Work Text:
“Kim Seokjin gyosunim!”
Jin turned from one group of students to the next. “Taehyung-ssi, how’s it going?”
“I’m just wondering about the internal monologue that I should have going on here,” Taehyung started, and it was a mark of how he was loved by his fellow students that they only smiled fondly. If Jin had tried that as a student actor, the response would have been open mutiny.
In fact, he had tried it, and there had been mutiny. Jin tried not to smile at the memory or at Taehyung. “Good question,” he said. “Give me your thoughts in two sentences or less.”
Taehyung gave him a betrayed look, and honestly, Jin was due a Baeksang Award for keeping a straight face in his classes, he really was.
Half an hour later, he turned from the last group and raised his voice enough that his “Thank you, everyone” carried across the black box theatre they used as an acting studio when schedules permitted. The students gathered their things and headed out. Taehyung was updating his best friend on everything that had happened during class as though Jimin had ever been more than five feet away from him the whole time, and Jin hid a laugh by polishing his glasses on his dress shirt. He tidied the chairs and was waiting with Soobin’s phone in his hand when Soobin came running in a few minutes later, frantically patting down his pockets.
“You were never even on that side of the room, Soobin-ssi, how did you lose it there?”
Soobin shrugged, took the phone, and bowed all at once, a combination he nearly pulled off, and Jin waved him out the door.
He headed out and made it approximately two steps before he heard his name being called and turned around.
“You two,” he said, hands on his hips. “You should be ashamed of yourselves.”
Yoongi rolled his eyes and Hoseok beamed; neither one looked like they’d ever heard of shame before in their lives.
Jin turned on his heel and headed for his office. It wasn’t even rudeness, he just knew they’d follow him no matter what.
…it mostly wasn’t rudeness.
He stormed into his office and of course they crowded in after him. Yoongi headed for the tiny chair opposite Jin’s tiny desk and threw himself in it like it was trying to get away from him. Hoseok sprawled out on the floor in an improbable position and leaned back on his hands.
Jin was mad at them, he really was, but he also took a second to relax in their presence for just a minute before he started yelling at them. They’d arrived at K’ARTS at the same time for their first “real” teaching jobs as PhDs in music, dance, and theatre respectively, and quickly bonded over their common pressures and passions. Yoongi made Hoseok and Jin stay up all night with him while he graded Music Theory papers at least once a semester. Hoseok didn’t even ask anymore, just assumed the other two would be in the front row at every major recital. And Jin had walked into an office full of bouquets on opening night of the first play he’d directed. They were his ridiculous little artistic family and he loved them.
But speaking of ridiculous…
“Tinder? Whose idea was Tinder?” he demanded, putting his hands on his desk and leaning forward in his best attempt at intimidation.
Hoseok and Yoongi pointed at each other.
Jin glared at them both.
“It was Hobi’s idea,” Yoongi said.
“Maybe, but Yoongi’s the one who set it up.”
“And it wasn’t easy!” Yoongi said. “You have pretty good security on your phone.”
“I can’t imagine why,” Jin said flatly.
Yoongi just grinned at him.
But why, I’m begging you?” Jin asked.
Hoseok shrugged. “You’re lonely.”
“Not this again,” Jin said, slapping his desk. “I have something like forty adopted children at any given time. I have the two of you, even if sometimes I want to lock you in with a piccolo rehearsal or twelve. When would I have time to be lonely?”
“Hyung,” Hoseok said gently.
Jin sat down abruptly, not looking directly at either of his friends. “I’m not, Hobi-yah,” he said.
“You are, though,” Yoongi said, no trace of sarcasm in his voice, and something about it made Jin’s chest ache. He pulled his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.
“When it crashes and burns I get to say I told you so,” he said, and reached blindly for his phone.
They’d set up a half-decent profile, which wasn’t actually helping Jin’s mood any. A photo of him wearing all black with his sleeves rolled up, looking every inch an arts professor. A summary that was a solid ninety percent ridiculous (thanks, Yoongi) and then just enough earnestness mixed in that he didn’t sound like a jerk (clearly all Hoseok’s doing). And--
“How do I already have twelve notifications?” Jin asked, frowning down at his phone. “I thought you had to do that thing.” He dashed his finger across in the air.
“You have Super Likes?” Hoseok jumped up and hurried to peer over Jin’s shoulder. “That’s great!”
Jin looked over at Yoongi, who hadn’t moved. “They’re like super special swiping right,” Yoongi said. “You get notified even if you don’t match.”
“That’s a lot of pressure,” Jin said.
Hoseok bumped his shoulder. “Come on, let’s take a look.”
Jin pulled up the first Super Like and stared at a photo of a…perfectly nice guy. Probably. Jin looked up at Hoseok. “What do I do?”
“Same as always, swipe right if you like him, left if you never want to see him again. Do you like him?”
Jin skimmed the profile. “He’s fine? I guess?” Hoseok reached down and swiped left for him. Jin yelped and jerked his phone away. “Hey!”
“Fine is not good enough,” Hoseok said firmly. He poked Jin in the cheek, earning himself another yelp. “Does just anyone deserve this face? They do not. Have higher standards, hyung.”
Jin managed to keep his phone out of Hoseok’s reach while he paged through the rest of the Super Like options, swiping right on two and left on the others. “I'm done now, right?” he asked hopefully.
“Did you want to message them?” Hoseok asked. Jin didn’t know what face he made, but Yoongi snorted, so it couldn’t have been good. Hoseok stared down at him. “Maybe this first time, we can let them come to you, but I will be checking back to make sure you’re interacting,” he said.
“That sounded ominous,” Jin said to Yoongi.
Yoongi shrugged. “If he doesn’t do it, I will.”
Jin put his head down on his desk.
***
Jin rolled over and squinted at his phone. 2:47 AM, it informed him. He groaned.
He rolled back and stared up at the ceiling.
The thing was. The thing was, he wasn’t lonely exactly. Jin had a great family, he had a good (if weird and stressful) job, he had great friends, and he was pretty sure he’d somehow adopted Taehyung by accident. He’d had some boyfriends in grad school, but dating in grad school was hard and he could be - he could be a lot. It was fine.
Sometimes, you just wanted to be a lot with someone else. That was all.
Jin reached out and fumbled his phone off the nightstand. 2:54 AM. He unlocked it.
One of the guys he’d swiped right on had written him back: Hi, you look amazing! I would love to get to know you better.
Jin stared at it for a long time. He was going to come back to it when it wasn’t three in the fucking morning, he decided. No use making decisions with middle of the night brain, and no use letting people know he stayed up with middle of the night brain.
He scrolled through the app, idly swiping left on guys, and then stopped short. The profile pic had the head cropped out, which Jin had been swiping left on as a matter of course, but this one had an artfully framed set of shoulders in a black jacket, sleeves pushed up to show a tattooed arm, full of symbols that didn’t seem to go together (a tiger lily, an open eye, some English words he couldn’t quite make out) but that somehow coalesced into something interesting and eye-catching and fascinating. The hand on that same side had an additional tattoo, a small heart, and Jin ran his finger over it, trying to figure out who would have such bold tattoos and then this tiny delicate one.
The picture disappeared, and Jin blinked for a second before realizing he’d just swiped right. “Shit,” he said out loud. He hadn’t even read the profile! This guy could be a serial killer! A jerk! Someone who hated the arts! “Shit,” he said again, and slapped the phone down.
It lit up with a notification. Jin eyed it suspiciously, then picked it up and unlocked it again.
Jungkook has matched with you! Tinder informed him with way too much enthusiasm for this hour of the night.
Jin poked at the notification, and sure enough, Jungkook was the owner of the tattoos.
Well, now what?
***
You could safely send a message at 7:00 AM, right? That wasn’t weird and middle of the night-ish? Sure.
Jin pulled up Tinder over breakfast and looked at his three matches while he ate. The other Super Like had messaged him, something almost identical to the first, and, well. Jin had swiped right for a reason. Both seemed very nice and smart and handsome and…nice. Jin sent the same message to both of them: Nice to “meet” you! Tell me about yourself. He grimaced down at his phone. It was kind of bland, wasn’t it? For a minute he thought about texting Hoseok for help, and then he came to his senses and pressed send.
He did screenshot one of the messages, though, and texted it to his group chat with Hoseok and Yoongi, adding see? see???? underneath.
Yoongi was definitely still asleep, but Hoseok texted back immediately, Hyung, we need to work on your game, and Jin groaned out loud.
He flipped back to Tinder and looked at Jungkook’s tattoos again, then at the rest of the chatty, personable profile. Other than some vague references to entertainment, it didn’t reference his job; Jungkook could have been anything from a film critic to a stripper (and hey, Jin wasn’t thinking in that direction, thank you). However, Jungkook had a lot to say about pop culture, especially music. He was also a big fan of a kdrama with one of Jin’s old acting school classmates, which made Jin smile.
Jin scrolled to the bottom, underneath a litany of praises for animals, especially dogs, and then stopped with one finger still on the screen.
We all long to be something.
You, to me, and I, to you,
long to become a gaze that won’t be forgotten.
Jin had memorized “The Flower” in high school like most other kids he knew, then promptly forgotten it when his brain needed the room for learning lines. But something about it pulled him back to that conversation with himself this morning.
Before he could think too much about it, he opened up the chat function and typed, Poetry and tattoos - I like the combination. Do you like theatre? and hit send. Then he put the phone down and ate determinedly, ignoring it entirely, until it chimed and he spilled rice down his front flailing for it.
It was probably Yoongi waking up. Or one of the nice matches. Or--
Do musicals count?
They absolutely count, Jin typed back, grinning.
***
Both of the nice guys also responded to Jin; one of them did some sort of marketing he didn’t give any real details on, which was fine since Jin was still being a bit cagey about his own job, and they talked about the best Japanese food they’d had in Seoul. The other was a veterinarian with a lot of cute stories (who was nice enough to not share any of the not-cute stories). They seemed like good guys.
“Look, it’s more kittens,” Jin said, tilting his phone towards Hoseok as they walked down the hall to rehearsal. One of the grad students was directing a musical, and Jin was advising her while Hoseok worked with the choreographer. Yoongi had no formal role but he absolutely would show up at some point that evening to scare the crap out of the orchestra, who all thought he was a minor deity. It was pretty fun to watch.
“Kittens are good,” Hoseok said. “Right?”
“Kittens are great,” Jin said. “Also puppies, and I got a hedgehog picture yesterday.”
Hoseok raised an eyebrow. “Are you using this guy for animal pictures?”
“No!” Jin said, shoving his phone in his pocket. “He’s a nice guy. He is.”
“You keep saying that.”
“It keeps being true. Hey, foodie guy wants to have dinner. That’s progress, right?”
Hoseok kept looking at him.
“What?” Jin asked. “You don’t think I should go?”
“I didn’t say that,” Hoseok said, but then they were in the theatre, and Taehyung was swooping in to ask about a line reading and Jimin to ask Hoseok about choreography, and somewhere in all that Jin completely lost the thread of the conversation.
