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Jungkook walks into the dog park.
Well, actually, it’s more like Jungkook gets pulled into the dog park. He loves Bam a lot, more than any other living being on the planet perhaps, but both Jungkook and his dog have a tendency to forget just how big and energetic Bam is.
So Jungkook lets Bam pull the lead (even though he bought one of those no-pull harnesses for Bam fairly soon after he had adopted the dog) into the first gate of the dog park- the one where owners take things like leads and harnesses off of their dogs before they go to play.
The park in Jungkook’s neighborhood is really nice. It has an area for smaller dogs to play in and an area for larger dogs to play in. And the best part is that the entire dog park is off-leash. It’s fenced-in and separated from the children’s park, so Jungkook can just watch Bam run around with other dogs or throw Bam’s favorite tennis ball around the park with him instead of worrying that some children might try to play with him and Bam might forget his own strength and-
The dog park is nice. Jungkook likes that he and Bam can just come and hang out a few times a week.
Jungkook’s new to this neighborhood. He’d just graduated college at the end of January and moved to a suburb of Seoul when he was offered a job. His job kind of sucks because all entry-level marketing jobs suck, but it doesn’t require him to work weekends or holidays and he feels at least like a paid intern, so he doesn’t have too much to complain about.
But, still, he’s new to the neighborhood. He’d tried his hardest to get his old roommates to move with him, saying that this new neighborhood was only two bus rides away from each of their jobs, but Jimin and Taehyung both really wanted to stay in the city, enjoying the fact that they can walk to their jobs on their own.
So Jungkook moved and adopted a dog.
Adopting Bam wasn’t a last-minute decision or simply a byproduct of his loneliness. No, Jungkook’s always wanted to adopt a big dog and this was simply his first chance to do it. His first apartment with Taehyung hadn’t allowed pets at all and the one that Taehyung and Jimin still live in had a weight limit on animals, and Jungkook knew that he would want a big animal.
Since Bam is still a puppy, he’s still relatively small. But Jungkook takes one look at his paws and can see what a big boy his doberman will grow into. In the few months that Jungkook’s had him, he’s already grown to be twice the size that he was at the shelter.
He’s still big enough to drag Jungkook into the gated area.
Jungkook unclips the lead and then the harness, which excites Bam. Multiple other dogs have come over to the gate to see which new friend would be joining them to play. Jungkook says hello to all of the dogs, petting as many as he possibly can before they’ve all run off, and watches as Bam joins the pack of dogs, his tennis ball being left on the ground for Jungkook to pick up.
Ah , Jungkook thinks. It’s one of those types of days .
And by that, Jungkook means that it’s one of those days where he has to sit at one of the benches and make awkward small talk with the other dog owners while their dogs run around and play with each other.
Jungkook likes that Bam is socializing with other dogs. It’s a huge reason that Jungkook specifically was searching for an apartment that was not only pet friendly to large dogs, but also within walking distance of a dog park. But Jungkook sometimes prefers the days where Bam wants to play with him instead and he doesn’t have to talk to anyone else.
Jungkook looks around at his options of places to sit. He doesn’t want to come off as rude, but his week was long because he’s been in this new town for nearly four months and he’s been at his new job for just as long and still hasn’t quite settled into the area. So he really just wants to watch Bam play, get a coffee from the small coffee shop that he’s started to become a regular at, and then nap for three hours.
First he looks at the picnic table. It’s usually the best option because it’s the only place that is guaranteed to have shade, since there is a pavilion covering it. But it seems that five other people had the idea to sit there as well. So not only is there not really any room, Jungkook thinks that he would be unable to avoid conversation if he sat down in that area.
There are two other benches in the dog park. They both look like they’re covered in shade right now, which is a bonus, and one of them only has one guy sitting on it. Jungkook thinks that is his safest bet for a place to sit down without directly sitting on the ground, so he heads in that direction, watching as Bam plays with a small, brown poodle that Jungkook’s seen around before.
“Hi,” Jungkook says as he approaches, hoping that this is as far as he has to go with small talk.
The guy sitting down looks up at him, seeming a bit startled, and then at the other two places that are available to sit as though he’s checking that Jungkook sitting next to him is his last option. He seems to be relieved that it is Jungkook’s last option.
Jungkook’s kind of offended, but he also thinks Mood. to himself, so he supposes that he’s no better.
When he actually sits down next to the man, he’s a bit breathless. Jimin would say that it’s because Jungkook is within walking distance of the dog park, but the walk is still really long, but Jungkook knows that it’s because he’s sitting next to the single most attractive person he thinks that he’s ever laid eyes on. Like, seriously, this guy should be an idol.
