Chapter 1: if you think that you’re the one, step into my ride
Chapter Text
“Come on, Minnie, please ! Look at me, I’m at the verge of dying here.”
Jimin’s eye twitches when he looks back at his friend. Really, he’s already doing her enough favours as it is (though it’s true that nobody asked him to come to her apartment with ramen from her favourite place and a matcha from the café in the neighbourhood). There’s at least a dozen other people that she could ask the same thing she’s begging him to do and he’s pretty sure that he’s actually the least suited out of all of them.
“Why don’t you ask someone else to do it?” Jimin grumbles, flopping himself down onto the couch too, watching as she raises herself up on her elbows to look at him.
And well, it’s true that she’s the picture perfect of misery now — her nose is red from blowing into the tissues so hard it will probably fall off if the sickness continues, her eyes are puffy and Jimin thinks that this is the first time he’s seen her hair so greasy . He means it when he says that he would do a lot to make her more comfortable right now, to feel even a little bit better but he draws the line at going to interview Jeon Jungkook.
“Because you’re the only one I trust to actually do the interview and not cream your pants the second you see Jungkook,” she rolls her eyes. “Hana already offered to do it for me. And Yuna. And Jiwoo. They’d be trying to see whether the rumours about his dick are true or not.”
Jimin chokes on his spit. He turns to look at her, bewildered, but Vickie just shrugs innocently, as if an absurd combination of words didn’t just make their way out of her mouth.
“What? What rumor?”
He’s going to regret asking that, isn’t he?
“That he has a tattoo on his dick. Or above it. I’m not sure.”
Yeah, he does regret asking that.
“How do you even know that?”
“Told you, it’s a rumor. And I know most of the rumours around here, Minnie,” she grins.
Which — yeah, it’s true. She does know everything, now that he thinks about it. Probably one of the reasons why she’s such a great journalist. You want to know something about someone? You go to Vickie. Preferably with a cup of coffee or a blueberry matcha. She’s more willing to give you information this way. She’s also very happy to trade information for information — which works especially well when she’s asked to do an interview with someone. He’s pretty sure she has a secret stash of files and files on the people she knows.
“Listen, if you really don’t want to do that, I’ll understand,” she tells him gently, blue eyes twinkling as she smiles. “I don’t want to pressure you into doing something you’re uncomfortable with, I hope you know that.”
Of course he does. He also knows that she’s tried really hard to get that interview, and has been asking Namjoon to organise it for her for weeks already. It took some time to align both her and Jungkook’s schedules in a way for them to meet without feeling like they have to rush through everything and now she can’t even do it herself. She’s been looking forward to it — as far as Jimin knows, nobody has been able to get an exclusive interview with Jungkook since he debuted. Though Vickie at least has the privilege of having met him before, after one of the races when Namjoon introduced her.
What harm there is to doing it, really? Jimin may not like watching Formula One, hence why he knows close to nothing about it but he’s sure Vickie would brief him beforehand so he wouldn’t look absolutely dumb and uneducated in front of Jungkook. Not that he really cares about it, though. He’s not that keen on fighting for his attention with thousands of other fans, both men and women.
Besides, he already knows enough about the guy from Tae (and from the dozens of different outraged headlines that concern the two of them whenever they spend time together). Taehyung may act like he isn’t a big gossip but Jimin has known him ever since their university days, and he knows that if they were to make a podium, Taehyung would be right behind Vickie. Or in the same place. Everyone should have seen him when he first noticed Seokjin across the campus and made it his absolute mission to find his social media and anything else the internet would give him. Pretty close to being called a stalker, if you ask Jimin. Tae would just call it curiosity.
This particular hobby of his didn’t vanish, and well, one could say it even deepened when Jimin introduced him to Vickie after meeting her at work. In hindsight, he’s not sure sometimes if it was a good decision to do that, since these two always encourage each other and make it everyone’s problem. Even worse, Jin is the one that enables the two of them even more — always eager to share whatever new gossip he learned while away on a photoshoot.
And from what Jimin knows, Jeon Jungkook may be young, younger than most of the current racers, but he does not fall behind them in talent even by a tiny bit – quite the opposite actually. He’s been called the Big Hit’s prodigy so many times that Jimin has already lost count. He’s pretty sure the guy has more awards than he does functioning brain cells, but who is he to judge?
“No, it’s fine, I– I’ll do it.” Jimin sighs. It was always going to end with him agreeing to whatever she asked him to do. He’s not sure if there ever was a time when he told her no to something, apart from when she got drunk and suggested calling Taylor Swift to tell her how much she loves the new album. Because.. yeah, well. That definitely wouldn’t end well.
She squeals, sitting up on the couch so suddenly that she chokes on her breath and starts coughing, her mouth concealed in the sleeve of her sweater. When she’s done though, she shoots him one of her brightest smiles, her teeth showing a little as she does so and even if he wanted to, he can’t not return it immediately. He wants to be mad, even just a little bit, but he can’t, not when she smiles at him like this, even though she seems exhausted and ready to slip into a deep slumber.
“You’re an angel, Park Jimin. I hope you know that I love you. With my whole heart,” she sighs happily. “I have my notes and questions if you want to use them. Or not. I actually trust you not to ask him dumb shit.”
“I’ll use the notes, thanks,” he murmurs when she stands up to walk over to her bag that’s been thrown carelessly on the floor in the living room. “I don’t even know shit about Formula One. Like– It’s just a bunch of cars zooming before your eyes. Who wants to watch that?”
She raises an eyebrow.
“Yeah, right. I forgot you watch it just so you could have a reason to talk to Namjoon.”
“Oh, goodness forbid a girl desperately wants to hit it.”
Jimin snorts. Her trying to hit it has already been going on for over a year and still, it doesn’t seem like she got a new prescription for glasses to see the obvious hints that Namjoon has been dropping her way whenever they meet. Or even when they don’t. Because they text constantly. Dusk till dawn. He’s surprised her fingers haven’t fallen off yet.
He has a bet running with Taehyung and Jin — on whether she’ll realise that Namjoon does not treat her as another one of the sport journalists until the end of the year. And that even though they met after one of the races, during a press conference, he was perfectly able to fish her out from the crowd and he still is. No matter if there’s a dozen other people raising their hands at these kinds of things, he will always happily answer her questions first.
Vickie rummages through her bag for a moment until a triumphant ha! falls past her lips and she walks back to the couch, sinking into the softness of it. All the money that went into this purchase was truly well-spent, rewarded with countless movie nights and stuffing themselves full of take-out food. Come to think of it, every single object in her apartment oozes the same amount of comfort – something she’s been quite a lot of time creating in here, with all the potted plants and the lamps that give off just the right amount of soft, warm light that bathes the whole space in golden shades.
She drops a thick notebook clad in black leather into his lap — she must have gone over hundreds of these already, ever since she started working at The Herald. It’s where she takes all of her notes, writes down questions, sometimes makes shopping lists or notes the time and place of each important meeting. Jimin turns it over in his hands, surprised at how heavy it feels resting over his fingers. The weight is not something he expected, especially considering the fact that he’s more used to his tablet by now. He gave up writing by hand quite some time ago.
“You don’t really need to know that much about racing. This interview was supposed to show him outside of it, so don’t worry if you have no idea what Parc Fermé or Grand Slam are.”
Jimin stares at her without a reply. She could have been speaking in another language just now, if you ask him. Vickie laughs, though the sound is quickly distorted into another coughing fit.
“You sound like you’re about to cough out your lungs.”
“Do you want a sticker for being so observant?”
He rolls his eyes.
“Seeing a doctor might be a good idea, you know. I doubt this will pass on its own,” he tells her. A huff sounds in the air between them when she waves her hand dismissively as a response to his words. “I’m serious. If I do the interview for you, you have to see a doctor.”
She frowns, lips twisting a little in a grimace, as she stares at him, clearly unhappy with what he just said. Tough luck though, because Jimin is not going to let up and if he has to resort to blackmail, then so be it.
“Fine, fine,” she finally huffs, rubbing a hand over her face. “I’ll call the doctor first thing tomorrow morning.”
“And let me know when you do that.”
“And let you know when I do that.”
Satisfied with her answer, he nods, the corners of his lips twitching into a happy smirk. Point for Jimin.
“Okay, back to the more important stuff.” Vickie says, pointing towards her notebook, still sitting safely in Jimin’s hands. “Like I said, I wanted this interview to focus more on Jungkook outside of racing. You can still ask him something about it, of course but– well, I just wanted to be more original,” she shrugs.