***
Jin didn’t mention Jungkook to Hoseok or Yoongi that night.
He didn’t mention Jungkook after he went on the date with the foodie guy, who had a perfectly fine name, Jeo Sungmin. They bonded over food choices, but didn’t really click after that, and after two dates just…never talked again. Jin couldn’t make himself have a lot of feelings about it.
He didn’t mention Jungkook after he met up with the veterinarian, who also had a perfectly fine name, thank you, Chun Minkyu. (It was not the most original thing Jin had thought of, taking a vet to the zoo, but Minkyu had asked him to pick and Jin had panicked.) They had a good time! Jin’s animal enthusiasm only had to be tamped down a couple of orders of magnitude when dealing with a vet, that was a bonus. There was still a constant stream of animal photos going back and forth; Jin had tracked down a couple of “cute wildlife” websites to keep up his end of things. There was probably another date in their future, and Jin was hoping to have a good time again.
He discussed all of this in exhaustive detail with Hoseok and Yoongi. They agreed with him on foodie gu--Sungmin, and were cautiously optimistic about Minkyu.
And suddenly, it had been a month, and he still hadn’t said a thing about Jungkook, and what was he supposed to say about it now? Hey, there’s another guy, and I don’t know what his face looks like but he’s incredibly funny even while being wrong about all things related to Sungkyunkwan Scandal and any other kdrama made before 2015. I don’t know what his face looks like but he reads the plays I tell him about and makes notes on them and sends me his thoughts back. I don’t know what his face looks like but I had a dream about his arms the other night and I’m having some feelings about that.
I don’t know what his face looks like and I’m afraid to ask in case that makes this all…real.
***
Jin was sitting on the stage apron one night after rehearsal, flipping through his text messages and feeling a little tender around the edges. Minkyu wanted to go out again, this time to dinner and an orchestra concert. Yoongi had given a grudging approval to the performers, venue, and time of the week of the proposed concert. Hoseok had just generally approved. Jin was switching back and forth between Minkyu’s invitation and a screenshot of Jungkook’s latest playlist recommendation (video game soundtracks) when the theatre door opened and he looked up.
“Kim Seokjin gyosunim?”
“Jimin-ssi,” Jin said with some surprise, tucking his phone away. Jimin was a good student but Jin tended to think of him as under Hoseok’s professorial jurisdiction, and this was also possibly the first time Jin had ever seen him without Taehyung in touching distance. “How can I help you?”
“I have, um, an acting question. About my character.”
Jimin hadn’t missed a beat in a performance since the first rehearsal. Jin raised an eyebrow. “What’s the question?”
Jimin wound his hands around the strap of his messenger bag. “My character spends a lot of time with. With Taehyung’s character.”
“I suppose,” Jin said slowly. “Is that a problem?”
“No, no! It’s just that I don’t know if my character is expressing himself appropriately.”
“To Taehyung’s character.”
“Yes, exactly!” Jimin beamed. Jin blinked at him, but Jimin was waiting expectantly for…something.
“Well,” Jin said, reaching for the safety of the familiar, “have you thought about writing an internal monologue for your character? What’s he saying to himself? What does he wish he could say to, ah, other characters in his scenes? Maybe you’ll find something in the writing that turns on a light for you, performatively speaking.”
Jimin had started to nod along, and was bobbing his head in full enthusiasm. “Yes! I can do that! Thank you, gyosunim!”
He dashed off, and Jin leaned back on his hands on the stage and chewed on his bottom lip for a minute. Then he pulled his phone back out, digging up his text chain with Hoseok and scrolling up, up, up until he found what he was looking for: a picture of himself halfway into one of Yoongi’s marathon grading nights. He’d been a little sleepy and a lot amused by whatever nonsense Yoongi was reading aloud, and he hadn’t noticed Hoseok pointing the phone at him right away.
He dropped it into his text conversation with Jungkook. This is what I look like when I’m not teaching, he wrote. I’m not going to lie, I’m dying to know what your face looks like, but I want you to be comfortable showing me.
He waited, but there was no reply. He took his time packing up and turning off all the lights in the theatre, but there was still nothing when he checked his phone again. He stuffed it into his bag and ignored it all the way home, only to check it roughly every two minutes for the rest of the night as he made dinner, ate, prepped his classes for the next week, and then finally gave up and went to bed.
***
His phone buzzed at 3:14AM, and Jin grabbed it before it had even stopped vibrating. He opened the app with his heart in his throat. He could handle a good picture, he could handle a bad picture, he could handle a no, just as long as--
There was a picture.
It wasn’t bad.
“Oh,” Jin said, barely a breath of sound. He fumbled for his glasses and looked again.
Jungkook had hair just a little longer than Jin's, falling into his eyes and curling slightly around his ears; a rounded face with a frankly adorable chin and a sinful mouth; and vulnerable eyes that Jin couldn’t look away from.
You didn’t tell me you were beautiful, Jin typed and sent without really thinking about it, and then winced, because middle of the night brain--
well, I already knew YOU were, Jungkook shot back immediately. I was nervous.
Never be nervous, Jin sent. Honestly.
There was a long pause, and then Jungkook said, okay, I have one more pic that my friend Namjoon took, and he said I should send it to you a couple of weeks ago, hang on.
Jin braced himself.
The next picture was clearly posed, unlike the first more candid one. Jungkook was sitting back on his heels, knees spread. He was wearing shorts and Jin said, “Those thighs,” out loud, which was embarrassing, but at least he hadn’t typed it. A hoodie was covering up his tattoos, but Jin was mostly looking at the grin on Jungkook’s face. He was clearly comfortable with the photographer, and he just…Jin flipped back and forth between the close-up and the, the thighs picture.
This is a lot for 3 in the morning, he sent, figuring that blurting out what he was thinking was working so far. (Except the thighs thing, he admonished himself, don’t mention the thighs.)
thanks? he got back.
You’re welcome? he sent.
Jungkook didn’t immediately respond, and Jin panicked. So that playlist you gave me was great!
yeah, what did you like?
Jin bit the inside of his cheek, trying his hardest to think about anything but Jungkook’s pictures, and started talking about some music theory shit he’d learned from Yoongi in passing.
***
“How was the concert?” Yoongi asked a week later. It was midterms, which meant it was time to grade papers at Yoongi’s place again. Hoseok, of course, had nothing and was playing a video game at the lowest sound possible on Yoongi’s TV. Jin had a reasonable number of papers waiting in his grading folder - extra credit reflection essays on plays his students had attended this semester. Yoongi was buried, but Yoongi was always buried.
“Oh, fine,” Jin said absently, reading a very long and very earnest commentary from Soobin. He highlighted a particular line and typed great insight! “I don’t think it’s quite your thing, Yoongi, I would pass on it.”
“That’s all?” Hoseok asked, eyes still on the game. “Dinner, concert, the whole works, and it was ‘fine,’ that’s all you’ve got?”
Jin let out a long breath. “I kissed him,” he said. “Well, he kissed me. Whatever.”
“And?” Yoongi and Hoseok asked in unison.
“It was fine,” Jin said. He opened Taehyung’s paper. Not at all to his surprise, it was twice as long as it needed to be and basically contained Jimin’s paper as well, it had so many thoughts on his reactions. Jin wondered idly if he should give them both extra credit.
“Dump him,” Yoongi said.
Jin looked up, startled.
“Or keep him as a friend for animal picture purposes,” Hoseok agreed. His character accidentally ran off a cliff, and Hoseok looked over. “I like the animal pictures.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Jin asked. “He laughs at a solid 60% of my jokes! That’s better than anyone but you two!”
“You can’t settle for ‘fine’ and ‘tolerates my jokes,’ come on.” Hoseok leaned over and grabbed Jin’s hand, nearly causing him to delete Taehyung’s entire paper. “You deserve better than ‘fine.’ You always have.”
Jin sighed. “You have to stop being earnest at me, Hobi-yah. It’s bad for my soul.”
“I’m very good for you,” Hoseok said. He turned back to the game. “Come on. There has to be someone better than fine on that app for you. Aim high. 75% of your terrible, terrible jokes.”
Jin swallowed, fighting the temptation to just derail himself with a bad joke about his bad jokes. “Um.”
Hoseok’s head whipped back around. “Um what?”
Yoongi set his laptop down. “Hyung?” he asked dangerously.
“I just wanted to wait and see,” Jin said, looking between the two of them. “I accidentally swiped on him that first night, and we’ve just been, you know, talking.”
“Gimme,” Hoseok said, grabbing for Jin’s phone where it was on the floor next to him. Jin snatched it up and fended Hoseok off with one outstretched hand.
“I’m not ready!” he said. He groped for a reason, since he didn’t actually know why. "He's, uh, so beautiful you'll fall in love right away and I'm not ready to fight you for him!"
Hoseok pouted.
“Leave Seokjinnie alone,” Yoongi said unexpectedly. “Let him have his feelings in his own time.”
“Really?” Jin asked blankly. “I mean, yeah! Listen to your hyung!”
Hoseok stopped batting at Jin and leaned back. “Fine,” he said, “but if your imaginary friend hurts you, I’m still going to make him pay in the real world.”
“Well, of course we will,” Yoongi said.
“Great,” Jin said under his breath.
***
The next night Jin found himself stuck awake again. He sent Jungkook a few memes featuring kdramas, and Jungkook sent a row of laughing emojis back.
Why are you always up at stupid hours with me? Jin wrote. I have middle of the night brain, what’s your excuse?
what’s middle of the night brain?
Jin held the phone above his face and tried not to drop it while he typed. You know. Up late, making weird decisions, letting your hindbrain out for a spin.
same, then, I guess. Then, before Jin could send the next meme, what does your hindbrain want to do?
Jin had still not said anything about Jungkook’s thighs, and he was very proud of this record, so he just sent, Go sit on a beach and look at the stars, I guess. Not very practical in Seoul.
Jungkook sent back an upside down face and a sad face.
Exactly, Jin said. What about yours?
my middle of the night brain wants coffee.
At 3:00?
pardon you, it’s barely 2:40, who would NOT want coffee at 2:40?
Jin snorted out a laugh. Want company? He sent it, then realized what he’d done and promptly dropped the phone straight onto his forehead.
“Ow!” he said, and scrambled to sit up. He rubbed his head.
His phone buzzed.
“Shit,” he said, and picked it up.
yeah, let’s have middle of the night brain together.
“Shit,” he said again.
***
Jin closed the cab door behind him and looked in the diner window. At first, it was just his own reflection looking back at him - he twitched at his pink dress shirt, hanging open over a white t-shirt and his second-tightest jeans - and then the light behind him changed enough that he could see in the window, and a Jungkook-shaped figure waving at him from a booth inside. Jin took a deep breath and walked in.
The diner was nearly empty; it was just a couple of older men eating yaksik in the far corner and a woman reading a book over the remains of her--dinner, breakfast, whatever it was at 3:30 AM. And Jungkook, standing awkwardly at the booth. He was wearing jeans and a plain black long-sleeved shirt, shoved up at the sleeves to show his tattoos, and as Jin stepped closer he got a better look at his hair.
