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“three orders of jjajangmyeon-“
Why does it have to be so hot in here ? Jungkook couldn’t help but think. Sure , cooking is great and his one great passion in life and frankly he’s glad to have managed to get the part time job that he has with nearly no previous experience or significant training to boast of and so on and so forth but why does it have to come with the added requirement of having to tolerate a hot ,humid kitchen?
“she really needs to stop if she’s on a diet as she says-“
Jungkook sighs. He knows complaining is the last thing he should be doing. Summer jobs and semester breaks go hand in hand. At least they do, if you’re broke and too proud to ask your parents to chip in on the rent. Seoul is an expensive city and there’s only so much a partial scholarship and his (admittedly meager) monthly earnings from him part timing at the 7-eleven three blocks away from his apartment can go towards the way of helping a 20-something year old’s finances. Picking up another job seemed like the only way out and on most days, he truly did not mind. Especially when he got to cook. Well, sort of. When it was really crowded, he still got cleaning duty and the dishwasher and its hum became his friend for the afternoon since Seokjin still deemed it necessary that he be supervised and rubbed in the fact that he was the rookie by referring to him as the maknae of the kitchen when he was clearly older than Jaebum by at least a couple months.
“personally, I think the seasoning is a little off with this batch of Kalguksu, maybe a little bit more-“
He scrubbed at the counter with a little less purpose than usual. Sighs again as more steam arises from the pot near him right on to his face.
“Jungkook-ah, leave that counter alone and help me with this will you?”
He hears the door creaking open again. Glances at his watch as he half-heartedly wipes at the counter with the other. It reads 3:30pm. His shift is getting over in another hour or so and after all the melodrama following lunch hour he’s more than ready to call it a day, get home and wash all grime off of himself. He wonders who dropped in for a late lunch. Maybe someone who got caught up in their work for so long, they neglected their lunch. Or a couple, who got caught up in each other for so long they ignored the rumbling stomach in favor of their fluttering hearts.
He smirks to himself. All the exhaustion has gotten to him indeed, for his thoughts to deviate to something as poetic as all that. It’s not often he does. He seldom has enough time to spare for idyllic thoughts as these , but he has noticed that he tends to do so mostly on the days he feel especially forlorn. With the number of times he has zoned out already today, he guesses today is one of those days.
“yah! Jungkook-ah!”
Seokjin hyung’s offended squawk cuts through the his thoughts. Jungkook looks up to see seokjin, jaebum and the new waitress hyeri look at him with varying degrees of offence on their faces.
“have you been listening to a single thing I’ve been saying ?” seokjin asks
Jungkook scratches his neck rather sheepishly as he shakes his head, looking down. Hyeri, bless her, comes to his immediate defense , albeit in her usual lilting teasing manner “you’ve been zoning out a lot today Jungkook-ssi, I thought it was all the hard work . Someone on your mind?”
“He wishes” Jaebum laughs.
He’s not wrong Jungkook thinks bitterly. There’s only so much heat you can take in the summer without longing to share it with someone else. He shakes his head once as if to admonish himself.
“you’ve got another hour to go before you’re out , you know?” Seokjin sighs and shakes his head.
“I think the lunch hour was a bit too hectic today . why don’t you go outside and take a breather ? I think we could hold the fort down over here. There’s no one out there to serve anyways” seokjin says and turns around. Jungkook was sure he heard someone come in though. He supposes jaebum is right when he complains seokjin has a soft spot for him. For all his bossiness and unrelenting sarcasm, seokjin is just as caring and warm and he couldn’t be more grateful for it.
“go before I change my mind darling!” seokjin grunts again without turning back. Jungkook supposes that’s his cue. He eagerly takes off his cap and apron and rather haphazardly shoves it in the shelf next to the door and smiles to himself as he does. he’ll thank seokjin later with a chamomile.
He goes out the back door which leads to the alley next to their kitchen and keeps walking till hes a fair distance away from the dumpster and digs his phone out.
Three new messages. One from jimin, his roommate asking him when hes getting back to their apartment(probably to avoid any mishaps like last time when he walked in on him having a rather heated make out session with one of the girls from his class) and two others from his co-worker at the store informing him about his shift timings. He really should get a life.
Jungkook looks up from his screen and is shaken out of his thoughts at the realization that he is not alone in the alleyway. He finds a man leaning against the building next to theirs with one foot propping him up on the wall. Jungkook walks forward with slow, almost careful steps so as to not startle the other. He couldn’t make out the mans face as there was a cloud of smoke shrouding it.
He pinpoints the lit cigarette dangling from long, slender fingers adorned with a variety of rings as the suspect. Jungkook looks up and as if in a movie, the smoke clears to reveal the guy’s face.
Holy fuck, was his first thought accompanied by a sharp intake of breath
Jungkook traces his eyes over feline brown eyes and down the slope of a perfect nose and again over the pretty pink of his lips and back along a soft but defined jawline. he brings his own eyes back to meet his once again, only to find bright mirth shining there.
When deep, soft laughter echoes along the mostly empty alleyway, he knows that his expletive made it out of the confines of his mind.
Being the diffident introvert that he is, this is usually the part where he apologizes for shamelessly ogling but today, he couldn’t bring himself to look away. Or apologize. Or move. It was like time had frozen and everything felt endless and he was drowning in the chocolate brown buoyant pools of the stranger’s eyes. Later, he supposes it wasn’t all that dramatic but in a way , time really did feel like it was running at a different pace than his thoughts.
Jungkook blinks. Takes a deep breath.
Reality hits him with full force and brings with it the realization that he’s being incredibly creepy right now. With some difficulty, he averts his eyes to land on a polished Chelsea boot.
