Chapter Text
Jeongguk is having another one of those rowdy nights, surrounded by his boisterous friends who are having the time of their lives grinding on strangers and drinking their post-exam sorrows away to the sultry rhythm of Rihanna. He can't help but to welcome a wave of nostalgia as he recounts to how different things could have been if he hadn't met them, if he'd stayed that recluse, mysterious boy constantly stuffed inside his dorm room, pressing his ear against the door and pretended his heart wasn't begging to be with the crowd of cool kids having fun in the hallway - a concept he had never really acquainted himself with.
Things change, and Jeongguk's content rolling with the punches. He's familiarized himself to having someone to turn to whenever he's going through a rough patch and going to bed every night with a full heart from laughing at all the funny texts in their groupchat. Yoongi, Jimin, Hoseok, Namjoon and Jin are his rocks, as much as he hates to admit it and he's just another one of those surfers cruising along the waves of trying to live in the moment and not letting it all slip away too soon. It's sentimental to think about it in a club of sweaty and intoxicated people just waiting for him to join in, so Jeongguk refuses to let it get to his head and downs another shot of vodka. Or was it rum? He lost count after the fifth.
He makes the bold decision of shoving his way through the sea of strangers that are terrible dancers and finds tiny Jimin being pushed up against some guy he can't properly get a look at. The guy's build is impressive as far as Jeongguk can tell, tall with a set of wide shoulders (though it doesn't come close to Jin's) and they look like they're having a good time. Jimin isn't feigning one of his phony, get-me-away-from-this-creep face and he even sends a friendly wave, ushering Jeongguk to weave over to him. Jeongguk doesn't think twice and does exactly that, though he contemplates how sore his throat's going to be in a few more minutes since Jimin and him are definitely going to have to be screaming to hear what the other's saying. Seriously, Jeongguk loves Rihanna as much as the next gay but would it KILL to crank it down for a bit and let a man have a civil, level-headed conversation in a nightclub?
"Gukkie Jeonnn," Jimin purrs, draping himself over Jeongguk and he is hypothetically smacking himself for forgetting that drunk Jimin is... a nasty Jimin. Jeongguk grimaces and instead chooses to take a good look at the stranger. He doesn't know if it's the alcohol coursing through his veins or if he's just desperate that he actually gasps from his first glance at the guy. The stranger's face is beautiful, and other adjectives aren't popping into his head (probably from being shitfaced) or simply because well, the dude's gorgeous. Soft features that are still prominent and red hair adorning his naturally beautiful (Jeongguk, get it together) face, and well, Jeongguk is a dipshit that's so dipshitty his mind immediately conjures up a super smooth line to wow the guy: "are you Jesus?"
Future Jeongguk thinks this is funny for multiple reasons: 1) he isn't even that big on religion. He spent most of Christian camp ogling at how nicely sculpted Yugyeom's, the priest's son, thighs are and he ended it with memories of one too many quickies during immodest bathroom trips and dealing with the tiny heartbreak of Yugyeom confessing he's still not ready to embrace his closeted sexuality and tells him what happens in Christian camp stays in Christian camp. Jeongguk does what he's told, of course because snitches get stitches yet he still thinks it's kind of funny how he whored around with the priest's son and went back home to innocuous statements of how lovely the Bible verses were there. 2) Come on, the memory of mistaking Jesus for some pretty red-haired dude in a nightclub is hilarious and lastly, well, Jeongguk can't believe those were the first words he uttered to someone he didn't know would rock his world from top to bottom. No pun intended.
Luckily for him, the stranger breaks out into laughter and has enough humor to reciprocate with his own line of "maybe. Why don't you get down on your knees and see how many blessings I can bestow upon thou?" in which Jeongguk, king of all dipshits, decides to choke and cough his lungs, reeling from how corny that line is. Jeez, what's a guy gotta do to not fuck up talking to gorgeous strangers? "Kidding. I'm Taehyung, by the way. Kim Taehyung, not a Christ, unfortunately," Taehyung (which is a nice roll of the tongue, Jeongguk thinks) yells, extending his hand for an awkward exchange of which hand is actually his and which ones are a figment of his hallucination. "I'm Jeongguk. Would it surprise you if I was a Christ?" he manages to slur out and he's drunk enough to be grateful for Taehyung's sympathy laughter.
"It's nice to meet you then, Hongdeuk Christ," Taehyung remarks and Jeongguk feels like he just said something off but he can't seem to recollect what Taehyung just said. "This has been nice, but I gotta blast! I think I can see my friend passed out at the bar. Nice meeting you guys!" and before Jeongguk can yelp out a goodbye or maaaybe ask for his number, Taehyung's dashed off with a speed that impresses Jeongguk.
Cute and fast, he thinks. He knows he's definitely drunk now because one of those two qualities just don't seem to be as important as the other but he can't figure out which. He shrugs, accepting his fate and does exactly what Rihanna tells him to do: see her do the dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt.
-
Dirt is a pretty accurate word for how Jeongguk feels as he wakes up the next day, hung over and feeling like a used diaper. Jeongguk spends a few more minutes in bed, scrolling past the gleeful selfies, candids and memes being passed around in their group chat that sends him into fits of giggles that hurts his abdomen and now he's nauseated but he comes across a particular video forwarded by Jimin, followed by several mentions of his name and a lot of laughing emojis. He would usually dismiss it as most likely another video of a bunny falling over, yet, somehow the blurriness and flashing neon lights as the thumbnail of the video seem to spark something inside of him - he just can't put his finger on it. He presses away, disappointed the few first seconds of the video are just Jimin's tiny feet on the dance floor until it suddenly changes angle. And there's Jeongguk, looking nervous talking to some red-haired boy he isn't getting a good glimpse of. The boy's face is mostly pixelated but Jeongguk's ears catch a brief "are you Jesus?" and he spirals.
