Chapter Text
“There’s no way that you’re serious right now,” Jungkook says to his boss.
Jungkook is a good employee. He’s missed going back home for several vacations in his last three years- his only three years- with the company just to prove his loyalty. To prove that he can become a manager someday. To prove that he can become a senior manager someday. To prove that he could take over as the Big Boss around here someday.
“I’m a great fucking employee,” Jungkook argues, not caring about the lack of politeness in his voice as he swears at his boss. He’s too angry to be quiet or rational right now.
His boss shrugs, not seeming to really care at all. It’s a trait that Jungkook usually admires in his boss, one that he’d even say he’s envious of since Jungkook’s always been told that he wears his heart on his sleeve; but right now, all it does is piss Jungkook off. “With layoffs, the process is simple,” the tall man says, not bothering to make eye contact with Jungkook as he fires him. “Last in, first out. And we haven’t had that many people hired here in the last year, so…”
Jungkook feels vaguely offended that his boss somehow doesn’t know that he’s worked for this company, for him , for just over three times as long as the man thinks that he has.
Jungkook huffs, wanting to scream at his former employer. However, Jungkook is smarter than that (okay, not counting when he swore just a few minutes prior; he’s grown since then). He’s smart enough to know that, in a couple of weeks- maybe months if his boss isn’t very smart, and Jungkook’s starting to think that the man sitting in front of him isn’t very smart- his boss is going to realize that letting Jungkook go had been a mistake. There are people who have worked for the company much longer than Jungkook who aren’t bringing in nearly as many sales as he is. When his boss sees that, when the company feels that, he’ll be calling Jungkook up and begging him to come back. Jungkook thinks that he’ll even be able to use this as leverage in order to get a raise.
Still, as he exits the company building, carrying a box filled with all of the things that had previously been sitting on his desk, Jungkook is angry enough that he calls his brother.
Though he’s missed several trips back home, Jungkook would say that he’s still kind of close to his brother, Seokjin. A couple of years older than him, Seokjin is someone who Jungkook had looked up to and loved more than anyone else in the world as a child. Now, Jungkook knows that he should have never idolized someone so close to him because it just ended up breaking his heart.
They talk a few times a month on the phone, and Seokjin sends photos from gatherings with his friends that make Jungkook’s heart ache in a way that he always does his best to ignore. And, of course, there’s a giant elephant through the telephone line as they speak to one another, but as long as they stay away from that topic, things are fine.
“Hello?” Seokjin answers, mumbling something to the person in the background about how they’ll have to hold off on painting the walls. Jungkook wonders if it’s Jimin, Seokjin’s husband.
“Are you and Jiminie-hyung repainting the house?” Jungkook asks, excitement flooding through him. “Are you finally preparing a nursery?”
Ever since the first time that Seokjin mentioned over the phone that he and Jimin were considering a surrogate, Jungkook’s been anticipating the moment that he learns that they’re expecting. Jungkook knows that the two of them will make great dads and he also thinks that he’d make much more of an effort to go back home for Chuseok if he had a little niece or nephew to see while at home.
Jungkook hears a rustling sound, realizing that Seokjin must be shaking his head. “Not yet,” Seokjin denies. “No baby, yet. We’re holding off a little bit longer for something like that for, uh, reasons. I was talking to my friend Yoongi.”
“Yoongi?” Jungkook hasn’t heard that name before.
Seokjin hesitates and Jungkook wonders what the hell is going on. “Yeah, he’s a carpenter. I’m fixing up a few of these cabins that mom left us. I was thinking about renting them out again.”
Jungkook hums. Their parents had run a fairly successful lodging and camping area for pretty much all of Jungkook’s childhood. It’s not the lodging that’s directly connected to any of the skiing areas, or affiliated with any of the slopes around. However, because of that, Jungkook’s family was able to rent out these cabins at a cheaper rate than the ones actually on a resort. Turns out that people like saving money, even if it means that they have to take a twenty-minute bus ride to get to the ski slopes.
While growing up, Jungkook had spent a lot of his time helping his dad with the maintenance on the cabins. When his dad passed away, Jungkook acted as the sole maintenance man when he was home from college. He’d always come back to a laundry list of chores that needed to be done in each house.
After their mother passes, Seokjin and Jungkook hadn’t continued to rent out any of the cabins.
“Really?” Jungkook asks now, sure that Seokjin can hear the disbelief in his voice. After their mother’s funeral, Jungkook had been a bit more pushy for them to continue running the business. After all, Jungook had majored in business. Seokjin had majored in accounting. Jungkook thought that it made perfect sense for them to continue running their family’s business together. Jungkook really wanted the two of them to take over the business, but Seokjin said no and Jungkook ran away to Seoul to avoid all of his problems. “What made you decide to do that?”
Seokjin sighs, and Jungkook knows that he’s probably feeling guilty because he hadn’t wanted to keep the business going with Jungkook all of those years ago. But, Jungkook isn’t a person who dwells on past mistakes. He had forgiven his brother a long time ago, he tells himself, despite the phantom pain in his chest whenever he’s feeling especially unwanted and alone.
“Jimin was really pushing me to sell them,” Seokjin finally answers. “Because they’re just sitting here while you and I are paying property taxes on them. So, I went into our old place to make it look somewhat presentable for pictures, but I realized that I couldn’t sell them.”
Jungkook feels betrayed that Seokjin hadn’t talked any of this over with him. They talked on the phone just the week prior and Seokjin didn’t bring up the thought of selling them at all. Of course, he would have had to mention this to Jungkook at some point, since Jungkook owns half of the cabins, including the one that Seokjin is referring to.
Still, “Perfect,” Jungkook says.
“Kook-ah,” Seokjin sighs. “I know that I should have mentioned it to you before-”
“No,” Jungkook interrupts. “I mean, you really should have, but I’m talking about the timing being perfect. I just got laid off from my job not even ten minutes ago. This will give me something to do until they call and beg for me to come work for them again.”
Seokjin gasps. “ You got laid off? You were just talking about being, like, the second or third best with sales there last week!.”
Jungkook nods even though Seokjin can’t see him. “Yeah. And that’s why I know that they’re going to come crawling, begging me to come back in… two months, tops.”
“And you want to come back home for those two months?” Seokjin sounds skeptical. Jungkook understands. “You want to spend that time helping me fix up this resort instead of, I don’t know, spending time with your friends there or something?”
“Fuck yeah, I do,” Jungkook says, not mentioning that he doesn’t have any friends in Seoul. “After all, it’s not like I’ll be paying anything different than I am now. Not if I stay in our childhood home.” Jungkook already pays rent on his apartment in Seoul and those pesky property taxes that Seokjin had been talking about before on the cabins on the mountain. So, not only will his spending not change, but he’s always been a great saver. Two months off of work is practically nothing for him.