“Purple,” Jin blurted, reaching out without even thinking about it to touch the tips of Junkook’s hair. He realized what he was doing and jerked his hand away, blushing furiously, but Jungkook was smiling shyly.
“Yeah, that’s what my middle of the night brain thought would be a good idea a couple of days ago,” he said. “What do you think?”
“You look great,” Jin said. “Wow.”
Jungkook gestured at Jin vaguely. “You look great too,” he said.
Jin tried not to shuffle his feet. “Thanks.”
Jungkook gestured at the booth and they both slid in. Jin was instantly aware of their feet bumping into each other under the table. He tried to smile like a human being and not like someone with cartoon hearts circling his head. “Do you spend a lot of three-in-the-mornings here?”
“Way too many,” Jungkook said. “But if I can’t sleep for long enough I start making up stories about the shadows on the ceiling, and that doesn’t end well for anyone.”
“Except maybe the shadows,” Jin said.
Jungkook laughed. “They seem to be thriving, yeah.”
“I send long text messages to my best friends,” Jin said. “But I don’t send them until breakfast because otherwise I get yelled at for being awake. They just think I’m really articulate when I first wake up.”
“You are really articulate,” Jungkook said.
“I hope so,” Jin said. “For work reasons, if nothing else. But if I actually sleep, then I’m not much of a morning person. Too much time in the theatre world with late night rehearsals will train that right out of you. I wake up and forget to put my glasses on and walk into doorjambs, it’s a whole thing.”
“No glasses tonight,” Jungkook said.
Jin automatically touched the bridge of his nose. “Contacts,” he said. “Which I don’t usually do at three in the morning! Be honored.”
“Deeply,” Jungkook said, and bobbed his head in a bow.
The waiter came by, and Jungkook got coffee. Jin got tea and, inspired by his friends in the corner, yaksik.
“How’s your play going?” Jungkook asked, fidgeting with the napkin in front of him.
“It’s not my play,” Jin said.
“I’m sorry, how’s your student’s play that you’re absolutely not micromanaging?” Jungkook’s dimples winked in and out as he faked innocence in Jin’s direction.
“Hey!” Jin said, puffing up in indignation. “I’ll have you know that I am a perfectly normal and appropriately boundaried teacher who has not even once told my student that she’s paying too much attention to her leads and not enough to the supporting actors, even though she absolutely, absolutely is!”
Jungkook was bent double laughing. “Of course,” he wheezed. “How could I have made such a terrible assumption about you?”
Jin batted at his arm gently. Jungkook laughed harder.
“You’re terrible,” Jin said, fighting his own smile. “Why do I even tell you things when you’ll use them against me in such horrible ways?”
Jungkook shrugged. “It’s a mystery.”
***
Two cups of coffee-slash-tea and three attempts by Jungkook to steal Jin’s food later, and Jin sighed in his most put-upon manner and held out the last bite of yaksik. “Here,” he said. “Take it before I change my mind.”
Jungkook leaned forward and ate it from Jin’s hand, his lips brushing the tips of Jin’s fingers, and they froze for a second, looking at each other. Jin became suddenly aware that their feet had tangled under the table, ankles and shins touching. He pulled his hand away belatedly and reached for his tea, draining the last of the cup.
Jungkook swallowed and finished off his coffee, too. “Did you, uh, did you want more?” he asked.
In a move so unlike him that Yoongi probably woke up somewhere to lose his shit about it, Jin said, “I have coffee at my place.”
Jungkook’s eyes went wide. Jin braced himself, but Jungkook said, “Yeah, okay,” in a slightly shaky tone, and it was exactly how Jin felt.
***
The sound of the door closing was overly loud, somehow. Jin got rid of his keys and his shoes automatically, not quite looking over at Jungkook.
“So, uh,” he started, and was probably about to do something truly humiliating like actually offer to make coffee, but fortunately Jungkook put them both out of their misery and grabbed the edges of Jin’s dress shirt.
“So,” he echoed, reeling Jin in.
Jin fit his hands around Jungkook’s elbows and leaned in to kiss him. Jungkook tasted a little like yaksik and a lot like coffee. Jin tilted his head to get the perfect angle and moved his hands to Jungkook’s waist.
Jungkook broke away, then kissed Jin again. “Are we doing this?” he asked a long minute later.
“I hope so,” Jin said, and Jungkook laughed into the kiss.
Jin grabbed Jungkook’s hand and towed him down the hall to the bedroom. The sheets were a tangled mess from when Jin had left to go to the diner, and the bedside table was cluttered with a spare set of glasses, three scripts, and a handful of highlighters. At least the floor was clean? Jin looked over at Jungkook, but Jungkook wasn’t looking at the table. He was looking at Jin.
“What do you want?” Jungkook asked. “I want to do everything, I can’t pick.”
Jin hooked one hand around the back of Jungkook’s neck and pulled him into a heated kiss. “Can I fuck you?” he asked. Middle of the night brain was clearly in control, because he just couldn’t stop talking. “I’ve been staring at that picture you sent me like the world’s worst creep. I just want to put my mouth on your thighs, I want them around my waist, I want to--”
“Yes,” Jungkook interrupted. He shoved at Jin’s dress shirt until Jin had to let go of him to shrug it off. “That. Do all that with me.”
Jin pulled Jungkook’s shirt out of his jeans with slightly shaking fingers. He pushed Jungkook down until he was sitting on the bed and pulled off his T-shirt while Jungkook yanked off his own shirt. Jungkook reached out to trail a hand down Jin’s side, and Jin bent down to kiss him again before stepping back and unfastening his jeans.
“How does a teacher look like you?” Jungkook asked.
Jin could feel his face getting red. He had a mirror, he knew what he looked like, but Jungkook was wide-eyed and he was rubbing his cock through his jeans without seeming to realize it. “My friend teaches a dance class for non-dancers that I show up at whenever he bullies me into it,” Jin said. Middle of the night brain prompted him to say, “And I teach stage combat, actually. The advanced class does sword work and, uh, quarterstaff combat.”
Jungkook licked his lower lip. “That’s hot,” he said.
Jin found himself half-laughing. “I think you meant to say nerdy.”
“Both,” Jungkook said. “Trust me, both.”
Jin shoved the rest of his clothes off, and went down on his knees in front of the bed to get Jungkook out of his. He nudged Jungkook’s hand away from his jeans and unfastened them to Jungkook’s sigh of relief. Jin pushed Jungkook back until he was lying on the bed, legs still off the side. He leaned forward and pressed his mouth to Jungkook’s stomach.
Above him, Jungkook sighed and ran his hand through Jin’s hair. “You feel good,” he said. Jin could feel Jungkook’s stomach contracting as he shifted on the bed. He smiled against Jungkook’s skin and shifted back onto his heels, tugging on Jungkook’s jeans. Jungkook obligingly lifted his hips. Jin pulled the jeans down and off, trying not to stare too obviously at either Jungkook’s thighs - even lovelier in person - or at the outline of his cock in his briefs.
Jin kissed the top of Jungkook’s bent leg, just above his kneecap, then very gently bit him. Jungkook made a choked sound and his legs tensed as Jin trailed his fingers up the inside of Jungkook’s thigh. He settled one hand just where Jungkook’s hip and thigh met, wrapped the other around Jungkook’s calf, and bit him just a little harder. Jungkook groaned out loud, and when Jin looked up, he had a hand in his briefs, squeezing hard around the base of his cock.
“Oh, yeah?” Jin asked, trying to hide a grin.
Jungkook’s free hand came down to bat at Jin’s hand on him fretfully. “Yeah, yes, just keep going.”
Jin kissed and bit his way up Jungkook’s leg, taking his own sweet time and relishing the increasingly broken sounds coming out of Jungkook’s mouth. He met his hand at the top of Jungkook’s thigh and switched to hold on to his other leg. Jungkook groaned and visibly squeezed his cock again. Jin smiled into his knee.
He sucked a sharp bruise into Jungkook’s thigh, along the inside where it was most tender, and Jungkook arched off the bed. “Please,” he said, “you have to - you have to fuck me.”
Jin pushed himself to his feet and grabbed supplies while trying not to watch Jungkook wiggle out of his underwear and stretch out on the bed, but it was incredibly distracting and he almost dropped the lube twice before getting it open. He crawled onto the bed and between Jungkook’s legs. “How much do you need?” he asked.
Jungkook shook his head against the pillow. “Not much, just - just get your fingers in me, anything, I - ohh!” he cried out as Jin slid the tips of two slick fingers in.
Jin worked Jungkook open with increasingly confident moves, his other hand pressing on Jungkook’s chest, while Jungkook shook under him, hands clutched in the sheets.
Jungkook all but wailed when Jin brushed his prostate on one push. “Fuck me,” he said, lifting his head to look at Jin. “I’m ready, I’m good, fuck me, please.”
“Okay,” Jin said, his voice hoarse. He grabbed the condom, looked at his sticky hand, and held it out to Jungkook. “Help?”
Jungkook smothered a laugh, but he took the condom out of Jin’s hand and opened it. He brushed Jin’s hand aside when he tried to take it back, and instead rolled it onto Jin’s cock himself, his hands firm and steady even though he was panting. He grabbed the lube, too, and slicked Jin up, giving his cock a couple of extra strokes as Jin tried to remember how to breathe.
“Okay, you, lie down,” Jin said, and Jungkook laughed up at him as he did. Jin crawled over him and lined his cock up, looking up at Jungkook as he started to slide in.
Jungkook threw back his head as Jin moved. His hands were anywhere they could reach on Jin: arms, shoulders, petting his hair. He wrapped his legs around Jin’s waist and it was even better than Jin had imagined, shit, his thighs tight around him, urging him on. Jin braced himself on the bed and started fucking Jungkook harder.
“Fuck,” Jungkook said, and his hand tightened just a little in Jin’s hair. Jin sucked air into his burning lungs. Jungkook was huffing out breaths, sweat standing out on his forehead under his purple hair, and he was the most beautiful person Jin had ever seen in his life.
The room was full of harsh breathing and half-syllables broken by Jungkook’s cry when Jin hit just the right angle. Jin refocused all his attention on snapping his hips the same way again and again. One of Jungkook’s hands left its death grip on Jin’s shoulder to wrap around his cock. He caught Jin’s eye and his mouth curved into a smile. Jin found himself smiling back, even as Jungkook tipped his head back again and came, squeezing around Jin. Jin thrust once, then twice more and came too.
Jin’s arms nearly went out from under him. He propped himself up long enough to extricate himself and get the condom off. He shuffled on already-sore legs to the bathroom and wiped himself off as quickly as possible, then brought a towel back to the bedroom and cleaned Jungkook up with a little more care.
“Thanks,” Jungkook said.