“ I’m so sorry I-I didn’t mean to stare” he manages to stutter out. He feels his cheek warm and hopes that it is just the summer heat although hes quite sure that has nothing to do with the fact that he probably resembles a cherry about now.
“I’m sure you didn’t “ the same deep velvety voice surrounds him once more.
Jungkook couldn’t find it in himself to respond and continued to avoid his eyes, embarrassed. The guy must take pity on him, because he saves them from lapsing into an awkward silence and offers ,
“It’s quite alright. I’m surprised I have company though I was looking forward to finishing this cigarette by myself “
“I don’t smoke” Jungkook supplies rather unhelpfully. He gathers enough courage to look up from the shiny boots, which definitely did not belong in the back alley of a noodle shop, and finds him looking back at him with a subtle smirk. Jungkook blinks at him and turns a shade redder.
The smirk widens almost imperceptibly.
“Okay.” He lets the silence linger for long enough that Jungkook feels self-conscious and moves to lean against the wall directly opposite to the beautiful stranger who, it appears has taken to shamelessly raking his eyes over him as he fidgets about in place,
Jungkook panics. Initiating conversation was never something he was good at, much less with people he found intimidating or attractive. This man unfortunately fell into both those categories.
“I’m Jungkook?” what was intended to come out as a statement came out sounding like a question and Jungkook cringes at his own inability to interact normally not for the first time in his life.
The guy chuckles and flicks the cigarette which had burnt down to a stub due to inattention , away before saying “ I’m Taehyung. And you’re absolutely one of the prettiest guys I’ve seen in a while”
At that, Jungkook gapes up at him, dumbfounded. In the face of his obvious inability to even properly introduce himself, the surprising straight forwardness catches him off guard and he’s sure at this point that even if Taehyung had trouble with vision he’d be able to make out how flustered he was. He had a sneaking suspicion that he quite enjoyed watching this happen as well.
“I’m sorry” taehyung giggles “people tell me I come on too strong. I swear! I’m not drunk or anything!” he must feel the need to tack that on.
“it’s just that…too many missed opportunities teach you a thing or two about being frank when you can be, you know” that was followed by a thoughtful pause. “im doing it again , the being-inappropriately-philosophical thing. My friends chalk it up to me being a lit major. Self-expression and what not .”
No matter how confidently he was speaking, Jungkook could tell this was basically an extroverted person’s version of a nervous ramble and he didn’t feel quite so flustered anymore and volunteered “being philosophical is okay so long as it doesn’t border on pretentious. Lit majors….lets just say they toe that line rather dangerously”
Jungkook doesn’t consider the fact that that could have been offensive to taehyung until two seconds after it leaves his mouth but before he could backtrack Taehyung responds with a mysterious smirk “you’re not wrong and I don’t take offence. What I do mind is that you side stepped the whole pretty thing.”
Using the foot propped on the wall as leverage, Taehyung pushes himself off the wall and closes te proximity between them till he stands right in front of him . He watches as taehyung’s eyes fall on his own lips and swallows nervously. He has the distinct feeling that none of this is real and that he really just passed out in the kitchen. One more step, a slight tilt of his head , and there would be no more distance to close between them. Jungkook is frozen and he found his lips move of their own accord
“ I could say the same for you. What’s a guy like you doing next to dumpster in the back alley of a noodle shop?”
Taehyungs smiles easily and replies “avoiding my pretentious friends” he comes so close Jungkook feels the breath fall on his lips till he turns his head to the side and whispers in his ears, “running into cute guys”
Taehyung draws back to watch as Jungkook flushed under his gaze. “Jungkook-ssi, how about you give me a more solid reason to avoid my friends and let me buy you a drink?”
For some reason the only thing he can think to say back is “ it’s half past three in the afternoon “
Of all the times to be sensible, of course he chose now. Typical.
Taehyung pulls back even more , still smiling that enchanting smile, “is that a no?”
“it’s a later. “
Jungkook feels a disproportionate amount of pride at watching taehyung’s smile widen.
Taehyung reaches into his pocket and retrieves his phone and extends it his way.
“how opposed are you to giving your number away to a lit major”
“oh, very” Jungkook smiles teasingly as he takes the phone and puts his number in.
“if it makes you feel any better , I dress like an art major” taehyung raises an eyebrow and vaguely gestures to himself .
He dresses like a chaebol is what Jungkook thinks looking at what looks suspiciously like a Prada logo embroidered on the leather jacket he’s wearing but he pays it no mind. What truly catches his eyes are the deliberate paint splatters all over the faded blue jeans that betray just enough imperfection to convince Jungkook of its homemade quality.
Jungkook nods shyly, once and watches as taehyungs teasing, cocky expression softens.
Out of nowhere , seokjin’s face runs through his mind and he feels like someone roughly yanked him back to reality
“I have to be getting back! Hour left on my shift” he backs out of the alley and away from taehyung, albeit unwillingly .
Taehyung smiles, undeterred . “I hope the number isn’t fake . I’d be rather disappointed if I got stood up today ,after all this, after you.”
Jungkook pushes the door open and turns back , taking one last glance at the boy and smiles “you won’t. see you, Taehyung”
When he frantically digs out his apron and hat thinking his shift is over and seokjin is most definitely going to whack him on the head with radish, and all the while unable to stop smiling, he checks the time on his watch again.
3:53pm.
He could have sworn a lifetime passed by. Jungkook hears his phone ping with a notification and unlocks it
Unknown
Pretty boy, how much samgyeopsal can you stomach with soju?
Jungkook smiles,replies.
You
More than the average human being, im sure
Unknown
Youre on . 6 o’ clock
[location attached]
Jungkook locks his phone and sets out to find chamomile he needs to brew for seokjin.
The summer heat might not be that bad after all.