Chapter Text
“Do you, Jeon Jungkook, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband? Do you promise to love him, comfort him through sickness and in health for as long as you both shall live?” The marriage officiant says.
The day was cloudy and cold, but the warmth of his lover’s hands were warm enough to heat up a kettle on the stove. He can feel tears brimming the ducts of his eyes, and thinks to himself that this day couldn’t get any better.
Jungkook grins from ear to ear, looking at the man that holds his heart. He is strikingly handsome, from head to toe. His humour is everything Jungkook had wished for. He looks from the man and back to the priest, nodding softly as he says “I do—
Jungkook wakes up in a sweat, his eyes wide as he pants.
In rare occurrences, he has dreams that feel a little too real. And when that happens, they come true. Like that time in fourth grade where it first happened, he had a dream that he was giving a speech in front of his class. He was so nervous that he may or may not have peed his pants, causing the entire classroom to erupt with laughter as Jungkook cried and ran away. He shivers at the memory. No one speaks about fourth grade.
Then there was that time in middle school where he confessed to a girl, only to be kindly rejected in front of everyone. He tried to avoid making that decision, but the words just seemed to blurt out at the wrong place, wrong time.
And then there was that time he dreamt that he passed his test and scored top of the class for the first time ever. Though he felt like he was on top of the world, he did get beaten up later by the usual top students. Still, he showed his mother his test paper with a proud smile on his face and a sack of frozen veggies pressed to his swollen eye.
So, he concluded that this apparent gift was a curse, instead of bringing him joy, it brought him grave misery. He curses as he rolls out of bed to get ready for his lecture. He makes a mental note to avoid every handsome guy at any given cost. Another thing about his vivid dreams is that he forgets them in a span of a week, so that wouldn’t really help with his case.
He brushes his hair and stares at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes are baggy and he looked like he hadn’t gotten any sleep for the past week. The only thing on his mind was the photography project he had to finish for his graduation project. Though the theme was a bit corny, Jungkook found it quite interesting. To capture love through a camera. And as anti-romantic as he seemed, he is probably the most hopeless romantic person in South Korea. His standards are far too high to settle for someone he meets in college. All guys are the same in their early twenties.
He enters the campus, making a beeline to his lecture with his head down, wanting to limit any possible interaction in the morning. And he feels stupid for keeping his head down the entire way because he slams right into someone the next moment, toppling onto the ground with a thud.
The mystery man is scrambling all over the floor to collect his notes, his hair a mess and a pencil hanging from his ear. He’s wearing a suit, oddly, that has mismatched buttons and glasses perched on his head. Jungkook snaps out of his thoughts and begins to help the stranger, standing up soon after to hand the notes over.
And without as much as a thank you, the male looked at him weirdly before scurrying away. Jungkook looks at the man’s retreating back with a raised brow, a pout on his face before shrugging. The guy looked oddly familiar.
During his lecture, he began to doodle on his notebook, eyebrows furrowing at the stranger in the picture he sketched. It was that same guy he had met in freshman year and had never seen again. The very same guy that entered his dream the night prior. He furiously scribbles out his face, an angry flush on his cheeks as the drawing disappears with a swift move of his hands.
“It’s not funny, Taehyung!” Jungkook pouts during lunch as his best friend laughs loudly, his boyfriend chuckling right next to him. He throws a fry at Taehyung, the older one smiling as it hits his cheek. “Stop teasing me.”
“Aww, the baby is pouting.” Taehyung squeezes his cheek, making Jungkook more furious. He looks at Taehyung’s boyfriend for help, but all he receives is a smug smile and a shrug.
“Tae, leave him alone. He’s clearly in a crisis.” Jimin purses his lips, a giggle erupting from his throat. Taehyung finally calms down as Jungkook plays with his food on his tray. “Now, Jungkook. Tell us more about this dream you had.”
“You won’t make fun of me?” Jungkook asks, and they both share a look before nodding. The youngest heaves a sigh as he places his chopsticks down and leans against his hands. “So, before I was rudely interrupted.”
Jungkook narrows his eyes.
“I had a dream where I got married, and it felt too real. Taehyung, stop laughing!” Jungkook whines, and the latter just bursts out laughing again. “This isn’t funny! You know about my dreams coming true!”
“Can you dream about mine and Tae’s wedding?” Jimin asks with wide, excited eyes, and Taehyung chokes right next to him. Jungkook could already feel an oncoming headache as he watches the two lovers quarrel about whether they should have a spring wedding or a winter wedding.
After realising he was being blatantly ignored by his only two friends, he chewed on a fry while glancing around the cafeteria. His chewing comes to a halt when they brush past that scruffy, out-of-fashion dude from the hallways again.