“Of course.” Jin got rid of the towel and sprawled out on the bed next to Jungkook. His pulse was starting to come back to normal. “You don’t have to stay,” he said, and Jungkook looked a little startled, “but if you want to, please, stay.”
Jungkook beamed at him, and Jin smiled helplessly back.
Jin made himself get up and get water for the two of them - Jungkook gulped his down in one go - and dig his phone out of the corner of the bedroom it had somehow traveled to when he’d taken his jeans off. He plugged it in, noting with a wince that he had to be on campus in just a few hours, and turned off the light before crawling under the covers with Jungkook.
Jungkook slung an arm over him. Jin looked down and smiled at the tattoos on display in the faint light from the window. “I have a question,” he said.
“I’m nervous to hear it,” Jungkook said.
Jin ran a finger over the tattoo on Jungkook’s hand, just as he had when he’d accidentally swiped right and started all this. “What’s the heart for?”
“Youthful stupidity,” Jungkook said, a rueful smile in his voice. “I got it when I was seventeen and I thought my world was ending. It’s kind of a story.”
“I’d like to hear it some time,” Jin said sleepily.
Jungkook kissed Jin’s shoulder and put his head on the pillow next to Jin’s. “I’d like to tell you.”
***
Jin jerked halfway upright in bed as an unearthly noise blared through the bedroom.
“What--” he started.
“Sorry,” he heard, “sorry,” and a body - a person - Jungkook - half-buried Jin in sheets to crawl out of bed and dig around on the floor for what Jin slowly realized was a phone alarm.
“What time is it?” Jin asked, reaching for his phone. Two hours yet before his own alarm would go off.
“I’m sorry!” Jungkook said again. “I have a thing, a work thing, sort of a work thing, I have to, I have to go. Shit, I don’t have time to go home.” He started gathering up his clothes.
“Do you need to use the shower?” Jin asked.
Jungkook’s shoulders stopped hunching. “Do you mind?”
“Go, go.” Jin flapped a hand to the bathroom. “I hope your date clothes are good enough for work.”
He was awake enough to see Jungkook blush now. “I can do better,” Jungkook said, bundling his clothes in his arms and coming around to Jin’s side of the bed. “For date clothes.”
“I don’t know, those are pretty great,” Jin said. He reached out and tugged on the sleeve of Jungkook’s shirt, careful not to let the pile move. He was trying not to think about how naked Jungkook was under all that, or how naked he was under the covers. Not the time, he told his middle of the night - early morning - brain.
“I’m sorry,” Jungkook said again. “I hope you can go back to sleep.”
“Sleeping’s the easiest thing to do, didn’t you know?” Jin said wryly, gesturing at where their lack of sleep had gotten them. “You can do it with your eyes closed.”
Even Hoseok and Yoongi might have groaned at that one, but Jungkook laughed. Jin’s heart did something painful in his chest.
Jungkook leaned down and kissed him. “I’ll message you, okay?” he said. “This was really - I’ll message you.”
“I’ll message you back,” Jin said, and when Jungkook kissed him again, they were both smiling.
Jin dozed through the sound of the shower running, but the door closing behind Jungkook brought him back awake. He tossed and turned for a while, but finally he pulled himself out of bed and headed for the shower. He might as well get in early and see if he could catch Hoseok and Yoongi before Yoongi’s early class. If he didn’t report back now, they’d do some serious damage.
And if he spent some extra time in the shower thinking about how recently Jungkook had been in there, and dealing with the inevitable consequences, well, that was nobody’s business but his own.
***
Jin ran Hoseok to ground in one of the dance studios, going over a move with Jimin far too enthusiastically for this hour of the morning. Jin smiled at Jimin and glared pointedly at Hoseok until Hoseok got the point and sent Jimin on his way. Jimin stopped at the door, looking back at Jin.
“Jimin-ssi?” Jin asked, but Jimin just shook his head and disappeared through the door.
“Okay, what, what?” Hoseok asked finally.
Jin responded by grabbing Hoseok’s elbow and dragging him out of the room.
“Why? Where are we--”
“Not without Yoongi,” Jin said. “If we hurry, we can catch him before class.”
“Are you okay?” Hoseok asked.
Jin found himself laughing. “Yeah, Hobi-yah, it’s good news.”
They rounded the corner to the music department and headed to the faculty offices, Jin still tugging on Hoseok’s elbow even though he was keeping up just fine. Jin saw Yoongi’s profile, heard him talking, and opened his mouth to call Yoongi’s name--
--and choked on the word as he saw who Yoongi was talking to.
“What are you doing?” Hoseok asked, baffled, as Jin dragged him into a doorway.
“Who is that Yoongi’s talking to?” Jin whispered, peeking out.
Hoseok stepped out in the hall to look; Jin jerked him back. “I don’t know,” Hoseok said. “I don’t recognize him, I don’t think he’s a student.”
Jin poked his head back out and got another look at Jungkook, still in, yes, last night’s clothes, laughing at something Yoongi said. “I would remember if he was a student,” he said. “Right?”
“Right?” Hoseok echoed. “Jin hyung, what is going on?”
The students milling in the hall started heading into the lecture hall, and Yoongi and Jungkook walked that way too. Jin waited for them to go in and then grabbed Hoseok. Hoseok gave a long-suffering sigh and followed him.
They slipped into the back of the lecture hall. There were empty seats in one corner, and Jin and Hoseok sat, Jin being careful to stay out of the eyeline of either Yoongi or Jungkook. He checked his phone, and saw two things: one, that it was time for class to start, and two, that he had a message on the app. He checked it, keeping his phone turned carefully away from Hoseok, and read the message from Jungkook:
never been glad for middle of the night brain before. can we do something again?
And then right after that,
not THAT something necessarily
I wouldn’t mind, just.
shut up self.
Jin found himself smiling, even with--
“Good morning, class,” Yoongi said, and Jin tensed as the class murmured greetings back to him.
Hoseok pinched him; when Jin looked over, Hoseok gestured at him in a very what??? gesture. Jin waved him down and looked back.
“As promised, we have a special guest lecturer today. He started out in music as an idol trainee at the age of fourteen, but transitioned to producing and songwriting, and is now one of the best in Korea,” Yoongi said with a certain amount of pride. Jin could see Jungkook ducking his head, flushing slightly. He tightened his grip on his phone. Yoongi continued, “He’s here today to answer all your questions about ‘real world’ music work - producing, collaborating, the business end. There’s nobody better.”
“Stop,” Jungkook muttered, blushing harder.
Yoongi laughed. “Jeon Jungkook, everyone.”
“Jeon Jungkook,” Jin said quietly.
Hoseok dropped his head to Jin’s shoulder and sighed again.
Jungkook spoke for a few minutes about the industry. Jin had heard some things from Yoongi, who still kept his hand in as a producer on occasion, but Jungkook spoke from the perspective of a true insider, and part of Jin was fascinated while the rest was still busy freaking out. This was his entertainment job, okay, fine, but he knew Yoongi? He was friends with Yoongi?
Jungkook switched to Q&A, clearly a little nervous, but answering everything with a level of thoughtfulness and honesty that Jin recognized from the night before. Apparently Jungkook was just…like this.
Jin was in so much trouble.
As class wound down, Yoongi said, “Last question, Jungkook-ssi. What’s the most important thing to remember, going into this business?”
“Take care of yourself,” Jungkook said, smiling at the class, and Jin’s heart did that thing again. “This business will take your whole life if you let it, so it’s important to put yourself first every once in a while. Take breaks, breathe some fresh air, sleep.” He gave a half-laugh. “I hear sleeping is the easiest thing. You can do it with your eyes closed.”
The class groaned. Yoongi smirked. Next to Jin, Hoseok cackled.
Jungkook grinned and looked over to the source of the laughter. Jin looked over at Hoseok and back, and met Jungkook’s eyes.
They both froze for a second, and then Yoongi started to thank Jungkook for his time, and Jungkook turned away.
Jin fled.
***
Jin hid in his office. He knew he was doing it. He knew it wasn’t going to work. He just - he had to breathe for a minute.
“Jeon Jungkook,” he said under his breath. “Yoongi’s friend Jungkook. Ahhhhh.”
Less than five minutes later, after Jin had opened and closed Tinder about twelve times, his door slammed open without a knock. “Jin hyung!” Hoseok crowed, stepping in. “I hear you made a new friend!”
“Uh,” Jin said intelligently.
Jungkook walked in, clearly being shoved by Yoongi. Hoseok reached behind them and shut the door, and Jin’s already small office shrunk rapidly.
“Jungkookie was just asking me your family name,” Yoongi said in a tone that Jin couldn’t entirely read. Yoongi pointed to the nameplate on Jin’s desk. “Jungkook-ah, this is Kim Seokjin, K’ARTS professor of theatre.”
“Hi,” Jungkook said.
“...hi,” Jin said.
Hoseok and Yoongi folded their arms in unison.
Jin had a very strong feeling that he was going up on his lines. “So how long have you known Yoongi?” he asked tentatively.
“We worked on a song together three or four years ago, with the friend I told you about, Kim Namjoon,” Jungkook said, looking hunted, which was fair given that Yoongi was attempting to loom over him despite their height difference. "Min Yoongi’s been, you’re really a great mentor, hyung.”
“Thanks,” Yoongi said flatly.
“How long have you known Jin hyung?” Hoseok asked. He was biting his lip to keep from laughing, the asshole.
“A…while,” Jungkook said, eyes pleading with Jin, who took a deep breath.
“Yes, Hobi-yah, this is who I…told you about,” Jin said.
“I knew it!” Hoseok said.
“Huh,” Yoongi said.
“This is a lot of fun,” Jin said, “but maybe I could talk to just Jungkook and then I could talk to you two later? Much later?”
Hoseok and Yoongi exchanged looks. Jin kept his eyes on Hoseok and not on the increasingly uncomfortable expression on Jungkook’s face.
“Okay,” Hoseok said. “Later.”
“Not too much later,” Yoongi said.
“Okay,” Jin said, just to get them out the door.
Hoseok and Yoongi left, Hoseok pointedly closing the door behind them.
Jungkook leaned back against the closed door and looked at Jin. “Your friends seem nice,” he said.
“My friends seem like overprotective older brothers, despite birth certificate evidence that says otherwise,” Jin said.
Jungkook laughed a little. “I honestly have never seen Yoongi look like that.”
“He pretty much saves that expression for special occasions. I think the last time he used it on me I was trying to convince him that turning in all my grades late was an acceptable response to finals week stress.”
“I have a college degree,” Jungkook said suddenly. “I got it on the side when I was working, after I transitioned to producing.”
“That’s impressive,” Jin said. “I--Jungkook-ah, you know I don’t care, though, right? You wouldn’t be in front of Yoongi’s class--it doesn’t even matter. You don’t have to pass a test for me to like you.”
Jungkook pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “Your best friends are professors too, though, right?”
“Yes, but they are very dumb,” Jin said, heartfelt.
Jungkook smiled for the first time since he’d walked in the room, and Jin felt some of his own tension ease. “Namjoon hyung is the smartest dumb person I know.”