And, Jungkook figures, when this is all said and done, he’ll get some of the money from renting out the cabins that he owns.
“So, you’ll really come back?”
“I’ll book a ticket tonight,” Jungkook confirms.
⛰️
When Jungkook arrives back in Gangwon-do, he feels cold.
Of course, it still gets really cold in Seoul. But Jungkook is usually busy bustling between his apartment and his job, sometimes going to a local bar to grab drinks with the few of his coworkers who he can actually stand to be around, so he’s not used to feeling cold. Snow doesn’t stick so much in the city.
But, here- in the country, in the mountains - it’s cold . Jungkook has on the long, black, down puffer jacket that Seokjin had sent him last Christas, but he still feels chilled to his bones.
Seokjin and Jimin both pick him up from the station, even though Jungkook had sworn that he could make it to their place on his own. Still, he’s really excited to see both of them. They’d all grown up together on the mountain and they were fairly close, considering that the mountain is more populated by tourists than residents.
Jungkook thinks that there had only been maybe thirty other students in his graduating class. With such a small school, Jungkook doesn’t think that it’s all too surprising that the grades mixed and mingled with each other often, people becoming friends with those in the years above and below them.
But, specifically, Jimin’s mom had worked for Jungkook’s parents for as long as they’d run the campground. Jungkook hasn’t seen her in a while, but last he heard from Jimin was that she was working for one of the actual ski resorts across the mountain. Jimin would join his mother at their campground often and it made Seokjin, Jimin, and Jungkook all close when they were young.
“Where’s Taehyungie-hyung?” Jungkook asks, surprised to not see his hyung with them. Jungkook swears that Taehyung practically lives with the two of them at this point, judging by how often he’s in the background of all of their conversations. Seriously, the last time that Jungkook and Seokjin had been on FaceTime, Jungkook could see Taehyung lounging on Seokjin’s couch reading a book and drinking tea. And, last Christmas, when Jungkook had texted Jimin to make sure that Seokjin’s gift arrived, he’d received a text message back saying, “Sorry, Jiminie is in the bath right now, but I’ll make sure that it’s off the porch before hyung can see it!”
Jungkook had been a little confused, but he shrugged it off. Taehyung and Jimin had always been the closest friends growing up, so nothing that the two of them did surprised Jungkook that much any longer.
“He’s with Yoongi at the cabin,” Seokjin explains.
Jungkook tilts his head, trying to remember where he’s heard the name before. He remembers Hoseok from their childhood, one of Seokjin’s friends who was always hanging out with him and Namjoon, a scholarly boy who was definitely way too smart to be hanging around the kids who spent all of their days either skiing or snowboarding. Jungkook figures that Namjoon has seen way more stupid decisions made in their small group of friends than he did from the kids he was in study group with at school.
Truly, Namjoon had been the person who really got Jungkook to major in business. When he was younger, Jungkook hadn’t been someone who was interested in schoolwork at all. He thought that it was lame and most definitely would have rather spent his time outside than ever studying. That is, until Namjoon introduced him to the idea of business and explained how Jungkook could make a good living by doing the same thing that his parents had always done. Namjoon would ask Jungkook questions about what he liked and disliked about the way that his parents ran the campground, what things he might like to change, and what the biggest things were that Jungkook thought was keeping the place running.
And Jungkook got excited thinking about that kind of stuff. He liked the idea of coming up with ways to make the cabins more successful. Some evenings, instead of begging his parents to let him go down to the ski slopes, he’d make PowerPoints for them to see, showing them certain aspects of the campground that could be improved and how he’d like to see that happen. If they really liked the idea (and, trust Jungkook, there were many ideas that they really didn’t like), they’d help Jungkook implement them.
But, Yoongi.
This is not someone from his childhood.
And lots of people move away from the mountain like Jungkook had, nut not many move in.
“Who is Yoongi?”
“The carpenter,” Jimin says and Jungkook realizes that that’s who Seokjin had been on the phone with earlier in the day. “He moved here… maybe two years ago? He said something about needing to get out of his hometown.” Jungkook hums. “Not too sure, though. He’s a quiet guy. He’s a real friendly fella, though. Fits in with our group real nice.”
“Huh,” Jungkook says. “I don’t really remember hearing much about him.”
Seokjin shrugs. “Maybe just didn’t come up? He’s closer to Hoseok than to either of us.”
“And Taehyungie,” Jimin adds.
Seokjin insist that Jungkook comes over for dinner before he goes back to his own cabin, which Seokjin swears that he remembered to have the heat turned on for so that Jungkook won’t freeze while he’s staying there, to settle in.
“You deserve a homecooked meal from your hyungs,” Jimin says, practically pushing Jungkok into a dining chair. Taehyung must have abandoned this Yoongi guy, too, because he’s sitting in a chair directly across from Jungkook with a bowl and spoon in front of him.
“Yeah, and you should also want to see your favorite hyung for the first time in nearly two years,” Taehyung shrieks, practically leaping over the table to pull Jungkook into a hug.
Jungkook rolls his eyes. “We FaceTimed on my birthday,” he reminds Taehyung, even though that had been nearly two months prior by this point. “Plus, Namjoonie-hyung is my favorite hyung.”
“Watch it,” Seokjin says from the kitchen, voice sounding like a warning. He’s standing over a pot of something that smells absolutely delicious while Jimin and Taehyung snicker, huddled on one side of the table like a couple of conspirators.
Jungkook laughs. “You don’t count!”
“Whatever,” Seokjin says, but he doesn’t actually sound angry. Instead, he sounds closer to fond. “Just stay there while I bring the food.”
Dinner is delicious, which is no surprise since Seokjin had always been very talented in the kitchen, spending nearly every night cooking dinner with their mother when he was younger. The food tastes like hers, and brings tears to Jungkook’s eyes. Jungkook usually orders takeout, so a meal that tastes like his childhood is great for him right now.
When he’s leaving, Jimin wrapping a scarf around his neck that he’s never seen before, Jimin says, “We missed you real bad around here, kid.”
Jungkook smiles, though his chest feels tight. “I missed you all, too.”
“Good,” Jimin says, nodding his head once. Behind him, Jungkook thinks that he sees Taehyung walking into what he knows is Jimin and Seokjin’s bedroom in his pajamas. Jimin lightly taps Jungkook’s cheek to bring his attention back. “I know that you’ll be here for a while, but… Maybe you could think about staying and running the campground with us?”
Jungkook’s sure he’s misheard.
“What?”
“Just…. Think about it, okay? Seokjinie wants to ask you, but he’s too scared to do it right now. So, I don’t know, just think of this like a heads up, okay?”
