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Jeon Jeongguk can do this. If Troye Sivan can cook chicken under a brick , then so can he. Besides, he has the play by play video whereas Troye was in there with only auditory instructions.
He can do this.
Setting down a whole washed chicken with its legs down on the cutting board, Jeongguk takes a deep breath and slices through the skin where one of legs meets the body.
Okay, one step down.
He takes another deep breath, groaning at what is about to come, and twists the same leg off with a loud crack.
“Ew,” he blanches in disgust, nearly gagging.
“Sure looks like you’re having a grand ol’ time there,” his roommate, and best friend unfortunately, nonchalantly comments from his spot at the dining table. Kim Taehyung pops another flamin’ hot cheeto into his mouth (from Jeongguk’s bag of flamin’ hot cheetos, but whatever, that isn’t a priority right now).
“Aren’t you supposed to be, you know, gone ?” Jeongguk rolls his eyes, turning his attention back to the chicken and repeating the same action as before on all the other legs, resisting a violent shiver each time.
He glances over his shoulder when he doesn’t hear a response, only to find Taehyung smiling silly at phone and typing away with his cheeto stained fingers.
“Ew,” Jeongguk repeats for the second time in the span of five minutes.
“Just because I have a hot date tonight and you don’t doesn’t mean you need to get all snippy with me, mister.” Taehyung clicks his tongue and sets his phone aside.
“I do have a date! Why do you think I’m doing all this?!”
“Okay, let me rephrase-- just because I have a hot date that’s going to end up with me, for sure, getting laid and you don’t doesn’t mean you need to get all snippy with me.”
A nervous sigh escapes his lips as Jeongguk throws away the four wishbones he managed to carve out of the chicken legs. This meal better be worth it. “I’m not...looking to get laid,” he manages to say, washing his hands thoroughly. “Well...I mean, if hyung wants to then I also want to. But it’s okay if it doesn’t happen. I just want him to have fun,” with me , goes unsaid.
Taehyung’s deep voice cuts through Jeongguk’s nerves, “Jeon Jeongguk. You’ve got to be kidding me. Why in the world would Kim Seokjin, the Kim Seokjin, Mr. Legs-For-Days, Mr. Perfect-Skin-and-Hair, Mr. Worldwide Handsom--”
“Can you get to the point? Your lucky your boyfriend isn’t jealous of Seokjin hyung with how much you gush about him.”
“Okay, first of all, ”
And Jeongguk groans because when Taehyung starts with his first of alls , it's hard to predict when exactly they would end. Taehyung once proceeded to make 27 of alls defending why Logan Huntzberger was perfect for Rory in the American T.V. show The Gilmore Girls. Granted, Jeongguk agreed (and still agrees) with all 27 points and had in fact, helped fine tune some of them as Taehyung furiously replied to an online commenter. But that's besides the point.
The point is that Jeongguk finished seasoning the chicken (minus the legs), oiled the pan on low heat, put the chicken skin side down, and set a makeshift brick (aka a much smaller pan that he uses to make his morning omelettes in) on top of the chicken because that’s what Troye and the lady in the video did. He’s even got the chicken legs ready for the oven just in case the chicken under a brick recipe turns out badly. He needs to have a fall back.
“And twelfth of all, Hobi hyung doesn’t get jealous because he knows Seokjin hyung’s dick isn’t the one I’m going to be blowing tonight.”
“Okay, can we not talk about dicks when I have raw meat here?”
“Why? The meat I’m talking about is different from the meat you’ve got.”
“Tae.”
“Hm.”
“I will beat the shit out of you with this pan.”
“Yikes, no need to be so violent. You so need to get laid tonight.”
“TAE!”
“Okay, okay! But in all seriousness, Guk, don’t worry too much. Being a little nervous is fine, good even, but don’t let it get the better of you. Besides, would he have agreed to the date if he wasn’t already interested?”
“No,” Jeongguk grumbles. He hates it when Taehyung manages to make a good point. Jeongguk knows that Seokjin wouldn’t have agreed to the date if the older man wasn’t the least interested. They had hit it off great at Namjoon’s party (a super senior Jeongguk met through Taehyung). But that had only been three weeks ago and now here they were about to have a first date. Jeongguk worries that at the end of this date, Seokjin will feel like that maybe this isn’t a good idea. That Jeongguk is still young and immature or inexperienced because let’s face it, he’s only in his second year of college and Seokjin is already out in the real world and has been for the past two and a half years. That Seokjin, being the warm and kind guy that Jeongguk has gotten to know through copious amount of texting over the past three weeks, would let him down gently.
“Guk?” He hears Taehyung from the dining table and a chair screeching against the floor.
“Yeah, no, you’re right, I didn’t think of it that way. Hyung wouldn’t have agreed to this if he didn’t think there was a chance,” Jeongguk turns to face his roommate with a smile. There is no point in letting troublesome thoughts invade his brain before the date even starts.
There’s a knock on the door, interrupting whatever it is Taehyung is about to say, and Taehyung immediately lunges to open the door.
“Hyung,” Taehyung breathes a smile, wide and genuine.
