Were Dripping In It

We’re Dripping In It

Chapter 19: Heartbeat

When Jungkook returned to Namjoon’s penthouse, he was still chuckling at the thought of how Professor Chan would have reacted to being replaced not even a week after he had died. There hadn’t even been a proper mourning period at the campus, apparently he wasn’t just disliked by the students. The Dean of the school had said one small word about his passing during the morning announcements, but that was all the acknowledgement the man got for his twenty years at Hybe University.

The couple rings that Yoongi had handed him before he left had burned a hole in his pocket as he thought about them all day. Having them in his hand made the fact that he had to give them to Namjoon all the more real. His stomach bubbled with nerves as he set his backpack down on a kitchen chair before walking over to Namjoon’s office.

He fidgeted as he stood in front of the dark oak door before placing a hesitant knock against it.

“Come in,” Namjoon called and looked up as Jungkook stepped into the room, he scrunched his brow as Jungkook shuffled into the room and sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk. “Should I be worried? You knocked this time.”

Jungkook scratched the back of his head, “Just a bit nervous, you don’t have to accept them. I probably should’ve asked if you even wanted something like this. Please don’t think I’m trying to pressure you into anything that you might feel is too soon and…”

“Jungkook-ah,” Namjoon cut into Jungkook’s ramblings. “Little one, breathe.”

Jungkook took a deep breath, looked at Namjoon’s steady face and pulled the ring box out from his pocket. Placing it on Namjoon’s desk he whispered, “Yoongi-hyung had his jeweler make them and Tae helped me pick the design.”

Namjoon picked up the ring box and opened it, he sucked in a breath as he stared down at the two silver rings in the black velvet. They were a simple matching set, thin and delicate, with a single red line of metal wrapped around the silver.

Jungkook chewed on his lip ring as Namjoon blinked down at the rings, “They’re couple rings. The red line was inspired by the Red String of Fate, I thought it might be fitting considering how we met. Do you like them?”

Namjoon blinked again and looked up at Jungkook, he opened and closed his mouth for a moment.

“Do you… hate them?” Jungkook squeaked, twisting his fingers together in his lap.

“Fuck no!” Namjoon burst out with a violent shake of his head. “No baby, I love them. It’s just… no one has ever… gotten me something like this before.”

Jungkook smiled widely and reached onto the desk, he picked up the ring box and took out the larger of the two rings form inside. He took Namjoon’s left hand into his and slid the ring onto his pointer finger. He smiled wider as he looked at how well it suited Namjoon’s long fingers.

Namjoon reached over and plucked the smaller ring out of the box. He took Jungkook’s left hand into his and slid the ring onto his pointer finger as well. They intertwined their ringed fingers, connecting the red string between them.

“It’s perfect, Jungkook-ah.” Namjoon whispered, then chuckled. “I’m sorry to say what I have to give to you in return isn’t something new.”

“You didn’t have to get me anything Namjoon,” Jungkook said as Namjoon pulled a box off the floor and placed it on the desk.

“More like returning something you lost,” Namjoon corrected, sliding the box closer to him.

Jungkook looked at the box curiously before pulling the lid off, he gasped as he saw what lay inside of it. “How did you find it!? I thought Bangchan had it destroyed!”

Jungkook pulled out the leather jacket, Namjoon’s leather jacket. The thing that started everything and held it tightly to his chest. Namjoon smiled as Jungkook buried his face into the leather collar.

“My men found it while we were cleaning out the Stray Kids Gang’s warehouse. I had it cleaned and if you look at the collar, you’ll see the other surprise I have on it.” Namjoon explained, taking the empty box off of his desk.

Jungkook pulled his face away from the leather jacket and looked down at the stitching that laid at the back collar. Where there used to just be a little ‘RM’ stitched in white lettering, there now sat ‘RM & JK’ and underneath that read ‘To Keep Us Warm Till The Spring Comes Again’.

“Oh Namjoon,” Jungkook whispered, looking up at the man with teary eyes. “I love it, thank you.”

“Of course baby,” Namjoon grinned, glancing down at the ring on his finger. “I still think I got the better gift out of the pair of us.”

“Buy me a puppy and we’ll call it even.” Jungkook teased, hugging the leather jacket to his chest happily.

“What breed do you want?” Namjoon asked, chuckling when Jungkook starts to protest his seriousness on wanting a dog at the moment. Namjoon leans his head into his hand and stares at Jungkook lovingly, listening as he starts to ramble on about all the research he’s done on proper dog training.

Saturday Morning

“Baby, I can’t just call the leader of NCT Dream Circinate and tell them I can’t make my meeting because my boyfriend wants to go out on a date.” Namjoon says gently as Jungkook pouts at him.

“What good is being the most powerful man in South Korea if you can’t have one day off?” Jungkook counters, ignoring Jimin’s snicker at the end of the table as he stares at Namjoon.

Namjoon pursues his lips and glances at Yoongi for support, he only gets a shrug in response from the man.

“Even I have a day off Namjoon-ah,” Yoongi drawls and gives Namjoon a sly smile. “I’ve been telling you for years to have a day for yourself, maybe Jungkook-ah will actually force you to do that. Quality time is important for a growing relationship, you know.”

Jungkook smiles smugly at Namjoon’s defeated sigh.

“I’ll make you a deal, little one.” Namjoon says, reaching for Jungkook’s hand and running his thumb over their ring on his finger. “I can’t blow off this meeting, but I can move my Sunday one to today. I can give you all of tomorrow, how does that sound?”

Jungkook narrows his eyes, “You promise, I’ll get you all to myself tomorrow?”

Namjoon gulps and licks his lips as he nods, letting out a shaky breath when Jungkook hums happily and returns to eating his food. His eyes narrow down the table as snickers from the rest of the men sound through the room.

“Don’t you all have somewhere to be?” Namjoon scolds, only to receive chuckles in response as they all turn back to their own plates of food and conversions with the person sitting next to them.

Namjoon huffs and rolls his eyes as he stands from the table, “One of these days I’m just going to fire all of you, the level of disrespect I’m getting in this house is unreal.”

“We already have a new boss to take your place!” Jimin teases, patting Jungkook’s shoulder as Namjoon glares at him. “I think Jungkook-ah would do a much better job than you anyway.”

“Probably,” Namjoon mutters, placing a kiss onto Jungkook’s forehead before heading towards his office. “You better treat your new boss well then, he’s dead broke though so you can forget your paycheck this month.”

“Wait! Leader-hyung, I was joking!” Jimin yelled, scrabbling out his chair to follow after Namjoon’s retreating back. The rest of the table laughed as they watched Jimin pitter behind their leader’s long stride, muttering apologies and clutching his hands together with his pleads for his paycheck.

“Way to stick it to the man, Jimin-ah,” Jungkook teases, when the door to Namjoon’s office is promptly closed in Jimin’s face. “It’s so good to see where your true loyalty lies.”

Jimin huffs as he returns to his seat and pulls his plate of food to himself, “I was going to buy some new oil for my guns, the good stuff. I hope hyung was just joking about my paycheck.”

Jungkook snorts at Jimin’s pout and pats his shoulder consolingly, “I’ll put in a good word with my boyfriend for you, Jimin-ssi.”

Yoongi chuckles at the pair as he sets down his mug of coffee, “What is your plan for today then, Jungkook-ah?”

Jungkook blinks as he thinks about it, “I think I need to start getting my apartment together, I can’t live in barebones forever.”

He also needed better sheets for him and Namjoon to sleep on when he comes over, but Jungkook was not about to tell his hyung that.

Yoongi hums in agreement, “Would you be alright with Jin going with you? It’ll be good for him to get out of the house every now and then.”

Jungkook ignored Jin’s muttering of ‘I’m not a dog’ as he looked at his hyung, “Do I need to be worried about him trying to escape?”

“I’m not going to escape!” Jin protests, still being ignored as Yoongi shakes his head at Jungkook.

“We’ll have a guard go with you and he still has the ankle monitor on, lucky for us Tae finally finished his design on it. He won’t be able to get that off as easily as previous ones.” Yoongi says, taking a long sip of the fresh coffee his husband places in front of him. “If you don’t feel comfortable going with a guard you don’t know, I can have Jimin’s schedule moved around so he can go with the pair of you today.”

Jungkook looks over at Jimin, who smiles widely at him and clutches his hands together as he says, “I would do anything to get out of this meeting, Jungkook-ah. Please say yes.”

