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You had known Jungkook what felt like your whole life. In reality you met each other at the age of six. Saying you were in love with him from that very first day was probably too much, but that’s how it felt. Of course, age six neither you nor him knew what love really was.
He had always been your best friend and you had always been his. At an early age you had already been almost inseparable and your parents always joked that they maybe should start planning the wedding already.
While you would have had no problems with that, Jungkook saw things differently. You never talked about this to be honest, but then again were you too afraid how this could end badly, mainly with you losing your best friend.
For years you had seen girls come and go, some kept his interest for a few weeks, some lasted longer. He wasn’t a player as such, he just seemed undecided or uncertain of what it was that he was looking for. The girls that came and went all had nothing really in common, other than being female and their looks and interests varied vastly.
A few times – usually when you had been out with friends or him – and had gotten tipsy or slightly drunk you had been close to telling him, not caring much for the consequences. But waking up the next morning with a pounding headache you were greatly grateful that you somehow had not followed through.
Jungkook had come to you one day, somewhat excited and told you about this auction that he and the rest of the HOT SHOT guys participated. He had his adorable bunny grin on display while telling you how Taehyung had come up with that idea to participate in the year’s charity bachelor auction and you needed to roll your eyes. Off course this had been Taehyung’s idea – who else would have come up with that sort of idea?
Jungkook was a barista at a coffee shop called HOT SHOT that was a favorite with the locals in your city. The reason they were a favorite had little to do with their coffee creations and more with the fact that everyone who worked there was insanely hot. Of course the coffee and the bites you could buy there were great as well, but the queues were mainly attributed to the good looking staff.
You weren’t really surprised that Taehyung had decided on participating in the annual bachelor auction your city held. It was actually quite a genius idea when you thought about it. But you were certain that Taehyung had his work cut out for him convincing colleagues like Yoongi – who was notorious for being a bit moody and slightly anti-social. He was a sweet guy, once you knew him – or he knew you – but he wasn’t the easiest to be around in the beginning.
Jungkook might have been excited when he told you, but you also knew that not all was always as it seemed. Especially with Kookie. Despite the fact that he was really good looking he had moments of self-doubt – not that you understood why, but well… that wasn’t the issue at hand. He was rather competitive so maybe he was worried that out of the seven he would become last in regards of money? Or that he wasn’t generating the interest that he was accustomed to at the shop? You weren’t entirely sure where these doubts came from, but as his best friend it was your job to make sure he knew they were ridiculous – in a lot nicer words obviously.
“Kookie, you are good at everything. Literally EVERYTHING you start doing. You always succeed and also exceed expectations. What makes you think this time will be any different?” you asked and after a moment that was spent thinking on his part, he gave you his bunny grin and a hug.
After he had left, you thought about the auction some more. It sort of amused you – the idea of all these guys up there, like in ancient Rome or something, when this was normal practice what could be considered human trafficking if you thought about it. Of course it wasn’t. This was an event with voluntary attendance in regards of the guys. But it was somehow amusing nevertheless. And gave you an idea. Maybe that was your chance. After a conversation with Jin’s girlfriend a few months back this seemed like your opportunity. And maybe that bottle of wine you had while pondering over the website for tickets did help as well. Liquid encouragement and all that.
The ticket was purchased easily enough online and the idea seemed like a really good one for several days. But the closer the day of the auction came, the more doubts you had. Was this really a good idea? Technically you’d buy your best friend – or his time. This could be seen so many wrong ways. Like you being jealous. Or you wanting to spent more time with him. Or you thinking you need to protect him from someone or something.
You let out a sigh. Kookie had a tendency to be oblivious sometimes, especially when it came to you. Sure, you never had bluntly come out and told him you wanted to try dating or that you had feelings for him, but you had tried tentative steps like very subtle flirting. That had resulted in him flirting back, but just in a humorous way. You were almost certain that Namjoon knows since than that you have feelings for your best friend, but then again, Namjoon was always very perceptive. Not that it mattered one way or another.
