Chapter Text
when jungkook wakes up in the morning, it’s eight am. his phone alarm is blaring from the side table, and sun peeks out of the curtains and tells him that it’s definitely time to get up now. jungkook yawns and tries to move his arm, but his entire back is being taken up by his husband, who also has his arms around jungkook, preventing him from getting up.
sighing, he pulls away again, only to have yoongi behind him grumble. this never fails to happen every morning, every time. he manages to squeeze out his right arm and push the snooze button on his alarm; the morning turns still and quiet without the noise. now is the daily process of extricating himself from the bed.
jungkook is no stranger to sleeping in late or waking up early. he’s used to work, and he’s used to sleeping like a rock when he has the chance to get fully recharged. he quickly and quietly removes himself from yoongi’s hold, replacing himself with a pillow so yoongi will be able to get a couple more hours of sleep. it’s not like he’ll do anything if he wakes up now, anyway, jungkook thinks to himself.
he heads to the bathroom and washes his face, brushes his teeth. he looks for a shirt in his closet and grabs the nearest dark one he can find, because he doesn’t want to do laundry so early in the morning. he’ll change later on, when it gets hotter. putting on a pair of comfortable sweats, he kisses yoongi on the forehead briefly before he goes, taking his phone and his apron with him downstairs.
the store still isn’t open yet; it won’t be until around 11:30, when they get the lunch crowd. jungkook takes the morning time to prep for all that he’s going to do for the day. there’s still a good hour before their supplier comes in, so jungkook takes this chance to clean up a little. he sweeps the floor, washes the tabletops, cleans the skewers and the grills on each table. he refills the fuel for the ones that are going low and opens the windows to let in fresh air.
the place looks brighter already. jungkook looks around at his life’s work and smiles, settling in the open kitchen. it’s near the customer’s tables because the restaurant is so small, but also so the customers can see that they’re only getting the freshest of food.
he does prep work in the beginning, but then when it nears around ten, he’ll start cooking side dishes in large portions. for now, he turns up the speakers his phone is attached to, letting soft, calm music filter through the restaurant.
the first things that need to be done is the dishes. he gets out the dish wash soap and his rubber gloves, fondly staring down at the wedding ring on his fourth finger before covering it. even after two years, he still loves looking at it. the excitement of being married hasn’t faded away.
it still holds it’s gleam and shine, and jungkook covers his hands with gloves to make sure it doesn’t get wet. he gets to the dishes - the skewers, the banchan bowls, the chopsticks and other utensils all get a good scrubbing.by the time he’s putting the last of the utensils out to dry, a knock on the door gets his attention. there, a blond man is grinning at him widely from underneath a snapback. he waves, his hands covered in meat gloves, hulky jacket shuffling with his movements.
jungkook wipes his hands with a towel to get rid of the dampness and heads over to the door, opening it from the inside.
“morning, jackson-hyung,” jungkook greets, smiling wide when jackson gives him a two-fingered salute. “do you have my order?”
“all here,” jackson motions to the truck behind him on the road, where the back is opened. mark is there, grunting as he’s heaving out boxes. “we’ve got beef, chicken, and of course, lamb! want us to put these in the back?”
“that’d be great, hyung,” jungkook opens the door wider to allow them in. “don’t get the floor dirty, i just cleaned up.”
“meatpacking is a dirty job,” jackson says somberly. “we’re the best around, though! mark, you ready?”
“yeah,” mark says, wiping at his brow. when he sees jungkook, he gives him a nod of the head. “how’re you doing, jungkook-ssi?”
“good, thanks,” jungkook replies, noting how the spring air has a little chill already. “you guys should come up for a cup of coffee sometime.” he holds open the door and mark walks through, holding a box of meat in his hands. he heads straight for the back, where the freezer is; they already know the shop inside out. jackson is still standing at the doorway, leaning against the side.
“we have work to do, sadly,” he grimaces, waving a piece of paper that jungkook assumes is his orders. “or else i would have totally taken you up on the offer. i’d like to see yoongi-hyung’s face when his precious coffee is given to someone else.”
“come over for lunch, then!”
“sometimes hauling around tons of uncooked meat does something to you,” jackson grimaces, patting at his stomach. still he grins. “but i’ll tell mark, we’ll stop by with friends soon.”
