Chapter Text
Jungkook slowly blinked his eyes open and looked around his apartment. The sunlight poured in through the window above his bed, hitting his body but not his face, exactly the way he liked it. This was precisely why he had moved his bed to this spot in the first place. Jungkook let his eyes wander to his desk with his laptop laid out perfectly in the center and his work journal placed slightly to the right. Nothing was on the left side of the computer; Jungkook hated things to the left. He then looked at his dresser, with his accessories laid out in a straight line on top and all of his clothes separated by sleeve length in each drawer. His jackets and coats were neatly hanging on the back of his bedroom door, three jackets for three pegs. They were all black because black was Jungkook’s favorite color. Everything went well with black after all.
Everything was in order. Everything had its place. Everything… except Jungkook.
He sighed and sat up reluctantly. He should make himself something to eat and start his day. It was Sunday, which was when Jungkook usually cleaned his apartment and prepared his schedules for the next week before work on Monday. It was usually one of his favorite days because of how relaxing it was, but the young manager was just not feeling very relaxed today. Still, it was almost noon now. He had slept long enough.
Just as Jungkook pulled on a comfy sweatshirt and finally left his room to see what frozen food he would heat up for lunch, the doorbell rang.
He walked over and opened the door, half-expecting to see the short, stocky frame of the older lady who usually came once or twice a year to check the gas valve in his apartment, but instead his eyes were met with a wide set of shoulders that could only belong to one person. Jungkook almost didn’t want to look up.
“Surprise!!” Seokjin announced with that same dramatic flare that somehow made Jungkook’s stomach both tie up with knots and fill up with butterflies at the same time. “Now, I’m sure you’re wondering if this is all a dream, but I assure you it is not! You are indeed staring at the gorgeous sight of your favorite hyung in the world standing before your very eyes!”
Jungkook said nothing. Seokjin looked at him with expectant eyes.
“I shall take your applause now,” he added with a hopeful twinkle in his eyes. Jungkook ignored that and pulled Seokjin into the apartment.
“What are you doing here, hyung?” he asked with an exasperated sigh.
“How rude!” Seokjin said while taking off his shoes. “I am obviously here to cheer up my favorite little Kookie. A little bit of encouragement goes a long way, you know.”
Jungkook was headed to the kitchen to see if he had an extra mug to offer Seokjin some coffee, but he stopped dead at that. How did Seokjin know..? “Wh-what do you mean?” he stuttered defensively. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not,” Seokjin replied immediately.
Jungkook looked back at him, but upon seeing the older man’s face, the words died on Jungkook’s lips. Seokjin’s expression was serious, more serious than Jungkook had ever seen before. There were many times before when Jungkook didn’t believe that this carefree man was actually any older than him, but right now he could believe it. He was almost afraid that Seokjin could read his very thoughts at that moment.
Seokjin’s expression softened a bit. He approached Jungkook slowly, as one would a timid animal in the wild, and gently laid a hand on his shoulder. Jungkook shuddered at the touch.
“The wedding…” Seokjin began. “That was some announcement, wasn’t it?”
They both knew what he was referring to.
Looking back, Jungkook didn’t know why he hadn’t seen it coming. He hadn’t been surprised when Taehyung finally revealed to him and Yoongi that he was planning to officially propose to Jimin. He hadn’t been hurt when Taehyung asked Yoongi to be his best man for the wedding, and then later when Jimin insisted that Hoseok be his best man as well and the couple ended up sharing the role, he was sure he told Seokjin he had seen those very events coming from a mile away. He not only had predicted that Taehyung would want to have their honeymoon in Jeju-do, but he even helped him pick the flights and arrange the hotel.
And it all made perfect sense, too. After all, out of everyone there, Jungkook had been with Taehyung the longest. Their bond went all the way back to those bittersweet days in school, when Jungkook was still a novice at navigating the art world and Taehyung was just an undiscovered ball of untapped potential and talent. At this point, Jungkook had more memories of Taehyung than he did of members of his own family. He was supposed to know everything about Taehyung, both as his friend and as his manager. But he had never imagined this.
How was he supposed to have known that Taehyung would leave him?
Seokjin stood there quietly the whole while, looking at Jungkook with an unreadable expression on his handsome face. It was unnerving. The younger boy wanted to run away and hide.
“Why did you come?” Jungkook asked, turning away fully in order to head to the kitchen and escape those eyes.
“Well, a certain adorable bunny-teeth-having man has not replied to any of my pain-stakingly selected and hilarious memes or selfies of my Adonis-like face, so I figured I’d come up and see how you were doing,” Seokjin said, practically throwing his body on the couch in Jungkook’s living room.
