Chapter Text
whoever said that college was going to be easier than high school was dead wrong, and jungkook would like to smack them over the head. so far, it’s been hell on him to keep up with all his classes and clubs. the work requires more than just memorizing and reciting like high school; now there’s analyzing and critically thinking his way through assignments. he has to be smart about it. he has to write things from heart, not from the pages of a textbook.
some days he loves it, and some days he wishes he could really just throw it all in the air and go work for his dad’s bakery again. his dad would be disappointed, his mom would scream at him until hell came along, but at least his dad would get over it and give him an apron and tell him he tried his best.
jungkook groans at the thought of that and shoulders his bag again. being in seoul gives a sense of being part of something bigger than he is, but seoul is also busy and dirty and no one has time for anyone else. he thinks about busan these times, the salty sea air, eating sushi on the weekends. he’s so tired. it’s been really rainy in seoul lately. gray clouds roll in constantly and refuse to leave. he’s in the library with his laptop and books closed for the time being. he rests his head on top of his music composition book for beginners and looks out the large ceiling to floor window this library has, blinking sleepily up at the rolling sky.
it would be okay if he got a few moments of sleep...jungkook hasn’t had much sleep since last week. he rubs his eyes and gets himself comfortable - makes sure that his head won’t get a crick, makes sure that his arm won’t fall asleep, and as he’s trying to move his legs so that they won’t get in the way he finds himself just drifting off the sound of rain behind him...
when he wakes, it’s to the sound of his phone’s alarm. there’s a song playing in the background that he can’t recognize, and a man sitting across from him who is totally into his books. jungkook feels his face and sees that one side is completely warm, and probably flushed red from sleeping, and the time is around three hours later. wonderful.
his nose is cold. jungkook gathers up his things - counting each and every one of them - and stuffs them in his bag unceremoniously. the blond man across from him barely looks up from his books, tapping on the desk. jungkook is in such a rush to get to his next class (which started ten minutes ago) that he forgets his songbook on the library table as he leaves.
/
yoongi’s got no time to shit around with some nervous first years. they’re crowding up the recording rooms as the due date for final projects come by, completely messing up yoongi’s flow - which only comes in peace and quiet. so he goes to the library, where - even though he’ll be surrounded by a bunch of engineering nerds muttering underneath their breaths - he’ll still have some quiet. a place to think.
it’s raining outside, so he takes his umbrella with him. the sky is mostly rolling gray. it kinda makes yoongi think about slow, syrupy tracks and deep voices that spit out rhymes about nostalgia and better, halcyon days.
the library is pretty quiet when he gets there. he sees the engineering students there - looking rattled and paler than normal, as yoongi predicted - muttering underneath their breaths, wide-eyed and sleep deprived. he steers clear away from them, toward the other side of the library. there it’s less occupied, being the arts section, and the lights are dimmed nicely.
he chooses a table where there’s only one kid as opposed to the other ones crammed with three or four. he doesn’t see the kid’s face, which is jammed into his arms as he sleeps, so yoongi’s sure to be unbothered for quite a while.
he’s right; the kid sleeps for a good two hours. yoongi gets a lot of writing done, as well as some off-hand composition that’ll be good for a future assignment he’ll bullshit his way through. he puts his headphones in his ears and changes the song to something slow, a break from rap, and taps on his history of music book. the kid wakes up in that time; yoongi doesn’t get a good look at his face, the library still a little dark, and rushes out with his things.
it’s another hour before yoongi decides to leave too. he packs up his stuff and then notices something - odd.
a little black book made of leather, more like a journal than an actual notebook. he has no idea where it came from; he doesn’t remember ever owning something like this. usually his lyrics are written on yellow notepad paper, scribbled on napkins, or hastily noted on wax paper while he’s having lunch. inspiration hits him like lightning, what can he say.
when he opens it, there’s a neat line of handwriting that says, “ this belongs to jeon jungkook. if lost, please don’t read inside!!! > < my number is 02-451-2319!! ” the amount of exclamation points is astounding, yoongi thinks. but the book doesn’t look pretty old, and from a cursory glance, he can see that it’s mostly - words, with a lot of doodles in the margin.
