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"It's three tickets per cheek, or five for the lips, cutie" the blond leaning over the booth says, finishing off the line with a cheeky wink, somehow managing to look both cute and sexy at the same time.
Jungkook freezes, doing an uncanny likeness of a deer caught in headlights. He pulls down his headphones to settle around his neck, and points to himself, mouthing, "me?" a bit incredulously. Surely, Park Jimin, resident siren of their university's music department, didn't just deign Jeon Jungkook worthy of his attention, right?
The other man laughs delightedly, it rings in Jungkook's ears like bells in the wind, and he doesn't have to see himself to know he's probably red as a tomato now. Yet Jimin-ssi's eyes are kind and friendly when his giggles finally taper off. He gives Jungkook a smile. Jungkook doesn't recall when his stomach got replaced by butterflies, but he supposes that's just par for the course when interacting with Park Jimin.
"Yes, you, Jungkook-ssi! Would you like to try our kissing booth? Remember, it's for a good cause!" the shorter man points out to the sign hanging off the side of the wooden booth, the logo of the local animal shelter bright and centred on the paper.
Jungkook is familiar with the place, it's where he adopted his own dog after all, and it's a cause dear to his heart. He finds himself smiling back at Jimin, initial nervousness temporarily forgotten with the new information. He walks up closer to the booth, and stands in front of the other man. A small frisson of pleasure runs down his back when he realizes that his sunbae has to tilt his head up quite a bit to maintain eye contact. He steps up even closer, feeling suddenly emboldened.
"Ah, well, I do love that shelter.. And my eomma says it's always good to help where you can.." he crinkles his nose a bit, slightly mortified at himself for the way his mouth runs when nervous. He disguises the way his hands sweat by patting himself down, pretending to search for his roll of tickets for the festival before finally "finding" it in the front pocket of his cargo pants.
He holds the tickets up in front of him in offering, cheeks painted red with embarrassment and excitement, and his toes curl inside his boots as he tries to will his stomach to calm the butterflies down.
"W-would.. Would this be enough, Jimin-ssi?" he stutters his words a bit, nerves getting the better of him and the red on his cheeks makes its way to his ears and chest as well.
Jimin, surprisingly enough, turns pink at the gesture, seemingly losing his composure for a moment before rallying himself back to professionalism. He gives Jungkook another smile, this one less "come hither", and more shy.
"Ah, ye-yes, of course! That's plenty Jungkook-ssi, are you sure you'd like to use all of it?" he peeks up at the taller boy through his lashes, unaware of how much psychic damage he's unleashing onto Jungkook's already stuttering heart.
Jungkook has forgotten how words work. Park Jimin was looking up at him (HIM!! HIM??!) shyly and he thinks there probably is some truth to those accounts of spontaneous combustion Seokjin-hyung told him about. He's dissociated a bit, distantly aware of how he eagerly nodded his head, thrusting the small handful of tickets into the pretty boy's hands, but finds himself coming back to indulge in the split second it takes for their fingers that happened to meet, to separate once more.
The blond steps back from Jungkook, and starts to mouth along as his hands quickly sort and count the stack of tickets, before quickly jotting down the amount and putting it all in a small box at the side of the wooden booth. He's back to smiling and speaking to Jungkook, who's feeling a bit giddy from the rush of excitement, adrenaline, and attraction that was coursing through his system. He smiles a bit dopily before clueing in that he should probably actually pay attention to what Jimin-ssi was saying.
-ch so would you prefer the first option or the second, Jungkook-ssi?" he tilts his head to the side (cutely, Jungkook wants to scream) and Jeon Jungkook, once again, finds his foot has eloped with his mouth.
"Second one, please, Jimin-ssi" he says quickly, and he tries his utmost to keep his body from vibrating off the ground, he's so excited. (He's doing this! He's actually going to get a kiss from Park Jimin!! Oh my God??) He plays with his lip ring as he tries not to fidget too much, missing the look of confusion and mild disappointment in Jimin's face as he heads to the back of the booth to gather materials.
When Jimin gets back, he tugs the edge of Jungkook's sleeve to lead him to the side of the booth where there's a curtain and two chairs. Jungkook gulps audibly, and can feel the sweat gather in his palms and through the rest of him. He finally sits down and quickly places his palms down on his knees to stop himself from shaking his legs too much. When he hears Jimin call for his name, he tunes back in and is met with the other man sitting across from him, his eyes bright and intense.
"We can start whenever you're ready, Jungkoo--" Jimin starts to say, before he is interrupted.