Jungkook rolled his eyes. “Okay, but…” He came back with two mugs and pointed with his chin towards the extremely large suitcase that Seokjin had rolled into the living room. “What the hell is that ?”
Seokjin gave Jungkook the most pleading look the older man could muster. “Well, you can’t expect me to just go all the way back to Busan after just one day…” he said in a sickeningly sweet voice. Jungkook tried to pretend it wasn’t working on him like a charm.
“This doesn’t look like an overnight luggage-”
“And the school is on a week-long vacation in honor of Jimin and Taehyung’s very romantic and lovable honeymoon,” Seokjin interrupted loudly, picking up one of Jungkook’s throw pillows and hugging it to his chest while laying down. “So, I thought I’d get you to take me around Seoul for some sight-seeing. You know I haven’t been to this city in ages!”
Jungkook put his head in his hands. “Just because Jimin-hyung and Tae-hyung are on their honeymoon doesn’t mean I’m on vacation, I have work tomorrow and-”
“I won’t disturb you,” Seokjin interjected and then winked. “During work hours , that is.”
Jungkook couldn’t fight the blush. “And I’ve only got a couch-”
“I don’t think I’ll be on the couch this whole week.”
Jungkook almost choked on his coffee at that. “You-!”
But it was too late, Seokjin was already up and off the couch and wandering towards the kitchen. “You got any eggs? I don’t wanna brag, but I make a mean omelette.”
“You? Brag? Never.”
“Wow, Kookie, so much sass this early in the morning.”
“It’s the afternoon! And don’t call me that!”
“And you still haven’t had breakfast. I’m ashamed of you. Now come here and find me some eggs.”
Jungkook sighed but stood up to join him in the kitchen. It wasn’t really like he had a choice in the first place. Every time he encountered the unorthodox school director, he found himself naturally starting to do things at the older man’s pace. It usually scared him, which is why the younger man often found every opportunity to avoid Seokjin, but strangely enough, he didn’t really want to today.
Perhaps it was because what Jungkook truly feared was being left alone with his thoughts.
“I thought you said you weren’t going to disturb me during work hours,” Jungkook pointed out the next day.
He had been sitting in his office for the past three hours, checking emails and returning calls about various museums and galleries that were curious about where their current contracts with Vante stood considering the rather sudden news of his early retirement and permanent relocation to Busan. Jungkook had of course messaged Taehyung about what he should do about this, but since his employer/incredibly irresponsible hyung’s response had been nothing except a text containing the exact words “I know you will handle it well”, Jungkook was pretty much on his own to sort things out. If he was being honest, nothing had really changed; Taehyung had never been very involved in the technical part of his career in the first place.
It was around lunchtime when Jungkook’s office door had started to beep (who in the hell had given him the damn code?) and Seokjin walked in proudly holding two coffees and two sandwiches in his hands. Jungkook really should have seen this coming.
“And how is this disturbing you?” Seokjin questioned, making his way over and getting comfortable in the armchair near the window. He busied himself with arranging the food on the coffee table as he beckoned Jungkook over with a smile. “If anything I’m improving your work day by bringing you lunch.”
“I actually had a lunch meeting to go to…”
“Well you can invite them here! I’ll go get another sandwich, that bakery girl was so nice actually. She even gave me one of these coffees for free! Are all Seoul folk like that?”
Jungkook was tempted to respond that the only reason she was “so nice” to Seokjin was because she had probably been dazzled by his devastatingly good looks, but he refrained. No need to further stroke the older man’s already inflated ego.
“Alright, fine, I’ll go call the client real quick,” the younger man conceded with a small sigh. If he was being honest, he hadn’t even wanted to really go to this meeting at all, so he figured there was no real reason to resist just this once.
…right?
About an hour later, a lone young woman sat on the couch opposite Jungkook and Seokjin. She squeezed her large portfolio folder to her chest anxiously, eyes brimming with a mix of desperation and determination. She was quite obviously a fresh talent who had probably won an award or two before at either her university or some local competition. Jungkook would recognize that anywhere. After all, it was the same look he used to see on Taehyung all those years ago before, when it was just them versus the entire art world. Jungkook smiled faintly at the memory.
“So, what brings you here, miss?” Seokjin asked conversationally. Jungkook shot him a glare that the older man ignored.
“Huh?” The woman blinked in confusion. “Oh, I-I’m…”
“Are those your paintings by any chance?”
“Y-yes, they are,” the woman answered with a shy blush. She hesitantly laid the portfolio on the coffee table. Jungkook made no move for it, but Seokjin casually reached for it and began to flip through the images. “Are you two both agents, then?”