Jungkook is so busy internally gay panicking that he almost misses Bam and the toy poodle dog running up to their bench. Actually, Jungkook entirely misses them running to the bench and only realizes that they’re both there when Bam presses a toy into Jungkook’s hand that definitively does not belong to Bam.
“Ew, Bamie,” Jungkook laughs. “This is not yours! Where’s your ball, baby?”
“That’s Holy’s,” the man sitting next to him says. “Holy is very good at sharing toys, so your dog probably didn’t steal it from him.”
Jungkook blinks up at the man, then at the dog standing in front of him. “Is this Holy?”
The man nods excitedly. “This is my baby,” he says proudly. “We’ve been coming here for so long that everyone knows Holy’s name essentially.”
“Oh,” Jungkook says. “I’ve seen Holy around here before- him and Bam have played together a bunch, but I can’t recall seeing you around until today?”
The man nods. “I had shoulder surgery a few months back. I had to hire a dog walker to bring Holy here a few times a week. My name is Yoongi, by the way. Min Yoongi.”
Yoongi , Jungkook thinks, wanting to try out the name on his tongue. Knowing that it would be weird just to say his name out loud, Jungkook introduces himself back. “Hi, Yoongi-ssi. I’m Jeon Jungkook.”
“Jeon Jungkook,” Yoongi repeats, apparently not having the same reservations as Jungkook. “Did you just move in around here? It’s a fairly small suburb. Most of the folk who come here have known one another for years and years.”
“Really?” Jungkook asks. Yoongi nods. “I’ve lived here for maybe four months? I started a job here and moved from the center of Seoul.”
Yoongi nods, grabbing the toy out of Jungkook’s hand and tossing it. They both watch Bam and Holy run after the toy; Holy is a bit more graceful than Bam, who still hasn’t quite grown into himself yet. Jungkook wonders if it had been the other shoulder that Yoongi had surgery on, or if it’s just completely healed now, because Yoongi’s throw had been fairly powerful, sending the toy to the other side of the park.
“Are you settling in well?” Yoongi asks.
Jungkook, for a brief second, considers telling him the same lies that he tells Jimin and Taehyung to stop them from worrying about him. Considers saying that it’s going really great and being on his own is better than he could have ever expected and of course he’s been going out to dinners with his coworkers.
Instead, Jungkook pauses too long and Yoongi notices.
“Not too well, then?”
Jungkook, never taking his eyes off of Bam and Holy fighting over the toy, sighs and shakes his head. “It’s tough to move into a new town where you don’t know anyone and all of your coworkers are ten years older than you.”
Yoongi hums. “What about talking to the people here? Though, not going to lie, kid, you look fresh out of high school, so they’re probably all ten or fifteen years older than you, too.”
“I’m twenty-seven,” Jungkook pouts. “Did my military service and my college degree and everything.”
“I’m thirty-one,” Yoongi says. “So I’m your hyung.”
Jungkook nods. “Okay, Yoongi-hyung,” he says, smiling. “Thanks.”
Yoongi smirks. “For what, kid? All I did was introduce myself and pull my dog’s wet-ass toy out of your hands.”
“Yeah,” Jungkook agrees. “But that was enough to make today better.”
Jungkook feels sad to part ways with Yoongi when he has to go, but Yoongi apparently works a job that has him working weekend evenings (which is about the only thing that Jungkook thinks might be worse than his job that has coworkers who ask him where he was when certain world-events happened, just to laugh when he says that he was in primary school), so he has to leave not too long after Jungkook arrives.
Jungkook lets Bam play with other dogs for a little while longer and only makes him leave after he feels the familiar pain forming behind his eyes that tells him he really needs caffeine soon or else he’ll have a full-blown headache that he can’t deal with.
He walks Bam to the cafe that he’s been liking to go to. The owner there is just a bit older than Jungkook and always has a joke of the day written on the chalkboard that sits in front of the cafe that makes Jungkook laugh, and the friendly barista already has Jungkook on their “regulars” list, so he knows what Jungkook wants before he even orders it-
The cafe is nice. The workers are friendly and the atmosphere is warm and the coffee tastes good. At first, Jungkook was unsure if animals were allowed inside, but on one particularly rough morning, Jungkook decided fuck it and planned to lie about Bam being an emotional service animal because he was so desperate for coffee that he would risk being kicked out for being a liar just to get a sip of that caffeine goodness, and took Bam inside with him.