There’s already countless interviews, albeit pretty short, about how Jungkook is the rising racing star, how many trophies he’s already won and how many records he broke – Jimin thinks it’s all pretty boring. Not to mention, Jungkook’s answers are mostly the same in all the interviews, without any personal touch to them. And it’s not what either he or Vickie like to show in their articles, so he gets her point of view perfectly well, even if they both specialise in different things: with her working in the Sports department and him in Culture. Vickie is mostly seen at sport events, always having the best seat and sitting in the first rows during conferences, while Jimin sticks to concerts and theatre, happy that not only he can interact with art but he can also dress nicely while doing that.
“Also, he might be… cocky. He’s not bad, just sometimes can be annoying. I’m sure you’ve heard him speak at least once. So, watch out for that,” she thinks it over. “Though I doubt you’ll have any problems with handling him, now that I think about it.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Whatever you want it to mean,” she shrugs, seemingly innocent. Her blue eyes twinkle at him, the corners of her lips almost twitching into a grin. Jimin really, desperately wants to ask for an explanation. “We were supposed to meet at Mitou at five p.m., but I can call Jungkook and ask him if he can reschedule if that’s not a good time for you.”
Vickie’s already pulling out her phone from under the mess of pillows and blankets as Jimin just stares at her, wondering if he even heard her correctly. He doesn’t know which part of the sentence surprised him the most, if he’s being honest.
“Call him? You just.. have his number? Like that?”
She raises an eyebrow, amusement sparkling in her eyes.
“If you wanted to have it too, you could have just asked, Minnie.”
“Shut up.”
Vickie chuckles. She waves her phone in front of his face.
“So? Is five okay for you or do I call him?”
Jimin’s still recovering from the brief shock of both learning that he’ll be going to such a fancy restaurant tomorrow, with Jeon Jungkook of all people and that his friend has the racer’s number just casually saved in her phone. And she never told him about that? She always tells him everything — during their breaks at work, during their hangouts or even while texting each other — and somehow, she’s managed to keep that piece of information from him. He guesses that Namjoon must really be pliant to her every request.
“No, it’s fine,” he finally speaks up. “But, uh– Mitou? That crazily fancy Mitou?”
She huffs, waving a dismissive hand between the two of them. It’s as if going to a nice restaurant like that is no big deal.
“It’s not that fancy, and I think you’ll fit right in, my love, don’t worry about that.” Vickie hums. And yeah, it’s true that Jimin can really dress for the occasion if he wants to but he’s more worried about other things – like prices or the kind of people that will be there. Who even goes to these restaurants? “And don’t worry about the prices either. Jungkook said he’s paying.”
“Yeah, because he thinks you are going to be there tomorrow.”
Jimin is like half-sure that Jungkook offered to pay because he already knows Vickie, which might as well be the reason why he agreed to do that interview for her. He never met Jimin, even though they do have shared friends and there were at least a few occasions during which they could have met each other. Be it fate or something else, somehow Jimin never got the absolute pleasure of meeting Jungkook. However, he doesn’t need to have met him to know that he’s not that good when it comes to his media presence. As far as Jimin’s concerned, the man does not give exclusive interviews to anyone, even if they offer a lot of money.
“Oh, trust me, he’ll be even more willing to pay for you.”
He frowns. The way Vickie says that makes him think that she knows something she is not going to tell him, at least not anytime soon. The only thing he gets is a smirk and a wink as she leans back on the pillows, phone placed safely on her chest.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing!” Vickie sing-songs, her eyes twinkling with amusement.
Yeah, right. It’s never nothing with her. But it’s too late to argue now and the only thing Jimin can do is sigh, lean back against the back of the couch and open the notebook in his hands on one of the latest pages. Hopefully, less than a day is enough to prepare for an exclusive interview with Big Hit’s prodigy, Jeon Jungkook.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Turns out, less than a day is definitely not enough.
Jimin smooths the material of his shirt, his finger sliding over the delicate satin when he gets out of the cab, dropped right in front of Mitou, which.. looks even fancier than he thought. Though he doesn’t feel underdressed in the shirt and his black, freshly ironed slacks, he can’t help the little uncomfortable feeling settling into the pit of his stomach. He doesn’t know what to define it as, at least not yet.
He feels like an idiot standing on the sidewalk like that, so he steps in closer towards the entrance, though hesitates at the last second before walking in. Vickie told him that Jungkook would meet him outside and so he’s not sure whether he could even get to the table if he went in without the person who booked it for them. Then again, if he just stands outside like that, the staff might think he’s a creep and ask the security to–
“Park Jimin?”
He’s startled when he hears an unfamiliar voice right next to his ear and his instincts kick in, his whole body tensing as he turns around, fully prepared to either scream at someone or run away. That is, of course, until he actually takes a good look at the stranger and feels his brain just… short circuit at the sight.
It’s a blessing that Vickie isn’t here and that she can’t read minds, because by God, does Jimin think that the pictures and videos online (through which he spent a fair amount of time looking last night) don’t do Jeon Jungkook justice, even in the slightest. He’s taller than Jimin and he has to raise his head a bit to look at his face clearly, making out each detail carved onto his features. Which… absolutely does not help his heart or brain right now.
His lip ring gleams a little in the soft, afternoon sun, bringing Jimin’s attention to it, against his own will, really. There must be some spell put on Jungkook because he’s unable to tear his eyes away from him — from the mess of dark hair that falls over his forehead, tickling his brows, or from the tattoos that peek out through the rolled up sleeves of his black shirt. Jimin is just a man, after all. A man who likes to appreciate the beautiful things shown to him and right now, it just so happens to be Jeon Jungkook, in all his glory.
“Vickie didn’t mention you’re mute,” he huffs a small laugh, eyes narrowing in amusement as he stares down at him. “Hope we can still do the interview, though.”
And… the spell is gone. Just like that. Jimin’s eyes may like to take in beauty but his ears definitely do not like taking in stupidity.
God, Vickie really owes him for that.
“Vickie didn’t mention you’re so nice.” Jimin speaks, his tone dry. He takes a small step back from the man, hoping that the distance will be enough to let his mind go back into focus mode.
“Aw , what a shame. And I’m always on my best behaviour around her.”
Honestly, Jimin doesn’t know if Jungkook even is aware of what best behaviour is. Or good behaviour even. He’s glad he never witnessed him and Taehyung in one room. It might be something Jin can survive, since he’s already set on marrying Tae (and has been for quite some time now) but Jimin doesn’t think that he’s wired with so much tolerance for bullshit. He’s afraid that what Vickie said is actually true and that Jungkook really can be annoying sometimes. He thinks back to that one article he saw about Jungkook going live on Instagram (or whatever other social media platform it was), getting drunk off wine and complaining for thirty minutes straight about how annoying his race engineer is to his millions of followers. Safe to say, Jungkook had to issue a public apology after but his engineer still quit. Jimin’s not sure who’s the unlucky guy now.
“I’m scared to see what your worst behaviour is.” Jimin raises an eyebrow.
“If you ask nicely, I can show you.”
God, strike him down right now if you can see his suffering. The heat he feels in his cheeks is something he tries to ignore and hopes that Jungkook doesn’t even notice. He’d much rather drag glass down concrete than let him think he’s flustered around him for whatever reason.
“Well, shall we?” Jungkook breaks the brief silence between them, and good lord, even his voice sounds more attractive in person. Jimin’s hardwiring must be getting fried. No other explanation for the thoughts that appear in his head like toxic mushrooms after a night full of rain. “I didn’t get the best table for us to be standing out here.”
So, Jimin only nods because he doesn’t really trust his brain to mouth coordination right now, especially not when Jungkook lets him go in first with a charming smile on his face. Some people have already stopped to look at him, whispering to each other’s ear, probably admiring him from afar and wondering what he’s doing here with someone.
The inside of the restaurant is even prettier than the outside and Jimin finds himself admiring the golden details on the walls and ceiling as Jungkook talks to the waiter right in the entrance, a bright grin on his face as he asks about their table. And, well, if the circumstances were a little different and his companion was not such a brat, he might consider this as the perfect spot for a date. The elevator they’re led to is small, the lights in it dimmed a bit — a sharp contrast to the elevators that Jimin is used to. His eyes don’t hurt from the sharp, white light and he doesn’t feel overwhelmed with the amount of people squished around him.
Still, there’s very little space left between him and Jungkook. Jimin’s sure that if he flexed his hand a little bit, their fingers would touch and the thought alone makes him ball his palms into fists, to avoid that from happening. The younger man doesn’t seem to mind at all though and he doesn’t move an inch throughout the whole ride (it might be Jimin’s imagination playing a trick on him but he could actually swear that he saw him move even closer after a second passed and the doors slid shut).