“No, he’s-”
“I would say that I’m an agent of love if anything,” Seokjin interrupted proudly. “And my target? Why, it’s Kookie’s hear-”
“He’s with me for today,” Jungkook explained loudly with an embarrassed cough. “Anyway, just ignore him for now.”
The woman looked as if she wanted to say that was an impossible task, but nodded and squared her shoulders. “I haven’t introduced myself yet. My name is Kim Ara. Thank you for taking the time to see me.”
“Well it’s not like you gave me much of a choice, Miss Kim,” Jungkook said in a less than friendly tone. “I understand you’ve been asking around for my contact information at multiple galleries for quite a while?”
It wasn’t that out of the ordinary, of course. Many young and talented artists fresh on the art scene would come by a gallery or museum containing Vante’s works and then begin to wonder who could be the agency behind such a famous person and if they could possibly be signed by such an agency as well and attain fame themselves. Jungkook had rejected the requests of many such artists over the years, always on the pretense that organizing just Vante’s schedule was already too much of a burden for just one person. And before, it had certainly been true. But now… well, he just wasn’t ready yet.
“Yes,” Ara responded with resolved confidence. “I apologize for my persistence, but I just had to see you.”
“I must admit, you’ve definitely been more persistent than the others,” Jungkook said with a sardonic smile. “But as I told you via email, I am not currently looking for any new artists…”
“Please reconsider,” Ara pleaded, eyes brimming with a passion that reminded Jungkook so much of his first days as Taehyung’s agent, begging curators to display Vante’s works. He didn’t want to be reminded of that right now. “I know you’re a busy man, but it’s always been my dream to have my works displayed somewhere where many people could see them. Just like Vante…”
Jungkook didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t want to think about it. “Just like Vante”? No, he couldn’t do that. What was he without Vante’s talent? It wasn’t because of Jungkook that Vante became so famous in the first place. He hadn’t done anything special. Jungkook had just been in the right place at the right time. He couldn’t… do this without Taehyung.
“I’m sorry, but-”
“These are amazing.”
Seokjin’s voice stopped Jungkook cold. He had almost forgotten the older man was there, he had been so uncharacteristically quiet. Jungkook looked over and noticed that Seokjin had been flipping through the girl’s portfolio this whole time. He recalled that Ara had sent him a digital copy of her portfolio in one of her many emails, but he had opted not to view it since he had been planning on rejecting her anyway. He didn’t know why, but he had been expecting her paintings to be similar to Taehyung’s. But these… these weren’t anything like Vante’s style.
There was an explosion of color before him that both calmed him and enraged his spirit. It wasn’t like the realistic landscapes that Jungkook was used to seeing after all those years working with Taehyung. No, this was something else. It was almost like looking inside someone’s mind. There was a lot of black in the background, as if a void was threatening to swallow all hope in the world. But then loud cries of red, yellow, orange, blue, and green streaked through the void, as they were demanding to be heard against the impenetrable blackness. Jungkook could tell that the brushstrokes were done with an Impressionist technique, but this painting was without a doubt-
“Abstract,” Seokjin said, as if he could read Jungkook’s thoughts. He grinned in excitement. “You’re an Expressionist painter, aren’t you?! Oh, this is fantastic! Just what the art world needs right now!”
Jungkook blinked in confusion. Did Seokjin always know this much about art..?”
Seokjin scoffed at the manager’s expression. “I see your look and I take offense, Kookie,” he huffed. “Didn’t I tell you when we met that my grandfather was super into Vante? Who do you think had to accompany him to every single art show he went to in case he suddenly fell over or something? And there were other paintings besides just Vante on display!”
Jungkook blushed at being caught. “I-I wasn’t even looking at you!”
“Sure you weren’t,” Seokjin replied with a cheeky wink. He turned to the girl. “Young lady, don’t you worry! I have had a vision of greatness looking at your work, and my senses are never wrong. We shall be taking on your first show!”
Jungkook’s eyes widened in horror. “...what?”
“You will?!” Ara looked like she was about to cry. She jumped up and clasped one of Jugnkook’s hands in both of hers. “Thank you so much!! I won’t let you down!”
“W-wait wait-”
“Don’t you worry about a thing,” Seokjin declared loudly, drowning out Jungkook’s voice. “You’re not being handled by just anyone, but Jeon Jungkook, the man who got galleries to display Vante’s works back when he was just an unknown painter. There’s nothing he can’t do!”
As the two excitedly squealed with each other, Jungkook felt his heart drop in his chest. This was all his fault. He should have never listened to Seokjin’s suggestion to have the meeting here in the first place. He should’ve known…
Or, perhaps, what he should have known was that no one could ever know what Seokjin was going to do next.