Work Text:
It was February 13th, snow blanketed thickly on the ground with more flurries going still. For most kids this was practically a cry from God himself saying to stay home from school, and had it been any other day Jeon Jungkook would’ve agreed wholeheartedly. But not today, today was the only day his teacher was letting them work on Valentine's Day cards and he would be damned if he lost the chance to give something to his crush. To be fair, that’s not how he initially planned it out.
***
Kookie, Jimin and Suga stood red faced in the hallmark card aisle at the local convenience store together. Somewhere in the not-so-distant bouquet aisle they heard the sounds of their dad knocking over vases of flowers, stammering apologies and receiving hell from who they assumed was the florist. It was a family tradition for Jimin and Kookie since they were little and their dad made the suicidal mistake of getting three Valentine's Day cards for Papa - one from each of them. Unfortunately, no one took into account that their Papa was a giant girl when it came to these things and practically broke down in happy tears every year, so there was no out.
“Death is always an option,” Suga suggested grimly as he looked in horror at a card that had two bears in a passionate embrace stating in cheerfully embossed letters 'I can bear-ly stand you <3'.
Jimin was quick to retort, "Can you stop acting like we've sentenced you to life in prison?” slapping him upside the head.
Suga grinned darkly at him, "Isn’t that what this adoption was?"
Kookie couldn’t hold in his snort of laughter, "Yeah, we only give napping and Netflix to the hardest of criminals."
Hearing the gentle teasing tone in Jungkook's voice, Suga could only roll his eyes, "As if you’re this much of a smartass at 14."
"Maybe you’re just that much of a dumbass at 18," Jimin quipped back as he straightened from his crouching position, finally managing to pick his card from the lower shelf.
"Yeah, well, to hell with both of you," Suga replied, seeing that he was clearly outnumbered, and flipped them off.
"Ah, having a conversation about Dante's Inferno, are we?" The boys turned around to see a surprisingly ruffled and bruised Namjoon, clutching a cluster of roses in one hand and a bulk supply of chocolates nestled on his other shoulder.
"Uh, going into hibernation a little late this year aren’t you dad?” Jungkook said, flushing when he caught Suga's smile out the corner of his eye.
"Seriously - I mean Papa can pack it away but even he knows type 2 diabetes when he sees it," Jimin added, eyeing the box of chocolates as the four of them began their walk to the cashier.
"I know," Namjoon admitted and placed their things on the counter, "But it was either this or offering to pay for three weeks of flowers and – ah! Seems like you have one card too many this year my son… who’s the lucky lady?"
Jungkook's heart stopped. No way had his dad seen the extra card he picked out for Suga, he had been so careful about hiding it in his inner jacket pocket.
To his utter relief he saw that all eyes were fixed on Jimin who was turning an interesting shade of beet red, "Oh! Ha! Must've taken two by mistake, it’s for no one."
"Is that what we're calling Taehyung these days?" Suga questioned dryly as he helped gather the paid items into paper bags.
And from there Jimin declared war, jumping for Suga's snapback which ended with them sprawled out on the floor. In the midst of the madness with his father frantically trying to play peacekeeper (probably realizing he had caused enough mayhem in a grocery store for one family), Jungkook quietly slipped his card onto the magazine rack. He couldn’t risk quickly buying the card without his dad seeing or, even worse, Suga and Jimin questioning it. Heaving a sigh, Jungkook scooped up the remaining gifts as the rest of his family followed behind escorted by security. He was going to have to think of something else.
***
This found Jungkook at school. On a snow day. Staring hopelessly lost at a blank card. Part of him knew that it was a lost cause. No matter how mature he was for his age, no matter the amount of awards he received, no matter how many times his teachers hailed him a protégé - it was always met by the ruffle of his hair, an arm slung around his shoulders and the absolute worst: an “I’m proud of you kid” from Suga.