“alright,” jungkook grins, stepping aside when mark comes back to the front. he glares at jackson, pulling at the collar of his jacket.
“you, what are you doing here chatting like you have all the time in the world? come and help me, there’s more boxes!”
“i’m coming, i’m coming,” jackson whines, shooting a smile in jungkook’s direction. jungkook laughs and leaves the door open, returning back to his work.
he prepares the several banchans, saving the kimchi for last. kimchi takes the longest to make, and by next week this batch will probably be ready; he’s already let the napa cabbage soak for a while. now he’s focusing on the other things he has to make, as well as the fact that they’re out of one of the more important sauces. he’s got to make a batch of those, too. he’s left the main grill for yoongi to clean, because only that man knows how to handle the main grill for customers who don’t like grilling their meat themselves.
his plastic gloves are red and sticky by the time he’s done with the kimchi prep. he puts them all in boxes, leaves the sauce on the side, and looks at the clock to see that it’s 10:12 already.
now’s about the time he starts up the side dishes. jungkook pulls aside all the curtains in the place so that the smoke and smell will eventually go outside. he starts up the stove and tugs at his apron, sighing over the fact that his work is still not done yet. he rubs his eyes and tells himself that it’s time to do it diligently.
yoongi wakes up around then. jungkook can hear him thundering down the stairs, groaning in the back. eleven o’clock; jungkook is running behind. when yoongi sees jungkook, he reaches over and presses a dry kiss to his cheek. “morning,” he grumbles.
“it’s almost noon,” jungkook teases. he finishes up another side dish and puts it in it’s section in front of him. the fire underneath those pans will keep them warm. “did you sleep well?”
“i did, up until a few hours ago,” yoongi grumbles. he rubs at his side, grimacing. “that pillow doesn’t do you justice.”
“if you got up earlier, you wouldn’t have to suffer.”
“but sleep,” yoongi says petulantly. jungkook rolls his eyes fondly- yoongi can be such a sulk.
yoongi has already showered by the state of his slightly damp hair. as soon as the store opens, yoongi will take over and look at the meat pieces; he’ll grill them and leave some by themselves for customers who want to grill themselves. yoongi ambles away to the freezer now, just to check on the shipment. jungkook finishes up the last banchan with ease and sighs, knowing that by the end of the day, only one pan will be finished, not any more, not any less.
“yoongi,” he calls to the back, “i’m going up to the shower. open up, okay?”
“yeah,” he hears yoongi say faintly in return.
they live near the university area, so they’ll get a couple of students in, as well as a few regulars. he leaves the apron on it’s hook and heads upstairs to take a long, warm shower. he wants to get the scent of food off of his clothes.
the water feels great down his back. yoongi’s used the last of the shampoo, so jungkook opens up another bottle of yoongi’s instead of his own. yoongi’s also left clothes for him on the counter; a pair of jeans, a long sleeved shirt, and boxer shorts that jungkook is sixty percent sure doesn’t belong to him. the water on his back and hair feels good. it’s hot enough to calm his muscles and make him feel more refreshed. he comes out of the shower with pink cheeks from the steam and a wish to just wrap himself in a blanket and never get out.
there’s work to be done, though, so jungkook sighs and puts on the change of clothes. he blow dries his hair because working in a hot place with wet hair? yeah, no. he manages to get it to a satisfactory state before heading downstairs. it’s a little past twelve o’clock.
jungkook sees only one table filled when he goes downstairs, just as he expected. it’s taken by an elderly couple who own the clothing and other knick-knacks down the street. they don’t come in always, but the husband - mr kim - always says that jungkook’s side dishes reminds him of his mother’s, god rest her soul. jungkook doesn’t question it, only laughs and shuffles away to get back to work.
yoongi’s sitting with them now, grilling the lamb skewers over the grill. he’s chatting amiably with mr kim’s wife, who they both just call ahjumma. he looks at ease while he’s spinning the skewers from time to time.
“hello,” jungkook bows before settling down beside mr. kim. “is everything good?”