Jungkook stares at him for a beat before nodding, Jimin cheers and hugs Jungkook before dashing off to his room to change out of his pajamas. Jungkook looks back at Yoongi, “If it’s not too much trouble, I’d rather have Jimin-hyung with me. I know I’ll have to meet some of your other men eventually and I’m sure you trust them but…”

Yoongi raises a hand to stop, “You never have to apologize to me, Jungkook, on what makes you feel safe. There will come a day where you won’t need any of us to do that for you, but for now we do it happily.”

“Thank you hyung,” Jungkook whispers, smiling as the man passes him and ruffles his hair affectionately. Taehyung follows closely after and places a kiss on Jungkook’s forehead before following behind his husband into Namjoon’s office.

Jungkook tries to ignore the eyes of his brother following him as he makes his way into the kitchen with piles of dishes. As he works at the sink Jin comes to his side and leans against the counter while he works.

“I have to admit something to you, Jungkook.” Jin says quietly, Jungkook hums in acknowledgement but doesn’t stop washing the plates in the sink and placing them on the drying rack. “It wasn't mom and dad’s money that I was sending you for school, it’s never been their money.”

Jungkook turns off the tap and looks over at his brother in confusion, “What do you mean, hyung? Whose money was it?”

Jin hangs his head as he looks down at the floor, “Mine. It was my money from all the jobs I could get, mom was sucking us dry on her cocaine addiction. That’s why I was never home. I had to work night and day just to send a bit of money to keep you in school and keep mom out of the drug pits.”

“Why didn’t you tell me hyung?” Jungkook whispers, clenching his fists in hand towel. “I had no idea about any of that. I thought you just left me. I thought I was alone.”

Jin nods, “I know, I was trying to protect you. I was trying to protect my little brother from a world I didn’t want him to be a part of. That was stupid of me and I’m sorry. I’m sorry for lying to you. I’m sorry for not being there when you needed me.”

Jungkook sniffs and leans his head against Jin’s shoulder, clutching to the bottom of Jin’s shirt with his finger tips. “You can’t take me away from here, Jin-hyung. I can’t leave my hyungs.”

“I know, I know,” Jin whispers, turning to pull Jungkook to his chest. Holding tight around his little brother’s shoulders as he shakes in his arms. “I know that now, Jungkook, I won’t. I promise I won’t, we’ll make it work with them. I’ll make it work.”

Jungkook hiccups as he clutches Jin’s chest in his arms, “You can’t leave me again, hyung. I need you too.”

Jin’s arms become like a vice around him and Jin lowers his head to rest on the crown of Jungkook’s. “I’m not going anywhere, they’ll have to kill me to take me away.”

The Jeon brothers clutched each other for a long beat before Jungkook slowly pulls away and wipes the tears off of his face.

“What made you tell me the truth today, Jin-hyung?” Jungkook asked, watching his brother wipe his own face clean of his tears.

Jin shrugs, “I talked to Hoba, he helped me put some things into perspective. I’m sorry for the expectations I put on you when it came to our parents, Jungkook-ah. I tend to forget that you didn’t grow up with them like I did, you had an absentee father and a drug addict mother. Mom may have seemed in her right mind, but she wasn’t. I had no idea that she had kicked you out of the house, I would’ve come back if I did.”

“I had no idea mom even was a drug addict, how was she able to hide it from me for so long?” Jungkook asked, thinking back over his childhood memories for any sign he may have missed.

Jin sighs, giving Jungkook a long look, “I know I wasn’t home very often, especially after you settled at school in Seoul but I was able to keep mom’s addiction controlled. I had to go back to company business to get better money and drugs for her, she would have just gone to any drug pit if I wasn’t her supplier. I tried to get her sober for years, but she was too broken-hearted over killing dad, so I never succeeded. We had a deal for her using, you would never know. I never wanted you to know about her addiction.”

Jungkook tilts his head, “So if she wasn’t really all there, how did she send me school in Seoul? And have you drive me and check over me everyday?”

Jin rubs the back of his neck, “I lied about mom sending you, I did that. I didn’t want you in Busan anymore, after what happened with that school gang. I drove you myself so I could check the area until I knew it was safe for you to go on your own. And I wanted to make sure you weren’t getting in any more fights.”

“Did she really die from a brain tumor, hyung? Or was that a lie too?” Jungkook asks softly, crossing his arms over his chest.

“It was a brain tumor, stage four brain cancer. I would never lie about that,” Jin answers.

Jungkook nodded, “I believe you hyung, do you understand why I didn’t come to the hospital while she was sick?”

Jin nods, patting Jungkook’s shoulder, “I understand, Kook-ah, and I’m sorry for the harsh words I said to you for it. I’m sorry about the conclusions I jumped to when you left to live in Seoul. How can we move forward from all this?”

“Leave the lies in the past,” Jungkook says firmly, spying Jimin hovering around the corner over Jin’s shoulder. “Let’s leave the harsh words and hard times in the past, I’ve forgiven you, we can leave it behind us. And we can move forward by helping me get my new apartment together!”

Jin chuckled as Jungkook skipped past him and joined Jimin’s side towards the elevator. He shook his head fondly as Jungkook waved for him to follow them and stepped forward in their direction with a wide smile on his face.

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.

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 16: Still Life

Jungkook wakes up laying across Namjoon’s chest, his face buried into the man’s neck and his legs tucked between his. He groans as Namjoon rolls them over onto their sides but sighs happily when he feels Namjoon’s arms tighten around his body.

Jungkook blinks as some hairs tickle the tip of his nose, he puffs a breath to banish them away only for them to fall straight back onto his face. He huffs as he pulls his head back from Namjoon’s neck, finally free from the man’s fluffy hair as he lays his head against the pillow.

Jungkook sighs as his eyes come into focus on the sleeping face of his boyfriend. His dark hair sticks out in all directions and his lips forming a gentle pout in his sleep. Jungkook is utterly endeared by the sight, his eyes drifting from the mole that sits under his plush bottom lip, the one that rests near the hidden dimple in his right cheek, and his cute button nose.

“It’s rude to stare you know,” Namjoon murmurs, his voice impossibly deep from sleep, as his dragon-like eyes slowly blink open.

Jungkook hums running a hand through Namjoon’s hair trying to tame it a bit, “I think I’m allowed to stare, boyfriend privilege and all that.”

Namjoon hums, closing his eyes again as he leans into Jungkook’s gentle hand. “What time do you have class today?”

“I don’t even know what time it is right now,” Jungkook chuckles, placing a small kiss against the mole under Namjoon’s bottom lip. “I honestly don't even know what day it is.”

“It’s Wednesday, I think.” Namjoon murmurs, placing a returning kiss on the tip of Jungkook’s nose.

“Then I have a Pottery class at ten and a Mathematics class at three,” Jungkook answers, raising his head to look at the side table clock, it reads 8:30AM in a cool blue. “And it’s 8:30 now.”

“It’s time to get up then,” Namjoon sighs, turning out of Jungkook’s embrace onto his back, he stretches his arms over his head with a groan. “What good is being the most powerful man in Korea when you have to attend meetings at 9AM?”

Jungkook laughs gently as he sits up and stretches his arms above his head, “I don’t know, maybe you should do something about that.”

Namjoon hums in agreement as he steps out of the bed and makes his way inside his closet. “Do you want to stop at your apartment for some clothes, or borrow some of mine?”

Jungkook joins him inside the closest, taking in the rows of business clothes and shoes. “If you have any normal clothes, I’ll borrow those. I haven’t even been to my new apartment yet.”

“Yoongi-hyung told me that he set everything up for you last night,” Namjoon said, handing Jungkook a black t-shirt from the depths of his white button ups. He pulls off the loose t-shirt from his own body, tossing it into a nearby hamper, before pulling on a red button up over his shoulders. He doesn’t button it as he hands Jungkook some loose sweatpants.

Jungkook takes the borrowed clothes, tossing his worn ones into the hamper, while Namjoon pulls on a black pair of slacks. Namjoon starts looking through his ties, still not buttoning his shirt up as he hums in thought.

“Tie or no tie?” He asks, looking over at Jungkook as he’s pulling on the black t-shirt over his head.

“No tie,” Jungkook answers after his head pops out of the shirt, tugging his arms through the sleeves, he smirks at Namjoon’s flexing abs. “You gonna leave it open as well?”

Namjoon chuckles in amusement as he places a silver watch on his wrist, “I might, think it’ll convince the Red Velvet Ring to play ball with me this year?”

Jungkook frowned at the thought and shuffled over to button Namjoon’s shirt up himself. “Even if it did, no one else is allowed to see this. It’s mine now.”