The friendly barista, whose name is Hoseok, simply cooed over the dog and offered to give him a cup filled with whipped cream. Jungkook’s still not sure if animals are technically allowed in the cafe, but no one has told him to get out, so Jungkook just continues to bring him inside.
“Jungkook,” Hoseok says brightly when Jungkook walks in. “Welcome back! Your usual?” Then, noticing Bam adds, “And this baby’s usual, too?”
Jungkook nods. “Thanks,” he says.
Then, he notices a man standing next to Hoseok looking vaguely lost.
“This is Namjoon,” Hoseok says, ringing up Jungkook’s drink with a ten percent discount that Jungkook has long stopped trying to get him to not add on. “He started working with us this morning. He’s dating Seokjin-hyung.”
Jungkook nods. Seokjin is the owner of the cafe and far too handsome for his own good. But he always talks to Jungkook like he cares about how Jungkook’s day is going and pets Bam and Jungkook thinks that he deserves to have a cute boyfriend-
“It’s nice to meet you,” Jungkook says sincerely.
Namjoon smiles at him, and then to Hoseok, says, “I thought that pets weren’t allowed in here? I spent all of that onboarding doing trainings and it said that the rules for the cafe-”
“Bam’s allowed in here,” Hoseok says, winking at Jungkook. “Seokjinie-hyung thinks that Jungkook is too cute and sad looking to deny anything.”
Jungkook pouts. “I’m not sad looking.”
Hoseok shrugs like he doesn’t agree with Jungkook.
“Seokjinie-hyung was hoping that allowing Jungkook to bring his dog in would encourage him to sit at the tables and become friends with us all.”
“Oh,” Namjoon says, dragging the sound out, voice lighting up with recognition. “Hyung never used his name, but he did say a sad boy with Bambi eyes keeps coming in here and he wants nothing more than to be friends with him!”
Jungkook blinks as Namjoon turns to him. “Nice to meet you!”
“Hi,” Jungkook says, feeling confused. He wonders if maybe he’s put down more roots than he realized. “Seokjin-ssi wants to be my friend?”
“He mandated that you always get ten percent off of your drink,” Hoseok says, handing Jungkook his usual lavender latte. “He actually mandated that you get free drinks, but I told him that I could sense that you would not accept them and probably would have stopped coming here.”
Jungkook nods. He thinks Hoseok’s probably right. If Hoseok had offered him one free drink, Jungkook might have awkwardly taken it and said way too many thank you’s. If Hoseok had offered him a second free drink, Jungkook would have high-tailed it out of the cafe and never gone back.
“You’re probably right,” Jungkook agrees. “And please tell Seokjin-ssi that I’m not sad. Just- not settled yet.”
Namjoon tilts his head. “You’re new here? Like, in the area?”
“Of course he’s new here,” Hoseok says. “We’ve known everyone in this freaking suburb who has lived here for the last decade, have we not?”
“We went to a really small school,” Namjoon explains to Jungkook. Then, to Hoseok, he adds, “But I was trying to be polite by asking.”
Hoseok rolls his eyes. To Jungkook, he says, “Namjoon and Seokjin-hyung are the absolute nosiest people that I have ever met in my life. He wants to know absolutely everything about you, but unlike me- who will directly ask you- they’ll skirt around it and play twenty questions with you.”
“That’s how you make friends, Hoseok. It’s about mutual bonding.”
“Um,” Jungkook says, noticing that Bam is starting to get a little antsy sitting in the same spot. The music in the cafe isn’t loud, but there are quite a few people in the small shop, and the noise seems to be overstimulating for his dog. “Thank you for the, um, mutual bonding. But I think that Bam and I need to go? He had a long day at the dog park-”
“Oh, my best friend goes there a lot,” Namjoon says. “He’s a year older than me. But, you know, that’s someone who might help you feel settled in the area.”
Jungkook smiles. He’s grateful to Namjoon and Hoseok (and apparently Seokjin) for their kindness, but he’s feeling as overwhelmed as Bam looks and he really needs to go home and nap for four hours straight.
“Thanks,” Jungkook says. “I’ll be on the lookout for someone my age there.”
The only person that Jungkook sees in the dog park who is kind of around his age is Yoongi.
And that’s okay with him, truly.
He thinks that Yoongi could be Namjoon’s best friend. He doesn’t know, though, because unlike him and Namjoon and Hoseok, Yoongi and Jungkook are not participating in mutual bonding.
Yoongi and Jungkook only sometimes talk when they’re sitting on the bench that Jungkook calls theirs in his mind. Mostly, they just sit in silence while watching Holy and Bam play together. Which happens more often than not. Jungkook is surprised to see that Bam and Holy not only seem to remember one another, but are apparently doing some mutual bonding of their own because they are constantly playing together now.