“Look, it isn’t any of my business,” Jin’s girlfriend Sarah had said to you once. “But with every new girl that walks into his life, you look like a small part of you dies. And I get it, trust me. It is a huge risk you would take by telling him, but you have to ask yourself… do you want to be miserable for the rest of your life with every girl that walks into his life and who he eventually might marry? Or do you want to take the risk and maybe be the one he marries eventually?”
You weren’t entirely sure what to say or reply to that. Not that you needed really.
“The things is,” she went on after a few moments. “You won’t fall out of love with him anytime soon – if not ever. Since you are constantly spending every free moment together how can you? So either you put yourself through this for the next 20 years or so and be miserable. Or you take the plunge and risk something. Worst case, he will avoid you for a while and you can get on with your life and find someone who will love you…”
That conversation had been a few months back and was still as true now as it had been back then. And Sarah was right, you never argued that. But risking something when a possible outcome was that you’d lose your friendship with Jungkook was scary. But so was being miserable and pretending to be excited for him with every new potential girlfriend entering his life. You couldn’t pretend to be happy for him for the rest of your life now, could you?
So you would go through with this – even more so when you had Chinese for lunch and the fortune cookie that came with it read “The greatest risk is not taking one.” When even a fortune cookie told you to take the plunge and risk something then maybe that was what you needed to do. If all went down to hell afterwards you knew you could count on Sarah to build you back up and have a few more wise words for you.
You weren’t sure what to wear to such an event, so you went with semi casual and decided on a black jeans skirt and a dress shirt that looked like the one you had ‘borrowed’ from Jungkook a few months back and never bothered returning. He never asked about it so you figured you were good.
The venue was packed and for a moment you weren’t sure of you’d be able to get a seat. The few times you thought you had managed to get one someone informed you that the apparently empty seat was already taken. At the end you were almost in the first row – not your preferred location seeing that you couldn’t really hide there is all came down and you shouldn’t be able to place the winning bid – but what could you do.
And then you thought you saw someone you knew, but weren’t entirely sure.
“I… wasn’t expecting you two to be here…” you announced surprised, still not sure you were seeing correctly. Did you really see Kara and Sarah? Jimin’s best friend and Jin’s girlfriend?
Both women turned towards you and sure they were. Wow, what a small world. Or not so small, seeing you all knew each other because of your relationships to Jimin, Jin and Jungkook. And seeing that all three were here tonight, as part of the entertainment, it could technically have been expected.
“Not you as well,” Kara said with certain sorrow in her voice which confused you. What did she mean? “Jungkook asked you to save him, didn’t he?” she asked and you let out a breath of relief that she thought you were only here as a friend. Sarah on the other hand looked like she knew right away why you were here. But then again she knew about you feelings for Kookie. She had found out by pure coincidence and was very sweet and supportive about it. But as far as you knew, she was the only one knowing – so far. That probably changed tonight.
You were quickly filled in what Kara and Sarah were doing here. Apparently Kara had been called in by Jimin to make sure he wouldn’t end up with ex-girlfriend. A nod from Kara and you saw the ex-girlfriend that had broken poor Jimin’s heart a few rows back. Sarah was here without Jin’s knowledge, having only found out about this thing by coincidence and now making sure that no other woman other than her would take her guy home. You needed to laugh about her statement of not being jealous, especially when she announced that like three times in a row.
The thing was Sarah wasn’t the jealous type and she and Jin had a relationship that was built on a lot of trust on both sides. And you admired her, if you and Jungkook were actually already dating and he’d tell you about participating in this auction, you were sure you’d react anything but chill. Sarah seemed really chill about this and apparently she came prepared. She had quite a lot of money on her and was dead set on winning this thing.
Out of all the guys from HOT SHOT Jin was up first and Sarah had found her challenge of the night when she was busy outbidding everyone. Things got a bit heated when all of you found out the last one standing was a local food critique who was known for a rather personal approach to cooking and getting to know the chef. Sarah – as expected – made the winning bid and seemed satisfied with her work tonight.
A few auctions later and Jungkook was next and as expected his good looks got him quite a lot of attention. You had thought Jin was already creating a buzz, but leave it to your best friend to unwillingly outdo Jin. The mumbling, giggling and low hushing was a good indication that this was probably going to a hard fight to win.