And the logical part of him got it just fine - Suga was a senior in high school, captain of the basketball team and worked part time at a repair shop. While at 14, Jungkook was flat broke, needed a ride to school, and couldn’t even buy a drink. Then again, Suga couldn’t do that last one either, but that never seemed to stop him.
But the other part of him knew different. Knew it was over for him from the minute Jimin brought home the mysterious friend no one had ever seen before, soaked from the summer storm outside and covered in bruises, leading to a six year old Kookie blurting out -
“What happened to your face?” he immediately shrunk under his brother’s murderous gaze while Suga looked up with a mild expression sharply contrasting the heavy look in his eyes.
“I went five rounds with a brick wall,” Suga answered back, gingerly toeing off his shoes.
“And?”
“And I lost,” Suga looked him directly in the eye then and an amused smile broke out across his lips. Jungkook couldn’t name that glowing sensation that hit him in the chest back then, but eight years later he had a pretty good idea of what it was.
Still, Jungkook thought resignedly, that didn’t change the fact that all he had to give to Suga was a black and gold handmade card - even more impressive, a black and gold handmade card that was empty.
His teacher had tittered at him saying to write what he honestly felt - which Jungkook promptly shutdown with a dazzling smile that he was pretty sure had her heaving into a bag in the staff lounge. Because as well intentioned as she might be, Jungkook couldn’t put into words what his heart was failing to tell his brain.
How could he express that feeling when Suga always let him sleep in his bed when he had nightmares - too embarrassed to go to his parents, too proud to go to his brother - and curled his arms around him? How could he possibly say what it meant to him that Suga always came ridiculously early to pick him up from singing lessons just to hear him sing? Under the excuse that traffic was nice but on the way back home traffic jams suddenly lasted up to an hour. Or when he ditched a basketball tournament to make it to his middle school entrance ceremony, and that other ti-
“Shut up, shut up,” Kookie muttered to himself. He was getting nowhere with this. Taking a deep breath to compose his thoughts, he was struck with what he needed to say. With the last stroke of a gold pen, Jungkook looked down at the message ruefully. It wasn’t the most eloquent or the most romantic but it got the job done, and after hours of sitting on his ass he was more than happy with that.
“Jungkook?” A raspy voice spoke, indicating that his hyperventilating art teacher had managed to control herself enough to re-enter the room, “Jungkook, the blizzard looks like it’s going to take a turn for the worse… you have a ride home, right?”
Well, shit. So much for being the second coming of Christ. Because as easy as singing and dancing came to him, apparently planning a ride home on a snow day escaped him.
“Yeah, yeah of course,” Jungkook lied convincingly, “You can go ahead, Teach, I’ll clean up and close the door behind me.”
His teacher beamed at him, like Jungkook just told her he was planning to spend the rest of his days building wells in sub-Saharan Africa instead of 10 minutes on some minimal classroom cleaning. “Ah, you’re such a good boy, Jungkook! Always a step above your peers! Thanks and enjoy your weekend.” With one last look at him, his teacher strode out the door with Jungkook smiling charmingly after her.
The minute he heard the front doors of the school latch, Jungkook’s smile fell as he whipped out his phone and dialed Jimin’s number.
The soft ringing sounds filled the empty school, as the snow fell faster and faster outside. It was clear that whatever plans his brother had for day didn’t include picking up his goddamn phone. Friggin’ Jimin. He was Jungkook’s only real option with his dad probably trapped at the university in his philosophy lectures, papa busy checking up on the restaurant, and Suga, well, asking him seemed to defeat the whole surprise aspect of the thing.
Running his hands through his hair agitatedly, Jungkook slung his bag over his shoulder, squared himself up for the walk home and exited the school. I’d go through a lot worse, Jungkook mused as he trod through the dreamlike landscape of a winter dusted downtown, if it’s for Min Suga.
