon murmurs, placing a kiss onto Jungkook’s forehead. “Now, sleep baby. I’m here now, you can sleep.”

Jungkook sighs and tucks his head against Namjoon’s neck. He drifts off almost instantly with Namjoon’s gentle breaths against his cheek.

“When we first started talking about me moving out of my old apartment, why did you jump to the conclusion that I thought it was too soon for us to move in together?” Jungkook asks, leaning against the doorframe as Namjoon brushed his teeth in the mirror.

Namjoon’s eyes met his through the reflection, before he spat into the sink. “Was that not what you were going to say?”

Jungkook bit his lip as he looked up at Namjoon as he walked over to him in the doorway, “No I was, but I think I’ve changed my mind about that.”

“Baby,” Namjoon says gently, laying a hand against the side of Junkook’s neck. “I think you were right, it would be too soon. We've only been officially dating for about a week.”

Jungkook scowls and turns away to head into the kitchen, “I’ve known you for over a month, Namjoon. And I haven’t been seeing anyone but you.”

“I’m not saying that I have, Jungkook-ah.” Namjoon says, following behind him and sitting down in the barstool as Jungkook moves into the kitchen to start some breakfast. “I’m just saying that by normal couple standards, it would be pretty fast for us to move in together now.”

“I want you to give me three reasons why you think we shouldn’t live together and not a single one can include the word ‘normal’ for it to count.” Jungkook states, he glances at Namjoon as he moves around the kitchen making their breakfast.

He internally thanked his Yoongi-hyung for stocking his kitchen with proper food and not just the thousands of Jin Ramen packs from his old place. All those were tucked safely in a cupboard in the corner that he hoped Namjoon would never open. He pulls the leftover rice from the fridge and the carton of eggs before moving to the stove and placing some pans on it. He makes quick work of heating the rice in an oiled pan and setting the second pan on low heat for frying the eggs.

Namjoon followed his movements with gentle eyes and took the mug of coffee from him gratefully, “So us only dating for a month, as you say, doesn’t count as a reason?”

Jungkook thought about it for a moment, “Weren’t you the one that gave me the speech about how the passage of time is just an illusion and that humanity has just wanted to control their way of life by measuring it? And all because I wouldn’t agree with you on the fact that mint chocolate chip ice cream is disgusting.”

Namjoon sniffed, “It tastes like fucking toothpaste and chocolate, it is disgusting. It’s like brushing your teeth then immediately going to eat a chocolate bar.”

Jungkook rolled his eyes, picked up his own cup of coffee to take a sip, and watched the eggs frying in the pan, “Three reasons, give ‘em to me Namjoonie.”

Namjoon tuts his tongue in thought, tapping one of his long fingers on the black marble countertop in a gentle rhythm. “Alright, reason number one: Yoongi-hyung and Taehyung have forbidden company business at D-Town. So, I can’t set up base here or have Seokjin live here either.”

“Two things to that,” Jungkook counters, raising two fingers in the air and ignoring Namjoon’s long suffering sigh. “One: you don’t need to set up base here, the apartment can just be a place where you can step away from work for a bit. I honestly think you need it, Namjoon, even if you just come here to sleep. And two: I can always move into your apartment if traveling between mine and yours becomes impractical.”

Namjoon purses his lips, “Are you going to counter every one of my reasons before I give you all of them?”

“Yep!” Jungkook grins widely at him as he scoops the rice into two bowls and flips the fried eggs on top of them.

Namjoon snorts and takes the bowl that Jungkook hands him, “Fine then, my second reason; I think you like the idea of living with me, more than you’ve actually thought what it’ll be like if we live together.”

“How so?” Jungkook asks, sliding into the chair next to Namjoon with his own bowl of food. “Do you think I haven’t had enough time to think about everything it would involve?”

“I suppose time does have a large factor in my reasons,” Namjoon sighs before placing a scoop of his rice and egg into his mouth.

“You know, if you’re scared Namjoon, you can just tell me.” Jungkook says gently, looking over as Namjoon hunches over his bowl and peeks over at him out of the corner of his eye. “I’ll understand that, I do understand that. Moving in together is a big deal, if you don’t feel ready then,” he shrugs, “I can wait. It’s not like I’m going anywhere.”

Namjoon hums and straightens in his chair as he leans back looking over at Jungkook, “That’s definitely a factor in this, there’s been a lot of revelations that have come into your life recently. I don’t want you to jump into anything just because you feel like you have to. I’m not going anywhere either, you know.”

Jungkook nods, “Then what should we do instead?”

“How about we give it two months?” Namjoon suggests, tapping his spoon on the rim of the bowl in thought. “Two months of meeting up like we usually do. I’ll still be able to come to your performances at D-Town and now we can meet in your apartment instead of the VIP section.”

“And the sleeping situation? What’s your solution for that?” Jungkook asks, scooping a pile of rice into his mouth.

Namjoon scratches the back of his head, “That I have no idea, how long were you trying to fall asleep for before I messaged you?”