Now, Jungkook was not a judgemental person. He always kept an open-mind to things and gave everyone the benefit-of-doubt. But this guy in particular makes Jungkook grimace a little. His clothes were baggy and his hair was a janky mess. The glasses that were on his head prior are now hanging loosely on the bridge of his nose, looking way too big for his face. And along with the poor fashion choice came the poor attitude. Poor guy would probably break the camera lenses just with one look. He was quite…unattractive.
When Jungkook finished studying the poor guy, he looked up and immediately locked eyes with Jungkook, throwing the boy off guard as he looked down at his tray. Jungkook lifts his eyes once again, now finding the table empty. He glances around the cafeteria for him, but it’s as if he had disappeared through thin air.
“Jungkook, Jimin was asking if you still needed models for your project.” Taehyung nudged his tray with his hand. Instead Jungkook stands up and immediately packs his things away.
“Sorry guys, the theme is ‘love through the lenses’, not whatever you guys got going on.” Jungkook replies, ignoring his friends' offended stares as he begins his manhunt for the strange man. There's a tug that’s pulling at him, and he would be restless if he doesn’t settle his thoughts.
A couple of days go by and he decides to focus on his project instead, the dream now at the back of his mind. It’s silly. He could just avoid the man from his dreams as best as he could. It has been two odd years without seeing him, he doesn’t even know his name. He laughs to himself as he clicks photos of things he deemed fit for the theme.
Then the camera zeroed in on that same raggamuffin male from two mornings ago, sitting under the red pine tree reading a book.He’s wearing an oversized sweater this time, with ripped jeans. His hair was tied back messily and a pencil hung from behind his ear. He stood staring at him before the aforementioned male looked up with furrowed brows. He glares right into the lenses of Jungkook’s camera, and the younger male is quick to avert his gaze again.
“Are you stalking me?”
Jungkook jumps at the voice, the sound tickling his brain. It had a teasing scold to it, a bit of warmth too. Jungkook fumbles with his camera, a flush colouring his cheeks. The male looked even more ragged up close, but good lord did he smell heavenly. Jungkook’s sensitive nose caught a whiff of citrus with a hint of vanilla.
“As if,” He scoffs lightly, but the angry blush gives his little lie away.
“Then why do I keep catching you looking at me?” The male asks, his eyebrow now perked as if he was studying Jungkook. As if he were trying to read him. Read his body language.
“Don’t flatter yourself, you just caught me at the wrong times.” Jungkook feels so done with the conversation. This loser really thinks Jungkook was checking him out? Never in his wildest dreams. “Look, I don’t have time for this.”
“Just admit it–
“Leave me alone, freak!” Jungkook scurries off, ignoring the hurt expression that the male gives him. He clutches his camera and returns to his dorm. His roommate gives him an odd expression when he slams the door open and shuts it just as quickly. He’s slightly glad that his dorm mate knows how to mind his own business, going back to making tracks on his laptop instead.
That night he dreamt of regret.
______
“Seokjin-hyung! Can you make something to eat?” Hoseok, Seokjin’s cousin, asked as he threw himself on his leather futon couch. The older ignores his pleas, the need to solve this equation high on his mind. Hoseok’s consistent whining is what finally made him stand up and walk to the kitchen, though his notepad was still in his hand. “Hyung, quit studying for once.”
“I can’t. I have to solve this equation first.” The older mumbles to himself as Hoseok sits at the expensive marble counter. He watches his cousin grab ingredients, stop to write something on his notepad, then begin the prep again.
“My eyes are hurting just by watching you.” Hoseok groans as he watches Seokjin jot down more notes. He places his chin on the palm of his hand before grinning and snapping his finger. “I know, let’s talk about that boy!”
“What boy? I don’t have any clue what you’re talking about.” Seokjin puts his pen behind his ear so he can begin to chop the vegetables.
“Come on, what’s his name again?” Hoseok thinks, the name on the tip of his tongue.
“Jeon Jungkook?”
“Yes– wait, you knew who I was talking about?” Hoseok teases, loving the way his cousin’s ears turn bright pink. He clasps his hands together, a mischievous grin on his face as he leans forward. “Anything new?”
“Well…” Jin purses his lips as he avoids his annoying cousin’s insistent stares. He places the knife down and searches for his pen. Hoseok points at his ear, and he flushes as he grabs the pen from behind it, jotting down something. “I bumped into him a couple of days ago. Then I made eye contact with him in the cafeteria.”
He leaves out the detail where he had been staring at Jungkook for so long that he probably got weirded out and gave him a mere once over that hurt Jin’s ego.
“No way! This is big for a person like you!” Hoseok leans over the counter to slap Jin’s shoulder, earning a tense glare as the older had messed up his notes. “Now you can finally indulge. It’s been what? Two years since you first met him?”
“He doesn’t remember me.” Jin frowns. He remembers seeing the disgust on Jungkook’s face when they had made eye contact, and that was enough to make him flee the scene.