Jungkook shakes his head. “Sorry, Jiminie-hyung. I’m happy where I’m at right now.”
“Are you?”
Jungkook doesn’t want to get into a fight with Jimin after they had such a nice evening together, so he politely wishes Jimin a good night even though he doesn’t really want to talk to him at all right now, and leaves the cabin in a huff.
Jungkook had been lucky enough that Jimin and Seokjin have multiple trucks, including the one that Jungkook and his dad used to drive around when they were doing maintenance repairs. Seokjin had given Jungkook the keys to that one much earlier in the night, long before Jimin had ruined it by asking him to stay.
It doesn’t take much other than Jungkook’s birdbrain to get him to the cabin that his family used to live in. The very few times he’s been back to the mountain since leaving, he had just slept in Seokjin and Jimin’s guest room. However, since he could be here for multiple months, Jungkook would much prefer a space of his own.
When he arrives, Jungkook is surprised to see a much newer truck sitting in the driveway. He doesn’t think too much of it, though, figuring that Seokjin and Jimin had purchased another one, but only used one to get him from the train station at the bottom of the mountain on time.
Sighing, and trying to get over his annoyance at Jimin, Jungkook grabs all three of his suitcases- determined not to make more than one trip inside. He pulls them to the front door, feeling relieved that it’s dark inside, meaning that whoever this carpenter Yoongi is probably left the cabin whenever Taehyung did.
He’s very surprised to see a small man sitting in the middle of the cabin’s living room with a flashlight in his hand.
Jungkook absolutely does not scream.
“What the fuck,” the stranger says.
“What the fuck, me?” Jungkook asks, hand resting over his heart because he thinks that he maybe is having an actual heart attack right now. “What the fuck you , dude?”
The man stares blankly at Jungkook.
And, okay, wow.
Jungkook hates to admit that the man is kind of pretty.
Okay.
Really pretty.
“What are you doing in my cabin?” Jungkoko asks once his heart has reached a normal resting heart rate. He’s kind of worried that his smartwatch is going to alert Seokjin in the same way that elderly peoples’ watches alert their family members that they have fallen. Because Jungkook’s heart rate just most definitely just dramatically spiked.
“Um,” the really pretty man says, looking slightly to Jungkook’s left like he’s checking to see if someone else is with Jungkook. “Electrical wiring?”
Jungkook cocks his head to the side. “Electrical wiring?”
“Um,” the man says again, and god , he’s so fucking pretty. Jungkook doesn’t think that he could look away from this guy even if he wasn’t a stranger in Jungkook’s cabin. “Yes? Isn’t this Seokjinie-hyung’s cabin? Is Taehyungie playing another prank on me?”
“You know hyungs?”
The man nods. “Um, Seokjinie-hyung hired me to do the electrical wiring.”
Understanding finally dawns on Jungkook, who is sure that he must be an idiot. “Oh,” he says, feeling bad for screaming what the fuck at him. “You’re Yoongi-ssi?”
The man, Yoongi , nods.
“I’m Jungkook. Seokjinie-hyung is my older brother.”
Jungkook sees the understanding happen on Yoongi’s face, too. “Oh, shit,” he says. “I’m so sorry. It’s probably super fucking weird to come here and see me in your cabin when that’s not at all what you were expecting. And I wasn’t expecting you here, so I was working kind of late.”
“You weren’t expecting me?”
Yoongi shakes his head. “Like, I mean, I knew that you were coming. But I didn’t know that it was tonight. I thought it was going to be tomorrow.”
“Why?” Jungkook asks, waiting only a second before adding, “I just mean that I thought that Seokjinie-hyung and Jiminie-hyung left here to come pick me up. And, if he’s still the same, Taehyungie-hyung can’t leave anywhere without a ten-minute explanation as to where he’s going.”
Yoongi laughs. And, just like the rest of him, Jungkook thinks that Yoongi’s laugh is really pretty. “You’re so right actually,” he says. Then, leaning toward Jungkook like he’s sharing a secret, adds, “That’s why I’ve gotten into the habit of tuning out the last five minutes of any hangout with him.”
This time, Jungkook is the one laughing. Then, he remembers that they’re standing in the dark with only the light from Yoongi’s flashlight between them. Realizing that Yoongi looks this good in the light from a dingy flashlight has Jungkook fearing for the state of his heart when the lights come back on.
“So,” Yoongi says, finally turning back toward whatever electrical work he had been doing before Jungkook strolled in here and then screeched at the top of his lungs. “I can leave now if you want, but you definitely won’t have lights until tomorrow.” He pauses, shoulders moving in what looks like a shrug to Jungkook now that the flashlight is off of Yoongi’s face. “I probably only need twenty or thirty more minutes to finish this up if you want to wait, though. Up to you.” He shrugs like he doesn’t care what Jungkook chooses.
And why would he care , Jungkook’s brain hisses at him. Yoongi is just someone who is friends with everyone who Jungkook knows and super fucking pretty and Jungkook does not care at all that Yoongi does not care at all.
“Please stay,” Jungkook says. Then, realizing just how weirdly desperate this sounds, adds, “To finish the lighting, I mean. Please stay to finish the lighting.”
Yoongi hums.
“I really appreciate it,” Jungkook continues, brain unable to handle both sitting in the dark and silence with Yoongi. “I used to help my dad with this kind of stuff, but it’s been years since the last time I looked at a wire. I wouldn’t remember the first thing about it if I was trying to do this.”
Yoongi snorts. “Seokjinie-hyung mentioned that,” he says. “That you used to help out with all of the maintenance stuff before you ‘went off to be a big city guy,’ which is a direct quote, by the way.”
Jungkook bristles a bit at that.
Sure, he likes his life in Seoul. Well, mostly. Maybe he doesn’t always like the life that he’s living. Maybe sometimes he feels like he’s holding his breath while he’s there, like he can’t breathe around his stuffy coworkers or when he’s eating his meals alone, or like he won’t ever be comfortable enough to pick someone up when he goes out to the bar because what do you even say to someone who you haven’t known your entire life or work with? Maybe he hates coming back to Gangwon-do. Maybe he hates it because the second that he breathes in the mountain air, he feels like his chest becomes ten times lighter. Feels like it’s the first day after a bad cold and he suddenly can breathe out of his nostrils again and there’s no freer feeling-
Maybe he doesn’t like to come back because he wants to stay, but he doesn’t know how to.
Maybe sometimes he feels like that.
But he’s okay with his life in Seoul.
What makes him bristle, however, is the fact that Seokjin and Jimin act like Jungkook had been the one who wanted to leave everything behind.
Because Jungkook had asked Seokjin to run the camp with him. Had said that they should keep it going. It wasn’t because running the place was the only thing that Jungkook had ever known because it wasn’t. He’d gone to college in the city and he was okay with living in the city.