***
Screw Min Suga, Jungkook thought furiously an hour later after braving cutting winds, frosted cheeks, powdered hair, and total numbness. Screw him and his dumb face and his dumber grin and damn it all, if this card didn’t get the message across, next year Jungkook vowed to just whip a Kinder Egg in Suga’s face and say let’s make out.
“Okay, so maybe that’s a little blunt… but so is Suga,” Jungkook mumbled to himself as he reached the front door of the house.
He had barely started fumbling with his house keys before the door burst open and an arm yanked him inside by the front of his jacket.
***
To say Suga was sort of annoyed would be to say that the people who designed the Titanic were a little miffed when it sank to the depths of the Atlantic.
He was livid. Eyes ablaze, arms cross and rigid like he was actually waiting for Jungkook to pull an excuse out of his ass that would explain his AWOL status for the past 6 hours.
And before Jungkook could divert his attention with his black belt skills in aegyo or say some really lame line like, “Strange weather we’re having”, Suga beat him to the punch.
“The hell have you been?”
“School?” Jungkook began with false confidence, “Uh sorry. Basically it’s this thing that I have to attend five times a week-”
“Bullshit”, Suga’s voice cut like a knife, “It doesn’t take your dad to figure out it’s a goddamn snow day Jungkook,” Kookie duly noted the use of his full name, “I mean did you even stop to think what the hell I’ve been going through for the last couple hours? Your brother had plans, your parents were at work, it was supposed to be just you and me and you weren’t here. Then there’s that blizzard raging outside and you didn’t even have it in you to leave a friggin’ note or pick up your $200 phone? What do you think it is - a fancy paperweight?"
His phone had actually been dead since he attempted to use its last dying minutes to call his deadbeat brother, but he doubted that was going to win him any points by mentioning it. Jungkook wisely kept silent as Suga’s rant continued.
“I looked everywhere. I even messaged a few of your friends, drove around the neighbourhood to make sure you weren’t lying half dead somewhere of hypothermia and-” Suga broke off, unable to formulate any more words.
Jungkook didn’t need him to, though. It was written all over his face what shit Jungkook had put him through today: his eyes were still edged with panic and concern, his hair ruffled in disarray on his head. He could almost picture Suga’s day in his mind - waking up around 10, maybe a little concerned that Jungkook wasn’t answering his calls from his room but shrugging it off to him being a heavy sleeper. He might’ve even made as far as to making them breakfast before the real worry kicked in that Jungkook was being disturbingly quiet and went searching for him.
“I’m sorry I made you worry,” Jungkook began quietly, made even worse when Suga didn’t even protest to him saying that, “I really was at school though.”
Suga looked down at him then, a little calmer but just as skeptical, “Really.”
“Really,” Jungkook said, keeping his gaze firmly on Suga.
Sensing his sincerity, Suga sighed and slumped against the wall until he was crouched on the floor, “You’re lucky you came home when you did, I was about five seconds away from calling Jin.”
If the cold left any blood in Kookie’s face, that warning took away the rest of it. If his Papa was even under the slightest idea that Jungkook couldn’t be found, the entire Republic of Korea would be under lock down within a matter of hours.
“You wouldn’t, you’d doom us all,” Jungkook said in absolute terror.
“I don’t want World War III any more than you do, but if it meant getting you home safe I’d do it, and I’d do it happy,” The look in Suga’s face said he clearly wasn’t dicking around on the subject, “Honestly kid, what in God’s name possessed you to go to school on a snow day? You look for excuses to avoid school on regular days and when snow is closing up most of the roads, today is the day you pick to go? You didn’t even ask for a ride! Like of all the dumbass things to do-”
“Because you!”
As silence filled the front foyer of the house, Jungkook almost turned his head to check behind him because there was no way he just said that. He felt like concussing himself on the wall. Years, months, weeks, hours of these feelings burning away under the surface and he finally confessed them in two words: Because you. He had outdone himself.
Luckily for him Suga was the one to break the silence again, “Because me?” he said slowly, “Okay, I may be a budding genius but even I need a little more to go on than that.”