They had met when Jungkook was bouncing around campus with an excited grin on his face, a camera slung over his neck. Then suddenly it was on the concrete floor, damaged mildly, but enough to put Jungkook’s first assessment at risk. So Jin being the nice person he was, approached Jungkook with kind eyes and a mask on.
It was also the very same day that he had to present in front of some faculty and shareholders of the college, as well as his father, the headmaster. He had been dressed in a suit, his hair freshly cut for the first time in months, and he was wearing his contact lenses.
Jungkook had blushed in his presence as he explained what happened to his camera.
“No worries, I can get this fixed.” Seokjin brushed him off, wanting to seem cool in front of the cute guy with big doe eyes. He pops the memory card out of the slot and hands it to the stranger. “Meet me here again tomorrow.”
And so he spent all night fixing the camera, thanking the heavens that Hoseok had gotten the right materials for the device.
“The things we do for love, right hyung?” Hoseok smirks as Seokjin dishes their food. He ignores Hoseok’s innuendo, finalising some notes so he can eat without interruption. “This is fate! A brainiac engineer student that bumps into a cute person in a crisis who just happened to break his camera right then and there? The cliche writes itself.”
Seokjin rolls his eyes.
“There is no such thing.”
_____
Seokjin wasn’t a very social person, especially in his all natural form. Very rarely does he ever dress up, and when he does it’s like an entirely new person, aside from having the same personality. A shy-loser introvert who plays games in the dark corners of gatherings or parties, sipping on his can of soda because god-forbid he gets shitfaced drunk in front of strangers. Alcohol also changes him.
In conclusion, Seokjin is a loser.
People stick up their noses when he’s near. Cringes when his hair falls over his eyes and he stumbles for the tenth time in a row because he’s absolutely clumsy. Even when he tries to wear better clothing, his mind clogs up with bad thoughts and the next moment he’s drowning in one of his oversized hoodies.
And just like clock-work, he sauntered down the corridors with his head up just enough for him to see. There's an occasional shove to his shoulders, the already forming bruise from the shove prior now aching. And just when it couldn’t get any worse, the pretty doe eyed boy steps into his view, causing him to halt.
His bottom lip was pursed under his teeth, a dimple showing on his cheek as he bit them. He looked almost nervous, and Jin could feel two sets of eyes looking at them. Jungkook’s friend’s were snickering at the back of him, and he narrowed his eyes before stepping around Jungkook to carry on walking to his lecture.
“Wait!” Jungkook’s pure-like honey voice said, causing Seokjin to stop and turn slowly, almost in disbelief that the young photography student was actually speaking to him. Again. Willingly. “I-I came to apologize for calling you a freak.”
“But you meant it, right?” Seokjin says, the hurt from the day prior coming back to him. His first and only crush called him a freak. “Anyways, you don’t need to apologize.”
“Wait, my friend Taehyung is throwing a party tomorrow, and if you aren’t too busy–
“Parties aren’t my thing.” Seokjin says coldly, and Jungkook’s eyes widen before he nods. He notices the younger gnawing at his lip again, except now he’s playing with his fingers. And though it was endearingly cute, he recognises the signs of anxiety anywhere. “But I don’t think I have plans, so sure. I can make an appearance.”
Jungkook stops fidgeting and his eyes impossibly doubles in size.
Jin is absolutely, hands down, whipped.
______
The party is in full blast and Jungkook has yet to see Seokjin anywhere. He stands in the corner of the room, nursing his already luke-warm cup of beer as he scrolls and reads his manga. He doesn’t mind being alone while his two best friends socialise around the party. He knows that he is just going to have a few then leave early.
“Hi, Jeon.”
Jungkook looks up, gives the male a once over before his mouth gapes. It’s him. It’s his knight in shining armour, the one who fixed his camera. The man who had evaded every single one of his dreams since that fated dream. He blushes, clamps his mouth shut before running away.
Taehyung and Jimin are messily making out on one of the couches, giving everyone a show, and Jungkook cringes before slapping both of their shoulders. His two best friends glare up at him, and he shoves himself between them.
“He’s here!”
“Who?” Jimin asks, playing with the back of Taehyung’s neck behind Jungkook’s head.
“The man from my dream, he is here!”
Just before anyone could answer, a familiar redhead and the dream guy comes forward.
“Hey, Thanks for inviting my cousin to your party.” The grin from the redhead is beaming brightly, but all Jungkook can focus on is the arm wrapped around the dream male's elbow.
“Uh..?” Taehyung throws a glance to Jungkook who seemingly gives him a glaring side-eye of his own. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Seokjin-hyung, don’t be rude! Say hi.” The red-head says but Seokjin has his eyes locked on Jungkook. “He’s really shy. He rarely ever comes to these things, but I’m not surprised that he came. Names Hoseok by the way.”
Hoseok throws a wink at the trio, but all Jungkook can think of was the name.
Wait… Seokjin?