But he thinks back to the nights spent on PowerPoints. The Saturday afternoons driving in the truck with his dad to fix sinks or deliver firewood. Mornings with his mother when he was home from college, questions flying out of his mouth about her financial systems. Time spent coming up with activities for the campground or new paint schemes for the main office or contacting the city to get two bus stops added around their land.
Jungkook thinks back to that and knows that this is truly the only thing that he’s ever loved doing.
But Seokjin turned him down. Instead choosing to start working for some tax attorney as an actuary. Jungkook had felt betrayed, but he didn’t ever blame Seokjin. It was okay, to Jungkook, if they didn’t have the same dreams and aspirations.
But Jungkook had always felt like Seokjin blamed him for leaving. Like he felt like Jungkook should have just stuck around and run the whole place by himself.
And Jungkook loves Jimin. Jimin has been one of Jungkook’s closest friends for his entire life, but Jungkook would be lying if he said that it didn’t hurt that Seokjin wasn’t willing to run the place with him, but wants to do it with Jimin.
Jimin’s request from earlier runs through Jungkook’s mind, once again planting a small seed that maybe Seokjin does want to do this thing with Jungkook. But Jungkook quickly pushes the thought out of his mind. He’s pretty certain that Jimin was just trying to make up for the fact that Seokjin hadn’t mentioned anything to Jungkook.
It makes Jungkook feel even more lonely.
“You here with me, kid?”
Jungkook blinks at him. “Huh?”
Yoongi laughs. “I was asking you about your life in Seoul, but it seems like you maybe zoned out a little.”
Jungkook blushes. He hadn’t meant to zone out, but ever since he was younger, Jungkook’s had a bad habit of staring off into space. Head empty, no thoughts.
“Sorry,” he mumbles, realizing that Jimin had called Yoongi hyung , so he’s definitely older than Jungkook. And so Jungkook should absolutely be a bit more respectful than he’s been so far. “What were you asking, Yoongi-ssi?”
“Just what you did there,” he says. “Seokjinie-hyung has talked a lot about you being at work, but I don’t think that he’s ever explicitly mentioned what it is that you do.”
Jungkook shrugs, he’s not that surprised. He does talk a lot about his work to his older brother, being a bit petty by constantly proving that he’s a good worker, can be a great worker, who Seokjin should have wanted to work with. But, much like Jungkook has no fucking clue what an actuary does, Seokjin doesn’t know really what Jungkook does besides sit at a desk in an over-crowded office. Jimin had even once told the both of them that their jobs are fake because all office jobs are just congregations dedicating their lives to the religion of hierarchy.
“I work for an advertisment company,” Jungkook says.
Yoongi stands up from where he’d been crouched, a flashlight illuminating his face from underneath as though he were sitting around a campfire, telling scary ghost stories in order to scare the younger kids. He moves to the ladder in the center of the living room and Jungkook finds himself naturally grabbing the bottom of it, remembering all of the times that his father had preached the necessity of a ladder buddy. He’s glad that Yoongi looks grateful.
“Hyung is right. I do pretty much just sit at a desk in an office,” Jungkook adds. “I call people and try to charm them into using our business for their advertising needs. I’m pretty good at it.”
“Huh,” Yoongi says, sounding surprised. He uses his flashlight to point to a globe next to Jungkook on the floor, so Jungkook picks it up and hands it to him. Jungkook makes sure to look properly offended so that Yoongi can see his pout when he grabs the globe, even though it means that he’s staring directly into the flashlight and it kind of hurts his eyes. “I just mean that all of your hyungs have described you as someone really quiet and reserved. So I guess I just didn’t really picture that kind of job for you.”
“I am reserved and quiet,” Jungkook agrees. “But… I don’t know. I just push through all of the anxiousness of cold calling and do it even though it makes me sweat like nothing else.”
It’s hard to tell it the dark, but Jungkook thinks that Yoongi stops moving the screwdriver for a moment. “Well, that doesn’t really sound like a job that you love.”
Jungkook shrugs again, feeling like his shoulders are getting a workout with how much he’s doing it around Yoongi. “I like my life,” he says like a mantra, like he’d been telling himself ever since he left Seokjin and Jimin’s house earlier that evening. “Most people don’t love their jobs.”
And Jungkook does think that’s true. When he did work up the energy to go out with his coworkers, all they did was complain about work. It’s just part of working, Jungkook thinks. Sure, he hadn’t ever heard his parents complaining about not liking to run the campground, but Jungkook had always supposed that they just did it in secret. Because people don’t love their jobs.
Yoongi starts to descend the ladder. “I love my job. Especially after moving here,” he says. “It’s really nice to work with my hands, in a space that’s usually quiet. I like to do it.”
Yoongi walks toward the front door, and for a brief moment Jungkook is worried that he’s leaving Jungkook alone in a dark house, but then Yoongi flicks the light switch next to the door and the room is filled with a soft, white light.
“Oh,” Jungkook says, no able to see Yoongi properly. “Thank you.”
Now, Yoongi shrugs. “Just doing my job,” he says, laughing. “My job that I love.”
“Okay, Yoongi-ssi,” Jungkook says, rolling his eyes. He doesn’t need some really cute-even-in-the-light stranger to tell him that he’s unhappy with his life. “Thank you for the light, but I’d really like to sleep now.”
Yoongi blushes just a little, like he’s a little bit embarrassed, but Jungkook doesn’t understand why. “Right,” he says, heading back toward Jungkook in order to collect his toolbag. “Um, a lot of this stuff,” he says, gesturing to the pile of various woods and tools sitting in the middle of what is supposed to be Jungkook’s living room. “A lot of it is stuff that I will need to use tomorrow to finish this. I really did think that you were coming tomorrow. So I promise that your house will be perfect for you in twenty-four hours, but would it be okay to leave this all sitting here overnight?”
Jungkook raises his eyebrow.
“Of course, I can take it all back to my truck. It’s not a problem.”
Jungkook thinks about how many times Yoongi would have to take off and put back on his shoes to get everything out to his truck and feels bad for being judgmental when Yoongi was just asking something that would make both of their lives easier. “You can leave it all in here,” he says. “No problem.”
Yoongi stops himself from picking anything up. “Thank you, Jungkook-ssi. It’s very kind of you to let me. Typically, I’m not working on places where someone is moving in so quickly, so I usually just leave everything in the houses that I’m working on.”
Jungkook nods like that makes sense to him. And it kind of does. When Jungkook’s dad was alive, he had a space on their maintenance form asking what time would be best for him to come around since working on stuff was a lot easier without the occupants around. His dad said it was so that he wouldn’t be in their way, but Jungkook always thought that he just didn’t want some tourist to be backseat driving while he was fixing stuff. And, even though it’s not his fault that he’s here a day earlier than Yoongi was expecting, he still feels kind of bad.