Thankfully, the ride is over soon enough and Jimin can once again step out into a larger space, where he’s not surrounded by the smell of Jungkook’s cologne that already seems to have taken residence in his nose, tormenting him mercilessly. Jimin should really be stronger than that, especially considering everything he told Vickie yesterday — starting from the fact that he’s not one of those mindless, horny fans that Jungkook has and ending with his promise that he would not get distracted by the man. After all, why would he? It’s just a one time occurrence, he’s here as a favour to Vickie and then he’s never going to see him in person again. Hopefully. Unless now, triggered by this meeting, the universe will actually make them run into each other when they’re meeting their friends.
The waiter leads them to one of the more secluded tables, settled in a corner next to the floor length windows — which gives Jimin the safe option to stare out of it, instead of having to look at Jungkook too much. Before he even gets the chance to do so, the younger man swiftly moves to pull his chair out for him, a charming grin shining on his face as he looks down at Jimin. He absolutely hates his stomach for doing that stupid thing where it flips and squeezes at the sight. How is it possible that the rest of his body seems to not be wired to the more reasonable part of his brain?
“Vickie mentioned you usually cover concerts and stuff. Switching to the sports column now?” Jungkook asks immediately after he sits down. There’s curiosity swimming in his dark eyes, brightened only a tiny bit by the amusement that seems to never leave him.
“Not if I can help it. I’m not really a sports person, just doing it as a favour to her.” Jimin shrugs. “Besides, am I not the one that’s supposed to ask the questions here?”
Jungkook raises his hands in mock surrender, leaning back in his seat a little when the waiter places two menus on the table. He doesn’t even reach for it in the first few seconds, simply staring at Jimin, studying him as if he were an interesting exhibit at a newly opened museum, one that is not described perfectly yet.
“You know, you’re trending on social media again.” Jimin starts, one eyebrow raised as he takes his phone out of his pocket. “Do you want me to tell you why or do you already know that?”
Startled, Jungkook laughs. It’s a short, happy sound that turns the heads of some of the other people in the restaurant, though they quickly avert their gazes when they think he’s about to turn around and see them. Jimin can’t help the way the corners of his mouth twitch into a small smile too, his laughter a contagious thing.
“No, I don’t know why,” he hums. “Is it about me and Tae or just me?”
“Just you.”
“Huh. Well, Namjoon hyung has not called me to give me a lecture yet today, so I guess it’s not about someone claiming they have my nudes again,” he shrugs.
Jimin blinks at him, like an owl caught in the middle of the night with a flashlight to its face.
“What? That really happened?”
“Yeah. A few times.”
“And?”
“And what?”
Another question that he’s going to regret in the span of just two days. Jimin’s really out to set a new personal record.
“Did they really have those pictures?”
It takes a moment but Jungkook’s lips curl into a smile so wide that his teeth are on full display and — good lord, why are his teeth so perfect? Did he just.. snatch all the good genes when he was born?
“No comment on that, angel.”
There Jimin’s face goes again — heating up at something Jungkook did, completely against his will. His dignity and self respect is fading with each moment he spends here. And he didn’t even start with the interview.
“Do you mind if I record this?” Jimin asks, tapping his phone with his finger. It’s what he came here to do, not to chat with the bright, talented Formula 1 prodigy.
“Do you mind if I order for you?” Jungkook shoots back with his own question.
“I–” he cuts himself off, then shrugs. It’s not really such an issue if he does so. “Fine. Just no seafood, please.”
“Allergies?”
“No, just pure hatred.”
Jungkook snorts and shakes his head before waving the waiter over. He orders for them without any hesitation whatsoever, a charming smile on his face as he watches the man write down everything in his small notebook. There’s something about him that makes people automatically brighten up a little as he speaks to them, even if it’s just for a brief amount of time, a tiny second that they’re graced with his attention. Jungkook acts almost as if there’s a camera that follows him every single step, always ready to catch him in a compromising position.
When the waiter leaves, Jimin finally starts a recording on his phone, leaning back in his seat. He recalls all the notes that he got from Vickie yesterday and some of the questions that she’s written down for him. Thinking about the interview was much easier when he was at home and not in front of the object of interest.
“So, what’s the first question? How do I feel about the first Grand Prix race this year?” Jungkook drawls. He tilts his head, once again fixing his eyes on Jimin so steadily that the older man squirms a little under the weight of his gaze.
“Nope.” Jimin shakes his head. “Told you, I’m not really a sports guy. I’d rather find out something about you.”
Jungkook raises an eyebrow.
“Sounds like a trap.”
“Well, it’s not.”
“Okay, then. Shoot.”
“Do you miss not being famous?”
The dark-haired man blinks, surprised at the question a little. He leans back in his seat, his arms resting on the sides of the chair and for just a split second there, Jimin’s gaze is drawn to the way that his muscles flex under the black shirt. He doesn’t think there’s any need to have muscles like that when you’re driving a car for a living. Seems completely unnecessary (then again, he doesn’t think he’s ever heard Jin complain about the way Taehyung is built — he’s constantly doing quite the opposite actually).
“Honestly, I don’t know,” the man in front of him finally speaks up, though he does it slowly, as if he were not sure of his answer yet. “I mean, it’s nice being rich and all. Having people look up to me. Doing what I love. But sometimes.. Well, I miss the quiet sometimes. Not that I’m jumped by paparazzi everywhere I go but just– you know.”
“Not really.” Jimin huffs out a laugh. “I’m not famous, you know.”
Jungkook rolls his eyes.
“Could’ve fooled me,” he teases. “I think what I miss the most is going on walks with my dog with nobody recognizing me. Sometimes I have his shit smeared on my shoe because I stepped into it by accident and someone comes up asking for a picture.”
This time, it’s Jimin who laughs, covering his mouth as he does so. The mental image of Jungkook in such a mundane situation — having his dog’s shit smeared over his expensive shoes — is enough to make him lighten up with amusement.
“So, yeah, being famous is nice and all, at least I think so,” he shrugs. “Having fans is great, you know? People who share your passion with you and support you no matter what. Racing is great and I love it, but I think it’s the fact that there are people cheering me on while I’m on the track that makes it all so amazing. Meeting them is probably one of my favourite things. Not when I have Bam’s shit all over my new shoes, though.”
Jimin doesn’t speak for a moment, taken aback a little by the answer, the softness in Jungkook’s voice when he speaks about the people that support him. He wants to say something, anything, that he appreciates him being so honest with him but before he can, the waiter comes back with their orders this time: a duck breast in a glazed sauce for both of them, a glass of white wine for Jimin and a beer for Jungkook (not a brand that Jimin is familiar with though).
“So, if not racing, what would you be doing with your life?”
“Easy. Probably something to do with design. Or music.” Jungkook says, cutting off a bite of the meat and stuffing it into his mouth, before he speaks up again. “You could say I have a weak spot for creative work.”
“You could also say you lack manners at the table,” the journalist hums, hoping that his phone was able to pick up what Jungkook said, despite it being slightly muffled by the food in his mouth.
Jungkook waves a dismissive hand between them. Jimin rolls his eyes. Even with cheeks puffed out like a hamster that’s afraid of his food disappearing any second now, he looks positively adorable and Jimin thinks that he must be falling weak to the man’s charm too, like the hundreds of people before him. His eyes are glued to the way his fingers flex over the slim handle of the knife, stomach twisting as he imagines them in a completely different scenario.
Focus, Park Jimin.
A scenario that he does his best to kick out of his head. He doesn’t need to think about all that. There’s still a job he needs to do. It’s not like this is the first time he’s seeing an attractive man and not the first time that he’s having dinner with one.
“What about you? If not journalism, then what?” Jungkook asks, once he’s swallowed the mouthful of food.
“Didn’t I say I’m the one asking questions here?”
“Humour me.”
Jimin barely resists the urge to roll his eyes. He blows a strand of his light hair out of his eyes before he even answers the question (he won’t admit it out loud but he does enjoy making Jungkook wait for his answer, leaning forward in his seat as he stares at him with those dark eyes).
“Dancing. I used to do a lot of that when I was younger but it turns out it’s pretty hard to balance that and journalism, especially working where I do,” he finally says. “Don’t get me wrong, being a journalist is great too. I like getting people to open up and showing others things from my perspective, it’s partially why I’m working in the Culture department.”
“Yeah, you do that really well.”
“Sorry?”
“Get people to open up.” Jungkook shrugs, seemingly nonchalant but Jimin easily notices the way his eyes dart to the window, cheeks colouring a little. “Don’t know how you do that.”