Jungkook shrugged, “I can’t remember, but I was getting nowhere with it until you came. Sleeping together regularly is a ‘normal’ couple thing to do, you don’t have to move in with me for us to have that.”

Namjoon’s eyes become soft and he reaches over to brush his bangs out of Jungkook’s face, “Stop looking at me with those puppy dog eyes, baby. It’s really hard to tell you no when you do.”

“It’ll be my permanent face then,” Jungkook teased with a wide smile. “What exactly are your reservations on us sleeping together every night.”

“You’re making it sound like I don’t want that,” Namjoon gripped, resting his hand against Jungkook's neck as he ran a thumb across his jawline. “I’ll admit that I’m a bit worried that we’ll become a bit codependent on each other, if we don’t have regular time apart.”

“We will have time apart,” Jungkook countered and raised his hands to count on his fingers. “I have school, you have work. I have my performances at D-Town, you have work. I have my training with Hobi-hyung, you have work. My day doesn’t exactly revolve around you, it’s going to be like when we were meeting before the Stray Kids Gang got me. Only now we can have more time together at night, if you stay over. Which probably will be the only time either of us will have with our current schedules.”

“I’ll tell Hobi not to add negotiation to your training,” Namjoon says slyly, leaning his head into his hand as he listens to Jungkook. “You’ll have all of Korea in the palm of your hand if you were any better at it.”

“Can we alternate between our apartments? I want to talk with my brother more when I can.” Jungkook pleads, jutting his lip out into an exaggerated pout. Namjoon leans forward and places a kiss straight on it.

“Of course, baby,” he agrees after pulling away. “How about any night you don’t have a performance, you can come to my apartment.”

“I like the sound of that,” Jungkook agrees, placing another kiss on Namjoon’s plush lips. He pulls away with a gasp, “Oh that reminds me, we didn’t finish our conversation on boundaries.”

Namjoon blinks, scrunches his brow for a moment before realization comes across his face. “You’re right we didn’t, was there something else you needed to add?”

Now it’s Jungkook’s turn to blink at him, “Namjoon, babe, you didn’t tell me what your boundaries or deal breakers are. This isn’t a one sided relationship here, I’m going to respect your needs as well.”

Namjoon stared at him for a moment, before surging forward and placing a hard kiss against Jungkook’s lips. Jungkook followed Namjoon’s pacing for a moment before pulling away breathlessly.

“Stop distracting me!” Jungkook whines as Namjoon starts placing kisses down his jaw and neck. Namjoon chuckles as he pulls away and lays his forehead against Jungkook’s.

“You’re very easy to distract, baby.” Namjoon teases. “Should I be worried about that?”

“Only when it's you,” Jungkook teases back, rubbing their noses together. “Boundaries Namjoonie, what are they?”

Namjoon hums, “I’ve never had to set any before, how about if something comes up I’ll tell you.”

“I can work with that,” Jungkook answers, glancing over at the clock. “It’s almost 9:30, which means I need to get ready for class.”

He laughs as Namjoon groans as he hops off his chair and skips over to his room to get changed.

“Do you think it would look odd to make my entrance way by the elevator, like at Yoongi-hyung and Tae’s apartment?” Jungkook asks as he joins Namjoon in the elevator and presses the button for the basement garage instead of the lobby.

Namjoon looks over at him in confusion, “No it wouldn’t, it’s your place you can set it up how you like. Why are we going down to the garage?”

“I’m going to ride to school, it’s too far to walk everyday and I’m not letting you have someone drive me either.” Jungkook answers, zipping up his leather jacket and tucking his backpack over his shoulders, connecting the straps across his chest.

Namjoon follows him curiously out of the elevator and down the rows of Taehyung and Yoongi’s cars until they come up to a black motorcycle. Jungkook steps right over to it and picks up the helmet that sits on the seat. After pulling the helmet over his head, buckling the strap under his chin, he swings his leg to straddle the bike.

“I’ll text you later, babe.” Jungkook says, looking up at Namjoon through his open visor. Smirking at Namjoon’s wide eyes as he starts his engine and revs it to allow the rumbling engine to echo through the garage.

He pulls the bike up from its tilt, kicking the kickstand up, before putting it into first gear to start rolling forward. He shoots Namjoon a wink before rolling out of the garage at a higher speed then he normally would. He's showing off, sue him.

He revs the engine one more time before speeding down the streets of Seoul towards Hybe University. Weaving smoothly through traffic, enjoying the thrill of the hot motor underneath him and the cold wind against the patches of bare skin from his clothes.

I saw a meme, one we probably all know, about writing a scene we’re really excited about but having to write the scenes that make it make sense first. And some advice came to my mind.

Write the scene.

Just write the scene you are so excited to write, right now.

You can make it make sense later, but if you put it off then you won’t be as excited to write that scene cause you wrote the “boring” stuff first.

Nobody said that writing had to be linear, you can fix it later.

Write the scene 💜

namjoon when he's finally free