Jungkook doesn’t want admit that over the past few weeks- since the day that he met Yoongi- he’s been going to the dog park at the times that he’s most used to seeing Holy there, but Yoongi and Jungkook have been in the park at the same time every day that Jungkook has visited and it’s not really that much of a coincidence.
He just wishes that he and Yoongi would talk more.
Again, they’re mostly silent. And Jungkook’s okay with that. Jungkook’s an introvert himself. It’s why he sat next to Yoongi on the first day that they met.
But Jungkook also thinks that Yoongi is the single most attractive person who he has ever had the pleasure of looking at and he wants to get to know him more than just knowing about Holy. Because when Yoongi does speak to him, it’s almost always with facts about his dog. He asks Jungkook questions about Bam, too, which Jungkook happily answers because he loves talking about his sweet little baby.
But every time that Jungkook asks a more personal question, asks for something more than a name and a fun fact about his dog, Yoongi switches the subject back.
Maybe he just doesn’t like you , Jungkook’s brain whispers. People who are interested in you would talk to you.
Jungkook tries to tell his brain to shut up. Tries to tell himself that maybe Yoongi’s just shy. But he’s not able to quite push the thought away.
For the first time in weeks, Jungkook’s the first one to leave the dog park.
Usually, he stays until well past when Yoongi leaves. He usually arrives after Yoongi and he doesn’t just go to the dog park to see his crush- he really wants to make sure that Bam is getting enough physical exercise. But today, the silence from beside him is too deafening. He calls out for Bam and gives a polite goodbye nod to Yoongi before cutting the trip to the park short.
He figures that he can make it up to Bam by taking him on an extra long evening walk.
Jungkook doesn’t even realize that he’s naturally heading to Seokjin’s cafe until he’s already standing outside of it.
He’s not really in the mood for talking today, and he knows that no matter if Namjoon or Hoseok or Seokjin is working, he’ll be pulled into conversation.
He sighs and decides that his desire for a latte is stronger than his desire to not talk. Plus, he always leaves the cafe feeling happy, so he figures that going inside is worth it today. He hopes that Hoseok is working. Much like how Hoseok had been straight up with Jungkook about his intention to be friends, Jungkook is always very honest with Hoseok about how he’s feeling for the day. If he doesn’t want to talk, he’ll let Hoseok know it, and he won’t have that lingering feeling that he’s being rude tickling the back of his brain.
“Ah, Jungkookie,” Hoseok says brightly when Jungkook walks into the cafe. He doesn’t know if Hoseok is always watching the door, but he always calls out for Jungkook when he walks in, no matter how many people are in line in front of him.
Hoseok motions for Jungkook to take a seat, which has also become something of a new normal for Jungkook. Hoseok will wait until the line dies down, or call out for one of his coworkers to help out, to make Jungkook’s lavender latte and do table service to bring it to him. Jungkook doesn’t mind. Bam can get fussy if they’re in a long line and Jungkook doesn’t like to put him in stress.
Plus, there’s now suspiciously a water bowl at the table Jungkook had sat at the first time that Hoseok told him to have his drink inside the cafe, which Bam always eagerly drinks from after expending so much energy in the dog park.
Hoseok and his coworker, Jihyo, quickly work through the line signifying their Saturday morning rush. A few other people choose to sit inside the cafe, but most of the line was for to-go orders.
“Coming right over,” Hoseok says. “Just need to steam this milk for you!”
Jungkook smiles at him, feeling thankful that he’s finally started to take roots in the area. Sure, he wants to take roots with Yoongi from the dog park, but that’s romantically. He likes that Seokjin and Hoseok and Namjoon all want to be his friend.
Jungkook pulls out his phone, sending off a quick text to Jimin and Taehyung to see if they might like to get dinner together the following weekend. It’s two buses to get to their apartment from his own, so none of them make the trip often (so, yes, Jungkook does understand why his roommates didn’t want to move with him) and he really, really misses his best friends.
He’s in the middle of typing out the invitation when someone new comes into the cafe, signified by the small bell above the door ringing.
“God, why am I the most awkward person in the world, Hoseok? I can’t fucking say a word to him and today he just left . Like, there’s no way he could ever be interested in me now because I am shy and went and fucked it all-”
Wait. What?
Jungkook turns his head, very sure that he’s hearing Yoongi’s voice right now. And- wait. Is Yoongi talking about Jungkook?