Jimin grins, happy that in a way he finally has the upper hand over Jungkook and it’s not him being flustered for once. He wonders how much longer will that continue for.
“Must be my charm.”
“It definitely is.”
He chooses to ignore that sentence, letting it fly like a speck of dirt that’s been blown from a surface. Instead, he takes a bite of the meat too, a happy sound that’s somewhere between a hum and a moan vibrating through him as he does so. His eyes close for a moment and he completely misses the way Jungkook looks at him, lips parting slightly, the tips of his ears reddening just a tiny bit.
“Okay, genuine question – do you often break speed limits?” Jimin asks suddenly, when he spots a speeding car on the street outside out of the corner of his eye.
Jungkook laughs.
“Sometimes, yeah. Happens to the best of us, I’m sure. You’ve never broken one?”
“Nope. I don’t even have my license but I’ve been in Taehyung’s car often enough to know that you guys think speed limits are just a suggestion,” he rolls his eyes. True enough, Tae exceeded the speed limit more than once but somehow, every time he managed to get out of trouble with a charming smile (and sometimes an autograph). “Is it easy to switch between how you need to drive on the track and how you’re supposed to drive on the streets?”
“Yeah, well, the streets are not as fucked to drive through as some of the tracks are, so sometimes it is difficult to switch between the two,” he says. “That and I don’t have to park on the tracks. You have no idea how much of a blessing that is.”
Jimin laughs. He had to suffer through enough of Vickie’s breakdowns when she tried to find a parking spot in the centre of London that he can perfectly understand where Jungkook’s coming from. Especially compared to the fact that he does not need to do that while he’s racing.
“So if finding a parking spot in London is annoying, what is something that calms you down? Before or after a race.”
A blush forms on Jungkook’s cheeks once again and Jimin has to stuff his mouth full of the delicious meat again to not coo at the man in front of him, because the sight is just downright adorable. Lord only knows why. He doesn’t think he’s ever met someone who elicited such a wild array of emotions in him — from annoyance, through amusement, to a slight bit of attraction (but that last bit has to stay in his mind for now, he can’t let anyone know).
“I dunno. I like spending time with my dog.”
“And that’s all?”
He groans.
“Park Jimin, you are too good at this, you know. Should’ve been a priest or a detective. You really know how to make people confess,” he huffs and runs a hand through his hair. Once again, Jimin is surprised to see his body react before his mind even can. There’s a familiar kind of heat in his lower stomach, his fingers tingling with the need to see if Jungkook’s hair is as soft to the touch as he thinks they are. “I like watching animated films, I guess.”
“And that’s it?” Jimin raises his eyebrow. The way that Jungkook got all shy, he’d think it’s really something to be embarrassed about. “Come on. That’s not bad.”
“Taehyung made fun of me for it once,” he shrugs.
“Please, as if he doesn’t regularly watch Winnie the Pooh.”
Jungkook’s eyes brighten up and Jimin curses under his breath. He probably shouldn’t have said that but oh, well. Seems like his companion also knows how to make people talk.
“I am so going to use that against him.”
“Don’t tell him I told you that, though.”
To his surprise, Jungkook extends his hand out, his pinky finger uncurled as he stares expectantly at Jimin. He stares at it for a moment, can’t even feel the amused little smile that pulls at his lips. The setting sun shines through the large windows next to them and it illuminates Jungkook so beautifully, that for a moment Jimin forgets completely about why he’s even here.
He laces his pinky through Jungkook’s and lets a giggle slip past his lips when the man squeezes his finger. Just a simple touch and yet it manages to send a shock through Jimin’s body, the sliver of skin that he’s touching warm and soft against his own. If it weren’t for the fact that Vickie trusted him to do this interview without getting distracted by how charming Jungkook is, he thinks he’d be long gone, lost in the dark eyes that never leave him. He hates to admit it but Jungkook really does have an immediate effect on people. It makes him slightly annoyed.
He’s used to attention, he likes it but for some reason, the attention he gets from Jungkook is completely different. It’s almost as if Jungkook’s gaze is programmed to never leave Jimin, to be glued to every single part of him until he memorises him enough to recall each line and curve from memory when they’re not together. Jimin’s body tingles, almost aches with how much he yearns for more of that attention on him, especially when they’re not surrounded by so many people.
He brushes it off though, going back to the task at hand. He goes through the other questions he remembers Vickie writing down in her notebook and adds some of his own — he learns more about Jungkook’s dog and why he even got him in the first place (and that the Doberman didn’t go through the procedures ear cropping and tail docking), about how he met Namjoon (at one of his first trainings when he got into racing and was too scared to talk anyone), about his favourite animes (turns out it’s Chainsaw Man and Naruto) and the computer games he likes to play. They talk and talk and talk and talk and it seems as if their conversation has no end, much to Jimin’s surprise. He’s so used to Jungkook being painted as arrogant, as someone that does things just for attention and seeing him in such a light (especially after he finishes his second bottle of beer) is not something Jimin expected to see on a beautiful Friday afternoon.
“Okay, can I ask a question now?” Jungkook suddenly says, leaning back in his seat again. “Just one, I promise.”
Jimin tilts his head to the side and lifts one eyebrow.
“I don’t know, can you?”
“Oh, come on,” the man in front of him pouts and well– Jimin thinks his brain actually stopped working. It’s gone. He won’t ever experience a logical thought ever again. “You asked me about so many things. Can we take the focus off me for a minute?”
“Alright.”
“Really?”
Yeah, Jimin, really?
“Sure. Shoot.”
The grin that blossoms on Jungkook’s face is as bright as the lights from all the skyscrapers outside. Jimin’s heart stutters. Two minutes and it will be as gone as his brain.
“How do you know Taehyung? I don’t think I ever asked Vickie about that,” he hums.
Jimin blinks. Oh. That’s his question?
“We went to university together. I had this awful asshole of a roommate the first year. He kept leaving his shit all over the room and sometimes stole my things, and– Well, it doesn’t matter. I kept asking to switch for, hm, a month? They couldn’t move me anywhere else until someone miraculously dropped out and one of the rooms had an empty space thanks to that,” he says, recalling all that with a smile. In hindsight, he’d say that it was fate that led to him meeting Taehyung. “Turns out, it was Tae’s room. We hit it off, then moved out of the dorms and started living together. Until he moved in with Jin, of course.”
“So, it was fate.” Jungkook says, his smile sweet as he keeps looking at Jimin. He leaned close over the course of Jimin’s short story and propped his chin up on his hand.
“I guess you could say that,” he shrugs. “How did you meet him?”
“Oh, well, it’s not as exciting as your story. My team booked the track for the same time as his team did by accident. If I’m honest with you, I don’t remember it that well,” he sheepishly says. “All I do remember is telling him that I’ll kick his ass without training.”
Jimin raises an eyebrow. He already knows the answer to his question but feels tempted to ask it anyway.
“And did you?”
“Of course I did.” Jungkook puffs out his chest a little, as if it was one of his biggest achievements. “Anyway, he told me I’m a dickhead then and we kind of hit it off. Or, well, hit it off is an exaggeration. There weren’t a lot of drivers my age when I was just starting and so I kind of stuck myself to him and kept annoying him every chance I got.”
“Sounds about right.”
“Huh?”
“Well, you are pretty annoying.”
Jungkook pouts once again and oh, what is happening to Jimin’s heart?
He redirects the conversation to another topic, once again focusing on Jungkook. That’s enough talking about Jimin.
He briefly wonders if he should thank Vickie for getting sick and asking him to do this interview instead of her but decides against it — she would never let him live it down. And she would definitely mention it to Taehyung, who would then mention it to Jungkook because he’s a little shit.
And when he runs out of questions and sees the sun has long set outside, he decides that it’s time to go home now (and preferably debrief everything that happened on a call with his friends). Jungkook gets his wallet out before he can even say a word when the waiter comes and to distract himself from seeing the actual price for the meal they shared, Jimin decides to gather his phone and stuff it into his bag.
This time, Jungkook isn’t able to pull his chair out of him but he still lets him get in and out of the elevator first, touches the small of his back as he guides him out of the building and into the crisp, evening air. There’s a heated look in his eyes when he looks back at Jimin, cheeks flushed, either from the sudden chill or from all the alcohol they’ve consumed through the course of the evening. There must be something in the air that prompts him to be more bold and Jungkook reaches out to brush a strand of Jimin’s hair out of his face.
“Next time I want to do an exclusive interview, I’ll ask for you to do it,” he says, a grin pulling at the corners of his mouth. “It’s nice when someone doesn’t ask the more obvious questions.”