Namjoon laughs in delight as Jungkook pats his chest once his shirt is completely buttoned, “I don’t think Seokjin should be worried about me being the possessive one in this relationship.”

“As long as you know,” Jungkook teases, sliding his hands around Namjoons waist as he looks up at him with a sly smile. Namjoon groans as Jungkook slides his hands down his lower back, down to cup his ass in both hands.

“Baby,” Namjoon moans, placing his hands on Jungkook’s shoulders. “We both have things to do this morning, we don’t have time for… that.”

Jungkook pouts playfully before releasing his hold on the man’s perk behind, “Why do you always have to be the responsible one?”

Namjoon places a kiss on his lips as an apology, “Sorry baby, someone has to be.”

Jungkook mutters under his breath as he follows Namjoon out of the closet and down into the kitchen.

Jimin groans dramatically as he flops down on the kitchen counter, holding his phone limply in his hand. The sound of his game playing echoes off the marble countertop. Jin rolls his eyes as he comes over to the sink to place a dirty cup inside before returning to the stove. The smells of food make Jungkook’s stomach grumble as Namjoon walks straight to the coffee maker.

“You guys trust my brother not to poison your food?” Jungkook asks as Hobi shuffles out of his way to open the fridge, he ‘ohs’ excitedly when he sees the rows of banana milk inside and grabs one with eager hands.

“Jin would never disgrace his cooking by poisoning it,” Hobi says with a chuckle, watching Jungkook sip on the yellow carton with vigor. “Back when Jin used to be with us, we had a dinner rotation. I always looked forward to his nights, he never put too much garlic in his cooking like Tae did.”

“That’s cause the bastard knew I was allergic to it,” Jin huffed, flipping a Pajeon in the pan in front of him. “I always had to order take out on the nights he cooked.”

Hobi chuckled at the memory as he moved to help Jin finish at the stove and carry plates to the dining room. They were just finishing the last of the Pajeon off the large center plate when Yoongi and Taehyung walk into the room.

“What’s on the agenda today?” Yoongi asked, taking his seat at Namjoon’s right and Jimin shuffled over to let Taehyung sit next to his husband.

“I have a meeting in,” Namjoon looked at his watch, “fifteen minutes with the Red Velvet Ring about their rivalry with the small company in Yongin. I need them to resolve their issues faster because their last trade of cotton was neary compromised before it reached us.”

Yoongi hummed, “You better wait until after the meeting to tell Irene that you’re a taken man now. She’ll cut it off before it even starts.”

Namjoon rolled his eyes and takes a sip of his coffee, “That woman could never take no for an answer.”

Jungkook listened to the conversation between his bites of the crunchy green onion pancake. He now had the sudden, unexplainable urge to go out and buy him and Namjoon couple rings.

“Ah Jungkook-ah,” Yoongi drawled, pulling Jungkook from his thoughts as he pulled a key out his pocket and slid it across the table. “Before I forget, here’s the key to your apartment. It’s been cleaned and all the personal items from your old apartment have been moved in. If there’s any furniture you need, just let me or Tae know, we’ll get it for you.”

“Hyung, you’ve already done so much for me.” Jungkook whined softly, taking the little silver key from the table and placed it in his pocket.

Yoongi shrugged as he fluffed his own blonde hair, “Never deny your hyung’s the opportunity to spoil you, Kook. We’ll just do it behind your back anyway but I’m sure you don’t want Tae’s design skills in your apartment.”

Taehyung pouted, “You don’t like my design choices, Yoons? I thought you loved that modern art piece I brought home last night.”

Yoongi sighed, “That’s not what I said, I did like that balloon, bobble, whatchamacallit thing that you brought home. It looked good on the coffee table, matched the white marble.”

“Like and love are not the same thing Yoongi. Last night you said you loved it, now this morning you say you like it. Which is it?” Taehyung demands, crossing his arms over his chest as he looks at his husband.

Yoongi purses his lips, “You were wearing that shirt I liked, of course I said I loved it.”

Taehyung continued to badger Yoongi on the art piece, unaware of the five other men slowly getting up and leaving the room. Namjoon placed a swift kiss on Jungkook’s cheek before heading for his office. Jungkook hummed happily to himself as he followed behind Jimin as they left the apartment for class.

“Are you still attending Hybe University hyung? I thought you found the guy you were looking for, wasn’t it my BioChem professor?” Jungkook asked as the elevator steadily descended.

“Oh him? No, he wasn’t the guy we’re looking for. He was too obvious and not connected to any companies. Just the run of the mill, ordinary serial killer.” Jimin answered, chuckling at Jungkook’s side-eye. “So, I’m still on mission at Hybe, you won’t be rid of me that quickly JK!”

“How do I know you’re not also coming to babysit me?” Jungkook asked, following Jimin inside the SUV before it merged into traffic towards the university.

Jimin looked over at him, “The only babysitting duty I’m on is with Seokjin, I have no orders from Namjoon to watch you like that.”

“Would you tell me if you did?” Jungkook asked, fiddling with the purple heart pin on his backpack strap. A gift his brother gave him that now held new meaning after what Hobi had told him.

“Of course,” Jimin scoffed, rolling his eyes. “I’d also tell Namjoonie-hyung to shove it, you don’t need babysitting like that. It would be a waste of time, he clearly hasn’t seen what you lift at the gym.”

Jungkook giggled as they pulled up to the campus entrance, Jimin pulled them to a stop just before they walked through the metal gates. Jungkook looked over at him curiously as Jimin leveled him a very serious look.

“I want you to know Jungkook, that you are my best friend first.” Jimin said, clutching Jungkook’s shoulders. “Even if there comes a time where I do need to be at your side to protect you, I’m not going to see you as incapable of defending yourself. We’ll fight side by side if it comes to that.”

Jungkook pulled Jimin into a tight hug, “Thank you hyung, that means a lot.”

Jimin chuckled as he wrapped his arms around Jungkook’s waist, patting his back. “Come on, we’ll be late for class.”

Jungkook received a message from Hobi to stop by Yoongi’s dance studio at D-Town when he wrapped up his classes for the day. He gave no other explanation, even with Jungook’s string of questions as to why his hyung wanted to see him there. So, Jungkook stepped into the dance studio after Jimin had dropped him off feeling very confused. Hobi was waiting for him and smiled as he looked around at the practice dummies that were now scattered around the wooden floor.

“Joonie told me that he’d like me to start training you,” Hobi greeted as Jungkook came over to him after setting his backpack down on the floor. He smiled softly at Jungkook’s hesitant nod, “Now that you know the truth about us, I can be completely honest with you. I’ve already been training you since you started taking my dance class at Hybe.”

“Eh, hyung I don’t think knowing how to pop and lock on the dancefloor counts as gang training.” Jungkook says cautiously, feeling relieved when Hobi chuckles at him.

“First, let me correct you on some terminology.” Hobi starts, pulling a dummy closer to them as he speaks. “Gangs are for the school grounds, we don’t use that term in the underground. The mafia is strictly reserved for the Russians and the Itialians, they’ve coined that word completely which basically means they own it. We’re a company or a crew, when you don’t know a company’s name always go with those terms.”

Jungkook nods in understanding as Hobi makes him start stretching before they get started. “Company or crew, got it.”

“Good and second, you may not have realized that many of the dance moves I teach will serve you well in a hand to hand fight. You’ve already demonstrated it when you fought Jin in the living room when we brought him back from Morocco.” Hobi continued, guiding Jungkook through a long stretch. “Dancing makes you incredibly aware of your body and its movements. Everytime Jin moved to strike you, you anticipated where he was going to hit and tensed that part of your body to lessen the blow.”

“I didn’t even realize I had done that,” Jungkook grunts as he bends over backwards and touches his hands to his toes, completely curving his back.

“I know, that’s why I’m going to make you aware of it now. That way you’ll be able to fully control your body by muscle memory, not luck.” Hobi explained, pulling him to his feet as he finished his pretzel stretch. “Your weight training and boxing classes are a given in what they teach you in defending yourself. I also think you and Jin mentioned that he would train you during your school years?”

Jungkook nodded as he stood, “Jin-hyung taught me some moves, but I’ve never used them on anyone besides him.”

“Apart from when the Stray Kids Gang picked you up, you probably haven’t come across anyone that you’ve had to.” Hobi assures him, guiding him to stand in front of the dummy. “I’m going to show you some techniques that I saw that night that you need improvement on, then you’re going to fight me.”

Jungkook gulped nervously and follows his hyung’s instructions carefully. He found himself very surprised how easily the movements came to him. Hobi guided him gently through the movements, much like he did when he was teaching a new choreography. Jungkook felt at ease with the familiarity.