despite himself, he reads a bit of it. at first he’s confused at the abundance of language, which seems far more mature and intelligent than what he was expecting - and then he realizes that a lot of these words are written in the style of songs. the first few pages are hastily written in the style of poetry, but later on, there are notes as to where the bridge is, the chorus, which words are stressed and which words are lightly touched. the margins hold pictures of cute little characters doing cute, but entirely unrelated things; like the author had been bored or stumped and just decided to draw. nearly all the pages are filled - three fourths of the book, in fact.
it comes to yoongi as a surprise that he’s been sitting in the library for an entire extra hour now. he has no idea what he’s doing, but he’s completely enthralled by this person’s writing.
he’s seen a lot of talent, but none like this. somehow, the lyrics are both poetic and thoughtful, yet concise and to the point. a lot of artists find it easier to produce flowery language and say it means something, but it’s harder to actually say what you mean in simple words; something that this one kid has already been able to do. yoongi figures it was probably that kid in the red hoodie that slept through two hours earlier.
yoongi flips to the opening of the journal and looks at the handwriting that has now become almost familiar to him. he smirks and opens up his phone and saves the number. he carefully places the book in his bag - it’s obviously something special, and he can respect that - and then he compiles a text.
/
jungkook gets a text in the middle of his japanese class. the professor hadn’t noticed him coming in late - he never does to any of his students, thank god - and jungkook was able to get the notes in an email that the professor sent yesterday night for them to study for today. so far, everything’s turned out well; he’s got a couple more hours of sleep that makes him feel bright eyed and bushy tailed at the moment, his jpn prof has no idea he skipped half of class, and he’s missing no content.
that is, of course, until he gets a text from an unknown number.
unknown
so, i don’t think you know me, but i definitely know you. you’ve got some pretty good skills, kid.
jungkook just stares at his phone, baffled. who the heck is this?
kookie
i’m sorry, do i know you?
he waits for a moment, before:
unknown
no, but you will.
then, there’s a picture of his songbook, laying innocently on a foreign desk.
it takes everything in jungkook not to make a noise of alarm when he sees it. oh god, how did - where the in world did - shit, he probably left in the in the library and didn’t count it because it’s always on him instead of in his bag, shit shit shit shit -
this guy didn’t seem like he was all too willing to give it back either. jungkook is pretty sure that the person who took it was that blonde man he was sitting across from in the library.
i am never going back there , he thinks murderously.
kookie
my songbook! thank you for finding it, do you mind giving it back to me? i can meet you somewhere.
unknown
i actually quite like it. it has some nice stuff in it. i might just keep it.
jungkook’s face turns red - in anger, or embarrassment, he doesn’t know. he looks up to see the professor still lecturing. goddammit, he knew that this guy wasn’t going to give it up so easily! he would have just said he found jungkook's book and would offer to return it if he did.
kookie
decent people would give lost belongings back to the person they belong to. >:
unknown
never said i was a decent person, jungkookie.
kookie
!!! don’t use my name like that! D:<
unknown
lol, why not? i’m older than you, i bet. you a ‘95er?
kookie
>: it doesn’t matter what i am, you can’t just call other people like you’re already close friends D: and give me back my songbook!!
unknown
yah, so you’re younger, then? and if you want your book back, you have to give me something too.
jungkook is about to throw something at a wall.
kookie
what could you possibly want??
after a moment, his phone pings again.
unknown
i’m tired. i think i’m gonna go to bed for tonight. meet me at the geon park fountain tomorrow at four.
to top it all off, the asshole goes:
unknown
goodnight, jungkookie. ;)
/
yoongi’s favorite thing to do is piss people off - it’s one of the reasons he’s in underground rapping. it’s also one of the reasons why he’s been banned from rapping in certain establishments. it’s not like he gives a fuck - it’s not his fault other people get riled up so easily. he has a temper too, but you rarely see him blowing his top off.
either way, pissing this kid off was too fun. he supposed that it was some junior or senior, by the way he was sleeping at the library. he uses a lot of emoticons, yoongi thinks, but who is he to judge? either way, he can practically feel the annoyance dripping off of every word. it fills him with glee and makes him laugh for a while when he thinks about pissing off some random stranger.