Jimin snorts.
“What, about that one tattoo you supposedly have?”
And he regrets the words as soon as they make it out of his mouth.
Jimin’s eyes widen at about the same time that Jungkook grins devilishly, leaning forward just a bit, until there’s not a lot of space between them. Jimin wills for the ground to open up and swallow him whole and for the sky to produce a storm and strike down Vickie for even providing him with that information he just let slip. He wonders if it’s possible to die from embarrassment. Maybe he’ll be the first test subject.
“I meant the questions about my cars or my trophies, but...” he cuts himself off, shakes his head and straightens his back. Hands in his pockets and he looks down at Jimin with a smirk. “If you really need the answer to that, I’ll see what I can do. Goodnight, angel.”
Yeah, Jimin is definitely going to die.
Chapter 2: no place to be ending but somewhere to start
Notes:
did i spend 20 minutes reading about track familiarisation simulations just to write 2 paragraphs about it??? yes i did lmao
Chapter Text
“So, you admit he’s hot.”
Jimin groans. He falls back against the pillows on his bed and thinks about his answer for a moment – whatever it will be, Vickie will probably be on his ass about it for the foreseeable future. He wanted to call her immediately after getting back home from the interview but she texted him that Namjoon came over with food to keep her company (she also lamented that she looked like shit and he is never going to want to see her again after that), so he decided that he’ll call her first thing the next day. That way, he can sleep on his thoughts and calm down from the absolute experience that meeting Jeon Jungkook was. He’s not sure yet whether it was good or bad.
“He’s… nice to look at,” he finally settles on. Then, immediately winces when he hears the giggle on the other end of the line. “Nothing special, though.”
“Nothing special, my ass.” Jimin can practically hear that she’s rolling her eyes as she says that. She’s silent for a moment, shuffling some things around and groaning. “He’s just your type.”
“No, he’s not!”
Yes, he is. Damn right he is. His streak of exes and hookups really proves Vickie’s statement right. Though if he’s being honest, he never considered that piercings, of all things, might be something he finds attractive. Not until Jungkook and that damned lip piercing at least.
“Besides, it doesn’t matter,” he huffs. “We probably won’t meet each other again.”
“You don’t know that. You share half of your friends,” she reminds him. A small cough sounds out on the other side of the line. Jimin’s about to ask whether she called the doctor or not but before he can open his mouth to do that, she speaks up again. “Fate works in mysterious ways, you know.”
“And yet we’ve never met each other up until now.”
His phone vibrates and he frowns, putting Vickie on speaker before he pulls his phone away from his ear to stare at the screen and the notification that pops up. He’s expecting it to be another notification from Twitter or even a text message from his mom and truth be told, he’d much rather prefer it to be that .
@j.kook started following you.
“What the fuck?”
“Okay, excuse you, I didn’t even say–”
“Jungkook just followed me on Instagram.”
There’s a moment of silence on the other side of the line. Jimin’s actually worried that he might have accidentally hung up on her or the call got disconnected but he doesn’t need to wait long to be proven wrong.
“He what ?”
The shriek she lets out is at such a high frequency that Jimin wonders how he was able to even hear that. He hears a thud just after that and he’s actually scared that she fell down from her bed. He’s surprised that he is still sitting down.
The notification feels like it’s making his phone burn ten times hotter. All of a sudden, he’s scared to click anything on his screen, his heart hammering loudly in his chest. The account he followed is not the one he uses to post updates about the interviews he does or the events he sees – it’s the more private one (though he supposes he should really make it private now), the one that mostly his friends and a couple of random people follow. There’s everything there, even his silly thoughts that he has a desperate need to put out into the universe sometimes.
Jimin touches a hand to his cheek. It’s as hot as he thought and he completely avoids looking into the mirror in his bedroom, in fear of finding a blush dusting his face. Why is he even reacting like that? It’s just a stupid notification, of a stupid guy following him on a stupid media platform. Nothing to overreact about.
“Hello ?! Jimin?” Vickie speaks up again. “Did you die of a heart attack? Please tell me you didn’t because I need you to follow him back right this instant.”
“I’m not going to follow him back!”
“What do you mean you’re not going to– You know what, I’m calling Taehyung.”
“Don’t–!”
Too late. Jimin’s not even able to finish his sentence because Vickie’s fingers work much faster than that (must be the practice from texting Namjoon day and night) and not even two seconds later, there’s another person joining their call. For the first time ever, he actually hates the fact that you can have group calls over the phone.
“Why are you gossiping without me?” There’s no greeting when Tae joins them, only an accusatory question that’s spoken with a grumble in his voice. Jimin feels bad for all three seconds before it passes.
He can’t see his friends but he’s almost sure that Taehyung’s sitting on his couch, legs kicked up on the cushions (he only does that when Jin is away on a shoot because otherwise he would get the scolding of a lifetime and not in a fun way) and Vickie’s sitting up, her legs crossed as she bounces with excitement. The two worst gossips in London. Scratch that, the two worst gossips in the whole world.
“Jungkook followed Jimin on Instagram,” says Vickie, before the actual person involved can even get a word in.
And well, who would have expected it? Taehyung’s reaction is pretty much the same as Vickie’s. He screeches so loud that even on the speaker, Jimin pulls the phone further away from him, his nose scrunched up. So much for a peaceful morning.
It’s not really that big of a deal, is it? His account is not private, it’s really not that hard to find if someone knows what they’re looking for and he doesn’t have any compromising pictures on there, apart from a few drunken photos taken on a night out with his friends. There’s nothing to be ashamed of and he’s also not a teenager anymore, so being followed by a guy like Jungkook should not even elicit any reaction from him. The logical decision would be to simply ignore the notification and go on with his life, maybe have a look at Jungkook’s account (but he already did that before the interview so there’s no point).
However, there are two important factors that need to be considered. One, the logical part of Jimin’s brain seems to be away on vacation since yesterday evening and he has no idea when it’s coming back because he did not approve this time off. And two, his friends are absolutely incapable of nonchalance so he can’t expect them to simply tell him to ignore all that and brush the news off.
“Follow him back.” Taehyung immediately says.
“Exactly. Thank you!”
“I am not going to follow him back.” Jimin huffs. “Why would I? I already saw all the pictures he has– shit.”
There’s silence for a moment. Unfortunately, that moment is pretty short because Tae erupts into such a loud laugh that the only thing Jimin can do is hide his face in his hands and hope for a bolt of lighting to suddenly come through his window and strike him down. It doesn’t happen though. Who would’ve thought?
“I can’t believe it,” the young man manages to get through his laughs. “You stalked his account. Did you accidentally like a picture or something?”
“I did not!” Jimin screeches, his face burning again at the sole thought of humiliating himself like that. Good God. That would be the absolute end of him.
“Okay, follow him back then. What’s the harm here?”
“What if he thinks I’m interested in him or something?”
“Might I remind you, he followed you first, my love.” Vickie speaks up again, before her voice breaks off into a cough again. He notices that it doesn’t sound as bad as it did two days ago.
Well.. She’s right. It’s not Jimin that went out of his way to click the follow button on Jungkook’s Instagram account, even though he did have a very thorough look through all his pictures. He won’t admit it to any living soul, especially not to his friends who seemingly decided to gang up on him all of a sudden, but there were a few pictures that he had to stop on for a moment, just to take a thorough look.
One of them was a selfie Jungkook probably took right after a workout – his face still glistening with sweat, some of his hair sticking to his forehead and a flushed tint to his cheeks. And when Jimin looked at the picture hard enough, he spotted the young man’s reflection in the background, the back muscles on full display, even through the shirt he was wearing in the picture. Honestly, Jimin doesn’t know how low this little incident classifies on his scale of moments when he forgot about his dignity altogether but he’d rather not find out.
“Vickie’s right, you know.” Taehyung speaks up. It’s almost surprising to hear him speak without making a joke at his expense in this situation. “I’m sure he already knows you probably got a raging boner when looking through his pictures.”
There it is.
“Maybe he’s getting a boner looking through your pictures now.” Vickie supplies. That’s exactly what Jimin meant when he said that they always encourage each other.
“Exactly. And imagining that you’re asking him questions in bed.”
“Naked.”
“Probably recording too–”
“Do you guys ever think before you speak? Be honest.”
The other two just giggle happily, as if that was a compliment for them. Jimin doesn’t need an answer to the question, if he really thinks about it – it’s obvious that the both of them just say whatever comes to mind, especially if they know it’s going to rile him up, at least a little.
“My point still stands. Follow him back.” Taehyung finally stops laughing enough to form a sentence. He clears his throat. “You’re friends with basically the same people, it would be weird if you just ignored him like that. And it’s not like you have that many followers on that account to be able to say you didn’t notice.”