“Good, you’re getting it!” Hobi praised as Jungkook aimed a well punch in the center of the dummy, making it topple to the ground. “I think you’re ready to try with me. Take the gloves off, we’ll just stick to the bandages for this.”

Jungkook pulled the black boxing gloves off his hands and tightened the boxing bandages around his knuckles and wrists. Off to the side, Hobi started wrapping his own knuckles and wrists in a red bandage with practiced hands.

“You don’t need to be worried about holding back with me Kookie,” Hobi assured him as they squared up in front of each other. “I only have two rules for this fight; don’t break my stereo and don’t break any bones.”

Jungkook nodded before dodging the first swipe Hobi threw at him, undercutting a punch to the man’s side in response. They danced around the room, exchanging punches and kicks at each other. Hobi talked the entire time as they fought; praising any well placed hits Jungkook made, correcting any blows that made contact too hard against Jungkook’s body, and constantly adjusting his fighting technique, forcing Jungkook to adjust right back.

Unlike his fight with Jin, Hobi left no openings for Jungkook to toss him around the room and place him in a choke hold. But Jungkook did notice that the man seemed to favor one leg of the other, keying into the weakness he struck. With one hard kick to the right knee, sending Hobi to the ground, he moved swiftly to wrap his arms around the man’s neck.

As soon as he squeezed tight around Hobi’s neck the man tapped out. Jungkook released him immediately and caught him before he fell to the ground.

“Good eye, Jungkook-ah,” Hobi panted, taking a gulp of the water that Jungkook handed him. “It’s going to take you time to notice weaknesses like that faster, but you did well in executing the take down.”

Jungkook panted as he sat down next to his hyung and took a big swig of his own water, his bangs hitting his forehead in a sweaty mess. “How much were you holding back, hyung?”

Hobi chuckled as he leaned back against his hands, “You held up pretty well, Kook. Most of my first time trainees couldn’t have lasted five minutes in a ring with me, much less get a hold of me. Yes, I was holding back but if you had come to me as a trainee I’d already be moving you to my level five class.”

“Oh,” Jungkook breathed, pulling his shirt away from his body to blow air against his chest. “Is that because you’ve been secretly training me already? And Jin-hyung taught me some things?”

“That could be part of it,” Hobi said with a nod, but smiled slyly at him. “But you’re also very physically adept Jungkook-ah, you pick up moves very quickly. I think you’ll have no trouble getting through the training, even if you had neither of those things to get you started.”

Jungkook nodded, grinning proudly as he laid himself out on the cool wooden flooring. Hobi chuckled and patted his knee before standing up, taking his wraps off of his hands as he walked to the end of the room.

“I have to go take over from Jiminie,” he tells Jungkook as he pulls the younger man up from the floor. “Your brother needs constant eyes on him, so we’re taking shifts. Get some rest now, Kookie, I’ll tell you when the next session is. Just send me your class schedule, we can work around that.”

“Thanks Hobi-hyung,” Jungkook says, unwrapping his bandages from his hands. “I’m sorry you’re having to watch my idiot older brother.”

Hobi shrugged and tossed his duffle bag over his shoulder, “It’s not the first time we’ve had to deal with Jin, at least this time he’s not trying to escape us twenty-four seven.”

Jungkook waves goodbye to Hobi in front of the elevators and rides up to Yoongi and Taehyung’s apartment. The sounds of jazz greet him as he enters the floor, as he turns into the living room he sees Taehyung deep in a painting session. Sitting on a tall chair in front of a large easel and canvas, a glass of red wine in one hand and a paintbrush in the other, painting delicate petals of flowers across a dark background.

Jungkook takes a seat on the couch behind the painting station and just watches as his hyung switches between his brushes and paint as he sips on his wine glass.

“How was your training session with Hobi, Jungkook-ah?” Taehyung asks after a moment, not even looking over at the couch as he paints the green stems of the wilting ruby roses.

Jungkook smiles at his hyung’s slouched back, “It was fun, Hobi-hyung taught me a lot. I was even able to put him in a headlock when we spared.”

“Atta boy,” Taehyung praises, setting his brush down and finishing his last bit of wine before turning to Jungkook. He has a delicate pair of gold wire glasses on the bridge of his nose, as he smiles they glint in the lamplight. “Do you want to join Yoons and I for dinner tonight, before going down to your apartment?”

Jungkook nods eagerly, “Why did hyung give me a key? The elevators go straight into the apartments.”

Taehyung chuckles as stands from his chair and wipes his paint stained hands on a cloth, “Did you forget? That’s the private elevator, the renters have a separate entrance that leads to the doors of the apartments. We don’t need anyone just wandering into our home.”

“How did you keep the renters from using the private elevator in their apartments? Or is it not connected to those two?” Jungkook asks, following Taehyung into the kitchen and sits down in a bar stool when he shoos him away from helping with dinner.

“They’re connected,” Taehyung says with a sly smile, pulling his chef knife out of the knife block. “The elevator is just hidden on those two floors, unlike the other ones. And we don’t tell the random renters of the apartments about it.”

“That’s sketchy hyung,” Jungkook chuckles as Taehyung starts slicing some carrots. “How does that pass the home inspections?”

Taehyung just winks at him as he continues to work on their dinner. While watching him work, a thought reappears in Jungkook’s mind from this morning.

“Hey hyung?” Taehyung hums in question as Jungkook pauses and fiddles with his lip ring. “Would it be too soon for me to… get Namjoon and I couple rings?”

Taehyung pauses his knife movements and looks up at Jungkook, “Is this about that Irene woman Yoongi mentioned this morning?”

Jungkook digs his teeth into his lip ring harder and nods, Taehyung softens his face.

“You don’t have to worry about Namjoon being unfaithful, Jungkook-ah.” He says softly. “And not because he knows what will happen to him if he does, but because he’s not that kind of man. He loves with his whole heart, leaves no room for someone else to come in and take up space.”

Jungkook blushes at the mention of that four letter word, “It’s not him I’m worried about, I guess I’m just a bit possessive of him. I don’t want anyone looking at him without knowing that he’s mine now.”

Taehyung chuckles, “I guess you never did grow out of that ‘what’s mine is mine and what’s yours in mine’ phase. But I understand what you mean, Kookie, I was the same way with Yoongles before we got married.”

Jungkook hummed as Taehyung returned to his prepwork, “So, do you think I should get them?”

“Have you looked at some?” Taehyung asks as he starts pulling out some pots to begin cooking with.

Jungkook scratches his nose in embarrassment, “I might have.”

Taehyung chuckles in delight, “Show me.”

Yoongi finds the pair huddled over Jungkook’s phone making noises of agreement or disapproval to each other while dinner simmers on the stovetop.

“What are you two doing now?” He asks, stepping over to the stove to check on the food before it starts burning.

“Get those two Kookie, I think they’re perfect.” Taehyung says to Jungkook before going over to Yoongi’s side, placing a kiss on his forehead, and starts getting the dinner moved onto plates for them to eat. “Just helping Kookie find some rings for him and Joonie, Yoons.”

“Couple rings, hyung.” Jungkook says quickly when Yoongi turns a wide eyed look at him.

Yoongi sighs in relief, “Thank goodness, I’m not ready to walk you down the aisle yet.”

“Wouldn’t I walk him down the aisle?” Taehyung objects, grabbing a bottle of soju to go with their dinner as they sit down at the dining room table.

“We can both walk him,” Yoongi amends, scooping a bowl of white rice for Jungkook and handing it over to him. “Seokjin will probably have to be chained down in his seat and gagged to keep him from objecting.”

Taehyung hummed in agreement, pouring their shot glasses of soju, “Jiminie and Hobi can be the best men, do you think we should have Doctor Wook officiate like with our wedding?”

“That man really does need to retire at this point,” Yoongi comments, throwing back his shot of soju. “Jisoo is only a few months away from completing her doctorate and she has enough experience to take his place easily enough now.”

“Jisoo is a part of the Bulletproof Company?” Jungkook asks, looking up from his plate of food in shock.

“She’s one of our best nurses,” Taehyung says, running a thumb across Yoongi’s cheek over his scar. “She helped take care of Yoons while he was healing.”

Yoongi hummed as he began digging into his plate of food, glancing briefly at the questioning look Jungkook was giving him. “That is a story we’ll tell you another day, I want to see those rings that you want to get. We have a jeweler that does all of our pieces, he knows Joon’s size.”