You took a deep breath, asking yourself for the hundredths time if you really wanted to do this. In the end, this could change everything. If things went well, you could finally be able to have that date with your best friend. If things went wrong, you wouldn’t just loose hope for anything ever happening between the two of you, but you’d also lose your best friend. Another breath and your heart won over your brain. Time to take a big leap of faith and act all grown-up for once!
You held up your bidding card and hoped for the best. The auctioneer registered you bid and in you were.
“[Y/N], what are you doing?” you heard from your left. The question was followed by a shushing sound from Sarah.
“Let her,” she said to Kara and one look to your left and you saw Kara’s confused expression and Sarah’s encouraging one. It only took a moment for Kara to apparently understand what was going on – and you were slightly impressed. You had expected that you at least needed to explain things briefly. But apparently that wasn’t needed. And maybe Kara had had suspicions.
“You go girl,” was all Kara said, before reaching over Sarah and grabbing your hand for a quick squeeze.
Every guy who worked at HOT SHOT was good looking, but you always figured Jungkook to be the hottest. You weren’t biased when saying that out of all the guys at HOT SHOT Jungkook was the best looking. He was. He had a certain charm that translated into his looks. He was boyish and manly at the same time, sweet and dangerous. He could charm you into almost everything he wanted and needed, but was also pure innocence in the same moment. He was an enigma at best and you were lucky you could call yourself his best friend.
You placed another bid and this time you realized that you finally had caught Jungkook’s attention. You had hoped to avoid that circumstance for a while longer. That way you’d be spared the uncertain questions in your head and his rather confused expression that you just looked at. Of course he’d be confused. You would be as well, if that was you up there and him down here.
Another bid was called and then another one and one more before you placed another one. With every bid coming from you Jungkook grew more confused. He knew about your job and that you didn’t make a lot of money. He knew that money was always a bit tight for you, so you sitting here, and spending amounts of money which would take you forever to save up must have been really confusing. Especially since he wasn’t able to say why you did this.
Bidding was going at an insane rate and you were worried you couldn’t keep up. And maybe this had been a stupid idea. What had you been thinking? You came here, placed a small bid and could call him yours? As if. How naïve could one be? Of course girls with a lot more money would be here and try getting their hands on him. You had been at HOT SHOT often enough, picking him up, or just visiting him, to have seen the throngs of girls that pushed cards and pieces of paper across the counter at every single guy, with their phone numbers and pretty clear messages written on them. You knew that when the ad about this years’ auction and a few names of business or semi-well known people had been placed, all the girls that hadn’t struck out yet with the whole ‘number over the counter’-message saw their chance now.
You looked sadly at your purse and the money that lay within it. You had managed to save up quite a bit with the meager earnings you had with that job you had while attending university. But apparently it wasn’t enough. The current bid was already close to what you had brought and none of the girls seemed to stop anytime soon if their eagerness was anything to go by.
So, now you had to give up winning this and Jungkook also knew now. Of course you being here could have been a coincidence and he could have pretended to ignore what all of this meant, but judging by the looks he threw you every once in a while, he knew. He knew why you did this. There was no denying it and maybe it was time to face reality and the music.
All of a sudden Sarah next to you tapped your shoulder, making you look up from your purse.
She handed you quite a bit of money and smiled at you. “Go get your man.”
You looked at her confused, not sure what she meant at first. Not because you were naïve or anything, but because you couldn’t quite understand why she would do that.
“I… I can’t accept this,” you said with big and open eyes. “I mean, not for this anyway. This was a stupid idea to begin with…”
“It was not,” Kara disagreed, handing you even more money. “This is perfect, we all know Jungkook can be slow in regards of love-matters. So… you just give him the push he needs to open his damn eyes.”
“But…” you tried arguing, but were handed Sarah’s and Kara’s offered money again after you had pushed their efforts aside and the money back towards them.
“No buts. Take the money and get going. He is your guy. You know it. We know it. And he will soon know it as well – if he doesn’t already.” Her statement left no room for arguments, that much was obvious. You looked down at the offered money and back up in their smiling faces. Should you really?