“Yeah, well, maybe you’re–” Jimin cuts himself off and frowns. He sits up a little straighter on the bed, a crease appearing between his eyebrows as he mulls over Taehyung’s words. “Hold up. I didn’t tell you which account he followed.”
Jimin may not be that famous but he certainly has a fair amount of followers on his more professional account, though he mostly forgets about it. The other account though, has maybe forty followers at most, even though it’s not private. He doesn’t use hashtags, doesn’t tag his friends there and he’s pretty sure that one would find this account only if they knew what they were looking for. There is no logical explanation as to how Jungkook, of all people, knew what he was looking for.
Silence falls over the whole call for a moment. A moment that lasts longer than Jimin thought possible when it’s the three of them talking. Then, he hears Vickie gasp and Taehyung clear his throat.
“I just– guessed,” he tries to defend himself. “You wouldn’t make it such a big deal if that was the other account.”
“Kim Taehyung, you sneaky little shit!” Vickie screeches.
“Okay, there is absolutely no need for my full government name here.”
“Did you give him my Instagram?” Jimin almost screams.
“I did not.”
“Lying through your teeth.”
“Okay, well, God forbid I want to play a matchmaker,” he huffs.
Vickie positively howls with laughter. If Jimin thinks hard enough, he can almost see her doubling over in her bed or on her couch, holding onto her stomach like she always does when something cracks her up. Too bad the laughs are at his expense now.
“Play a matchmaker with Vickie and Namjoon.” Jimin huffs. “Did she tell you he came over with food yesterday?”
“Alright, why are we ganging up on me now? What the fuck did I do?”
“Laugh at me like it’s your full time job.”
“Hello? What do you mean he came over with food?” Taehyung exclaims. “Why didn’t I know about this?”
There’s a triumphant smile on Jimin’s face when he hears Vickie’s heavy sigh on the other side of the line. Now that the focus is taken away from him and his little Jungkook situation, he can actually open the notification and go to Jungkook’s Instagram profile. There’s nothing new there, he doesn’t know what he was expecting, really–
That is, until he sees the colourful circle around his profile picture.
“Because there’s nothing to tell!” Vickie whines in embarrassment. “What do you want me to say, that I deepthroated him as a thank you?”
“Yeah.”
“My sinuses are stuffed, Tae. I’d choke to death.”
“What a way to go.”
Jimin snorts. He can’t help it. It distracts him from the temptation of clicking the picture and just seeing Jungkook’s story. What harm is there, really? It’s not like he would be the only one seeing it and…
And the story was added less than a minute ago. Fuck him and his curiosity. He groans.
The attention is back on him once again. So much for his sneaky plan to put Vickie in the spotlight for a moment and give him the time to think about his next move considering the Instagram situation.
“Did you like one of his pictures?” Taehyung asks immediately.
“I’m sorry to say that but I’m going to piss myself if you did.”
“I viewed his story,” he groans, because there’s no way he’s going to keep that away from them. That’s so embarrassing. What if Jungkook sees that he viewed it so quickly? “He added it less than a minute ago.”
Taehyung snorts. Vickie is the one who takes pity on him this time.
“He has like fifteen million followers, babe, I’m sure he won’t even notice,” she reassures him. It’s only when she says it that he feels a little dumb. “Don’t worry about it.”
“What did he even add to his story– you know what, let me check.” Taehyung murmurs to himself. In all his panic about viewing the story of a guy who has ten times the amount of followers that Jimin has, he didn’t even pay attention to what exactly the story was. “Oh, I can’t believe it.”
“Wait, I need to see it too!” Vickie’s quick to exclaim, probably feeling annoyed at being left out of the loop like this. It’s not even thirty seconds later that she gasps. Then giggles. And gasps again. “Well, hello!”
And so Jimin decides to see the story once again too, this time without clicking out of it just because he saw the time it was posted. It takes him only a second to understand what made his friends react like that but when he does, he feels his cheeks burn with embarrassment. He’s grateful that they can’t see him now.
He might not be a Taylor Swift fan but he’s spent enough time with Vickie listening to her songs to recognise the cover and the title of the song that Jungkook posted to his story.
Down Bad.
“I didn’t take him for a Taylor Swift fan.” Vickie sighs dreamily. “Minnie, I can’t believe a guy posted this song after meeting you for the first time. I’m so jealous.”
“Acting as if Namjoon didn’t post You Belong With Me after one of your dates.”
“First of all, it wasn’t a date, and second of all, maybe he just likes the song and–”
“Are you really that dumb or are you just pretending?”
“There is no need to make that connection, you know.” Jimin grumbles, interrupting their small debate. He’s pretty sure he can feel the tips of his ears burn. “What if he just likes the song?”
“Hate to break it to you but it’s like the equivalent of Vickie posting Future songs just for Namjoon to like her story and text her that he loves this song.”
“Okay, fuck you too.”
This time, Jimin snorts in amusement. The only person missing in this call is Seokjin, though he thinks that maybe it’s better that he’s not here – he’s the biggest supporter of Taehyung and Vickie’s tomfoolery, after all. Though he should be the voice of reason here, since he’s the oldest, it rarely ever happens that he tells them to tone it down. Jimin guesses it must be the thirst he has for drama that somehow does not get satisfied when he’s modeling for another company and in the presence of gossip at all times.
“Follow him back, before he actually combusts.” Taehyung speaks up again.
And well, Jimin really doesn’t have the energy to argue with that anymore. He tells himself that this is all there is to it, that he only does it to get his friends off his back, nothing more. His finger hovers over the follow back button, as if he was afraid that somehow, it will paralyze him the second he clicks it.
Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. His fingers are perfectly fine, a virus doesn’t get downloaded to his phone and the ground doesn’t open up to swallow him whole when he does that. He just sees the message button appear instead and quickly closes the app before he accidentally texts Jungkook that he can’t stop about his lip piercing and how it would feel if they happened to kiss.
“Okay, done,” he mutters, too afraid of speaking any louder, even though he’s in the apartment alone.
“Hell yeah!” Taehyung practically screams. Jimin can’t resist the urge to roll his eyes. It’s as if he’s just witnessed a plan he formed in his head unfold the way he wanted it to. “This calls for a celebratory drink.”
“It’s ten a.m.,” comes Jimin’s dry reply almost immediately.
“I meant later,” the other man says defensively. “We could go to that bar on Vickie’s street. Heard it’s two for one on espresso martinis there today.”
“Don’t tempt me,” the girl groans. “I can’t today. I still look and feel like shit. I don’t want to make it worse.”
“Party pooper.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, do you want me to get tuberculosis and die?”
“Dramatic for no reason.”
“Tomorrow, then.” Jimin interrupts them before it escalates. “I can’t go out tonight either. I still have to finish editing that Michael Sheen interview. They need it on the website this week.”
Taehyung simply sighs, disappointed. He must be getting awfully bored now that Jin’s on a photoshoot in Korea and will come back next week, if everything goes according to plan. Vickie and Jimin keep him company as best as they can but sometimes their work gets in the way – especially Jimin’s, now that for some reason the culture is blooming here in London. He’s been going to see theatre performances almost every week and getting new material to write about.
They hang up with a promise to make some plans for tomorrow and actually spend time together and if Jimin takes a few minutes to look through Jungkook’s Instagram account again, well.. nobody needs to know about that.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Jungkook’s not sure but he might actually be going insane.
He’s been staring at his phone for the past ten minutes, refreshing his feed on Instagram and hoping that Jimin will at least like his story. Seems like he went through the trouble of choosing such a perfect song and posting it just after following Jimin all for.. nothing. Then again, he should blame it all on Taehyung, not himself – he was the one that suggested it, claiming that it will certainly get the attention of this one journalist with dark brown eyes and a smile so sweet that it made his heart stutter in his chest more than once after seeing it.
He’s just about ready to go back to lifting the weights that Namjoon placed on the squat rack for him until his screen flashes and the notification he’s been waiting for appears right at the top.
@lilacwave followed you back.
Jungkook drops his phone as if he’s been burned by it.
“Woah, you okay?”
He raises his head to look at Namjoon, confused as to why his friend is throwing his phone on the ground all of a sudden. The only other time he reacted like that was when he thought he’d accidentally started broadcasting the porn he’s been watching on his phone on the television in the house he stayed with Namjoon during last year’s Grand Prix in Monaco. His cheeks burn now too and he scrambles to find the right words.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he hopes he sounds convincing, especially when he shoots the man in front of him a bright smile.