Jungkook nods and slides his phone down the table to Yoongi, he gets a hum of approval for his choice as Yoongi looks over the simple design on the silver ring pair.

“Good choice, Jungkook-ah, I think Joon will like them.” Yoongi says, sliding his phone back to him and pulling out his own, probably to message his jeweler.

Jungkook hums happily, glancing back down at the photo of the rings. “Thanks hyung, hopefully I don’t freak Namjoon out too much when I give them to him.”

Taehyung chuckles as he pours Yoongi another shot of soju into his glass, a mischievous light coming into his eyes. “Take a video of it, if he does. We have a group chat full of photos and silly gifs of each other, Hobi mainly takes them.”

Yoongi huffs and rolls his eyes when Jungkook turns his gaze excitedly at him, he pulls out his phone and hands it over. Jungkook takes it eagerly, opens the group chat labeled ‘Bangtan Idiots’ and scrolls through the rows of photos and gifs.

We’re Dripping In It

Chapter 20: Good Day

“So, what exactly do you need to get Jungkook?” Jimin asked as they slid into the waiting SUV, buckling himself into the seat as they started driving down the streets of Seoul.

Jungkook watched as they passed D-Town before pulling his phone from his pocket, “I made a list this morning, honestly I think I need just about everything. My old apartment didn’t have very much room for me to have anything but the bare essentials.”

“I still don’t understand why you even bothered to live there,” Jimin huffed, looking over to Jin’s confused face. “Yoongi-hyung and Taehyung-hyung offered to give Jungkook one of their spare apartments for years, but he insisted on finding his own place with what little money he had while working for them. I only went there once, it was a single room apartment with a tiny bathroom. It was dirty, old and didn’t have any central heating.”

“Why the hell did you move there then?” Jin asked incredulously, looking over at Jungkook’s sheepish face.

Jungkook scratches the tip of his nose as he looks away from his two hyungs staring at him, “I didn’t want to bother Yoongi-hyung and Taehyung-hyung, they had already done so much for me.”

Jin narrows his eyes, “I may not have been in your life much, Jungkook-ah, but I can tell when you’re lying. We just agreed not to have any lies between us anymore, that includes you too.”

Jimin glances between the pair of them as Jungkook fidgets in his seat and Jin continues to stare at his younger brother with a hard look.

“I found out that Yoongi-hyung and Tae had adopted Jimin-hyung, I found the paperwork,” Jungkook whispered, glancing briefly at the pair before dropping his gaze back to his hands. “They never asked me if I wanted that too, I thought it was because they didn’t want to. So I moved out and tried to distance myself from them a bit, it didn’t really work and I hated living on my own.”

“Then why didn’t you talk to them, Jungkook-ah?” Jimin says softly, taking Jungkook’s hands into his. “You could have saved a lot of hurt from everyone if you had just talked to them.”

Jungkook sniffed, “I didn’t want to confirm my worst fears by asking. It would hurt too much to hear that from them.”

Jimin scoffed as he rolled his eyes, “Those two would give you the shirts off their backs if you asked them to. You never have to worry about them not wanting you, you’re their precious little Kookie baby.”

“That sounds like jealousy, hyung.” Jungkook teases, squeezing Jimin’s hands at the reassurance, kicking Jimin’s heeled boot with his clunky one. “It’s not my fault I’m the baby.”

Jin chuckles as the pair continue to kick each other’s shins, placing a hand on both their knees as the rough housing starts to increase. “No fighting children, leave that for the sparring ring, not a moving car. Let me see that list, Jungkook-ah.”

Jungkook hands over his phone before starting a thumb war with Jimin. Despite the man’s small fingers, Jimin was very skilled in evading Jungkook’s movements and holding his thumb under his. They don’t stop their little game until the car rolls to a stop in the parking garage of IKEA.

Jin leads them up the escalator and grabs a cart before they head down the endless rows of furniture and house hold items.

Jungkook’s eyes widened at the number of items that Jin and Jimin pulled from the shelves and placed into the cart. “I don’t think I have enough funds to cover all of this, hyung.”

Jimin chuckles and pulls a black card out his pocket, waving it under Jungkook’s nose. “Your boyfriend slipped this to me before we left, you don’t have to worry about paying for anything.”

Jungkook squeaked as he scrambled to follow after his cackling hyungs, pulling his phone out from his pocket to text Namjoon. ‘You don’t have to pay for my apartment needs.’ He types sending a distressed face emoji at the end.

‘I told Jimin not to tell you, I’ll be having a chat with him later.’ Namjoon sends back. ‘Baby, I don’t mind paying for things. I have more money than I know what to do with half the time. You’re little trip won’t even scratch the surface.’

Jungkook nibbles down on his lip as he follows behind his hyungs, trying to find the right words to say to his boyfriend. It wasn’t that he wasn’t grateful, he was, he just didn’t want Namjoon to feel like he was using him.

‘Think of it this way,’ Namjoon sends, as if sensing what was bothering Jungkook. ‘If we ever get married, it’ll be your money anyway. So, spend it how you like.’

Jungkook chuckles as his face heats up in pleasure, ‘I see the couple rings have gone to your head. Won’t even let us move in together but already talking about marrying me.’

‘Technically baby, you brought it up first.’ Namjoon teases. ‘We weren’t even officially boyfriends when you talked about our wedding day.’

Jungkook snorted at the memory and sent Namjoon a rolling eyes emoji, ‘Fine. I’ll go spend all your money, yeobo.’

‘Good boy,’ Namjoon sends back with a wide smile emoji. ‘I expect a big bill when you get back, baby.’

Jungkook rolls his eyes and stuffs his phone back in his pocket, joining his hyung’s sides as they argue over which china set would suit Jungkook’s apartment better.

“I like the blue set,” he says, choosing neither of their choices as he looks at the chinaware. “We need to look at living room sets after finishing in the kitchen.”

Jungkook does his best not to look at the very long bill that’s handed to Jimin as they finish at the checkout counter. A trail of suited men load up three SUVs with all the bags from their carts and a moving truck filled with the furniture pieces is loaded before making the journey to Jungkook’s apartment.

When they arrive, everything is taken up for them by Namjoon’s men. Jin works with some of them to put the pieces of furniture together, while Jimin and Jungkook work on washing all the kitchen ware and setting them into his cupboards. Slowly the apartment starts to come together, Taehyung steps in from the elevator a few hours into their work and smiles as he watches Jungkook argue with Jin on where his couch should sit.

“It should face the window, hyung, why would I want it to face into the kitchen?” Jungkook asks, gesturing to the wide windows that overlook a small balcony.

“Why would you want to look at your breakfast table under the window?” Jin counters, pointing to the little white table and chairs that sat on the raised ledge. “You’d also have your back to the doors, with it facing the kitchen you’ll be able to see all entrances!”

“Except the balcony door,” Jungkook points out, pointing at the glass frame door that led out to the balcony. Jimin waved at them from outside as he set up the two lounge chairs and small table, then began weaving lights through the metal balcony railing.

“Why not have it face that wall?” Taehyung suggests, pointing to the wall that stood just before the elevator hallway. “Aren’t you going to have a TV set up there anyway?”

Taehyung snickered as Jungkook and Jin muttered ‘oh yeah’ together and started moving the couch to face that wall.

“The place looks very nice, Kookie. I’m glad we were finally able to convince you to have it.” Taehyung teased, looking around at all the simple furniture Jungkook had chosen around his open living room and kitchen. “Now I just need to get the floor below you ready for the three meerkats to move into.”

Jungkook scrunched his brow as he followed his hyung down the hall towards his main bedroom, “Who hyung?”

“Jiminie, Hobi, and Jin,” Taehyung answered, waving at Jimin through the hallway windows that overlooked the balcony before turning into the open door for Jungkook’s room. “I think the three of them are about to become a thing in the near future and I want everyone under my roof when that happens.”

Jungkook blinked and shook his head, “I don’t need that image in my head, hyung. Technically they are all my brothers, in one way or another.”

“Jin is your only blood brother and Hobi won’t be your brother-in-law until you marry Namjoon, Jiminie doesn’t fit into either of those categories.” Taehyung points out, checking over Jungkook’s bathroom and running the taps.

“Jimin is my adoptive brother and my best friend,” Jungkook says, sitting down on the dark comforter of his bed as Taehyung passes to look inside the walk-in closet.

“What does that make Yoons and I, then?” Taehyung asks, tutting his tongue at the rows of black clothes on Jungkook’s hangers. Muttering to himself about buying Jungkook some more colorful clothes.