Jin almost laughed. Jungkook’s smile brightened.
“I liked your talk,” Jin said.
Jungkook turned a little red. It was unbearably charming. “Thanks,” he said. “Yoongi hyung has been trying to get me to come talk to his classes for a while, but unlike some of us, I am not born to talk to students, and it took me a while to get up the nerve.”
“Remind me to tell you some time about Yoongi’s first time teaching,” Jin said, leaning back in his chair. “You’ll appreciate it.”
Jungkook rested his hands on his hips. “I suppose you were a prodigy from the time of your first class.”
“I was,” Jin said and grinned. He spread his arms wide. “I am a font of knowledge, ready to shower my genius onto all who--stop laughing at me, Jungkook-ah!”
“You stop laughing, Seokjin-ssi,” Jungkook said, and Jin clamped down on the giggle trying to come out.
“Hoseok and Yoongi call me Jin hyung,” he said instead.
Jungkook’s smile widened.
***
Jin fidgeted in place, standing off to the side of the theatre entrance. Soobin walked by and hesitated, waving; Jin waved back, trying to look friendly but maybe a little busy, and heaved a sigh of relief when Soobin kept going.
“Jin hyung!” he heard behind him, and he turned to see Jungkook hurrying up the sidewalk to him, holding a bouquet of flowers. Apparently “better” date clothes were well-fitted navy pants and a matching jacket, with a shirt underneath that was black and looked like a night sky, with blue and white clusters of stars.
Jin’s own black suit with a dark green shirt seemed boring in comparison, but Jungkook looked at him appreciatively as he drew closer.
Jin smiled back, and they spent a minute just staring at each other before Jin came back to himself. “What’s this?” he asked, pointing at the bouquet.
“I heard you give the director flowers on opening night,” Jungkook said.
“I didn’t direct it!” Jin said, laughing as Jungkook looked dubious.
“Mm-hm,” Jungkook said. “Then I guess they’re just flowers.” He handed them over.
Jin took them, taking a second to bury his nose in them. “Thank you, I love them,” he said.
Jungkook looked adorably embarrassed.
“Let me take these to my office, there’s time before the play,” Jin said, and led Jungkook through the halls back to his office.
They got there and Jin casually closed the door before setting the flowers gently on his desk and turning around to find Jungkook already in his personal space.
“Hi there,” Jungkook said, pushing Jin’s hair off his forehead.
“Hi,” Jin said, and leaned forward to kiss Jungkook.
They had a few short minutes, wrapped around each other, Jungkook warm against him, before Jin’s phone beeped.
“Twenty minutes until curtain, I need to go check on my kids,” Jin said regretfully, and kissed Jungkook one more time before pulling him out the door.
He left Jungkook when they hit the theater, handing over a ticket, and braved backstage. It was as chaotic as it was supposed to be, with students pulling the last parts of their costumes over their heads, warming up in corners, and generally making as much noise as possible, while Yoo Jeongyeon, the stage manager, rounded them up as needed. She rolled her eyes at Jin on her way past and Jin fought a laugh.
Jin heard his name and turned as Jimin and Taehyung almost ran into each other crowding up to him.
“Are you ready?” Jin asked them.
“No,” Taehyung said seriously as Jimin nodded. They looked at each other and laughed.
“Any more motivation problems?” Jin asked Jimin.
Taehyung spun around. “You were having motivation problems? You didn’t tell me you were having motivation problems!”
Jimin went bright red. “It was just a small question! Kim Seokjin-nim helped! It’s fine now!”
Tehyung took a breath to start talking, but Jeongyeon walked by and grabbed him by the arm. “Places! Places, come on!” she said.
Jin waved them off and escaped.
He hit his seat just as the lights dimmed, and smiled over at Jungkook.
“Nervous?” Jungkook whispered.
“Always,” Jin whispered back.
The lights came up on stage, and Jin took a deep breath. Jungkook’s arm nestled in next to Jin’s on the theater seat armrest, and Jin looked over to see Jungkook looking oddly solemn.
“It’ll be great,” Jungkook whispered.
Jin nudged Jungkook’s arm with his own and half-smiled at him. Then the lights on stage came up and he turned all his attention - almost all his attention - to his students.
***
The theater was bursting with applause as the cast took their bows. Jin glanced sideways at Jungkook, and then stared at him openly as he realized he was wiping tears away.
“Don’t look at me, look at your students,” Jungkook said, waving him off, and Jin looked back to see the cast bowing. He clapped harder. Taehyung and Jimin both waved at him, then grabbed each other and ran offstage. Jin could just barely hear the sound of Taehyung’s voice over the conversations of the crowd around him as everyone started sorting themselves out to leave.
He turned back to Jungkook. “I take it you liked it?”
“I did,” Jungkook said, his whole face alight with enthusiasm. “They’re so good, Jin hyung! All of them!”
“Well, they should be,” Jin said, spreading his arms wide. “Look who’s teaching them!”
Jungkook threw his head back and laughed.
“Jin hyung!” Hoseok shouted from somewhere behind Jin, and he exchanged apprehensive looks with Jungkook before turning to head out of their row and over to the corner of the theater where Hoseok and Yoongi were standing. Yoongi looked impassive, which usually meant he was hiding deep amusement, and Hoseok was grinning. Jin only kept his face neutral out of some vague need to convince Jungkook he was a normal functioning adult.
“Wasn’t it great?” Jin asked a little desperately as they drew close. “Hoseok-ah, Jimin was outstanding tonight, all that extra work you did paid off.”
“He was brilliant,” Hoseok said warmly, then pivoted with barely a breath. “Jungkook-ssi, so good to see you again so soon.”
Jin tried to keep the groan internal.
“Hoseok-ssi, Yoongi-ssi,” Jungkook said. “I’m so glad Jin hyung invited me. The music was great. Yoongi-ssi, did you work with the orchestra?”
“Not officially,” Yoongi said, and both Hoseok and Jin stifled laughter. “I sat in on a couple of rehearsals.”
“Is he an advisor like you’re an advisor?” Jungkook asked Jin.
“Hey!” Jin said. “I take very strong offense to that question.”
“I am almost entirely hands-off,” Yoongi said.
Jin smacked Jungkook’s arm as he opened his mouth. “Don’t you dare.”
Jungkook smacked him back, and they had a small slap fight. Jin looked up to see Yoongi and Hoseok looking on, clearly highly entertained, and subsided.
“Are you coming backstage with us?” Hoseok asked Jungkook, who looked over at Jin, eyebrows raised in question.
Jin shrugged back at him. “If you can handle a soup of hormones and egos.”
“Jin hyung, I was an idol,” Jungkook said.
***
“Kim Seokjin-nim!” Taehyung shrieked, hurtling himself across the hall leading into the backstage area. He stopped scant inches from Jin. Next to him, Jungkook straightened up from where he’d flinched back.
Jimin didn’t have Taehyung’s, er, restraint, and threw himself at Hoseok, who caught him and hugged him, laughing.
“Did you see it? Did you like it? Wasn’t Jiminie amazing?” Taehyung asked all in a rush.
“Yes, yes, and you were both superb,” Jin said. “Right, Yoongi-ssi?”
“Your harmonies on the second act opener were particularly good,” Yoongi said, and Taehyung looked like he might faint.
Jimin disentangled himself from Hoseok and leaned into Jin. “Taehyung practiced his monologue upside-down like you told him to, Kim Seokjin gyosunim,” he said. Taehyung preened.
“Upside down?” Jungkook asked quietly.
“Blah blah shifts perspective,” Jin said back just as quietly.
“Well, clearly it worked,” Jungkook said at a conversational volume. “It was a great performance.”
Jin introduced everyone. Taehyung and Jimin were polite until they discovered that Jungkook was both a music person and younger than them and then dragged him off into a corner to interrogate him on all his thoughts from the evening. Jungkook was clearly delighted by the two of them, and Jin got a little distracted watching him laugh at something Taehyung was dramatically proclaiming.
“It’s nice that he likes the babies,” Hoseok said.
“He is a baby,” Yoongi said, but bumped shoulders with Jin. “It’s nice that you like him.”
“Of course I like him,” Jin said. “He’s perfectly likeable.”
“Right,” Yoongi said. Hoseok snickered.
Jin whipped his head around. “What? What?”
Yoongi patted him on the back. Jin glared.
“We’re just glad you like him,” Hoseok said, spreading his hands wide. “How many of your jokes does he laugh at?”
“I don’t keep score,” Jin said.
“You demonstrably do,” Yoongi said.
Jin puffed up, then deflated. “He laughs at all of them.”
“All of them?” Hoseok and Yoongi asked in unison.
“It’s early days yet!” Jin protested. “There’s lots of time to stop being nice!”
Yoongi patted Jin on the back again. Jin rolled his eyes.
***
“Your friends don’t seem to hate me,” Jungkook said. They’d been snuggled - there was no other word for it - on the couch for what seemed like hours, kissing off and on between having a desultory conversation about the show.
“One of them is your friend already,” Jin pointed out. He had discovered that Jungkook’s shirt was as silky-feeling as it looked, and he had one hand on Jungkook’s back, rubbing up and down.
Jungkook laughed and nudged his face into Jin’s neck. “He likes you more,” he said, and Jin laughed. “And Hoseok seems to like me too. He just seems like a generally nice person though.”
“Both those things are true,” Jin said. “He is made of rainbows and sunshine, and he likes you.”
Jungkook made a happy noise into the base of Jin’s throat. Jin shifted under him.
“You seemed to get along with Taehyung and Jimin, too,” Jin said.
“They’re a lot of fun,” Jungkook said. Jin could feel the smile form against his throat. “And they adore you.”
“Obviously,” Jin said, just to make Jungkook laugh.
“And it’s nice to. You know. Nice to see people in love,” Jungkook said.
Jin froze. “What?”
Jungkook lifted his head. “Taehyung and Jimin? It’s nice to see--what is that face you’re making?”
“Oh,” Jin said. “Oh. That’s the face I make when I have an epiphany.”
Jungkook blinked at Jin; Jin smiled and reeled him in for a well-deserved kiss.
It took a while - Jin did have a lot of things to say about the play - but things eventually turned heated, and Jungkook pressed Jin back into the couch cushions, kissing him harder and grinding down on top of him. Jin made a tiny noise that was not in any way a whimper and ran his fingers through the purple strands of Jungkook’s hair.
“We should probably get you out of these clothes,” Jin said, shifting as Jungkook’s thigh slid more firmly between his. “I really - ah! - I really like that shirt and I don’t want to ruin it.”
“I know you like this shirt,” Jungkook said. He caught the edge of one sleeve in his hand and rubbed it against Jin’s face. Jin definitely didn’t whimper again.
“You’ve made your point, let’s go,” Jin said and made grabby hands at Jungkook, who giggled and held out his hands for Jin to pull it up over his chest and tug it off.
Jin immediately ran his hands down Jungkook’s chest in a way that had Jungkook laughing some more.