"I-I'm ready, let's go! G-go for it, Jimin-ssi!" Jungkook would have winced at how eager he sounded, but he'd shut his eyes tightly the moment he started to talk, too excited, too nervous, too full of butterflies for Jimin that he can't quite know where to focus.
"Oh, ok then, I'll go ahead--" there's a laugh in Jimin's voice, but it sounded warm, not patronizing, and Jungkook braces himself for impact. This was it. It's showtime.
He could feel the soft puffs of Jimin's breath against his cheek, absently noting the hint of caramel and coffee at each exhale, probably from his drink earlier. He could feel the warmth of the other man's body sat across from him, the firm pads of his fingers cupping and angling his head to tilt just so.
Jungkook could hear his heart thump thump thumping up a racket in his chest, and he is so ready. He hears the bells ringing in his head, just like the first time he saw Park Jimin, and it sounds refreshingly like his laughter. He allows himself a small smile at the thought. He tries not to jump out of his skin when he feels a cold wet pressure on his cheek, once, twice, three times, before his head is tilted the opposite direction and the same treatment applied to his right cheek.
The bells had stopped ringing, his heart had stopped thump thump thumping, and before he could wonder how come Jimin's lips felt so flat, when they were anything but, his sunbae interrupts his thoughts.
"There, all done, Jungkook-ssi, what do you think?" Jimin says. Jungkook opens his eyes and is greeted by the sight of the shorter man holding out a compact mirror to him with one hand, the other holding onto a stamp. When Jungkook sees his reflection on the mirror and sees the six identical fire engine red lipstains on both cheeks, it all finally makes sense.
He giggles a bit hysterically, genuinely finding the absurd turn of events hilarious, but also knowing if he doesn't hold on to that, he'd be deeply wallowing in mortification, so he tamps the embarrassment down and fiddles with his lip ring as he goes to touch one of the marks.
Jimin's hand is quick to intercept his, pulling it down to his side, "I wouldn't recommend touching it just yet, Jungkook-ah, the ink's still a bit wet after all, wait a few more minutes?" Jimin finishes off his request with a small pout, and Jungkook is but a man, so of course he concedes. Neither noticed how long before Jimin let go of Jungkook's hand.
Jimin leads Jungkook back out to the front of the wooden structure, herding the taller man out and around the other volunteers working the booth. He asks Jungkook to wait a moment while he grabs him some wipes to clear off some of the smudged ink on his cheek and Jungkook was raised to be a good boy so of course he'd listened.
Waiting til Jimin was out of sight, Jungkook proceeds to put his head in his hands (carefully!) and let out a dramatic groan. He could not believe he actually thought for even a SECOND that thee Park Jimin, resident siren of their university's music department, the cutest, sexiest, loveliest man to ever grace their halls, would actually (in real life!!) agree to give random people kisses.
"You. Are. An. Idiot." he grumbles to himself, punctuating each word with a hard tap on his forehead. Jungkook was too busy spiraling to notice Jimin come back to him. A small tap on his shoulder and Jungkook is quick to whip around, once again his eyes wide like a deer, cheeks and ears blushing deeply, the lip marks a pretty complement to the rosy flush of his face. Jimin is smiling at him delightedly, a sound suspiciously like a coo escaping his lips, and Jungkook doesn't think he could get any redder, but nevertheless, challenge accepted.
Jimin hands him a pack of wipes, grabbing one of Jungkook's hands with both of his, and looks up at him, eyes earnest and cheeks once again dusted with a hint of pink.
"Thank you for visiting our kissing booth, Jungkook-ssi, I hope we'll see you again, ok?" the pink on Jimin's cheeks take on a deeper hue before he quickly lets go of Jungkook and steps back. He quirks his eyebrows up and gives him a tiny wave goodbye, then he turns and rushes off to the back of the booth.
Jungkook is frozen on his feet, feeling like he just got caught in a twister and promptly placed back down before his mind had even caught up with what was happening to his body. He glances at the pack of wipes in his hand and turns it over.
A small grin grows on his face and his eyes sparkle in satisfaction and excitement. The butterflies decided to have a reunion in his belly and from the back of the kissing booth, Jungkook could catch the faint sound of Jimin's bell-like laughter. He turns around and starts to walk off, quickly looking down at the note written on the back of the wipes once again so he could transfer the number into his phone. His eyes scan the message scrawled in sharpie and his grin grows larger.
Thanks for choosing option 2, next time option 1 is on the house, and we won't be using stamps ;)
Jimin
010-xxxx-xxxx