“Aren’t you and hyung technically my adoptive parents at this point? You literally talked about walking me down the aisle the other night.” Jungkook pouts, crossing his arms over his chest. Trying to be playful, but he felt that this would be the right time to have this conversation with his hyung.

Taehyung’s hand froze as he flicked through Jungkook’s black t-shirts and looked over at Jungkook with wide, shiny eyes. “You… you actually see Yoongi and I as your parents?”

Jungkook blinks at him and scratches the end of his nose in embarrassment, “I thought I made it clear how I felt about you guys, but after I saw Jimin’s adoption papers and you never asked me if I wanted that, I figured you didn’t feel the same.”

“Is that why you left, Jungkook-ah,” Taehyung whispers, moving out of the closet to kneel in front of Jungkook. “Did you move out because you thought Yoongi and I didn’t want you?”

Jungkook nods, a choked hum in his throat as tears begin to fall down his face. “Why didn’t you ask hyung?”

“Because I was scared,” Taehyung whispered, taking Jungkook’s hands into his and squeezed them tightly. “I was scared that if I asked, if I stepped over that line, that we’d scare you away. That would have been a big commitment for you and you still talked so fondly of your brother. I didn’t want to sever you from him even more than you already were. Even if you didn’t take our name, by letting us adopt you we could have driven Jin far away. It would’ve broken you, cause you still held out hope that he’d come back.”

“And he did,” Jungkook whispered, still choking on gentle sobs. “But hyung I wanted you, I wanted you and Yoongi-hyung to want me.”

“We do, we do want you.” Taehyung said fiercely, tears running down his own face as he pulled Jungkook down into his arms. “You’re my Kookie baby, I don’t care if there’s official paperwork or not, you’re mine. No one can take your place in my heart, you’ve carved your place into it like Yoongi and Jimin.”

Jungkook hiccuped as he clutched tight around Taehyung’s chest, burying his head into his neck as he was pulling into the man’s lap and was gently rocked as he held him. Taehyung hummed a familiar lullaby that always calmed him down during emotional talks, running his fingers gently through Jungkook’s hair as the tears down his face stopped.

“And to think,” Taehyung chuckled, running a hand over Jungkook’s brow. “I told Yoons that I didn’t want to have any kids, now we have two.”

“You didn’t want to adopt any kids with Yoongi-hyung, why hyung?” Jungkook asked, tilting his head up as Taehyung sighed and continued playing with his hair.

“I was very young when I was sold to the Hwarang Boys, younger than even Namjoon when he started his training under his father. I never wanted to bring up a child into this life. I know Yoongi and I would treat them better than most but I couldn’t, in good conscience, do it willingly.” Taehyung explained sadly, looking out into the room with a far off look in his eye. “Yoongi understood that, but until he walked through the door with you in tow, I didn’t realize how much he had given up by marrying me. Our relationship with Jimin is a little different than with you, we don’t treat him any less but he has a very different background. After watching Yoongi with you, I’ve realized what a wonderful father he could have been.”

“Yoongi-hyung would never regret marrying you hyung.” Jungkook says passionately, making Taehyung’s teary eyes turn to him. “He loves you, I could see that since the first day I came into his office. Your wedding picture was sitting proudly on his desk and it still is.”

Taehyung chuckles and wipes his face, “We should take you there someday, the place where Yoons and I got married. It’s where he took me on our first date, although he’ll adamantly deny that it was our first. Unfortunately for him, I disagree.”

Jungkook chuckles as he moves from Taehyung’s lap and pulls him up from the floor, “That sounds like fun hyung!”

“Maybe you can take Joonie with us, we can make it a double date.” Taehyung bursts out laughing at the look of disgust on Jungkook’s face.

“I’m not going on a double date with my parents, hyung! That’s gross!” Jungkook protests, grumbling when Taehyung ruffles his hair.

“Do you want to go and talk to Yoons about those papers, Kookie?” Taehyung asks, smiling his wide boxy smile as Jungkook nods eagerly. “Then let's go upstairs.”

Jungkook doesn’t even wait for Taehyung as he dashes out of the room, ignoring Jin and Jimin’s yelps for him as he leaps over the couch and slides into the open elevator. He’s vibrating as they rise up the few levels and plows through the apartment behind Taehyung.

“What has got the pair of you so excited?” Yoongi snarks, catching sight of Taehyung racing across the apartment and yelping when Jungkook throws himself over top of him on the couch.

Jungkook buries himself into Yoongi’s arms, clutching tight around the man’s shoulders as he tucks his head down against his neck. Yoongi runs his hands up and down his back soothingly as Jungkook settles against him.

Taehyung comes flying back into the room and shows Yoongi the papers he had grabbed. Yoongi reads them over Jungkook’s shoulder, his eyes widening at the words ‘Adoption Form’ at the top.

“Oh,” Yoongi whispers, suddenly clutching hard around Jungkook’s shoulders. “We should have had that conversation with you long ago, I knew there was a reason you moved out so suddenly.”

Jungkook nods against Yoongi’s neck, feeling Taehyung rub and hand down his back, “I was just stupid, hyung, should have just talked to you instead of running away.”

“You couldn’t have gotten very far anyway,” Yoongi whispers, placing a kiss on the side of his head.

We’re Dripping In It

Chapter 14: Respect

On the morning that Jin was set to move to the new location, Jungkook insisted on being in the car with him. Namjoon had tried to protest the necessity of it but a firm look from Jungkook shut him up.

“You didn’t have to come with me, you know.” Jungkook murmured, side eyeing his boyfriend as he tapped away at his phone while his brother glared hotly at him from the seat across.

Namjoon shrugged, unbothered by Jin's angry eyes on him. “I needed to be at the apartment today anyway.”

Jin scoffed with an eye roll, “He just couldn’t bear you leaving his sight. Get used to it Jungkook-ah, this one’s got a possessive streak a mile wide.”

“Why did you need to be at the apartment today?” Jungkook asked, ignoring his brother completely.

Namjoon hummed, “I always check after the cleaning crews when we move to a new base. Adjustments sometimes need to happen and I’d rather not find out while I’m living there.”

“Oh, like what? Too many dust bunnies under the couch?” Jungkook snickered, giggling when Namjoon poked his side at his teasing. Jin rolled his eyes at them, muttering under his breath as he glared out the window.

“More like wiretaps and hidden cameras,” Namjoon corrected with an easy smile, still tapping away at his phone like he hadn’t just shocked Jungkook once again.

“See what you’ll have to live with Jungkook,” Jin sneered, glaring coldly at Namjoon before turning his gaze to his brother. “You really want to live with that for the rest of your life?”

Jungkook huffed and finally met his brother’s gaze, “How exactly do you expect me to move on in my life after everything I’ve learned already, Jin-hyung? Unlike what you may think, I wouldn’t just be leaving Namjoon if I decided to walk away. I would be leaving all of my hyungs too and for what? For you to boss me around again? No thank you.”

“How the hell did you even end up being friends with all of them? Without me even knowing?” Jin muttered in confusion, scrunching his brows.

Jungkook rolled his eyes, “That’s what happens when you stay out of your brother’s life for the past four years, he makes friends.”

Jin opened his mouth to retort but Jungkook cut him off.

“After I moved to Seoul for my last year of high school, I got a job at Yoongi-hyung’s club. Him and Taehyung-hyung basically took me in until I was able to afford a place of my own. Then I met Jimin-hyung when I started at Hybe University. And I met Hobi-hyung when I started his dance class.” Jungkook said with a shrug, ignoring Jin's gaping face.

“You’ve been living with them for four years!” Jin gasped, staring at Jungkook with wide eyes.

“Technically I only lived with them for three years,” Jungkook corrected, ignoring Jin’s squawk of ‘that doesn’t make it any better!’ “I wanted to live closer to the campus at the time, so I moved to the only apartment I could afford while also paying for my tuition.”

Jin scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, “Our parents left us a ton of money Jungkook, your tuition should have been covered. I was sending you envelopes of cash every month!”

“No you weren’t,” Jungkook countered, equally as confused as his brother. “I never received any money from you.”

“I mailed them every month!” Jin insisted passionately. “I’ve had one sent on the first of every month, it would have covered your rent, food, and tuition for the semester.”

“Where the hell did you send them then?” Jungkook blurted. “And why did you send envelopes of cash! Why didn’t you put the money in a bank account? Then you could have sent it directly to my account!”

Jin rolled his eyes, “There’s not exactly a central banking system for all companies. Most of the means of getting money shouldn’t have a trail for the government to follow, which is why most transactions are in cash.”