“What?” asked Jin distractedly. “This is a better angle than I had the other night, I didn’t get to properly appreciate you then.”
“I have no complaints about the other night,” Jungkook said. “Or your appreciation of me. I just like your enthusiasm.”
“I feel like you’re making fun of me,” Jin said suspiciously. He tweaked a nipple in revenge and Jungkook squeaked and leaned into the touch at the same time. Jin laughed and did it again.
“Oh, yeah?” Jungkook asked, dropping his hand to Jin’s lap and rubbing his cock through his clothing.
Jin sucked in a breath and surged up, and then they were kissing again, hard and fast, while Jungkook fumbled for Jin’s pants and Jin struggled with the buttons of his own dress shirt.
Everything came off finally, piece by piece, and Jin dragged Jungkook back down to the couch on top of him. Jungkook straddled Jin and they rutted against each other, Jungkook’s hips stuttering against Jin’s. Jin kissed Jungkook until he forgot how, panted against Jungkook’s cheek and bit his chin and hid all the sharp sounds he wanted to make in his neck.
Jungkook traced a finger along Jin’s cock and Jin closed his eyes against the feeling, but that just magnified it. “Fuck, Jungkook-ah,” he said.
Jungkook half-laughed against Jin’s shoulder. “Yeah,” he said. He got his hand around Jin’s cock and bit down on Jin’s collarbone. Jin arched up and came hard.
He tried to reach out a shaky hand to Jungkook, but Jungkook just bit him again and jerked himself off with the hand he’d just had on Jin. Jin buried his nose into Jungkook’s hairline and held him close until Jungkook came all over Jin’s stomach, voice catching on Jin’s name.
“Wow,” Jungkook said, kissing where he’d bit Jin. “Wow.”
“Agreed,” Jin said, running a hand through Jungkook’s hair and down his back.
Jungkook sat carefully back, those extraordinary thighs flexing around Jin’s hips, and smiled down at him.
Jin smiled back up at him, unspeakably fond, until he started to feel more sweaty than fond and had to drag Jungkook off to the shower.
***
Jin spent the next few weeks in a cloud of affection and sex. Yoongi and Hoseok teased him relentlessly about it.
“Here he comes,” Yoongi said to Hoseok as Jin walked down the hall towards them.
“Here I come,” Jin agreed, stuffing his phone in his pocket. “Were you expecting someone else?”
“Kim Seokjin,” Yoongi said promptly. “Good professor, kinda loud, unlucky in love?”
“Loud!” Jin said loudly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That’s what you object to?” Yoongi asked.
Jin’s brain caught up with him. “Hey--” he started.
Hoseok put a hand on Jin’s arm. “Leave Jin hyung alone,” he told Yoongi. “You don’t have to be lucky in love every time, just once.”
“I’m still very offended by this,” Jin said.
Hoseok smiled at him, unbothered. “How’s your joke-to-laugh ratio?”
“Pretty high,” Jin said. “He laughed at the one about coffee this morning.”
“The vampire one?” Yoongi asked. “You didn’t try the vampire one on him, did you?”
“I forgot about that one!” Jin said. “No, I asked him, what do you call coffee that can’t move?”
“I hate this joke already,” Yoongi said, while Hoseok started giggling before the punchline.
Jin was smug about that for a whole half hour before he went back to Yoongi’s office and demanded, “What was that unlucky in love comment about, though?”
“What?” Yoongi asked blankly. “Oh. Jin hyung, with all the love in the world, if I hadn’t hacked Tinder for you--”
“I think Tinder would be surprised to hear that--”
“Then you would still be waiting for Prince Jungkook to find you.”
Jin glared at him. “Just because you’re not wrong doesn’t mean you’re right,” he said.
“That’s precisely what it means,” Yoongi said. “Go take your vampire jokes somewhere else, Kim Seokjin, some of us are trying to teach at this institution.”
***
Jin saved the vampire joke for their next diner date in the wee hours of the morning. Jungkook snorted coffee out his nose, which set Jin off, and then they were both holding on to each other’s arms and stifling laughter until a very over it all waitress came by with extra napkins. Jungkook took them sheepishly, and Jin said, “Come on, let’s leave this poor place alone and try to get some sleep.”
“Okay, sure, sleep,” Jungkook said, but they did actually tumble into Jungkook’s bed, exhausted, and Jin was surprised how easily his eyes slid closed.
***
Jungkook’s phone went off multiple times in a row over breakfast the next morning and Jin raised an eyebrow. “Popular this morning,” he said.
“Taehyungie hyung wants to invite me to some sort of workshop,” Jungkook said to Jin. “Do you know what he’s talking about?”
“I’m sorry,” Jin said, “I can’t hear you over the horror of you calling one of my graduate students ‘hyung.’ You’ll have to give me a minute.”
Jungkook laughed. His phone beeped again, drawing his attention, and Jin tried to eat his breakfast and have no feelings at all about the concept. It was great that Jungkook was friends with Jin’s students! It was a good sign! And Jin was more or less the same age as Jungkook’s best friend, anyway.
That would be more reassuring if Jin had ever met Namjoon, he thought gloomily.
Jungkook’s phone went off again.
“Taehyung must have a lot to say about that workshop,” Jin said.
“He does, but this is Namjoon hyung,” Jungkook said.
“Ah, how is he?” Jin asked, forcing casualness.
“He sounds good, you know Namjoon,” Jungkook said, and Jin smiled weakly in return.
***
Everything was fine, it was fine, Jin told himself firmly a few middle of the nights later, looking down at the folder where he’d saved Jungkook’s pics before going inactive on Tinder in a fit of…optimism? Or something?
He checked his text messages, but his usual review of Jungkook’s messages to him didn’t help. He thought about texting Jungkook, but Jungkook had been working late and Jin didn’t need to bother him with middle of the night brain.
He started typing out a draft to the group chat instead.
Tell me not to panic because I haven’t met his friends yet.
I mean, Yoongi-yah, you’ve met Kim Namjoon, right?
He sounds nice.
I sound nice!
Maybe he doesn’t like kinda loud, unlucky in love professors.
Maybe he doesn’t like puns.
Guys, what if he doesn’t like puns????
HIs phone rang. Jin stared at it, confused, and answered it.
“Hoseok-ah?”
“Seokjin hyung,” Hoseok said sleepily into his ear. “Stop freaking out on the group chat or I’ll mute you.”
Jin jerked the phone back and looked down at it. “Shit,” he said. “That was supposed to be a draft.”
“Turn off your brain,” Hoseok said. “Jungkookie likes you just fine.”
“Wait, what does ‘just fine’ mean--hey!” Jin said as he heard the beep of the ended call.
***
It turned out that some things transcended middle of the night brain. Jin started worrying enough about the whole “Namjoon thing,” as he started calling it, that he stopped mentioning it to Hoseok and Yoongi entirely, a nearly unprecedented event. He tried to rein in his tendency to be a lot when he thought about it, but Jungkook didn’t make that easy, with the way he did things like scrunch up his nose with laughter when Jin hit him with a good bad joke.
Jungkook laughed so hard at a series of food puns one night during a late dinner at Jungkook’s apartment that he kept giggling intermittently while Jin was fucking him. Of course, each giggle made Jin mock-scowl down at Jungkook. “Is my dick that funny?” he asked at one point, and Jungkook laughed so hard that Jin almost came on the spot.
Jin walked over to the bed after he’d cleaned up and poked him in the side. “Laughing during sex, what kind of terrible person are you?”
Jungkook scrunched up his nose right in Jin’s face, he was truly the worst, and leaned up to kiss him thoroughly. “I’ll go take a shower and think about what I’ve done,” he said, and kissed Jin again on his way out the door.
Jin pulled on his boxers and T-shirt and stood looking around Jungkook’s bedroom. It was comfortably decorated, the huge bed surrounded by sturdy but pretty furniture and art on the wall showing the skyline of Busan at night and a beach scene.
There was a corkboard next to the closet with photos tacked to it. Jin wandered over and looked at them. They were mostly taken in what Jin assumed to be Jungkook’s studio at work. Jin recognized some of the artists in them. Some were action shots of the recording process, and some were just Jungkook posing with them, everyone beaming at the camera. Jin really liked Jungkook’s smile.
Kim Namjoon featured in many of the shots, and Jin studied him. He didn’t seem like someone who hated puns.
Jungkook came up behind him and threw an arm around his waist. Jin tried not to jump. Jungkook put his chin on Jin’s shoulder and looked at the photos with him.
“You look happy,” Jin said. “You look like you like your job.” He put a hand over Jungkook’s and rubbed his thumb over the heart tattoo.
“My job does make me happy.” Jungkook tucked his nose into Jin’s neck and said, slightly muffled, “When I wasn’t picked for the group I was training for, I - you know, I was seventeen and I’d spent three years in that system. It was my whole world and it was just disappearing in front of me. Namjoon hyung would let me come to his studio and cry every day. He went back to Busan with me when I picked up my life and took it home to my parents’ house. And then he picked me up from the train when I came back two years later to try and make it after secondary school. If I’m anything in my career, it’s because of him.”
Jin rubbed his thumb over the tattoo again.
“Yeah,” Jungkook said, burrowing even further into Jin. “Yeah, and he helped me get this. I mean, first he argued with me about it for an hour, and then he took me. He wanted me to - I wanted to be able to remember that being an idol wasn’t the only reason for people to love me.”
“Jungkook-ah,” Jin said, dislodging Jungkook enough to spin around. He cupped Jungkook’s face in his hands. “You know better now, right?”
“Of course,” Jungkook said, with an attempt at a smile. “Except sometimes in the middle of the night.”
“You don’t have to pass a test for me to like you,” Jin reminded him, and kissed him as if that could punctuate the sentence.
Jungkook put his arms around Jin and kissed him back.
Jin reluctantly pulled away after a minute. “Your middle of the night brain needs some rest,” he said.
Jungkook smiled and pulled Jin to the bed.
Jin wrapped himself around Jungkook, arms and legs tangled together, and put his head on Jungkook’s chest. “I’m so glad you had Namjoon,” he said quietly. “He sounds great.”
Jungkook’s response was a sleepy, “Yeah…” and Jin felt him drift off to sleep. Jin closed his eyes tight and tried not to think about a young, lonely, devastated Jungkook, or the best friend he had yet to meet, or anything but where he was right now.
***
Yoongi showed up in Jin’s office a few days later looking exhausted. “Are your students freaking out about finals?” he asked.
“Yoongi-yah, they’re college students, they freak out about everything,” Jin said, not looking up from his laptop. Emails from the administration were always brutal in the weeks leading up to graduation.
“I swear it’s worse this year.” Yoongi flopped into the chair. “I thought office hours would never end.”
“Close the door and they’ll never know you’re in here,” Jin said.
Yoongi made a considering noise and grumped his way over to the door.
They spent the next half hour in blissful silence. Jin slowly made his way through his acres of paperwork, and Yoongi communed with his phone. He was making a new and more irritated face at it each time Jin looked up.