“Well,” Yoongi says. “I’ll be back tomorrow. Um, what time?”
“What time do you normally get here?” Jungkook asks, wanting to now make things as easy for Yoongi as possible. Then, as he’s finally moving his belongings further into the cabin, adds, “I’ll go bother Jiminie-hyung for breakfast in the morning. Then I should probably go grocery shopping. I don’t have anything in here and there’s not nearly as many takeout options here as there were in my neighborhood in Seoul.”
“I like to start my workday by seven,” Yoongi answers, though he looks like he’s feeling guilty for giving such an early time to someone who just got laid off.
“Jungkook nods, trying to smile brightly. “That’s perfect!” It’s most definitely not - Jungkook really wants to sleep in tomorrow- but he figures that he’ll catch up on three years of mostly sleeping on subway trips between his apartment and work later in the week.
He had already ironed out the details of the actual working on the cabin thing with Seokjin at dinner, where his brother had let him know that they weren’t starting right away since his carpenter has a few other jobs lined up beforehand. Seokjin had also emphasized the importance of taking weekends off during this project, probably knowing that Jungkook was basically working seven days a week at his last job. Jungkook’s worried about them getting all of the cabins done since he thinks that he and Yoongi are the only ones doing work on them, but he knows that Seokjin will only worry if Jungkook works more than five days, so he doesn’t mind too much.
“Okay. Thank you, Jungkook-ssi,” Yoongi says, bowing politely.
In the time that Jungkook had started zoning out and thinking about his brother again, Yoongi had bundled up in a way that Jungkook thinks makes him look even cuter . His coat is probably the same size as the one that Jungkook owns, but since Yoongi is shorter, it basically reaches his ankles. He has a hat and gloves and a scarf on and Jungkook thinks that Yoongi looks soft and cute and a little like a steamed dumpling .
“Have a good night,” Jungkook says, bowing at a full ninety degrees to try to add a bit of respect back that he hadn’t quite managed to have earlier in the evening. After all, he’s in his parents house and they raised him to be respectful.
Yoongi nods, cheeks pink from the cold air of the now-open front door. “You, too, Jungkook-ssi.”
Thirty minutes later, Jungkook has his clothes shoved into the dresser in the bedroom, set out his toiletries in the bathroom (and brushed his teeth using the kitchen sink due to a lack of running water in the bathroom sink), and remade the made with his own sheets and comforter.
A part of Jungkook had almost gone to the smaller of the two bedrooms, the one that still has the bunk beds that Seokjin and Jungkook had slept in until they moved out. Jungkook knows that his mom had kept them because she had always wanted to be a safe space for her future grandchildren, and Jungkook mourns that he never got to give her the grandchildren that she had so desperately wanted.
When he’s laying in his bed, all of the emotions from being laid off and moving back into his family’s cabin finally catch up to him. He begins to earnestly cry. He cries because losing his job was embarrassing. He cries because Seokjin doesn’t want him as a business partner, even though that’s all that Jungkook has ever wanted. He cries because he missed having a home cooked meal. He cries because he misses his parents.
Jungkook cries until his eyes will no longer stay open and he falls asleep in the same bed that his parents used to sleep in.
⛰️
Jungkook wakes in the morning, throat feeling dry and eyes feeling sore. He definitely regrets the miniature meltdown that he’d had and, even more, regrets telling Yoongi that he could come over at seven in the morning. Especially since Jungkook had slept through his alarm (okay, he turned it off and overestimated his ability to just rest his eyes ) and it’s currently half past seven and he can hear Yoongi banging on something in the bathroom.
Embarrassed, Jungkook gets out of his bed and dresses quickly. It’s been a while since he hadn’t started his day by dressing in a suit, but Jungkook quickly remembers how much cozier it is to wear heavy jeans and a fluffy sweater.
He doesn’t have any choice but to face Yoongi. Even though they’re are dual entrances into the bathroom, Jungkook can’t avoid him because Yoongi is clearly working on something in there. Jungkook desperately hopes that it’s the water because he’d felt really weird spitting his toothpaste into the kitchen sink the night prior.
He enters the bathroom quietly- not intentionally, he’s just a quiet person by nature. He watches as Yoongi wriggles around in the storage area below the sink, probably doing something with the pipes. Jungkook isn’t sure, he hadn’t ever really worked with water when he was doing maintenance stuff with his dad except for one time that he had to hold a hair dryer up to a frozen pipe during an especially tough winter on the campground.
Jungkook probably should have announced his presence, but he did get a little bit distracted when he saw just how puffy and red his own face is and how on Earth is he supposed to talk to Yoongi while looking like he spent the entire night crying and eating ramen?
So it’s not too shocking to Jungkook that when Yoongi pulls himself out from underneath the sink and sees Jungkook, he jumps a little. “Jesus Christ,” he mutters, his hand over his heart, mimicking Jungkook’s own posture from the night before. “Please let’s stop meeting like this.”
“I’m so sorry,” Jungkook says. “I’ve been told that I exist quietly.”
Yoongi nods. “That makes sense,” he says, looking at Jungkook like he’s remembering everything that Seokjin and Jimin and Taehyung (but probably not Namjoon and Hoseok) had said about how quiet and awkward Jungkook is. “Especially since all of your hyungs are so loud. Figured that there had to e a quiet one in that mix somewhere.”
Jungkook shrugs, not really feeling like talking about how inadequate he’s always felt socially compared to everyone around him when they were growing up.
Seokjin, for as long as Jungkook can remember, had been praised for his good looks. Seokjin had always played that up, flirting with people to get discounts, sending flying kisses to ahjummas and ahjussis in order to win them over. Jimin and Taehyung, though inseparable, had always been extraverted, able to talk to anyone and everyone in any room at any given time.
Jungkook had always been shier than them, which had seemed okay at first. But when his hyung would drag him to parties that got hosted in the fields during the summer, or an un-rented out cabin during the winter. They’d all find people to flirt with or hook up with, or even just talk to, and Jungkook’s brain just never got the update required to do so.
Things had gotten a bit easier when Hoseok and Namjoon had started hanging out with them. Hoseok had been more on the extraverted side with Jimin and Taehyung, able to charm anyone that he met within ten minutes. Namjoon, while quieter than most everyone else in their small group, always had friends wherever they went. So, even when Jungkook had known that he had someone who wouldn’t leave him all alone at parties, Jungkook always felt, well, like a baby when he was around. He felt like he was constantly known as Seokjin’s younger brother, which is most definitely something that did not help his inferiority complex- but that’s neither here nor there.
“I just, um,” Jungkook starts, feeling incredibly awkward. “Sorry,” he ends up saying.