Jungkook blinked at him and nodded his head, “That… that makes sense. So where, pray tell, have you been sending all this money? Because I obviously haven’t been receiving it.”

“The Stray Kids Gang has been taking them,” Namjoon cut in, making the brothers look at him. He looks up from his phone and smiles at their gaping faces. “I noticed an increase in the company’s funds over the years, it was too consistent to be a heist or robbery, but I could never find the source. You sent money to Jungkook as soon as he started college, correct?”

“So the PO box I was sending them to was compromised,” Jin muttered, ignoring Jungkook’s indigent ‘you didn’t even tell me to go to a PO box, what kind of brother are you?’ He glances over at Namjoon with raised brows, “Do I even want to know what they’ve been doing with the money?”

“Probably not,” Namjoon answered with a smile, then raised his phone back to his face, “We’ll cover the lost funds, since it was technically stolen right under your nose.”

“Oh Namjoon, you don’t have to do that!” Jungkook interjected, waving his hands frantically at him.

Namjoon laid a hand on Jungkook’s shoulder, “The money is yours Jungkook-ah, besides most of it will be returned to you anyway. Yoongi-hyung told me this morning that the Stray Kids Gang has been dealt with, along with all their assets. So really the money is just coming back to you from them.”

Jungkook blinked and started counting on his fingers, “But it's only been two days!”

Namjoon smirked and patted his shoulder without saying another word as he returned to his phone. Jungkook stared at him in shock then turned to his brother who rolled his eyes at the pair.

“Yah Namjoon-ah, aren’t you showing off a bit too much there?” Jin scolded with an incredulous look. “Did you burn down their homebase too?

Namjoon glanced briefly at him, “No, we needed that building. And says the man with the company title of WWH, standing for World Wide Handsome.”

“Seriously hyung,” Jungkook snickered, making Jin scowl but it looked more like a pout.

“Still a better alias then Rap Monster,” Jin scoffed with a wheezy laugh.

“I go by RM now,” Namjoon corrected, his eyes not leaving his phone but Jungkook could see the light blush on the tips of his ears. Jungkook tried to hide his giggles but he was unsuccessful, he got louder as Namjoon side eyes him playfully.

Jin eyed the pair of them, “How long has this,” he gestures between the two of them, “been going on? Since you’ve known the rest of the crew so long, I assume you met through them.”

Jungkook shook his head, “I wasn’t lying when I said I picked him up in an alleyway. I bumped into him on my way to class while he was beating up a gang member.”

Jin blinks, twice, “And you decided he’s the one you wanted to date?”

Jungkook raised his hand to place it under Namjoon’s chin, showcasing it to Jin. “Have you seen how hot he is? Of course.”

Jin rolled his eyes, “You’re avoiding my question, Jungkook-ah. How long have you been seeing him?”

Jungkook gave a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of his neck, “Two… no, three weeks I think.”

“What the f…” Jin’s exclamation was cut off by the car pulling to a stop and Namjoon opening the door for them.

Jungkook followed swiftly behind Namjoon as they exited the car and entered the tall apartment building. Trying to escape his brother’s scolding as quickly as possible. Jin huffed as he shuffled behind them, two black suited guards following close behind his broad shoulders as they entered the elevator.

“We are not done with this conversation.” Jin hissed in Jungkook’s ear as they rose up the ticking floors. Jungkook rolled his eyes, pouting as he skirted to Namjoon’s other side to avoid him. Scooting up close to his boyfriend as he peered around him to stick his tongue out at his glaring older brother.

Namjoon peered down at him from the edge of his phone as Jungkook wrapped his arms around his waist and continued to make faces at his brother. He chuckled lowly in his chest as he placed an arm around Jungkook’s shoulders. The elevator dinged and Namjoon ushered Jungkook into the apartment space.

“Wow,” Jungkook gasps as he steps into the large penthouse. He can see right away why this place was Namjoon’s favorite.

The wide windows overlooking the bustling streets of Seoul gave a natural light to the expanse of the penthouse. Everything from the kitchen, the living room, and the balcony of the second floor was tastefully arranged like Namjoon’s room at his huge house. There were wooden accents, books, and, of course, plants everywhere.

“Please take Seokjin to his room,” Namjoon says to one of the guards that came with them. The guard nodded and Jungkook watched as he walked his brother up the stairs, onto the balcony and into a door above the living room.

“How exactly is he safer here than back at the house?” Jungkook asked, following Namjoon into the kitchen and looking over the shiny appliances with interest.

“The Voyage House has always been a last resort for me to use,” Namjoon explained, handing Jungkook a bottle of water from the fridge before taking one out for himself. “It’s so large that I mainly allow my men to use it as a second home in between missions. In the midst of all the chaos, Seokjin could easily slip away right under our noses. Here I can keep a personal eye on him.”

Jungkook moved about the room, sipping on his water, as Namjoon spoke. “What’s your plan with Jin-hyung? Obviously he can’t ever go out on his own, he knows too much, but he can’t stay locked up in your house for the rest of his life either.”

Namjoon hummed in agreement and sat down on the long leather couch. Watching as Jungkook drifted between his book shelves that lined the walls and the windows that overlooked the outside balcony.

“I would ultimately hope to have Seokjin back on our side, but that’s going to take time. For now, just having him here will be enough.” Namjoon said, chuckling as Jungkook ‘ohs’ and ‘ahs’ at the various art pieces on his walls. “Baby, come sit down. You can explore the house later, I need to talk to you about something.”

Jungkook groaned and made his way over to the couch, “I feel like half of our relationship has been nothing but these ‘we need to talk’ conversations.”

Namjoon gave him a look as he sat down on the cushion next to him, “These talks are important, you know. If you want to avoid miscommunication then we’re going to have to communicate.”

“Oh really, who would’ve thought?” Jungkook sassed rolling his eyes, yelping when Namjoon flicks his forehead.

“Sassy,” Namjoon tsks, but smirks despite himself as Jungkook rubs his offended forehead. “I want to talk about our boundaries and deal breakers in our relationship going forward.”

“Ah,” Jungkook hums, nodding his head. “Yeah that sounds like an important one to have.”

Namjoon chuckled and looked at him expectantly, clearly thinking Jungkook should start them off. He leaned back against the couch and thought about it for a moment.

“I don’t think I could handle you lying to me. Even if you think the truth could hurt me, I don’t want you to lie about anything.” Jungkook states quietly, fiddling with his fingers.

Namjoon sighs, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees as he stares off into the room, “I expected that, but unfortunately I can’t always promise to be honest with you.” He turns his head to look at Jungkook. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it for you Jungkook, my life has been nothing but giving people lies. The world I occupy is built on lies, it keeps us safe, it keeps us hidden. What I can promise you is that I’ll be as honest where it concerns you.”

“I don’t expect you to tell me everything about your work Namjoon,” Jungkook cuts in, taking one of Namjoon’s hands in his. “That’s not what I mean when I say I want you to be honest with me. I want you to be honest about our relationship. I want you to be honest about things that happen to my brother.”

“I want to be honest about everything with you,” Namjoon whispers, threading their fingers together. “But I know I can’t, not until you’ve gone through the proper training. Not until my men can see you as an equal and not as a security risk.”

Jungkook nodded, “I understand that, but can we at least have some sort of way of letting me know when you can’t tell me something, instead of lying about it.”

“Like a code word?” Namjoon asks, looking amused when Jungkook nods seriously.

“I’ll drop the subject immediately, no questions asked.” Jungkook states, then points his finger in Namjoon’s face, leveling a very stern look at him. “Which means you can’t just use it willy-nilly. It's reserved for the moments when you honestly can’t tell me anything about what is going on.”

Namjoon nods in agreement, “I understand, hmm… how does the word ‘Moonlight’ sound to you?”

Jungkook scrunched his brows, “Where did you pull that word from?”

Namjoon chuckles and pulls out a small notebook from his pocket. Jungkook recognizes it immediately, it’s the little black book of lyrics he had found in his leather jacket. Namjoon opens it to a page and hands it over to Jungkook to read. “This is a song I wrote a few years ago. I remember a line from your song ‘Stay Alive’ that you worked on with Yoongi-hyung. That word, ‘Moonlight’, is in both of them.”

Jungkook looks over the scratchy handwriting, “We were born in the Moonlight.” He murmurs aloud, running his finger over the line across the soft paper.

“Hide in the Moonlight, that’s the line from your song.” Namjoon murmurs back, taking the notebook as Jungkook hands it back to him and places it back into his jacket. “It’s a word that has significance to both of us, in different ways. And it’s something you don’t just say in regular conversation.”