He's missed his morning classes, judging from the humidity in his room and how much sweat is soaking through his shirt. He guesses it's the afternoon now but strangely, he detects the scent of fresh pancakes wafting amidst his shoebox of an apartment. As he tosses and turns in whether or not he's capable to get up and not hurl everywhere, Jeongguk concludes this to turn out into one of two situations: either he had a fantastic hook-up and this is his thank you gift or Jin's just being a really good friend and paid him a visit.
He isn't surprised to find it's the latter choice and is greeted with the sight of Jin's shoulders that immediately sober him up. Now that he's tumbled out of his bed, the only thing expected from Jeongguk is a comment about Jesus. Aaaany moment now, hyung. "Good morning, Guk. Or should I say, a converted worshipper of Jesus Christ, your lord and savior?" Jin laughs. There it is. Classic Jimin, even in his state of intoxication, would remember something like that and blab it to everyone else so they can all attack Jeongguk for the slight moment of vulnerability he'd exposed. "Hyung, can you do me a favor and turn the sunlight off?" is all he can come up with at the time, opting instead to slump into the chair and indulge himself in sloppily forking away his wholesome breakfast? Brunch? "You're welcome, Guk for this tasty meal! I'm so delighted you appreciate the time and effort it took to prepare you this, though I'm not morally obligated to do so, but out of the goodness of my heart and the purity in my soul, here I stand in your dingy apartment to fill your stomach so you can gain strength to become my successor one day," Jin has probably prepared this speech a few times, clutching his hands to his chest and occasionally passing snide glares over at Jeongguk, just to make sure his words dripped with sarcasm are well-digested.
"Shouldn't have wasted on your breath on that, everything you said went in my right ear and came out my left ear but thanks, hyung. And just so you know, the only thing you're better at than me is Halli Galli and that's because I didn't spend my high school years playing it under the bleachers," Jeongguk retorts, earning himself a well-deserved smack from Jin. "Just saying thank you isn't enough?" Jin seats himself across from the younger, sliding across another plate of pancakes that he knows will probably be Jeongguk's dinner as well. "Hyung, you know me well enough that nothing is never enough," he replies. "Whatever, dude. Christianity has really changed you," Jin snorts and Jeongguk's head hurts from all the cringing he's doing in his head. "Shut up. That was mortifying but in my defense, the guy was really cute and I just hope I don't see him again," Jeongguk takes a break from his pancake eating to do a quick face-palm, trying his best to erase the memories of Jesus Taehyung. "It's a small world, Guk. I doubt you'll see him around," is the last thing said in the argument about the memory and Jeongguk decides it's best to not retaliate. He clings onto that advice maybe a little too much but the two eventually fall into a comfortable silence as Jin watches Jeongguk stuff himself full.
It's awfully domestic. Jeongguk genuinely is conscience-stricken on how much his friends contribute just for the younger to enjoy small luxuries of life. From Jin who borrows his neighbour's waffle maker just to make Jeongguk waffles on particularly awful days, Namjoon who offers unwanted philosophical advice when Jeongguk is just trying to cram for his exams, Yoongi who likes barging in at unwanted times in search of inspiration (though he's learnt his lesson to knock from that one time he found Jeongguk in a very.. compromising position with Hyojin from Chemistry), Hoseok who makes him double over with laughter about the littlest things and Jimin, the tiny devil's spawn who always knows the right thing to say when Jeongguk is tongue-tied and beaten.
The point trying to be made is that Jeongguk is so grateful for these treasures in the form of dumb, reckless men. There's never a dull moment between the six of them, always a joke or a witty comment on the tip of someone's tongue to fill in the gaps. Jeongguk no longer embraces the conceptualization of home as a house you sleep, eat and spend hours slaving in front of the TV playing Overwatch as his mother nags his ear off. Home, to him now, are five pairs of warm arms ready to catch him when he falls and he would do the same in a heartbeat. Home is now finding precious diamonds amongst a land of boring, grey rocks. Home is them.
Jeongguk happily is in his own speculation, hard at work eating. He's down to his third pancake when he realizes Jin had purposely put a shit ton of salt into it and he boils in fury as he chants "don't hit your elders" over and over in his head as to remind himself to not make use of the fist he's curled under the table to the laughing Jin.
Moment over.
-
It's a few weeks later when the usual bunch are huddled over a table at their local cafe, waiting for the tardy Jimin so they can start off their weekly session of banter and making fun of that one guy in Hoseok's class that likes to whip out bugs from his pocket (Hoseok dismisses it as endearing but now he's being referred to as bug boy's lover so, he's learnt to play his cards wisely and shut his mouth once in awhile). Just as Yoongi proposes the idea to bail to teach Jimin a lesson, he waltzes into the cafe and not alone. Jeongguk's skin crawls and flashbacks of that humiliating moment he couldn't get the other guys to shut up about for a week causes his brain to freeze over.
Rebooting.
Jimin spots them immediately, and makes several expressions towards Jeongguk that insinuate he definitely knew he was setting the younger up for a session of embarrassment and wishing he'd never been born in Busan. Jeongguk has a tough love with religion, but he's secretly clasping his hands in prayer that maybe with a trickle of miracle, Taehyung
has now forgotten that one time some rando in a nightclub accidentally referred to him as Jesus Christ.
"Hongdeuk Christ!"
Fuck.