Namjoon doesn’t look all that convinced. He raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms over his chest, shoulders still heaving up and down as he tries to catch his breath after the workout he had. Jungkook’s pretty grateful that for some reason, he is cutting him some slack today – he doesn’t think he'd be able to concentrate on a more demanding workout today.
Any other day, he would be completely fine with it but not after spending half the night thinking about Jimin and his perfectly full lips or the way he blew his light, blond hair out of his face when it started to annoy him too much. He’s pretty sure that Jimin must have been a siren in his other life. Or a nymph. Or something that’s equally as enticing because there is no reason as to why one person should look this… perfect.
Or he’s just a witch. And he cast a spell on Jungkook.
“Are you sure?” Namjoon speaks up again and this time he moves to sit on the ground next to Jungkook. He nods to his phone, still on the ground with its screen down. “Something happened?”
“No.”
A beat of silence passes. Then, Namjoon sighs – like a father that’s about to have a serious conversation with his son who’s just done something weird. Or worrisome. Or both.
“You followed Jimin on Instagram, didn’t you?”
Jungkook sputters. He wants to deny it but he’s afraid that his face betrays him completely when he feels his cheeks warm up at the words alone. How is it possible that he always seems to be able to tell what’s hiding inside Jungkook’s head? Sometimes, he thinks that Namjoon should reconsider his career as a team principal and actually get into psychology.
“I did not–” he cuts himself off, then sighs. Is there any point in lying to him when he will definitely find out about it either way? “How’d you know?”
“I saw you refreshing your feed like fifteen times in the past three minutes,” the man raises an eyebrow. “Not many reasons why you’d do that.”
“Oh.”
He might have hoped that Jimin texted Vickie to let her know that Jungkook followed his more private account (that he got from Taehyung of course) and that he freaked out over it and then, she texted Namjoon to let him know all of that. Or, even better, that Jimin was the one to text him, all excited. Well.
Guess Jungkook will really need to start paying rent in the delusions land this month if his brain keeps conjuring up scenarios like that.
“Did he follow you back at least?” Namjoon asks.
“Yeah.” Jungkook replies. His lips stretch into a smile as if on their own accord. He found that it happens pretty much every single time he thinks about Jimin or anything connected to him since meeting him yesterday afternoon.
It’s not an everyday occurrence that you finally meet the guy you’ve been crushing on for years now, even if it was a complete accident. He wonders if he should send Vickie a large bouquet of flowers and a basket of her favourite food for getting sick. Would that even be in good taste? It allowed him to meet Jimin after all. All this pining over him that started with one picture he saw on Taehyung’s instagram two years ago has finally paid off. Or so he thinks. It’s just a matter of time until Jimin decides he’s the most attractive man he’s ever seen, right?
He still distinctly remembers the day he simply opened Instagram and saw a photo that Taehyung posted – one of him, Seokjin, Vickie and Jimin at a club, drunk grins on their faces and glasses with colourful drinks or shots in their hands. And well– saying he got tunnel vision and his eyes zeroed in on Jimin only would be an understatement. Saying he almost drooled at his screen would be like saying nothing. Jungkook doesn’t think he’s ever found someone so.. beautiful (because he thinks saying hot just does not do Jimin any justice). It took him two whole minutes to finally like the picture, comment on it and then nonchalantly ask Tae about who that guy is.
Well. As nonchalant as Jungkook can be. Which is.. admittedly, not much.
He’s been trying to meet Jimin completely by accident (if you can even call him making detailed plans an accident) but for some reason, fate always kept getting in the way of him doing that. And even though he did the complete opposite of staying celibate all this time, his mind still kept drifting to the beautiful man with pouty lips he saw on his friend’s Instagram account and how much he’d like to have him under him. If you’d ask him for the largest number written on his days spent not thinking about Jimin and his lips board, he’d tell you that it’s a perfect eight.
“Vickie said you made a good impression on him.” Namjoon hums. He’s not looking at Jungkook but the young man can clearly see the way the corner of his mouth twitches into an amused smirk. “Jimin called her in the morning.”
“Did he say anything else about me?”
Namjoon laughs.
“I don’t know. She just texted to say that Jimin didn’t say you’re a dick. And to tell you that she’s sorry she couldn’t make it yesterday,” he says. Then, he turns to face Jungkook and grins. “Though I doubt you of all people feel sad about it.”
“I’m sorry your girlfriend got sick but also, I’m happy your girlfriend got sick. That’s how I feel about it.” Jungkook shrugs.
“She’s not my–“
“I am not having this conversation with you,” he groans.
Namjoon decides against commenting on it and leans back on his elbows, a groan escaping him as his muscles stretch. They’ve been here for almost an hour already but Jungkook’s not even close to feeling as tired as his friend is – mainly for the reason that he either spent this time looking at his phone or thinking about doing that. Pathetic, really. He thought that after seeing Jimin yesterday, finally meeting him in the flesh and not through one of Tae’s stories, he would somehow calm down. Turns out, it’s even worse.
“We could always text her to ask what Jimin thought about you.” Namjoon offers. There’s a sneaky grin on his face though he tries to hide it when he turns his head away from Jungkook a little.
“No, I–” Jungkook cuts himself off. “I don’t wanna look obsessed with him. I have a reputation to uphold.”
The man next to him just stares for a moment, without a word. The silence stretches for longer than Jungkook would like and he squirms a little on the ground, the tips of his ears burning with embarrassment.
“So we’re going to pretend like the last two years never happened? And that you weren’t asking Taehyung about Jimin every chance you got?” Namjoon raises an eyebrow. “Got it.”
“Oh, come on!”
He groans and puts his head into his hands. Jeon Jungkook, the racing prodigy, the guy who has both men and women falling at his feet for just the slightest crumb of his attention simply whines like a teenager whose crush just got discovered by his friends. Though admittedly, it’s not like he ever tried that hard to keep all of this a secret, if he must be honest – though he did limit asking questions about Jimin to Taehyung, he did not limit his talking about him to Namjoon.
The interview yesterday felt simply like a sign from fates after two years of somehow missing every single opportunity to meet Jimin – whether it was one of the races that he thought the other man would accompany Vickie at, or one Taehyung’s parties, or anything else, really, it seemed as if the universe just did not want the two of them in close proximity. He’s pretty sure that if he was here, Yoongi would scoff at this and tell him that he’s spending too much time watching those astrology and tarot videos on TikTok. That, or he’d tell him to ask Jimin out and stop annoying him with his whining.
It might be because Yoongi’s older than him (only by a few years, but still) and he really has no patience for bullshit anymore, especially after racing for so long. It’s either all or nothing with him and he’s so.. upfront about everything that it surprises Jungkook sometimes.
Jungkook heard from Namjoon how difficult it was for Yoongi when he first got into racing, he’s heard all about the accident on the track that left him out for half a year and how he almost threw it all to hell when he got back, especially after how the media treated him when he drove a scooter home after one glass of wine. He’s been called every possible name under the sun, people wished for him to go to jail, to get kicked out of his team all because they saw what they thought was Yoongi struggling to walk the streets, drunk out of his mind.
It’s mostly the reason why he doesn’t entertain any journalists now, not even for a quick word or a picture. It’s also why their team threw all the focus onto Jungkook when he joined the team, believing he would be what keeps the media’s attention on them.
Which he does successfully. Or not. Depends how you look at it, really. For some, him being spotted drunk with one of his hookups, feeling each other up in a club might be bad publicity. For Jungkook, it’s just publicity. It makes him laugh, while Namjoon does damage control (with Vickie’s help of course, because who knows the media better than someone who is a part of them).
“You could send him tickets for the next race.” Namjoon suggests.
Okay, so they’re not letting Jimin’s topic go. Jungkook can deal with it.
“I met him once, I can’t go around sending him tickets for one of my races,” he scoffs.
“And yet you didn’t hesitate to post a Taylor Swift song on your story after following him.”
Jungkook’s eyes cut to Namjoon instantly. He narrows them, looking at his friend as if it's his fault that the story even appeared on his account. Not like he was the one to create it himself, look at it and say nice before hitting the button to post it. In Jungkook’s case, free will may not be the best thing to ever happen to him.
“How do you even know that?”
Namjoon purses his lips. It’s clear that he’s fighting a smile.
“Okay, who snitched on me?”
“What do you mean snitched? You posted it yourself.”
“It was Taehyung, wasn’t it?”
“No comment.”
“Vickie then. Definitely her.”
“Told you, no comment.”
Jungkook briefly reconsiders the flowers. If she snitched on him, he’s not doing that for her.
“Alright, so who told you?”