Blushing to the roots of his hair, Jungkook decided ‘to hell with it’. Ripping open his backpack, he fished out the card, sunk to the ground in front of Suga and held it out with both hands.
Suga looked at him in absolute confusion, “Jungkook, I don’t understan-”
“Can you,” Jungkook cut him off, “Can you be- I mean would you be if - you don’t have to it’s just… if you want be my - be my…”
“Valentine?” Suga finished gently, plucking the card out of Jungkook’s clammy hands. Looking fondly at him, Suga carefully opened the card, “Let’s hope the card is better at words than you are.”
Jungkook sat in front of him paralyzed, completely numb as Suga read the sparse lines he had written. The seconds dragged on for what seemed like hours in Jungkook’s mind which brought along every doubt he had along the way.
This was stupid. A handmade card? Suga was probably going to burst out laughing any second now. Or, as Jungkook’s heart dropped somewhere in the pit of his stomach, Suga was going to look at him with pity clear in his eyes and tell him he already was seeing someone. Tell him that he was never going to feel that way about his best friend’s little brother. Tears were beginning to itch at the back of his eyes; he had just ruined one of the best relationships he’s ever had for-
Jungkook suddenly found himself trapped in Suga’s arms, head resting on Suga’s shoulder with one arm tightly gripping him around the waist as the other hand cupping the back of his head.
“’Suga, nothing would make me happier’, huh?” Suga quoted his words back at him softly, “So this is why you went MIA today and couldn’t tell me?”
Jungkook remained silent. He wasn’t sure which direction this conversation was going yet and it felt like he was teetering on the edge of a cliff, the tension notching higher and higher with each passing breath.
Huffing out a laugh, Suga pulled Jungkook closer to him so they were pressed together in a firm line, “What an idiot.”
There it was. Jungkook started trying to break away, until Suga swiftly caught his chin and forced eye contact, “I hate you looking at me like that, like you’re scared. I meant that you’re an idiot for even thinking that I’d say anything other than yes, Jungkook.”
Drawing their foreheads until they touched, Suga looked at him with such warmth in his eyes that Jungkook felt like he was struggling to breathe. “Jeon Jungkook, I’d be more than happy to be your Valentine.”
Finally, after feeling like it had been millennia since he last spoke, Jungkook choked out, “Yeah?”
“Yeah, Mr. International Playboy. If you’ll have me.”
“I’ll have you,” Jungkook blurted out immediately, turning red again under Suga’s smirk.
Suddenly he found himself pinned on the floor, with Suga’s hand holding him in place as the older boy bent over him like when they used to wrestle as kids. Only, Jungkook didn’t remember it being this tense.
“Do you know what it means? To be the Valentine of a ‘convict’, Kookie?” Suga mouthed near his ear.
Jungkook certainly didn’t, but he was more than willing to make up for it in enthusiasm, “N-No?”
“Napping and Netflix!” Suga grinned at him as he pushed off and away from Jungkook, the fucking tease.
Tugging Jungkook into the family room, Suga settled them on the couch with a bowl of chocolate covered popcorn and Iron Man - and yeah, okay, if Jungkook wasn’t sure he loved the guy before, he sure as hell was now.
***
At some point, as the sky outside turned a midnight blue and the snow fluttered slowly under the amber glow of the city lights outside, Jungkook felt himself begin to drift off in Suga’s arms.
Just when he was about to completely fade out, he felt a soft brush of lips to the top of his head.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Jungkook,” Suga whispered as he gently nudged the younger’s head with his own.
And maybe he could’ve left it with that, but Jungkook wouldn’t be Jungkook if he didn’t reply with, “It’s February 13th.”
Which, of course, also meant that Suga wouldn’t be Suga if he didn’t respond with, “I can bear-ly stand you.”
In the meanwhile, unaware to either of them, the snow outside had finally come to a stop.