Yoongi stands, tilting his head. “For what?”
“I meant to be out of here before seven. Clearly, I slept in, “Jungkook says, gesturing to his face and hair since those are absolutely evidence of him having just woken up.
“I mean, it’s your house,” Yoongi says, laughing.
Jungkook kind of wants to cry. Despite the fact that he’s cried more in the last twelve hours than he had in the entire time that he lived in Seoul. But, the fact that this house is his makes tears threaten to spill. Jungkook’s not sure why his parents left this particular cabin to him instead of Seokjin, but Yoongi is right. This is his house .
“You need to get ready in here?” Yoongi asks, waving his hand around to indicate that he’s talking about the bathroom. “Probably should have mentioned last night that you wouldn’t have water in here until this morning. Sorry about that.”
Jungkook smiles. “It’s fine. Is there water in here now. or should I use the kitchen sink to brush my teeth again?” Truthfully, Jungkook really needs to use the bathroom, but he can hold it until he gets to Seokjin’s.
“Ah, sorry,” Yoongi says, suddenly seeming shy. “You’ll have to brush your teeth in the kitchen again.”
Jungkook shrugs, leaning past Yoongi to reach his toothbrush and toothpaste, both set out on the counter surrounding the sink. He thinks that he hears Yoongi’s breath halt, almost like he’d taken a really sharp intake of breath, but he tries not to think about it.
Walking to the kitchen, Jungkook begins to make a grocery list on his phone. There are a lot of things that Jungkook thinks that he can probably swipe from Seokjin’s house after breakfast, so he shouldn’t need too much. Since Seokjin loves to cook so much, Jungkook thinks that he has a pretty good chance at being able to gaslight Seokjin that he must have just used up all of his soy sauce while he was cooking. Then, Jungkook won’t have to buy a whole new bottle. Because, living by himself, Jungkook will probably only use half of a bottle in the two or so months that he’s here, and then when he leaves, he would be the one giving free stuff to Seokjin!
As he’s writing his list, Jungkook suddenly remembers that he hadn’t thrown out any of his own leftover takeout before leaving Seoul. He has absolutely no doubt that he’s going to have to deep clean his refrigerator once he gets back to his own apartment. He can already imagine the smell, and it makes him shiver.
After returning his toiletries to the bathroom, quietly and respectfully- because, seriously , what had Jungkook been thinking when he leaned all up in Yoongi’s personal space like that- Jungkook bids Yoongi a farewell and pulls on his boots, fully prepared to be scolded by Jimin for arriving unannounced at quarter past eight in the morning on a Wednesday.
Jungkook knocks on the door, unsure whether or not Seokjin will be home. Seokjin had originally told Jungkook that both he and Jimin would be taking some time off from their jobs in order to focus on flipping the cabins, but Jungkook’s not sure both when that was supposed to start or if they’ll even take time off now. Since Jungkook will be here doing that stuff for them now full-time.
To Jungkook’s complete surprise, Taehyung answers the door in the same pajamas that Jungkook vaguely remembers seeing him in the night before. But Jungkook had pushed that memory away quickly in favor of the much more embarrassing memory of screeching in front of the single hottest person on the mountain.
“Oh,” Taehyung says, looking surprised and sounding a bit alarmed.
Jungkook nods his hello, waiting for his invite inside.
“Who is it hon-” Jungkook hears Jimin start to say before he spots Jungkook. “Ah, Jungkook-ah,” he says, pushing past Taehyung to pull Jungkook inside, immediately helping Jungkook pull off his coat. “I should have expected you for breakfast. We didn’t even think to take you grocery shopping last night, did we? Would have been much easier when we were at the bottom of the mountain, too.”
“S’okay,” he says, shrugging. Though, Jungkook knows with certainty that his cheeks are turning pink. He sometimes likes to be babied by his hyungs, especially by Jimin, but it can be rather embarrassing whenever it happens in front of other people. “You don’t need to take my shopping, hyung,” he says, sure that there’s a whine in his voice. “I’m going out by myself today to get stuff.”
To prove his point, he lamely holds up the reusable shopping bag that he had brought.
Jimin narrows his eyes. “Why did you bring it inside?”
Jungkook shrugs again, trying to deflect. “It smells really yummy in here, Jiminie-hyung. Were you cooking?”
“Were you trying to rob your hyungs, Jeon Jungkook?” Jimin asks, a dramatic gasp following his question when Jungkook suspiciously doesn’t answer. “You were! Aish, you brat. You’re not allowed to take anything from here! I do all of the grocery shopping, not your brother.”
Jungkook smiles sweetly at Jimin. “But, hyung, you married my brother. That makes you my brother, too.”
“Oh, he really knows exactly how to butter you up,” Taehyung says.
Jungkook glances at him, grinning. Once again, he takes in Taehyung’s pajamas. Jungkook himself had stopped having sleepovers once he got to college, but he figures that his hyungs should do whatever makes them happy. He’s sure that there’s lots of people out there who have sleepovers at twenty-eight years old.
“I still won’t let him take anything,” Jimin says. “He makes more money than I do. Which means that he can afford the general store prices much better than I can.”
Jungkook sighs. He’s always hated the general store. “I was actually planning on going down the mountain,” he explains.
“In this weather? Kook-ah, it snowed all night.”
Jungkook hadn’t really noticed, but the drive from his parents’ old place to Jimin’s is only about four minutes, so he probably just had yet to see exactly how much it had snowed. “There’s chains on dad’s truck,” Jungkook says.
Jimin shakes his head. “Absolutely not. Plus, you know that Namjoonie-hyung and Hoseokie-hyung bought the general store, like, a year and a half ago. It’s not the same, old, homophobic woman that owns it anymore.”
Jungkook shivers remembering her, often yelling at him.
“With so many gay kids running around this mountain, you’d think that she would have gotten with the times,” Taehyung says.
“I’m surprised that she sold it to Hoseokie-hyung and Namjoonie-hyung,” Jungkook muses.
Jimin shrugs. “I guess they’re not as loud as the rest of us. She always thought that they were roommates. I bet she genuinely believed that’s all they were.”
“Yeah,” Taehyung snorts. “Roommates that are really fucking horny for each other.”
As Taehyung and Jimin high five, Jungkook thinks about going there. Sure, he has a lot of bad memories associated with that place, but he doesn’t think that that should stop him from shopping at the store that his hyungs now own.
But he still doesn’t like the thought of going inside.
“It’s not the same at all, Jungkook-ah,” Jimin says, rubbing a soothing hand on Jungkook’s shoulder. “There’s even a little pride flag sticker in the window now.”
“Did Hoseokie-hyung make it with his Cricut?”
Jimin grins. “You bet your sweet-ass he did.”