“Hey, Tae.” Hoseok presses a chaste kiss against Taehyung’s lips and Jeongguk spots the way his fingers twine their way through Taehyung’s. Hoseok peers past his boyfriend to greet Jeongguk with a soft smile. “You ready for your date?”
“As ready as I can be,” he shrugs. Maybe if he acts casual, he can be casual. Hoseok chortles in a very Hoseok way, voice bright and booming, “If it helps, Jin hyung couldn’t stop talking about you at work today.”
Jeongguk’s face flushes at the words and he scrambles get the pesto basil sauce he made earlier out of the fridge. “Hm, well, that’s good to hear,” he manages to squeak out, the cool refrigerator air doing little to tame his blush.
“Anyway, you two should get going, right?” Jeongguk straightens up after a couple seconds, fingers tightening around a small glass container. Taehyung quickly pulls his jacket on as they say their goodbyes and head out the door. Jeongguk breathes.
He can do this.
He needs preheat the oven, change into a fresh set of clothes as the chicken on the stove finishes up, and then plate the food.
He can do this.
Fifteen minutes later, Jeongguk is dressed in a soft, pale blue button up and a pair of ripped black jeans. He plates the chicken with the pesto basil sauce on top and is setting the table when there’s another knock on the door. He scrambles to shove the chicken legs into the oven, sets it to a slow broil, and jolts up straight.
“Fuck,” he whispers. His heart races and takes one, two, three deep breaths.
He can do this.
Jeongguk opens the door and the blush from earlier runs back to the high of his cheeks because god damn, Kim Seokjin looks as good as the night of the party.
“I brought your favorite.” Seokjin lifts his right arm with a grin to show a Lolea red sangria. Then his left, "And some snacks."
“Oh good, you brought dinner,” Jeongguk teases.
Seokjin’s eyes widen and he scoffs, “No way! The deal was you make the dinner and I bring myself only. You should be grateful, the sangria and snacks are a perk.” Jeongguk doesn't miss the way Seokjin's eyes trail down his body as the older man steps into the apartment, and his confidence rises.
“Don't you know? You are the perk, hyung.” Jeongguk's lips curl and a glint of flirtatiousness streaks through his eyes. He takes Seokjin's jacket and drapes it over the sofa's armrest. The apartment is simple and there's no coat closet. It's a small living room accompanied by an equally small kitchen with two bedrooms and a bathroom. But it's clean. Jeongguk made sure of it when he and Taehyung spent a good part of the morning tidying up. The longer Seokjin looks around the apartment, the more nervous Jeongguk gets. He fidgets slightly in place, top teeth gnawing on his lower lip as nerves begin to take over once more.
“Hmm, glad to hear it. I guess I'll go easy on the critiquing then,” Seokjin finally says, voice soft as he takes in Jeongguk’s appearance once more. He rubs the nape of his neck with his free hand, ears reddening, “And you look really nice, Guk.”
____
Dinner ends up happening on the couch. One leg bent underneath his thigh as he faces Seokjin, eating the last of his chicken with pesto. Seokjin’s own plate, eaten clean, is on the coffee table.
“I shit you not. I seriously considered leaving the restaurant with a bottle of Vodka and giving up on everything else. He was not a pleasant client. But the waiter was nice, I see us becoming best friends,” Seokjin animatedly recalls, a glass of sangria in his hand.
Jeongguk doubles over in laughter, lips pulling back to reveal his slight overbite and eyes crinkling in mirth. He manages to comment, “If I ever end up working with someone that bad, I might end up leaving with Vodka too.” Seokjin profession as a marketing analyst at the biggest entertainment company in South Korea came with many interesting stories.
“Oh hush now. If you worked in the entertainment business, you would be on every billboard. No one could possibly be bad to you. I can’t even imagine someone being bad to you now.”
“Hyung,” Jeongguk sets his plate aside to swing back the last of the sangria from his glass. He knows the flush high on his cheeks has nothing to do with the alcohol and everything to do with the way Seokjin gives his undivided attention to him. The way Seokjin’s eyes soften every time Jeongguk laughs or the way their knees are now touching compared to when they first sat down.
“I’m serious. You know...ever since you linked me to your SoundCloud, I’ve had a hard time listening to anyone else. You sing with such conviction, y-- it’s beautiful, Jeongguk-ah.” Seokjin’s voice softens and Jeongguk feels unbearably fond with the way the other’s ears redden. He reaches out, fingers grazing against along the shell of Seokjin’s right ear and marveling at the way it grows even redder.
“Hey, not fair, I thought we already covered at the party that my ears reveal my innermost feelings,” Seokjin mumbles, eyes skirting down Jeongguk’s face. Jeongguk’s eyes follow, stopping only at the sight of Seokjin’s plush lips. He’s been wondering since the night of the party if they would feel as soft as they looked. If they would taste how he’s imagined them to.
“Jeon Jeongguk,” Seokjin whispers, voice took close, warmth too close. Jeongguk’s breath hitches and his heart races.
