Chapter Text
Seokjin thinks he’s content with where he is in life at the moment. He rents an affordable studio apartment in a small town where he works at the local city hall.
It’s much more slow-paced than what he experienced, or endured , while he lived in Seoul, but he feels so light and free. He has enough time for his hobbies of playing games and trying new recipes at home, but he’s also picked up new interests such as hiking and gardening after joining some local clubs.
His job is stress-free with wonderful and kind colleagues, most of whom are the same age as Seokjin’s parents, which is great because they treat him like their son. He gets invited to their homes for home-cooked meals and gets frequent praises on how handsome and lovely he is.
What’s more is that, after they’ve become close, his colleagues have also been very curious and bold when it comes to asking about his love life.
It was easy to brush it off, saying that he hasn’t really met anyone in the small town that’s mostly populated by senior citizens. He’s also politely declined some of their offers of meeting their children, all of whom have actually left for Seoul or other big cities.
But then Kim Namjoon happened.
Seokjin remembers when the head of the administration department first introduced the new employee. He remembers because of how everyone immediately glanced between him and Namjoon when they found out how similar they were in age.
It felt like he was in a drama when the boss asked him to show the tall, new guy around the office and also teach him his tasks.
Seokjin could feel all the eyes watching his every move when he showed Namjoon how to work the printing machine. He could hear all the hushed whispers when Seokjin hovered over a sat Namjoon at his desk when he had to teach him their digital filing system.
Maybe he’s hallucinating things, so Seokjin focuses on the task in hand. Luckily, Namjoon asks a lot of questions, but he doesn’t mind because the new employee seems very genuine as he writes his notes neatly in his notebook.
Because their work is rotational, it’s Seokjin’s turn to work at the counter the next week, the only time he feels quite drained by the constant social interaction. The citizens that come are all so lovely, but compared to his usual work at his desk, it gets tiring pretty fast.
Namjoon still shadows him, sitting quietly next to him as he takes notes of the different citizen’s requests and how Seokjin interacts with them.
“Seokjin-ah, who’s this, here?” One of the sweet, elderly neighborhood grandmas asks when she comes, gesturing to Namjoon.
The thing about living in this small town is that everyone becomes friendly, and it seems that not everyone has met Namjoon yet.
So with each person that comes in, most of them stay to chat, curious about Namjoon.
The realization hits then. Seokjin feels bad for not having asked anything personal to Namjoon, or really making the effort to get to know him. At least now he learns that Namjoon graduated from literally the most reputable university in all of South Korea, majoring in English literature and philosophy. He loves reading and shyly admits about his dream of being a writer.
When asked why he chose to come to this ‘nameless’ town, Seokjin could see himself in the younger. His vague yet polite answer is sufficient enough, most of the neighborhood grandmas and grandpas very kind and understanding, which leaves Namjoon’s cheeks with a pink blush.
Seokjin doesn’t notice how Namjoon’s blush darkens even more when more than a few of the citizens mention ‘how good they look together.’
Perhaps it’s the fact that every time he comes back home to see his family, especially now with his brother and cousins—Yes, even younger ones—all married, he gets targeted with the same questions. And it’s probably exacerbated by all his coworkers being the same way, and it piles up and up inside him.
Seokjin has always been content and happy as a single man. He has never really been active when it came to his dating life, though he stays open to anyone that makes the first move. But all the expectations and prodding questions, simply makes him more avoidant into ‘giving in’ into the typical path of getting married and settled.
Maybe that’s why he absolutely shuts down the idea of him and Namjoon, even if his colleagues and the entire town keep commenting on their so-called ‘compatibility’.
So now, whenever someone steers into that topic, Seokjin focuses on the paperwork, though he keeps the conversation going, changing the subject each time.
He’s too in his head.
He realizes when Kim Namjoon sparks a new kind of conversation with him over lunch.
They sit in a Gukbap restaurant right across the city hall, none of their coworkers with them. Seokjin has accepted the fact that they are plotting for him and Namjoon to get closer .
“You worked in Seoul for a while, right, Seokjin-ssi?” Namjoon starts, his round glasses fogging as he blows into the hot soup.
“Yeah, just for two years, though.”
Namjoon chuckles, a bit self-deprecatingly, “I quit my job there after a week, I was so lucky I got one here the next month.”
Seokjin chuckles, “Better to get out as fast as you can.”
They agree about the soulless work culture in their old companies, somehow ending up competing with how bad their health ended up before finally deciding to quit.
“I literally got sick after my first week, my body refused to go back to that place,” Namjoon sighed as he racked a hand through his hair. Seokjin notices how soft it looks for a moment, though he joins in laughing.
“And how was your first week here?” Seokjin rests his chin on top of his folded hands, raising his eyebrows. Namjoon gazes at him for a moment before answering.
“
So much better
.”