“it’s wonderful as usual,” mr. kim enthuses. “can you give your kimchi recipe to my wife?”
he always asks the same question. every time, ahjumma hits him on the arm and glares, saying, “what, 30 years of my kimchi isn’t enough for you? ungrateful man.” but she’s always got a playful glint in her eye.
jungkook hides a laugh and rests his head against yoongi’s shoulder. “is that my shampoo?” the older asks, feeling jungkook’s damp hair on his shirt. “are you tired?”
“a little,” jungkook admits. “but there should be other people coming in soon. are you going to start grilling?”
“yeah, let me finish up,” yoongi turns the last two skewers.
they do get decent business, but it’s only enough to be scraping by. jungkook wipes down the counter and sets a portion of the sauce to be served with everyone else, and then leans against the counter.
his stomach growls; jungkook only had a banana and some juice for breakfast. most likely yoongi’s gotten himself some coffee and at least a breakfast pastry. jungkook will wait until late lunchtime, though, when there’ll be more people.
customers trickle in, an eclectic bunch; a couple of coworkers looking for a good lunch, college students and their limited pockets, and a guy by himself checking something obsessively on his phone.
yoongi gets up after he’s done with ahjumma and mr. kim. he heads over to the tables, one by one, and asks them all for their order; only the guy on the phone wants yoongi to get his meat already grilled, so jungkook works on the orders of the other two while yoongi fires up his personal grill.
the thing about yoongi and jeongguk is that they work efficiently and well together, like an oiled machine. jungkook knows exactly what yoongi needs half the time, and yoongi’s always ready to tell jungkook if he’s missing something or the other in the orders. they make a good team, whether they’re actually talking about the food itself during the lunch rush or about something completely unrelated.
jungkook first gets the side dishes out to the college students, because the work group will take a lot more people and a bigger serving tray. they ask him for more kimchi than anything, and jungkook nods his understanding. the large circular serving tray is for them; he settles it down on the table and bows, his “please enjoy” disappearing underneath their clamor. he goes out back and gets serving sizes for five people and for two.
the meat is placed on the their tables while yoongi takes care of the single customer sitting near the windows, still on his phone. mr. kim waves goodbye as he leaves the restaurant, offering a gentle smile, and jungkook picks up the dishes and heads to the back to wash them.
they fall into a lull in that time, yoongi firing up the grill to make food for them both. he makes his meat a little more charred, because he likes the flavor; for jungkook, he keeps it well done. there are grilled vegetables there too, like red and green peppers, onions, and radish. jungkook plucks one of the peppers off the grill and plops it in his mouth, brushing his hands after the sweetness of the peppers explode on his tongue.
“you’re gonna burn yourself,” yoongi grunts, eyeing jungkook’s fingers.
“work place hazard,” jungkook says through his mouthful. he leans against the counter and wipes the sweat on his forehead, because it’s hot near the grill. he wears long-sleeves, usually, because he doesn’t want to get oil or anything else on his arms when he cooks, and long sleeves usually reminds him to be more careful and clean around the food. “did you eat breakfast?”
“yeah. i bet you didn’t, though, did you?”
“guilty,” jungkook shuffles so that his head is resting against yoongi’s shoulder. from this angle, he can see his wedding band on a silver chain around his neck, the one thing that yoongi never takes off. “hurry up, i’m hungry. it only happened today because i was running late; usually it’s me forcing you to eat.”
“i’m not that bad,” yoongi scowls, but both of them know that he is that bad.
jungkook opens his mouth to remind yoongi just how bad the other can get sometimes, but then their door opens and there’s loudness filling the restaurant. a couple of the other patrons look up to see what’s happened, but it’s not unusual for a restaurant to be noisy, so they turn back to their own food.
jimin laughs loudly, the sound of it warming up the place. he slings an arm around taehyung, who is snickering underneath his breath. behind them hoseok looks on, unimpressed.
“oh boy,” yoongi sighs. he always acts put-upon and grumpy whenever the terrible duo come in for lunch, but jungkook knows that he’s always secretly pleased. “what do you two want? stop scaring off my customers.”
“we’re your customers, hyung,” jimin whines. “and what kind of customer service is this, hyung? awful!”
“hi jungkook,” taehyung beams, to which jungkook gives a little finger wave.