Around you the bidding kept going steadily and by now you were way beyond what you had brought initially. You looked up on the stage and saw Jungkook look at you curiously and worried at the same time. Was he worried you would place the winning bid? Or was he worried he’d go to someone else than you?
“What do I do if I win this thing and he then practically tells me that he doesn’t see me that way?”
You friends looked at each other for a moment, before Sarah spoke. “Not going to happen. From what I’m hearing from Jin he won’t turn you down. And if he does, we-“ she said, pointing to herself and Kara “will kick his ass into reason.”
Kara next to Sarah nodded. “So do what you have to do, take the money and get your man.”
You still looked uncertain at the offered money and were about to turn it down, writing this whole night of as epic fail when you heard one of the girls behind you whisper to one of her own friends.
“He is going home with me tonight…” her statement was followed by a rather dirty laugh of her and her friends.
Her words stunned you into shock and you weren’t really sure what to think of that. A moment later you knew what you had to do. You reached for Kara’s and Sarah’s offered money and placed your next bid. You’d find a way of paying it back to the two of them – one way or another. But right now your priority was Jungkook on stage. And getting him away from that girl behind you.
When you yelled your next bid Jungkook looked at you surprised, having probably figured you were out after you hadn’t bid again.
As the bids got higher and higher the numbers in participating girls minimized. In the end you were at an amount that would take you years to save and only you and one more girl were left and she was slowly showing signs that she herself was at the end of her money. Maybe it was a good thing that they only accepted cash payment and payment was supposed to be immediately tonight, before leaving. Otherwise this could probably have gone on for a while.
Jungkook grew more and more nervous the longer this went on. Not that he really showed his nervousness. But you knew him well enough to spot the signs. Of course your mind once again went to unpleasant questions in regards of his nervousness, but you subdued them and would deal with that later. Much later. Probably while having a whole case of wine.
When you finally placed what you assumed could be the winning bid, both Sarah and Kara grabbed your hand in support and to contain their nerves. Jungkook looked just as anticipating as you felt when you slowly watched that little wooden hammer go down and announce you as the winner.
“Yes!” Kara shouted and everyone in the room was now looking at you three – not that they hadn’t before already. Instead of saying something Sarah just smiled at you as if saying ‘finally we get somewhere’. Jungkook’s expression on the other hand was something you couldn’t read, which was mainly because he wasn’t looking at you but rather to somewhere backstage.
“I pay you back,” you all of a sudden said to Kara and Sarah, remembering how much money you had now loaned from them for this stunt.
“Yes, you will. By naming your first and second child after each of us…,” Kara announced, which made you blush unexpectedly. Apparently they were already thinking way ahead.
“Um… well, yeah. How about we wait and see how Jungkook reacts to this little show, shall we? And then we talk about everything else.”
Sarah and Kara just laughed about your statement, before the attention was taken away from you and focused on Kara.
“I’ve got my guy, [Y/N] got her’s, now you need to save yours,” Sarah announced to Kara, who was letting out a small groan.
“Don’t remind me. And opposite to your little stunts mine is less romantic and purely platonic. But I guess I can’t let Jimin go to the evil ex.”
It was just now that you realized that Jimin hadn’t been up yet, but Kara had handed you her money without second thought. How did she know she wouldn’t need what she had handed you?
Without having to ask and if sending your question, Kara cleared your confusion.
“Do you really think I spent money on saving ChimChim’s ass? Hell no, girlfriend. He makes one hell of a living working for HOT SHOT. He made sure beforehand I had plenty of cash to buy him. Or at least more than his ex-girlfriend will have on hand. Even with you having taken what you did from me, I still have enough on me to win this thing.”
----
You couldn’t say you were looking forward to the paying process. As a matter of fact Kara and Sarah literally had to drag you outside to the registry. But only after you made them promise that if you ran into Jungkook and things became really awkward – if not even embarrassing – they’d save you from humiliation and drag you further, preferably outside of this venue, never to be seen again.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Sarah laughed, while pulling you by the wrist after her. “Why should things become awkward? Everything will be alright.”