It turns out that Seokjin is still planning to take extended time off (using up practically all of the time off that he hasn’t used from the past four years), but hadn’t planned for any of it to start until next week. And Jimin still works from home, so he’ll be around to help, but he rescinded his time-off request that morning.
Taehyung, Jungkook finds out, is employed as the only other full-time worker at the general store.
“So that’s why you were pushing so hard for me to do my shopping there,” Jungkook jokes.
Taehyung rolls his eyes. “My shift actually starts at ten,” he says, glancing at the clock. “If I get ready now, will you give me a ride in?”
Jungkook nods. “‘Course.”
Taehyung heads into Seokjin and Jimin’s bedroom, presumably to get changed, and Jungkook watches thoughtfully after him.
Jimin begins to gather dishes and Jungkook immediately starts helping him, because he likes it when Jimin praises what he’s doing.
“So,” Jimin says, sounding a bit hesitant, as he fills the left side of the sink with hot, soapy water. It’s the first time that they’ve been alone since Jimin had sprung the ‘Hey, why don’t you move back home?’ thing on him the night before, so Jungkook gets it. Even if he doesn’t like the idea of Jimin acting awkwardly around him.
When they were younger, Jungkook, Jimin, and Taehyung had shared absolutely everything with each other. Jungkook remembers just how close they used to be. Close enough that, when he was sixteen, Taehyung felt comfortable enough to admit to him that he had a crush on Seokjin. At the time, Jungkook thought that it was just because he missed Seokjin, who had just gone off to serve in the military. Then, when Seokjin came back, looking much more mature than he had when he left, Jimin told them both that he’d had a crush on Seokjin since they were children.
And Jungkook didn’t mind. Quickly enough, Seokjin and Jimin started dating, but Jungkook never felt like Jimin was moving on from being his best friend. Jungkook had fallen in love with the way that Jimin and Seokjin loved each other. And with each passing year until he moved, Jungkook had always felt like the biggest hype man in their relationship.
So, the awkwardness is new for them.
Jungkook doesn’t like it.
“What do you think about Tae?” Jimin asks suddenly.
Jungkook pauses. That is not even close to what he’d been expecting Jimin to say. “What?” He asks, pinky finger heading to his ear like he needs to clean it out because surely he must have misheard. Jimin swats at Jungkook’s arm, getting suds all over Jungkook’s sweater.
“Taehyung,” Jimin says again, eyes focusing back on the plate that he’s washing. “What do you think about him?”
Jungkook shrugs. “Taehyungie-hynug is, like, one of my longest and closest friends,” he says, slowly. Then, worrying that Jimin has some sort of ruse to get Jungkook to fall in love and stay in Gangwon-do, adds, “You’re not trying to set me up with him, are you? Because I promise you that I am not interested-”
“Oh, god, no,” Jimin interrupts, looking disgusted at the thought. “Just, like- I don’t know, Jungkook-ah… Never mind.”
At Jimin’s sigh, Jungkook gets worried. “What’s wrong, hyung?” He asks, nervous. “Is everything okay?”
Jimin nods, another sigh escaping his lips. “Yeah,” he says. “Everything is fine.”
Jungkook doesn’t believe him, but he’s known Jimin for long enough to know that his hyung won’t tell him anything that he’s not ready to talk about, so Jungkook doesn’t push.
“Okay,” he says instead, voice quiet. “But, I’m here if you ever want to talk to me about anything.”
Jimin nods, not quite meeting Jungkook’s eyes, as Taehyung reemerges. He has his work apron in hand, and Jungkook only briefly thinks about how strange it is that Taehyung keeps that in Seokjin and Jimin’s house.
“You ready?” Taehyung asks Jungkook, glancing at the wall clock. It’s probably getting close to time to leave, especially if it snowed as much as Jimin claims that it did overnight.
“Yeah,” Jungkook says, giving Jimin one last glance. “Yeah, let’s go, Taehyungie-hyung.”
⛰️
Hoseok and Namjoon are excited to see Jungkook.
Jungkook is practically jumped by the two when he and Taehyung walk through the front door of the general store together.
“Jungkook-ah,” Hoseok says, grabbing at all of the different parts of Jungkook’s face that he can reach and pinch. “I heard that you were coming back to our little mountain, but I couldn’t quite believe it! It’s been much too long since I last say you,” he says, hands going to squeeze Jungkook’s biceps. “You’ve gained so much muscle! You’ll be able to throw any of your hyungs around now- even Namjoonie!”
“Like he didn’t do that before,” Namjoon says from behind them. Hoseok politely moves to the side so that Namjoon can give Jungkook a hug. As expected, it’s the most normal hello that Jungkook’s received since being back on the mountain. “Hi, Jungkook-ah,” Namjoon says.
“Hi, hyungs,” Jungkook smiles, feeling at ease in their presence. He doesn’t like to let himself linger in this feeling for too long because it makes him miss it that much more when he returns to Seoul. But, Jungkook figures that it’s okay. He’ll have a few months to train himself to not miss it (read: ignore having any feelings about his home when he returns to his cold and lonely apartment) too much. “I haven’t been in here since you bought the place. Looks...”
Well, really, it looks the same. Even the aisles are pretty much the same as Jungkook remembers, with the same old items in the same old places.
The newest thing, it appears, is a coffee bar along the back wall. It’s where Hoseok had come out of when Jungkook came into the store. “You guys sell coffee here?” He asks, feeling happy. It’s the most important thing on his shopping list this morning. He’d gotten a little too addicted in the city, but Seokjin and Jimin are tea drinkers, so there wasn’t any in their house and Jungkook’s desperately trying to stop his impending caffeine headache.
“Ah, a city coffee for the city boy?” Hoseok teases, already stepping back behind the counter. “Want to try one of our holiday flavors? I ordered these fancy-flavored syrups just in time for Christmas,” he explains.
Jungkook nods, remembering the latte that he really likes from a small cafe near his apartment. “Can you please make it a latte?”
Hoseok nods and sets to work making the drink for him. Jungkook uses the time to catch up with Namjoon, mostly listening to his hyung talk about the trip that he and Hoseok just took to Jeju island with Hoseok’s family. Jungkook doesn’t really tell any of his own stories because he doesn’t exactly have any interesting stories to tell.
Jungkook hears the bell above the door ring just as Hoseok shouts out, “Ah, Yoongi-hyung! I’ll have your drink out in just a minute. I saw you pull in, but I had to make this special latte for my favorite mountain resident first!”
Jungkook spins around at Yoongi’s name, watching the pretty man walk into the store. “Not a problem at all, Seok-ah,” Yoogi says, chuckling. “I can wait a few minutes. I mean, I make my own lunch break schedule and all. I don’t have to be back at the cabin right now.”