“Um,” Hoseok says, eyes flicking from Yoongi to Holy to Bam to Jungkook.
Yoongi’s eyes follow Hoseok’s and his face blooms a very pretty pink once he realizes that Jungkook is in the cafe as well.
Jungkook and Yoongi make very awkward eye contact for way too long before Yoongi slowly turns to Hoseok and says, “You’re a fucking traitor.”
“Please don’t swear in the cafe,” Hoseok says, weakly. “And- Namjoon is a bigger traitor than me. He’s your best friend.”
Yoongi swivels on his heels to face Jungkook again. “You know Namjoon?”
“Yes,” Jungkook says, feeling like he’s being scolded. “I’m sorry?”
Yoongi sighs. Hoseok looks vaguely guilty. Holy is trying to get to Bam. And Jungkook feels so confused.
Yoongi walks to Jungkook and takes a seat in the chair across from Jungkook. Jungkook’s eyes are probably very wide because he had not been expecting this at all.
“Hey,” Yoongi says, sounding casual like he and Jungkook usually sit at the table in the small cafe together. “So, you’re regular enough here that they let Bam come in?”
Jungkook nods. “I thought he was special. But it turns out that Jin-hyung doesn’t have a soft spot for me and Bam like he claims.”
“He does,” Hoseok says as he sets two drinks on the table. “I wasn’t lying about that. I just omitted that Yoongi-hyung and Holy are allowed in here, too.”
Hoseok quickly leaves Jungkook and Yoongi, who fall into their usual silence in his absence. Jungkook feels like he should say something about what Yoongi was saying when he walked in, but he’s genuinely barely processed any of it.
Yoongi thought that Jungkook wasn’t interested? Jungkook feels that, through all of the questions about Yoongi’s interests and life, he made it pretty obvious that he was trying to get to know Yoongi. In a friendly way at the very least.
“So, I’m going to assume that you don’t secretly have headphones in and music blasting at the highest possible level and assume that you heard everything that I said when I came in,” Yoongi says.
Jungkook nods. “Um, yeah,” he says. “You- Um- You want me to be interested in you?”
Yoongi’s face grows red once more and Jungkook thinks that he looks so fucking pretty and Jungkook has to resist the very strong urge to reach over and pinch his cheeks.
“Ugh,” Yoongi groans. “I- In short, yes. I’ve liked you since the first day at the dog park and we kept both being there at the same time and you’re always really open about your life and you’re so handsome that it’s kind of unfair and my little, gay heart is constantly hurting because of how endearing and cute you are, but I’m so fucking shy that I was having trouble talking to you or answering your questions so I was just sticking to talking about the dogs but then today you left and I know it’s because I was being boring and because I don’t know how to talk to cute guys-”
“Yoongi-ssi,” Jungkook says, cutting off his very cute rant. “I think that you should know that I started going to the dog park at the times that I remembered seeing Holy there over the past few months.”
Yoongi blinks. “Wait. Really?”
Jungkook nods.
“I thought that you weren’t interested,” Yoongi admits. “Though, I guess you were making a lot of attempts to talk to me about things that were not related to my dog…”
“Yeah,” Jungkook laughs. “I wanted to get to know you and thought that you weren’t interested. I finally decided to give up today. Sorry for leaving you there, by the way.”
Yoongi shrugs it off. “It’s fine,” he says. “I probably would have ended up doing the same thing. I’m just really shy and you’re really handsome and it’s pretty much a recipe for disaster because I am a panicked gay.”
“Well,” Jungkook says, dragging out the word. “What do you think about going out sometime, then? Maybe meeting up intentionally outside of the dog park?”
Yoongi smiles at him and Jungkook’s heart lights up. God, Yoongi is so pretty .
“What? You don’t want our first date to have these two beauties present?” Yoongi asks, a teasing lilt to his voice as he points below the table where Holy and Bam are sleeping at their feet.
Jungkook smiles. “We’ve had plenty of hangouts with them. Let’s go somewhere on our own.”
Yoongi winks at him. “I’m going to go get one of those raspberry cheesecake cups. Do you want anything?”
Jungkook shakes his head. “No, thank you, though.”
Jungkook feels his phone buzz inside his pocket multiple times in a row, a clear indicator that his group chat with Taehyung and Jimin is blowing up. He assumes that they must be worried about him because they always are. His best friends are constantly checking that he’s doing okay, that he’s settling in well, that he’s made friends.
But as he watches Yoongi walk up to the counter to order his treat from Hoseok, Jungkook knows that, for the first time, he’ll text back that he’s happy and he’ll really mean it.