Somehow you were still not convinced and heard Sarah castigate Kara.
“You know, you are supposed to agree with me Kara. That would make things slightly easier….”
“She’s right,” came Kara’s response a few moments later. “Everything will be just fine.”
Of course just you luck that you hadn’t even left the ballroom where the whole event had been held, when you literally ran into Jungkook. Well, technically Sarah did, seeing she was ahead of you, dragging you after her. But who cares for details, right? Though an interesting detail was that the moment you ran into him Kara and Sarah abandoned you with very fishy excuses. And you were left alone with Jungkook – well as alone as one could be between throngs of women and girls, all still excited about tonight.
“Hi,” you said in a high pitched voice and a smile that was so fake it actually hurt.
“[Y/N], I think you have some things to explain,” he just smiling at you, scratching the back of his head.
“I…um… I think I do,” you agreed, not entirely sure what to say now. Maybe you should start with the hard part. “You know?” you asked, sighing. “I like you.” You saw him smile at you a moment later. You don’t really know what it was that made you finally decide that this was ending tonight. No more hiding, no more pretending. Maybe it was the fact that this crazy auction had sort of opened the way and that he now knew one way or another anyway and you had nothing more to lose really. Or maybe it was just time you opened another chapter in the book that was your friendship.
“I like you, too,” he said in a heartbeat, making it somehow obvious that he didn’t really get your meaning.
“No, Jungkook,” you said – using his actual name instead of his nickname, something you hardly ever did. “I like you.”
He sighed, rolling his eyes, something he had never done before and that wasn’t a good sign, was it?
“No. I like you too. As in like like you.”
“Look, I know things will probably be awkward for –“ you started off, before his words actually sunk in. “Wait. What?” you all of a sudden asked surprised, confused, stunned and shocked.
Instead of answering he only grinned at you. “I like you. A lot. Since… years probably,” he confessed and you couldn’t believe what you were hearing.
“Why … haven’t you said anything?” you asked surprised and saw him grin at you some more, this time it was the smile you loved most – next to his bunny grin. It was his shy smile that had your heart melting every single time.
“Why haven’t you?” he asked back and sort of had a point.
“How much time did we waste?” you laughed, seeing him join in.
“Probably more than we’d like to admit. Even more reason to make up for it. So how about dinner? Tonight?” he asked, pulling you after him before you stopped him.
“Wait, not so fast,” you laughed, pulling him to a stop. “I need to take care of this first,” you said, holding up your bidding card. “I need to pay and um… fill out a few things I think.”
“Why?” he asked confused. “And are you sure you want to spent that amount of money? I feel really bad knowing you are spending all your hard earned money on me.”
“Money very well spent,” you grinned, before getting out of his grip and making your way to registry. Somehow you figured it might not seem like a good idea getting there with the guy you just won in tow. “Also, if I don’t pay, you will technically go the second highest bidder.”
“So? It isn’t like I’d have any interest in her,” Kookie replied confused and slightly adorable.
“It isn’t your interest that I’m worried about,” you explained, remembering the comment from the girl a few rows behind you and how she’d take him home tonight. Sure, she couldn’t, seeing that the rules of tonight’s auction were rather strict in regards of the official course of action – as in you left your details, which were forwarded to the guy you won and then he’d make contact with you – but that didn’t mean she’d try nevertheless with the knowledge she’d see him for dinner soon anyway.
“Who did you save me from?” Jungkook laughed and you just grunted.
“You don’t want to know, trust me,” was your reply and a moment later you were in front of registration and were presented with a few forms to fill out and the request for payment.
You scribbled your information down quickly, handed the forms along with the money back to the woman and were free to leave.
“Now are you ready for dinner?” Jungkook asked, when turning around. Instead of answering you just nodded and were pulled after him, out of the door and into the night, passing a laughing Sarah and Kara on the way out who only managed to clap or hold up thumps in your direction.
And maybe you should have done this a lot sooner, but then again, rather late than never. And maybe good things just needed their time to grow and become even better along the line.