“Your face is being loud,” Jin said finally. “And if I’m saying that, your face is really loud. What’s wrong?”
Yoongi blew out a long breath. “Jin hyung, you know I love you, right?”
“Oh no,” Jin said, sitting straight up. “Which student of yours am I failing?”
“None of them that I know of. This time.”
Jin groaned. “Once! One student one time!”
Yoongi waved a hand. “You’re distracting me. I’m trying to be sincere.”
Jin gave an exaggerated wince. “Does it hurt?”
”Jin hyung.”
“Sorry, sorry,” Jin said, putting his hands up. “Please continue with your sincerity.”
Yoongi let out a huff, then leaned forward and put his elbows on Jin’s desk. “You are a genuinely good person,” he said.
Jin froze, stunned into silence.
“You’re incredibly kind, you’re funny and smart, and I am sure you’re very attractive,” Yoongi said, ending on a slightly dubious expression that Jin was too dumbfounded to even laugh at.
“Yoongi-yah,” he said. “What’s going on?”
“You’re not too much,” Yoongi said. “You’re not too much for your students, you’re not too much for me and Hobi, and you’re not too much for someone to love you.”
“Oh,” Jin said, a little numbly.
Yoongi just looked at him.
“Thank you,” Jin managed. “I--thank you.” He still couldn’t seem to move.
Yoongi stood up, leaned over the desk, and grabbed Jin’s head to tilt it forward and drop a kiss on his forehead. He let himself out, closing the door behind him, and Jin was left to stare at his hands and think carefully about nothing until the burning at the back of his eyes subsided.
***
Jin was still turning this over in his mind a couple of days later when Taehyung tracked him down. Jin was sitting at the miniscule table in the faculty kitchen, eating with one hand and making notes on a script he wanted to direct in the fall. Hoseok was at the counter making toast and humming a K-pop tune under his breath. Taehyung slid past Hoseok and stood in front of Jin. “Kim Seokjin gyosunim?” he asked, shifting his weight from one foot to the other in a very un-Taehyung way.
“Are you okay, Taehyung-ssi?” Jin asked. Hoseok’s humming immediately quieted. “Sit down, please.” He pointed at the other chair jammed behind the table.
“I’m not okay,” Taehyung said, with about half the histrionics Jin would have expected for that statement. He put his highlighter down and focused fully on his student.
“Talk to me.”
“I think I’m bad at being in love,” Taehyung said. He looked up at Jin expectantly.
Jin just blinked a couple of times and gestured him to continue.
“How do you give somebody your whole heart when you’re me and you need so much?” Taehyung, king of the over-the-top feelings, looked small and lost, and Jin’s heart ached in his chest.
“Is the person you’re in love with complaining?”
“He doesn’t know,” Taehyung said.
Jin exerted all his willpower to not turn and meet Hoseok’s eyes. “He doesn’t?”
“He can’t ever know,” Taehyung said, sounding slightly more himself before deflating again. “He might feel sorry for me, and then what would I do?”
“I’ve never seen you this afraid of going for what you wanted. What about last year when you tried out for the freshman-only show?”
“I was good!” Taehyung protested.
“Taehyung-ssi, you’re a graduate student,” Jin said.
“Well, yes, but that’s just acting,” Taehyung said, dismissing the thing he had once called “the only thing at all worth pursuing in this life.” Jin bit his lip. Hoseok, who had been there for that proclamation, shuffled noisily behind them. “This is Jimin,” Taehyung continued, noticing neither reaction.
Jin opened his mouth, closed it again, and took a breath. “Can I be honest with you?”
Taehyung nodded, lacing his fingers together on the table tightly.
“I don’t know if Jimin is in love with you,” Jin said. “But I know he loves you. You’re best friends.”
“We’re soulmates,” Taehyung said automatically.
“He’s not going to stop loving you because you tell him this. I can’t imagine a world where he does.”
“He might be kind to me,” Taehyung said miserably. “I couldn’t stand it.”
“You can survive kindness,” Jin said. Taehyung gave him a betrayed look. “You can! And Taehyung-ssi, listen. Performing has always been your biggest dream. If Jimin is as important, more important, a bigger dream than that - well, what does he deserve from you?”
Taehyung’s shoulders were starting to come down from around his ears. “I - maybe - I get that?”
“It’s up to you,” Jin said. “And as for the other thing - Jimin has never, not once, wanted you to be less than what you truly are, has he?”
Taehyung shook his head.
“Why would that ever, ever change? Shouldn’t you be, ah, I hesitate to say it, more yourself, when you’re in love?”
Taehyung went completely silent for a minute, looking down, and Jin squashed the impulse to turn around and look to Hoseok for help. Then Taehyung stood up, still silent, bowed to Jin, and ran out of the room.
Jin sat back. “I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck,” he said. “Hoseok-ah, did I do okay?”
Hoseok plopped himself down in Taehyung’s abandoned seat. He was holding - Jin raised an eyebrow - toast with plentiful amounts of both jam and bacon, and he took a satisfied bite while Jin eyed him.
“Jin hyung,” he said through a mouthful, “you’re a very smart person, but you’re also very dumb.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Jin demanded.
Hoseok tried to point at Jin and then quickly rescued his loaded toast as it threatened to collapse one-handed. “I mean that sometimes we give people the advice we wish we could get.”
“Huh,” Jin said. He rested his chin on his hand. “Huh.”
“There it is,” Hoseok said.
Jin looked up. “My epiphany face?”
“Yeah.”
Jin nodded into his hand.
***
Jungkook had a late recording session, so Jin sat at their diner, watching the sunlight slowly fade and rehearsing different approaches.
“I’m so sorry,” Jungkook said, sliding into his seat across from Jin. He bumped his foot against Jin’s under the table. “I tried to hurry.”
“It’s fine,” Jin said. “Trust me, I know you can’t rush the talent.”
Jungkook laughed. “Yeah.”
They ordered, and Jungkook said, “It’s weird to order dinner for once! We should do this more often.”
“What, you don’t like middle of the night yaksik?” Jin asked, mock-offended.
“I love it,” Jungkook said with a wicked smile. “But this is good too.”
“Jungkook-ah,” Jin blurted, and then closed his mouth on a stream of babble that threatened to overwhelm him.
Jungkook met his eyes, looking startled. “What’s wrong?”
Jin ran a hand over the back of his neck. “I don’t want to sound, uh, needy, or pushy, or--”
Jungkook reached out and grabbed his hand. “Hey, it’s okay. Talk to me.”
“When do you think you’ll like me enough that I can meet Namjoon?” Jin asked, and then grabbed his hand back from Jungkook so he could hide his head in his hands. “It’s fine,” he said, probably garbled, into his palms. “I can wait, I just--”
“Jin hyung,” Jungkook said. “Hello, I can’t talk to your hands, I need to talk to your face.”
Jin put his hands down on the table and sat up like an adult. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ve maybe been overthinking this.”
“It’s possible,” Jungkook said with a hint of dimple. “Middle of the night brain?”
“Middle of the night brain all day,” Jin said ruefully. “For days.”
“Hyung,” Jungkook said, barely audible. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean--”
“Don’t, don’t, don’t,” Jin said, waving his hands and then forcing them down again.
“I’ve been trying to ask you since - since that night I told you about being an idol,” Jungkook said, all in a rush. “I’ve just never introduced anyone to Namjoon hyung.”
“Oh, shit,” Jin breathed. “Jungkook-ah, seriously, I can wait, middle of the night brain can go fuck itself.”
“I want to,” Jungkook said. “I want to.” A smile started to form. “You have some things in common.”
Jin thought over Jungkook’s Namjoon stories and his eyes narrowed. “Is this a micromanaging joke?”
“No!” Jungkook said.
“Your dimples say you’re lying.” Jin poked at Jungkook’s cheek, Jungkook fended him off with a laugh, and suddenly middle of the night brain seemed a lot farther away.
“He will probably threaten to kill you, though,” Jungkook said offhandedly.
“Wait, what?” Jin asked.
***
Jungkook introduced them awkwardly and formally, and Jin suppressed a smile at his clear nerves. It helped him think about something besides his own. At having someone besides the two of them in their diner, at having that someone be the famous Kim Namjoon, central person in Jungkook’s life.
They got themselves sorted and sat at a table for once, giving everyone a little space. They ordered - Jin of course ordered yaksik and Jungkook of course didn’t, which made the two of them grin at each other briefly.
The waitress left, and Jin looked at Namjoon across the table. He didn’t look like someone who would threaten to kill anyone, with his glasses and his cardigan and his frankly amazing hair, silver with just a little blue on the ends. Jin wondered if being a faculty member of an arts school gave him enough wiggle room to dye his own hair. He’d suggest it to Yoongi and make him go first.
“It’s good to finally meet you,” Namjoon said, and Jungkook’s hiss and jerk made it clear he’d been kicked under the table.
“Hyung,” he said with just the slightest whine, and Jin could suddenly see the teenaged trainee in him.
Jin pressed his foot up against Jungkook’s. “It’s good to meet you too, Namjoon-ssi,” he said. “Jungkook says nothing but good things about you.”
“I don’t believe you,” Namjoon said, smiling slightly.
“Almost nothing but good things,” Jin amended. “And of course we have a mutual friend in Min Yoongi.”
Namjoon’s smile relaxed a little. “How is Yoongi? The last text message I got from him was a rant about some administrative snafu I couldn’t follow and then he went radio silent. It must be finals week.”
“Just finished,” Jin said with a grin. “We go almost straight into summer semester, but that break before fall is so close I can almost make it out in the distance.”
“Any plans?” Namjoon asked.
It was absolutely Jin’s imagination that Namjoon’s casual question and glance at him was some sort of a test. And yet, Jin fought not to stutter. “Ah, I haven’t really talked to…anyone…about plans yet.”
“I see,” Namjoon said and then winced, so Jungkook had probably just kicked him under the table. Lots happening under the literal as well as metaphorical surfaces tonight, Jin thought to himself, and then had to disguise a snort as a sneeze.
Namjoon was eyeing Jin. Jin panicked. “How’s the new song going?” he asked Jungkook quickly.
Jungkook launched into a spirited monologue on his newest project at a speed and volume that Jin calculated was about 40% enthusiasm for the project and 60% “distract the hyungs” desperation.
He finally wound down and Namjoon asked, “Did you ever work in the industry, Seokjin-ssi? Jungkook says you have a great singing voice.”
Jin contemplated kicking Jungkook himself. “He’s too kind,” he said, “but I haven’t been on stage for a few years now. I save my singing voice for the shower.”
Both Jungkook and Namjoon blinked as that unsubtle implication sunk in.
"Ah," Namjoon said, and underneath the table Jungkook pinched Jin's leg - Jin did not flinch, he was an actor, thank you - and then took his hand.
Their food came, and Jin and Jungkook let go of each other, but Jungkook tangled their feet together under the table instead. At least it would save Jin getting kicked. Probably.
