Chapter Text
The steady hum of blindingly fluorescent row lights was the only distraction Jungkook had left in the dingy, narrow hallway in the basement of the physics building. He had already read all of the scholarly posters lining the outside of the professors’ offices, he had already snooped through the papers in his professor’s mailbox attached to the outside of his door, and he had already checked his phone at least seventeen times while waiting for his physics professor to get back here for office hours. The next block of classes had just started, so all of the other physics professors had settled into their offices—after awkwardly waving to Jungkook of course. But now it was just him leaning against the back wall, the annoying lights, and that one small clump of dust tumbling down the hallway.
Jungkook wasn’t one to usually go to office hours—this was his first time, actually—but when he got his last exam back from his Modern Physics class the professor had written in big blocky red letters across the header of the first page “See me in office hours.” Who was he to deny Professor Park Jimin’s request?
Park Jimin, the whiz-kid second-year assistant professor of the physics department who got his Ph.D when he was nineteen years-old. Park Jimin, the professor who singlehandedly brought the average age of faculty in the physics department down five years. Park Jimin, the only professor who could be mistaken for a wide-eyed freshman until he plopped his heavy brown satchel at the front of the class instead of one of the lecture seats.
Park Jimin was the only professor who could make an upper-level physics course twice as popular one year after starting to teach it.
Part of it was because Jimin—he insisted his students call him by his first name—was legitimately a good professor: he was passionate about his class actually learning the material, he took extra time to help students who were struggling, and he made sure that lectures were not boring.
Part of it was because Jimin was smoking hot.
Jungkook struggled to get a seat in the class because so many girls were rushing to have the chance to be in the class with chili-pepper-certified hottie Park Jimin. Some days the professor would waltz into class comfortably dressed in a large sweater from his alma mater with his small chubby hands wrapped around a piping hot cup of coffee. Other days he would walk into the room with round spectacles perched on the bridge of his nose, fitted black suit draped around his shoulders, and a thin form-fitting white dress shirt and black slacks to boot. Either way, he made everyone in the room, especially Jungkook, feel something when his sweater sleeve rode halfway up his hand or when he had to loosen his tie and unbutton the top button of his dress shirt because maybe it was just a little too hot in the lecture hall that day.
Or maybe he felt like torturing his class that day.
So, yeah, no fucking way Jungkook was missing a chance to have private office hours with the Park Jimin, the only physics professor who could make the straight-A student writhe under the genius-professor’s expectant gaze following a random pop question.
“Sorry I’m late!”
Jungkook’s body immediately stiffened up to make himself slightly more presentable than a melted puddle daydreaming about his professor that maybe he was crushing a little too hard on. Yeah, that would be a bad first impression for his first office hours appointment ever.
The orange-haired professor rounded the corner near the end of the hallway, and his eyes immediately crinkled up into warm little crescents as soon as he spotted his waiting student across from his office. Jungkook had never quite realized just how short the professor was until tangerine mop-headed boy scurried on up to him—a huge stack of papers in one hand, brown satchel looped around his other—and bowed, apologizing again for his lateness.
“I’m so sorry, I got caught up in a meeting with another faculty member…”
“That’s alright, I don’t mind,” Jungkook quietly mumbled back while Jimin fumbled through his pocket for the key to his office. His small hands really struggled finding the right key, leaving Jungkook to awkwardly stand behind the bent-over professor in the middle of the hallway. At least Jimin was only wearing really tight navy blue slacks that hugged his ass perfectly. Luckily for Jungkook, Jimin managed to unlock his office before the taller boy began to melt into another puddle.
“Take a seat, Jungkook-ssi,” Jimin said, waving toward the cozy table located near the front of the professor’s office. The professor dropped his belongings on the desk near the back of the room, and it was then that Jungkook noticed just how cluttered the professor’s desk was: papers and books and journals were stacked up everywhere in the office except for the table he was sitting at. Jimin floated on back to the table, pulling up the only other chair and bringing it really really close to Jungkook’s, leaving practically no space between the two boys. Not only that, but of course the unabashed professor had to circle his chair around, sitting on it backwards. His chin instinctively rested on his hands that were placed at the top of the back of the chair, making his face even squishier than usual. Oh, and because the world loves to torture poor Jungkook, Jimin was even better-looking up close. RIP Jungkook.
“How are you?” the professor lazily chimed.
“I’m doing okay.”
Jungkook was so so so not okay. He was this close to completely losing himself.
“Did you bring your exam?”
“Yeah,” Jungkook choked out, yanking his folded up exam out of his sweater pocket. He unfolded it for his professor and handed it over. Jimin sat up, grabbing the exam and instantly looking over the front of the paper again.
“Ah yes, now I remember.” Jimin flipped to the third page of the exam, folding the other pages back behind the packet. “It was this question,” Jimin mumbled. The professor pulled out a pair of wide-rimmed glasses from his pocket and put them on so he could read the answer to the question.
“The question asked you to calculate the power needed from an energy cell to overcome the force of gravity for a hoverboard weighing 10 kilograms to move upwards 10 meters…” Jungkook gulped, knowing where this was going. “Do you remember your answer?”
Jimin was now looking directly at him over the rim of his glasses, eyes piercing through the uncomfortable little undergraduate’s soul. Jungkook flushed bright red at the intense gaze, looking down and away while starting to respond.
“Umm… no?”
“You wrote, and I quote: ‘The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.’ It’s in all caps.” Jimin flipped the exam around to show Jungkook, pointing to the half-page question that Jungkook didn’t even bother to actually answer.
Yep, there it was. In all caps. THE MITOCHONDIRA IS THE POWERHOUSE OF THE CELL.
“You answered every other question correctly, Jungkook. You could have gotten a 100, but you did, well, this,” Jimin continued, accentuating the last word while he tapped his finger pointing toward the answer-in-question.
“I’m not worried about you passing the class. You’re extremely bright and you’re still well within the A-range even with this answer,” the professor calmly said. “I mostly just want to know why.”
Um, because you’re really adorable and I wanted you to make me go to office hours?
Because I wanted to be alone with you in your office?
“B-because I wanted to make you laugh, professor?” Jungkook squeaked out.
Jimin’s face didn’t move an inch at the answer, still glowering at the younger boy in his office. Jungkook could only look away, feeling even smaller and insignificant than he did a few seconds ago. How many girls had tried the same thing on him? How many times had a student been so embarrassingly whipped in Jimin’s office? Jungkook surely wasn’t the first—and he probably wouldn’t be the last.
“Jungkook.” The younger boy’s eyes shot right back up at the orange-haired professor sitting next to him. Before he could register anything else, Jimin swooped in and planted an ephemeral chaste kiss on his lips—now Jungkook really was melting. However, just as soon as it started, it was over, the professor pulling back with his signature eye smile plastered on his face.
“Next time you can answer the question and try to make me laugh if you want. I’ll still read it.”
“O-okay,” Jungkook responded. Yeah, maybe he should have tried that the first time? Jungkook quickly got up and made his way to the door, hoping to get away so he could figure out what the hell just happened.
“Oh, but Jungkook?” Jimin raised his voice as Jungkook was just about to open the office door.
“Come up with something better than an overused meme or I’ll dock points.”