“You do know that I have an account on Instagram too? And that I can see your posts?”
“No way, I still thought you use pigeons to contact someone.” Jungkook gasps with feigned shock. There’s a grin beginning to blossom on his face but he keeps it down successfully, if only to see the annoyed frown Namjoon sends his way.
The older man stands up and takes a towel from one of the stands next to them just to fling it at Jungkook, much to his delight. He starts laughing, catching the towel right before it lands on his face, in all its sweaty glory. Annoying Namjoon was never in the job description but he takes it just as seriously as the training laps he does before each race. Maybe even more so.
“This must be why it’s taking you and Vickie so long to just get together already. You’ve been sending her letters instead of talking like normal people do. Damn, I thought you’re more innovative than that,” he sighs, leaning back on the ground.
“You do know that you don’t have to say every single thought that comes to your head?” Namjoon sighs. “My life would be so much easier if you did.”
“Where’s the fun in that? You’d be so bored without me.” Jungkook’s grin seems to be permanently etched onto his face already.
Namjoon waves a dismissive hand in his direction, and doesn't say anything else. Sometimes it’s better to simply ignore Jungkook, rather than encourage his rants and he’s learned it the hard way over the years. Besides, it’s not like he’s going to admit that Vickie did send him a screenshot of Jungkook’s Instagram story and a short voice recording of her laughing like a maniac. And he’s definitely not going to tell him that he laughed too, at the sheer absurdity of it all.
Still, he thinks he prefers laughing at this, rather than doing damage control when Jungkook takes another hookup home and isn’t careful enough with what he tells them, which results in some poor girl going to social media to spill some crazy story about him. At this point, he thinks he might start to get grey hair much earlier than he should. Maybe he just needs to join Vickie on her weekly yoga class, since she said it’s the most relaxing thing she’s ever done. He does need all the relaxing he can get, especially with the first race coming up in just a week.
No other reason.
He shakes the thought off and glances back at Jungkook who’s taken to staring at his phone once again. Really, he can’t find it in himself to tell him to cut it and actually try to pretend he’s here to workout, not to daydream about his crush. It’s the last week of slacking he will most likely have, because in just a few days they’re going to get on a plane to Australia to do a walk through on the track to get a feel of it before training and qualifications start. On top of that, they’ll need to discuss strategy a little bit more this year, since last season wasn’t as good to Jungkook or to Yoongi as the ones before that.
There’s still so many things he needs to do before they leave, though the most important one is to make sure that their engineering team is well-equipped and prepared for anything. After the accident involving the drivers from Williams team last year, Namjoon’s going to be even more careful to get his two drivers to the finish line without so much as a bump on the cars. Every meter on the track and every turn is a risk, no matter how great of a driver you might be. Yoongi is a living example of that.
He can still vividly remember the day that someone (he can’t remember the name now, sue him) from the McLaren team lost control of their car for just a second – and yet that second was enough to send not only his but Yoongi’s car screeching off the track. Namjoon can still recall the absolute fear that ran through him when he had to watch it all happen from a distance. If something like that happened again, he doesn’t think he’d survive it himself.
After all, Jungkook is already on the verge of giving him a heart attack on a daily basis. He doesn’t need him to do that on the track too.
Out of the corner of his eye, he catches Jungkook flexing in front of the mirror, phone in hand. Oh, for God’s sake.
If he posts a picture of himself all sweaty, still at the gym, on Instagram, Namjooon thinks he’s going to actually explode. He really had no idea that the interview would have such an impact on Jungkook – all of a sudden, he’s a teenager in high school, still trying to calm down after meeting someone he’s been crushing on for a while from a distance.
“Think about the tickets,” he calls out to Jungkook, making him startle a little, almost dropping his phone on the ground again in the span of just twenty minutes. “Maybe Jimin will change his mind. You never know.”
He simply huffs in response and waves a dismissive hand between them. Namjoon makes a mental note to text Vickie later and ask if she got two tickets for the race next week, since sometimes her boss gives her an extra one, just in case she wants to have someone tagging along. Maybe that way they’ll get Jimin to see Jungkook racing.
“Oh, and don’t forget that you and Yoongi have track familiarization scheduled tomorrow.” Namjoon says. “It’s at noon. Yoongi will probably pick you up.”
The only thing he gets in response is a tired groan.
“Jungkook.”
“Do we really have to? I already raced in Albert Park once,” he huffs. There it is – the reason why Namjoon will go into a cardiac arrest one of these days. “I know how it looks like. I know how to drive there.”
Jungkook is a great driver, there is no denying that, especially not after you’ve seen him behind a wheel. He controls the car as if it’s an extension of his limbs and even back when he was just a rookie, Namjoon doesn’t remember him losing this control, even for a second. He has complete trust in him, knows he can handle whatever is thrown at him but he also knows that the only thing Jungkook hates more than doing interviews is the technicalities behind racing.
Which, to be fair, can be a bit boring sometimes. But they can also be a real life-saver, especially when it comes to a track like the Albert Park one. It’s certainly not the most difficult circuit on their calendar but it is one of the trickier ones, which is why they need to adjust the cars perfectly to perform without any faults and to give Jungkook and Yoongi as big of a chance to score the largest amount of points as possible. They need the aerodynamics, tire pressures and suspension settings to be perfect and track simulation is what helps them in that department an awful lot.
Doing just a few sessions will help them save so much time in the end – since they won’t need to take the cars to the garage every single time they want to adjust something. They will just need to adjust the settings on the program and see how each combination behaves with the specific variables of a given circuit. Especially considering the fact that the Albert Park circuit is in Melbourne and it is a well-known fact among all the racers that the weather is completely unpredictable there. It could be perfectly sunny one moment and then switch to rain, ultimately making it necessary to set up for quick changes during the race. Ones that will take only fractions of a second. Time is like liquid gold when racing.
“Yes, you have to, Kookie. It’s non-negotiable,” he drily replies, raising an eyebrow, as if waiting for him to argue with that. And just because he knows it will get him a little more motivated, he adds: “I’m sure that Walker’s been doing a hell of a lot of simulations. You really want him to have a better racing strategy than us?”
The second he sees the scowl on Jungkook’s face, he knows he won that small battle. Point for Namjoon.
It is a low blow to mention Walker like that – the guy that for some reason has it out for Jungkook ever since he started racing – and Namjoon knows that perfectly well. He started racing around the same time that Jungkook did, just for a different team and with the added advantage of his father not only being a retired racing star but also someone who still holds a lot of influence in their little (big) racing world. It’s mostly for that reason that Walker thinks he’s simply untouchable.
And although there are twenty drivers on the circuit during each race, sometimes it feels as if it’s only Jungkook and Walker competing against each other, each of them trying to outdo the other one. Namjoon tried to talk to Jungkook about this childish rivalry more than once, especially each time he and Walker almost got into a fist fight after finishing a race but it had absolutely no effects whatsoever. So, he simply gave up on it and as of now, he sticks to making sure they actually don’t beat each other up. It’s harder than one might think.
“Fine.” Jungkook finally gets out through gritted teeth. “Noon, right?”
Namjoon nods, satisfied.
“Yeah. Don’t be late,” he warns him.
Jungkook hums in response. He doesn’t say anything else after that, just sighs and stretches a bit as he gathers his things. His phone is locked and gets dropped into the back pocket of his sweats and he throws his towel over his shoulder, unbothered by the fact that it stinks a bit.
“Can we get something to eat now? I’m starving.”
Namjoon barks out a laugh at that, unable to really stop himself. Just like that, the tension that appeared after he mentioned Walker is completely gone, replaced by the easy air of comfort that’s always there when they’re together.
“You didn’t even properly workout today,” he reminds him. For now, he decides to drop the Jimin topic too. He’s sure he’ll get all the updates about it either way, whether he wants them or not.
“I did!”
“Yeah, whatever you say.” Namjoon snorts. “Let’s go. I’m pretty hungry too.”
“Hungry for food or for–”
“Shut it.”
weiyinggs on Chapter 1 Tue 19 Aug 2025 10:56PM UTC
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vesqvana on Chapter 1 Mon 01 Sep 2025 08:08PM UTC
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mmmmm (Guest) on Chapter 1 Wed 20 Aug 2025 05:08AM UTC
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vesqvana on Chapter 1 Mon 01 Sep 2025 08:09PM UTC
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MinnieMO on Chapter 1 Wed 20 Aug 2025 05:35AM UTC
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dumb_ares on Chapter 2 Tue 09 Sep 2025 06:05AM UTC
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vesqvana on Chapter 2 Tue 09 Sep 2025 10:29AM UTC
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