Jin smiled widely at Namjoon. “Are you working on anything you can talk about right now?”
“Tell him about the OST, Namjoon hyung,” Jungkook said.
Namjoon gave them both a dubious look, but did in fact talk briefly about his latest project, one that he’d actually consulted with Yoongi on, and Jin found himself actually caring about the questions he was asking instead of just trying to impress him. He even made Namjoon laugh once with a Yoongi impression. Jungkook beamed, giving up on food for a second to squeeze Jin’s hand, and Jin squeezed back.
Then, in a move that would have made Yoongi proud, Jin jumped in before anyone could direct the conversation elsewhere. “So, Namjoon-ssi,” he said casually, and felt more than saw Jungkook side-eye him, “we know what we’re really here for.”
“What?” Jungkook asked.
“What?” Namjoon asked.
Jin smiled beatifically. “Embarrassing stories about Jungkook, of course.”
“Oh, no,” Jungkook said.
Namjoon grinned and leaned forward.
***
“I’ll be right back,” Jungkook said, standing up and pushing his chair back.
“Okay,” Jin said.
Jungkook pointed at Namjoon. “Right back.”
Namjoon nodded solemnly. Jungkook groaned and hurried away.
As soon as Jungkook disappeared down the hall that led to the restrooms, Jin gestured at Namjoon. “Let’s hear it,” he said.
Namjoon, to his credit, didn’t even pretend. “You seem nice,” he said.
With the few self-preservation instincts Jin possessed, he didn’t respond with a joke.
Namjoon narrowed his eyes as if he could tell. “I’m sure you’re great, but I’ve been keeping an eye on this kid for ten years and counting, and I’m not going to stop now.”
Jin thought about Taehyung curling into himself at the break room table, about that little heart on Jungkook’s hand. “I wouldn’t want you to stop,” he said. “I really wouldn’t.”
Namjoon did not look entirely mollified. “And I’m above threatening people, I don’t care what Jungkook told you,” he said, and while Jin was taking a breath to reply, he continued, “but if you hurt him you’ll wish you hadn’t,” in a tone that suggested a wealth of specificity lay behind the bland statement.
“I believe you,” Jin said with complete sincerity.
They sat in only slightly awkward silence until Jin nodded behind Namjoon. “Incoming,” he said, and Namjoon nodded back.
“I”m back,” Jungkook said, all but throwing himself into his chair. “Please tell me Namjoon hyung behaved himself.”
“He didn’t even threaten to kill me once,” Jin said, eyes wide. “I’m disappointed.”
Jungkook covered his face with one hand. Nanmjoon rolled his eyes. Jin beamed at both of them, and reached back out under the table for Jungkook’s hand.
***
Jin followed Jungkook through his bedroom door, almost running into him as Jungkook stopped short and turned to face him.
“Was that too much?” he asked.
Jin rocked back on his heels. “Was what too much?”
“Tonight. Namjoon hyung.” Jungkook waved a hand around. “Everything.”
Jin bit back the first two jokes that occurred to him and put his hands on Jungkook’s shoulders. “Absolutely not,” he said, putting his whole body into the truth.
Jungkook swayed forward a little. “I was so worried,” he said.
“It was fine,” Jin said. He allowed himself a smile. “It’s not like I met him still in the clothes from last night’s hookup or anything.”
“Ugh,” Jungkook said, but he was smiling too. “I don’t think I was as intimidated by Hoseok hyung as you were by Namjoon hyung.”
“Intimidated?” Jin made his best offended face. “How dare you suggest anything intimidates me. I have the upper hand in all my interactions, I’ll have you know!”
Jungkook beamed at him. Jin beamed back. He lifted his hands and cupped Jungkook’s face in his, and leaned in to kiss him. Jungkook hummed and wrapped his arms around Jin’s waist.
Jin pulled just far away enough to say, “Nothing about you is too much for me.” He kissed a line along Jungkook’s jaw up to his ear, brushing his lips against Jungkook’s earring to whisper, “Everything about you is exactly right.”
Jungkook shivered against him.”Jin hyung--” he started, but Jin kissed him again, slow and steady, until neither of them had any words.
They got each other’s clothes off, with lots of pauses to kiss whatever skin was nearest, and then Jungkook nudged Jin down onto the bed. He pushed Jin’s hands away when Jin reached for him, grinning when Jin raised an eyebrow up at him.
“Let me,” he said, and Jin dropped his hands to the bed and let him.
Jungkook’s mouth on Jin’s chest, on his stomach, on his cock was dreamy, drugging, in a way Jin’s brain could hardly cope with. He couldn’t do anything but hold onto the sheets, wrap his shaking legs around whatever part of Jungkook he could reach, and pant out half-syllables of words before Jungkook did something with his hand or his mouth that chased every thought away.
He garbled his way through Jungkook’s name as Jungkook took more of Jin’s cock down his throat, tracing a finger across Jin’s balls and lower. Jin fought the instinct to move his hips and almost lost as Jungkook swallowed around him. “Jungkook-ah,” he said again, “I don’t - I’m close, I--”
Jungkook squeezed Jin’s thigh and hummed around him, and Jin came hard.
Jungkook kept his mouth on Jin until Jin slumped to the bed, then pulled away and let Jin drag him up the bed. He buried his head in Jin’s shoulder and let Jin pet his head while he got a hand on himself. It only took a few fast strokes until he was coming on Jin’s stomach, which sent another flare up Jin’s spine.
“Shit,” Jin said to the ceiling. Jungkook managed some sort of controlled fall until he was next to Jin, who kept running his fingers through Jungkook’s hair. “Shit, Jungkook-ah,” he said again. “I think that was the hottest thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“Yeah?” Jungkook asked into Jin’s sweaty side. “What about all the other times we’ve had sex?”
“Fine, tied for first,” Jin said, and Jungkook laughed.
They got ready for bed lazily, kissing whenever there wasn’t a towel or a toothbrush in the way, and curled up together under the covers, Jungkook wrapped tightly around Jin from behind.
Jin put his hand over Jungkook’s, where he knew he would find the heart tattoo if he could see it. “Can I tell you something?” he asked, hushed.
“Of course,” Jungkook said in the same tone.
“Sometimes I think I’m too much, too, but you make me forget to worry about it.”
Jungkook took in a quick breath. “Jin hyung,” he said. “Are you serious?”
“This time I am,” Jin said.
Jungkook’s arm tightened around Jin’s chest. “You’re never too much.”
Jin sighed.
Jungkook kissed the back of Jin’s neck. “You will never, ever be too much for me either,” he said.
Jin closed his eyes and felt the belief sink in.
Then he opened them again. “Does that mean I get to tell the joke about why the ice cream cones can’t cross the road?”
Jungkook started giggling before Jin even got the rest of it out.
***
“I talked to a mutual friend of ours,” Yoongi said the next morning, sticking his head through Jin’s open office door.
Jin didn’t look up from the script he was scribbling on. “Hobi’s already in here,” he said.
“Hi,” Hoseok said from the floor.
“We have more than one friend,” Yoongi said, and ignored Jin’s mumbled, “Do we?” to cross the room and move another two scripts from his chair before planting himself in it.
Jin let the silence sit, mostly to be an asshole, and finally Hoseok asked, “What mutual friend, Yoongi-yah?” in a tone of suppressed amusement.
“KIm Namjoon,” Yoongi said.
Jin finally looked up. “And?”
Yoongi scrolled on his phone. “I believe his exact words were, not terrible, might not have to have him killed.”
“They were not,” Jin scoffed, reaching for the phone.
Yoongi jerked it back. “You’ll have to take my word for it.”
“Yeah, maybe I’ll just break into your phone one of these days,” Jin said.
Yoongi smirked.
Hoseok laughed. “Aren’t you glad we did, though, hyung?” he asked. Jin looked over to see him leaning back on his hands, beaming.
Jin tried to glare, but glaring at Hoseok was like spitting at the sun. “Fine,” he said, looking back down at his script. “It’s not the worst thing that ever happened to me.”
“It’s the best,” Hoseok said.
“And you’re welcome,” Yoongi said.
Jin gave up and smiled. “One of the best,” he said, and caught Hoseok smiling even wider as he turned a page in his script. “Even if you are terrible about invading my love life and my technology.”
“Did I mention you’re welcome?” Yoongi asked.
***
Six months later
Taehyung banged the backstage doors open and rushed out into the lobby; Jin followed at only a slightly more professional pace.
Jimin was waiting just in front of the doors, and barely avoided getting bowled over by Taehyung. He had a giant bouquet and an even bigger smile on his face. “You were amazing!” he said, throwing his arms around Taehyung, only barely keeping the bouquet safe. “I cried. I cried.”
“I was kind of amazing, wasn’t I?” Taehyung asked, and Jin laughed, patting Taehyung on the back as he circled around him. He dodged through the groups of students and loved ones until he saw his people clustered in a corner.
“Well?” he asked as he got in earshot. “As Taehyung would say, kind of amazing, right?”
Yoongi rolled his eyes under his newly-dyed blond hair (the administration had grudgingly allowed it; Yoongi had plans for mint green next) and laughed at the same time. “Kind of,” he agreed, handing a bouquet to Jin. “Well directed.”
“Thank you,” Jin said, grinning at him.
Hoseok handed Jin another bouquet and hugged him, squashing the flowers a little. “It’s great,” he said. “Just great. I’m so proud of you, Jin hyung.”
Jin hugged him back, further damaging the poor bouquets. “Thank you, Hoseok-ah.”
A single flower came into view, and Jin let go of Hoseok to reach out for it. “I didn’t realize this was a thing,” Namjoon said. “I felt bad, so I stole one of Yoongi’s.”
“You’d better pay me for it, too,” Yoongi said.
Namjoon ignored him. “Really good show,” he said to Jin. “Your students are very talented.”
Jin spread his arms, flowers clutched in each hand, and waited expectantly.
“And it was very well directed, too,” Namjoon said, “my apologies.”
Jin bowed formally. “Thank you, Namjoon-ssi,” he said.
“Leave him alone, hyung,” Jin heard, and finally there was Jungkook, holding a bouquet in each hand himself.
“Wow,” Jin said. “I did that well?”
“You did,” Jungkook said, “but don’t get your hopes up, one is for Taehyung.”
Jin stopped short. “Jungkook-ah,” he said, and then just wrapped his arms around Jungkook, not caring that he was putting every flower in danger. “Thank you,” he said into Jungkook’s ear.
Jungkook squeezed him back, and Jin tilted his head back enough so that they could smile at each other.
“Here they are!” Taehyung yelled from behind them, and Jin let go of Jungkook with one arm so that flowers and hugs and assurances of greatness could be shared. But even as Jin listened to the excited chatter from all around him, he shuffled his bouquets to one arm so the other could stay tight around Jungkook’s shoulders, and Jungkook’s free hand came up to squeeze Jin’s, heart tattoo visible just beneath his knuckles.
Jin tipped his head into Jungkook’s and smiled.