“Hyung,” his fingers curl around Seokjin’s collar and he inches forward, lips brushing against the other. With eyes nearly closed, he hears, rather than sees, Seokjin swallow. Feels the way plush lips press harder against his, soft palm cradle his cheek, gentle teeth nip his lips. He sighs into the kiss, fingers finding their way beneath Seokjin’s collar and pressing against the warm skin. Jeongguk’s swallows a gasp when Seokjin’s lips pepper down his jaw toward neck, “Hyu--FUCK!”
Jeongguk snaps back, his palms pressing rough against his ears as the fire alarm blares.
“Guk!” Seokjin yelps, wincing as he points to the kitchen opening. Thick smoke crawls out of the oven and Jeongguk immediately pales.
Fuck. The chicken legs.
The fire alarm pierces their ears and before Jeongguk could even move, Seokjin dashes to kitchen to turn off the oven and yells over his shoulder, “OPEN THE WINDOWS! TURN ON YOUR BATHROOM FAN!”
Jeongguk breaks into action. Windows. Bathroom fan. Grabs a towel and darts into the kitchen only to stop short.
Seokjin’s got the oven door open, one arm covering his nose and mouth, brows furrowed in as he uses a kitchen towel to fan the smoke towards the windows. Jeongguk takes a step back, remembers Taehyung’s fan, rushes into Taehyung’s room and drags a large table fan into the kitchen.
Nearly ten minutes later, the smoke’s mostly cleared out of the apartment and the two are staring at the burnt chicken legs in the oven. Completely charred and inedible. Seokjin runs a hand through his hair, the first couple buttons of his shirt undone to cool off from heat and his sleeves rolled back. With his face painted red in humiliation, Jeongguk troubles his lower lip in shame.
This isn’t a big deal , he tries to tell himself. Except for the fact that it kind of is. In the sense that all Jeongguk had to do was a set a timer. All he had to do set a freaking timer. All he had to do was be a little more responsible.
“Should we go b-back into the living room?” he tries, voice weak and hesitant.
Seokjin hums low, lips pursed as he takes a deep breath. His voice is strained when he finally answers and his eyes dart to the front door, “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
Oh.
Jeongguk struggles to school the pang of pain and disappointment from his features and he lets out a short, high pitched laugh. “Oh, yeah, right. Um. I’ll just walk you out then.” He rubs one arm with the other and jerks his head away to avoid looking at Seokjin. “S-sorry. For ruining this.”
Jeongguk turns to get Seokjin’s jacket when he feels a tender tug against his wrist.
“What are you talking about? You did ruin anything.”
Leave it to Seokjin to be so kind even in this situation. Jeongguk pulls his arm back gently. “It’s okay, hyung,” another constraint laugh. “I can walk you out. It’s no big deal, I get it.”
“Huh? Then do you want to explain what you get? ‘Cause I’m genuinely confused right now.”
Seokjin steps closer, his demeanor careful as though Jeongguk would pull away again. Jeongguk’s eyes are still cast down and his body is rigid because he gets it, Seokjin doesn’t need to let him down gently but he will because he is kind but Jeongguk doesn’t need that right now.
But he can’t get the words out and he feels like he’s fucking sixteen again.
“Hey,” Seokjin’s voice is soft, it’s gentle and it pulls Jeongguk’s gaze up. “So I am actually confused but right now, I don’t like this look of….hurt on you. I’m sorry if I did something? But you didn’t ruin anything.” Seokjin brushes his fingers along Jeongguk’s cheek and his steady voice allows Jeongguk to relax, to breathe. And Seokjin continues, the steady voice speeding up to the cusp of rambling, “And if...if you still want to, I’d love to continue this date. Just maybe not here? There’s still remnants of smoke and I don’t think it’s healthy to be inhaling smoke. And maybe, if you want, we can go back to my place? We can continue where we left off?”
Oh.
Oh.
“Or we don’t have to, we can just watch a movie or you can meet my sugar gliders or something. It’s not that far from here. But yeah, only if you want to, no pressure or any--”
Jeongguk lurches forward and presses his lips flush against Seokjin’s and smiles into it. “I’d love to.”
It’s not until their sixth date that Seokjin asks, as he had been asking, why Jeongguk was so shook. And Jeongguk grumbles, embarrassed, how he’d felt irresponsible, how maybe Seokjin would want someone more adult, more put together, more--
“You’re an idiot,” Seokjin cuts him off, throwing his arms around Jeongguk’s slim waist to pull him closer and burying his face into the crook of his neck as he mumbles, “First of all, I’m not any more adult or put together than you are--”
“Well I know that now.”
“Hush, you. Second of all, I don’t think you realize how completely enamored I am by you.”
“Hyung,” Jeongguk flushes with a soft whine, lips stretching ear to ear to reveal the slight overbite of his front teeth as he grins wide. He tries and fails miserably to suppress the bright laughter as he shrugs Seokjin off his shoulders.
“You’re so cheesy.”
“ Wha-- Here I am trying make you feel better by being honest and communicating my feelings like an adult while you’re demeaning my efforts! The disrespect!”
“Hyung,” Jeongguk throws his head back in laughter, completely elated, and pulls Seokjin in by his collar. “Just kiss me, will you?”