“I like it,” Jungkook says softly, smiling as Namjoon looks over at him. “We’ll use that as our code word for when you need me not to ask any questions.”

“I hope I don’t have to use it. Does it bother you that your hyungs lied to you? Yoongi-hyung and Taehyung I mean, since you’ve known them the longest.” Namjoon asked, looking shocked when Jungkook shakes his head.

“My hyungs lying to me is different from my brother.” Jungkook starts to explain, fiddling with his fingers. “They’ve always been cryptic about things since I met them but they always reassured me it was for my good. And, I don’t know, I just trusted them. They took me off the street when no one else would, I didn’t see it as any of my business to pry into what they didn’t want me to know.”

Namjoon hesitates looking over at Jungkook’s fidgeting form, “Would it be too much of me to ask about your time before coming to D-Town?”

Jungkook sighs, biting down on his lip ring. “It’s never an easy conversation to have, Namjoon. But you can ask.”

Namjoon takes both of Jungkook’s hands in his, “Before I do, I want you to know that there’s nothing you can tell me that will make me think differently about you. All of us know what it’s like to experience something horrible in our lives and have had to do horrible things to survive it. There’s nothing you can say that’ll scare me away.”

Jungkook looks at him for a moment, taking in his sincere face and the tight grip on his hands before nodding. “I believe you, Namjoon. It probably isn’t as bad as I think it is, compared to what you guys have gone through.”

Namjoon shrugged, “That’ll depend on everyone’s perspective, for you this was your darkest time. It’s as bad as you feel it is.”

Jungkook nods, taking a deep breath before he starts pouring his heart out to Namjoon. “Jin-hyung had disappeared again, he said he would only be gone for a few days but it was longer than that. And he didn’t answer any of my calls or text messages, my mother became erratic the longer he was gone. I started staying away from the house more, only checking in to see if hyung had come back. After two weeks with nothing, my mom had enough. She said if I wasn’t coming home anyway, I shouldn’t come back at all. She didn’t even let me pack or leave a letter for Jin-hyung. The only things I had were my school books and some extra clothes in my backpack, she took my phone too.”

Jungkook clenched his fist to keep himself from touching the scar over his right cheek bone, he was not quite ready to tell Namjoon exactly how he got it.

“I had enough money to get to Seoul, I knew I needed to stay in school and I hoped I would find some sort of job or place to stay while I was here. Nobody would like twice at me, I was too young to hire anywhere and nobody cared that I didn’t have a place to stay. I slept in any alleyway that seemed safe, I was honestly starting to give up before I heard about D-Town’s opening. Yoongi-hyung was the only person that didn’t immediately send me away and he took me to meet Taehyung-hyung right after having me sign a contract. They let me live with them, fed me, clothed me, gave me a phone, and drove me to school everyday. I was supposed to start working for them after I turned eighteen but they wanted me to finish school first.”

Jungkook rubbed his arm as he thought over his memories, “I started having outbursts and fights at school when I got in contact with Jin-hyung again. He wouldn’t even let me explain, just jumped to the conclusion that I had run away and left mom alone. I took it out on Yoongi-hyung and Taehyung-hyung, even though they had been nothing but nice to me. I think they understood that I wasn’t angry with them, I just didn’t know how to express the hurt I was feeling. But it was when I threw a chair at Yoongi-hyung that they sat me down and made me talk it all out. Hyung told me that they didn’t know that the brother I was talking about was the Jeon Seokjin they knew. Otherwise they would have been honest with me from that point on.”

“After I was able to get all that hurt out into words, they helped put the pieces of me back together. I don’t think they’ve realized how much they’ve acted more like my parents than my biological ones ever did. They joke sometimes about getting adoption papers for me, even if I am twenty-three, but sometimes I wish they were serious. Especially after I learned that they had papers for Jimin-hyung, I moved out of their apartment after that. It hurt to think they didn’t actually want me like that.”

“I don’t think that was ever their intention,” Namjoon says softly, wiping the tears from Jungkook’s face. “They probably didn’t think it was their right to offer you something like that. Jimin asked for it, that’s all I know about their situation. You should talk to them about it, I’m sure they never meant to hurt you.”

Jungkook nods, swallowing down the lump in his throat. “I started to realize that after I saw that Tae hadn’t made my room into an art studio. It was as if they didn’t want to fill the space I had left behind.”

“That’s probably exactly it, baby.” Namjoon says softly, placing a kiss against his forehead. “You occupy such a large space in their hearts. They probably wouldn’t even think twice about giving you their name, if you wanted it.”

Jungkook hums, “Do you understand a little better why I don’t want you to lie to me?”

“Yes baby, I do,” Namjoon says softly, pulling back to look at him properly. “I want you to know that I don’t want to hide anything from you. It’s just necessary for now.”

“I understand Namjoon, I won’t hold it against you.” Jungkook assured him softly, then leveled a stern look at him. “I make no promises though, for after I’ve passed all my training. After that, there should be nothing that you can hide from me.”

Namjoon chuckled, smirking at him as the air around them lightened, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“I still can’t believe you’re making me finish college before I start training,” Jungkook huffed, crossing his arms over his chest again. “I can do both!”

“Can you?” Namjoon challenged leaning back against the couch. “Can you balance your grades, go through vigorous training that will leave your body quaking, and your performances at D-Town?”

Jungkook pursed his lips before sighing in defeat, “Fine, you might have a point there.”

Namjoon nodded, trying not to look smug about it. “I only want you to finish this semester, you can decide after if you want to start your training or finish your degree. Either way, it’ll be your choice to become a part of my crew or not.”

Jungkook didn’t want to fight with Namjoon after the hard conversation they had already had, so he simply nodded in response. After a moment, Namjoon speaks again.

“I’ve noticed, since the night that I rescued you from the Stray Kids Gang, you’ve been much more… physically affectionate with me.” He murmured, his posture completely relaxed against the couch cushions.

“Does it bother you?” Jungkook asked, trying to sound nonchalant but internally reeling from the possibility of needing to hold back his more affectionate side from his boyfriend.

Namjoon shook his head with a light chuckle, “No it doesn’t, that's not why I’m bringing it up, baby. I’m just… curious about what’s changed since then. You used to be so hesitant before.”

“Ah,” Jungkook hummed, internally sighing in relief as he tucked himself against Namjoon’s side. “Are you gonna start claiming I have Stockholm Syndrome if I say that you rescuing me that night was really hot?”

Namjoon snorted as he laid his arm over Jungkook’s shoulders, “No I won’t, that’s not how Stockholm Syndrome works. I only have to worry about your brother possibly having that.”

Jungkook snickered at the thought, but highly doubted that would happen to Jin-hyung. “To be honest, after I learned the truth about you all the hesitation I had before just vanished. I was really confused after I met you in that alleyway and then started meeting you more afterwards. I couldn’t quite understand the kind of man you were, everything you did just confused me.”

“Looking at it from your perspective, I suppose I would be very confusing to you,” Namjoon mused, fiddling with one of Jungkook’s hands. “What made you want to learn more? If you knew I was holding back, why did you continue to see me?”

Jungkook chuckled as he enjoyed the feeling of Namjoon’s calloused fingers against his palm, “You obviously don’t have much experience in the dating world, babe, but that’s kinda how you start a relationship. Discovering new things about each other, taking time revealing your true self to the other person, and, yes, even holding some things back until you feel like you can trust them.”

Namjoon hummed, “I bet you don’t usually meet potential partners in back alleys beating some dude to a pulp though, so what was it about me that made you want to take that chance? I could’ve been a serial killer for all you knew.”

“I can’t pinpoint to exactly one thing,” Jungkook murmured, linking their fingers together, running his thumb across Namjoon’s knuckles. “It was just a collection of little things that told me there was more to you then met the eye. Your notebook of songs in your jacket. Giving me your jacket because you were worried I'd be cold. Coming to nearly every performance at D-Town. Meeting me in the VIP section, even if we were only able to talk for five minutes. Just all those little things, I could probably name even more.”

“I think I understand,” Namjoon said softly, placing a kiss against Jungkook’s forehead.

“Do you?” Jungkook asked, tilting his head to look at him. Namjoon nods wordlessly, smiling softly at him. Jungkook smiles back as he leans forward and places a gentle peck on the man’s soft lips.

“Good,” he murmurs, inches away from Namjoon’s mouth. The man leans forward and captures Jungkook’s lips into another sweet kiss. There’s nothing heated about this one, unlike their first, just gentle caresses and sighs as they glide against each other.