“you’re not a customer, you’re a freeloader,” yoongi says. “go sit and stop bothering me.”
“i want beef today, hyung,” taehyung announces. “hoseok-hyung is paying.”
“you two are going to eat me out of my wallet,” hoseok sighs.
“they’re going to eat us out of business,” jungkook corrects from where he’s already starting to put together the side dishes. yoongi sets the finished meat on the side for them both and goes out back to get food for their friends; he practically knows their orders by heart.
as jungkook is setting the bowls on the serving tray, he hears a snap. looking up, jimin is showing him a picture he just took of jungkook putting all the food together. “it’s so cute,” he says, sharing the photo with taehyung. “look at him, so cute.”
“i’m right here, hyung,” jungkook deadpans, but they don’t pay attention to him. hoseok, at the very least, rubs the back of his head and looks a little sheepish. jungkook doesn’t mind; jimin has done this ever since they were little, since he got his first phone that could even take photos.
“need help moving those to the table?” hoseok jerks his chin toward the serving dish, now loaded. yoongi’s just come back with a plate of raw meat to grill. he turns off his own grill, because most likely they’ll just ask him to grill at one of the tables.
“no, i’m good,” jungkook rushes to say, because the last time hoseok offered, he dropped all of it over a couple who were sharing their skewers. it caused twice as much work for jungkook to take care of, and he’s not keen on repeating the instance. when they’re all seated and good, yoongi settles himself down with a sigh and turns up the grill.
“this place has the best meat,” jimin says seriously. “i don’t know how you guys do it, but none of the other places can compare.”
“you’re just biased,” yoongi says, but he sounds pleased, and jungkook shoots jimin a brilliant smile.
“it’s that samgyupsal place down the street,” taehyung tells them quietly. “they’re getting a lot of the business now.” what he doesn’t say is that that’s why no one is coming here.
hoseok opens his mouth to say something, but yoongi shushes him as the grill starts up. no one knows more than jungkook and yoongi just how empty their restaurant gets sometimes, despite its size. jungkook settles himself with a serving dish and picks off a skewer from the pre-grilled ones, already beginning to eat.
eventually conversation calms down into something less serious; jimin talks about his work, taehyung about his day, and hoseok plays on his phone - as usual - piping up once in awhile to add his thoughts in. jungkook eats leisurely, the meat melting on his tongue easily. yoongi seasons the meat before they go on the grill, and it’s perfect each and every time.
his husband is still grilling, but jungkook can hear the grumbling of his stomach. as jimin and taehyung begin to fight over something or another, jungkook taps yoongi to get his attention before taking a piece of meat that is his absolute favorite and offering it to him; yoongi leans over to eat it without paying much attention, eyes steadily on the grill and the fire.
this goes on for a while until taehyung sticks out his tongue, pretending to be disgusted. “oh my god, stop it, you two.”
“it makes me mourn my single life,” jimin says, mock sniffling.
“yeah, but that’s your fault,” hoseok grins cheekily. jimin pinches him.
“i’m just feeding him,” jungkook points out. “i feed you guys too.”
“yeah, but it’s different,” the same-age friends say, and jungkook just sighs with a smile on his face.
lunch is nice, at least, a good pause in their day. although the five of them lead different lives, their friendship and closeness does not waver- the trio being most frequent customers of their tiny eatery. hoseok eats quickly and efficiently, polishing his plate and his skewers like a vacuum, and yoongi eventually finishes off his own. jimin and taehyung polish off their own portion at record speed.
jimin pats his stomach as he’s leaving, looking blissed out. hoseok has left money on the counter for the meal instead of paying at the table, and yoongi snorts as he counts it.
“the idiot left more than normal, again,” he says.
“i should have gave them more to go with,” jungkook frowns.
“he does this every time,” yoongi says, scratching the back of his head. it’s not like he’s not grateful, but - it’s the principle of it. “seriously, this guy...”
“he’s your friend, he just wants to help out,” jungkook puts a hand on yoongi’s shoulder. “come on, there’s still work to be done.”
yoongi scratches the back of his head. “yeah, there is, isn’t there. alright, let’s go - you and me, like always.” he slings an arm around jungkook’s waist, warm and familiar.
jungkook smiles. “you and me.”
/