he gets a good sleep that night, especially with the promise of no class tomorrow. yoongi gets up late, at around noon, and basically fucks around before going to geon park.
it’s not as if he’s not going to give the songbook back - he’s not that much of a dick - but he’s actually really interested in this jeon jungkook. he wants to know if the guy is working in the same department as him, and if he is, why yoongi hasn’t seen him around yet. yoongi also wants to know if jeon jungkook can sing this lyrics as well as he can write them.
that’s the original thought, at least, while yoongi is waiting at the fountain. there’s no one around due to it being class time, so he should know pretty well who is coming to meet him. yoongi takes it easy and scrolls through his phone, reading his emails while he’s waiting.
he only looks up when there’s the sound of furious footsteps in front of him; a voice says, “you! give me back my songbook, now.”
yoongi looks up to make a wisecrack about using better language with hyungs, but the words die in his throat. in no way was he prepared for the kid to be attractive.
and he is. attractive. very, quite -
with dark hair falling across his forehead and a red beanie on top, wide eyes and a soft mouth and a pouty lower lip, he wasn’t prepared for the kid to be so damn cute. jeon jungkook’s wearing an oversized plaid shirt and a white t-shirt, dark jeans, and boots. yoongi can practically see the way jungkook’s cheeks puff up in annoyance.
immediately, his plans change.
“ah, remember, if you want something, you gotta give something first.”
jungkook fidgets with his bag strap and glares. it doesn’t have much effect, since it feels like a kitten trying to scratch you for the first time. “that was mine first, and it was just a mistake that i left it in the library! c’mon, just hand it over and i can go to class.”
“hmm,” yoongi pretends to think about it, knowing that the songbook is in yoongi’s bag. “nah. say, you hungry?”
jungkook looks taken aback. “what?”
“i said, you hungry? there’s a nice little place a couple blocks from here. they make really good bibimbap. did you eat lunch?”
yoongi might prefer this expression: a big-eyed look of bafflement.
“are you - what.”
“i want a date from you, kid. is that really hard to make out by now? christ.”
abruptly, jungkook’s face turns red. “you - i don’t even know you, what.”
yoongi shrugs. “i’m min yoongi, born in ‘93, and i rap a lot. i think you’re pretty cute, so i’m asking if you want to get lunch with me.”
“you - “ jungkook looks speechless. “i just wanted my book back.”
“i was gonna ask if you could sing one of those songs for me,” yoongi admits, “but then i saw you and that plan went down the drain.”
“oh my god,” jungkook covers his face. “this cannot be happening right now. oh my god, what.”
“is that a no?”
“you were gonna ask me to sing ?” jungkook asks instead, rubbing at his cheeks. “can i still - actually, i don’t know what’s worse, so - “
“why?” now yoongi is curious. “are you a bad singer? are you terribly out of pitch? does glass break when you sing? ‘cause i gotta say, that’ll be a real shame - the stuff you got in that book of yours is gold. absolutely beautiful.”
that, at least, catches jungkook’s attention. “you - you read it?” then, “you liked it?”
“yeah,” yoongi answers truthfully, “why wouldn’t i?”
jungkook doesn’t say anything for a while. “i mean, i’ve never showed anyone those. i’ve had it since my last one finished last year, and i - i’ve been really stressed lately, so i haven’t written my best. not even my closest friends have seen it.”
well, damn, now yoongi feels a little guilty. instead of letting that get to him, though, he steps a bit closer. jungkook smells nice, a little bit like vanilla. “so, how about lunch.”
“will you give me my book back?”
yoongi can tell that he’s thinking of leaving as soon as he gets his book, but yoongi also has plans of his own. he smirks. “yeah, of course. i’m not that big of a jerk.”
“then okay,” jungkook holds out his hand. “i’m jeon jungkook. i’m born in ‘97, and i’m going to major in music soon. don’t try to fool me.”
in 97, holy shit. yoongi’s crushing on an actual kid. he’s not even in his fucking twenties.
after this processes, he thinks, ah, what the fuck. four years won’t matter in the long run anyway.
yoongi takes jungkook’s hand and instead of shaking it, holds on to it tightly and pulls him in the direction of the restaurant. yoongi hasn’t eaten a proper meal since morning, and he’s starved.
/