Namjoon pulls Jungkook- grabbing the sleeve of Jungkook’s jacket and tugging- toward Yoongi.
“Hyung,” he says. “This is Jungkook-ah. He’s Seokjinie-hyung’s younger brother.”
Jungkook’s skin prickles at hearing himself be introduced like that. He’s instantly transported back to his teenage days when that’s all that anyone thought of him as.
“We’ve met,” Yoongi says. “I thought that he was coming today, so I was still in his cabin, alone in the dark, when he arrived there last night.”
“Oh, my god,” Namjoon says, looking like he’s stifling laughter with how he balls up a fist in front of his lips. “Did he cry?”
Jungkook pushes out his lower lip. “Hyung, I’m not like that anymore. I’m twenty-six now, so I don’t cry about everything.”
Namjoon chuckles, wrapping his arm around Jungkook’s shoulder. “It might be because he’s always been the youngest around, but this one would cry at just about anything when we were teenagers.”
Jungkook bristles. He knows that Namjoon is just teasing, knows that Namjoon would never intentionally say something that he truly believed would hurt Jungkook’s feelings, knows that it’s only natural for him to tease his dongsaengs. But Jungkook really hates being teased for being an emotional person.
Plus , he’s fairly certain that Yoongi could tell that he’d been crying all night when they met that morning, which just makes him look even more immature in front of the prettiest person who has ever existed, and Jungkook doesn’t love that either.
“Whatever,” he mutters, shrugging Namjoon’s arm off of him shoulder. “I actually do need to get some grocery shopping done. I didn’t bring anything with me. And I remembered this morning that I didn’t clean a single thing out of my refrigerator when I left Seoul,” Jungkook says, pouting again about the dreaded smell he’ll face when he returns.
Namjoon claps him on the shoulder, motioning for Jungkook to go grab his latte from Hoseok. “Just call up one of your friends, whoever it is that has your spare key, and ask them to throw some of the perishable stuff out for you.” Then, Namjoon notices a customer at the checkout counter, and heads off to help them out.
“Right,” Jungkook says under his breath, stalking off toward the coffee bar.
“So,” Yoongi says, sidling up next to him, basket in hand as though he’s going to be grocery shopping as well. “Hoseokie’s favorite resident on the entire mountain? That’s impressive.”
Jungkook smiles. Hoseok is someone so bright and love and caring that everyone wants ot bathe in the warmth that he puts out. It’s part of the reason why Hoseok and Namjoon have always been one of Jungkook’s absolute favorite couples. Hoseok’s warmth, mixed with Namjoon’s steadiness, had always been something that Jungkook needed in his life. Truthfully, the two had felt like an extra set of parents to Jungkook when he was in high school.
“Yeah,” he says, feeling his cheeks heat up. “He’s just saying that right now, though. Since he missed me and all,” Jungkook admits. “Just give him two weeks and he’ll be threatening to call Seokjinie-hyung on me if I try to get myself a free drink.”
“You’re getting this one for free?”
Jungkook shrugs. “I mean, he hasn’t said that yet. But, I would bet lunch that when I try to hand him my credit card, he’s going to tell me that there’s no way in hell that I’m paying for it.”
Yoongi hums. “Okay. I’ll take that lunch bet.”
“What?” Jungkook asks, not entirely sure that he’s heard that correctly.
“I said that I’ll take the lunch bet,” Yoongi explains, speaking a little bit slower. “If he says that you don’t have to pay for it, then I’ll buy you lunch. But, if he takes your card,” Yoongi says, a smirk beginning to grow on his face- Jungkook has to force himself to not think about how attractive Yoongi looks wearing a smirk-, “Then you have to buy me lunch. You said that you’d bet lunch on it.”
Jungkook raises an eyebrow. He and Yoongi haven’t even known each other for a day yet, but Yoongi wants to get lunch together? Just the two of them? Already?
“Come on,” Yoongi says, as though he’s sensing just why Jungkook is hesitating. “All of your friends are all of my closest friends. And we’ll be getting to know each other anyway with working on the cabins together thing,” he says. “Plus, Hoseokie always says that I’m his best friend and I’ve never once gotten a free drink, despite literally coming in here every day of the week.”
Jungkook nods as Hoseok calls him over towards the drink pickup area. “Yeah, okay,” Jungkook says, looking back at Yoongi.
Jungkook reaches into his back pocket to grab his wallet, and before he can even put his hand into the pocket, Hoseok says, “Yeah, right, Jungkook-ah. You’re not paying for that.”
“Thank you, Hoseokie-hyung,” Jungkook says, spinning around to shoot Yoongi his brightest smile. To Yoongi, Jungkook says, “I want to go to the actual ski resort on the other side of the mountain for lunch. They have this really yummy steak that I haven’t been able to find in Seoul.”
“What the fuck,” Yoongi says, though it’s more to the air than to Jungkook. To Hoseok, he says, “I’ve been coming in here every day since you opened that coffee bar and you’ve never once offered me free coffee!”
Hoseok shrugs as he starts making Yoongi’s drink. “Jungkookie is a lot cuter than you are.”
Jungkook smiles triumphantly. Though, he’d argue that Yoongi is much cuter than he is.
“I’ll see you back at my house?” Jungkook asks, finally grabbing his own basket to do his shopping.
Yoongi nods, dumbly, staring at the full-priced coffee in his hand. “Yeah, I’ll see you back at your place. I should have all of your water working by the time you get back.”
When Jungkook has all of his groceries piled high in his basket- yes, it’s a bigger haul than he normally needs for one person, but he’s not normally starting with no food, and Jimin really hadn’t let Jungkook take even the unopened bottle of soy sauce in his cupboard- Jungkook walks up to Namjoon’s counter, briefly wondering where Taehyung is working if Namjoon is the cashier and Hoseok is the barista. Maybe he’s the person who stocks all of the shelves. Though, Jungkook had wandered through each of the aisles twice and hadn’t seen Taehyung in any of them.
“So,” Namjoon says, sounding like he’s fishing for some sort of information. Jungkook doesn’t entirely know what information he’s looking for, but he figures that it might be about losing his job. So far, everyone’s had the tact not to bring up the fact that Jungkook is only here because his contract had been cut short, even though he knows that they all know about it. “You and Yoongi-hyung seem pretty friendly with each other already.”
Jungkook blushes. He should have figured that that’s what Namjoon was fishing for. Ever since Jungkook had figured out that he was attracted to men, Namjoon’s been trying to set him up. He’d even tried to suggest that Jimin and Jungkook date at one point. Jungkook’s pretty sure that he had thrown up in his mouth at the thought.
“We’re friendly enough,” Jungkook says. “As friendly as you can be with someone who scared the shit out of you less than twenty-four hours ago.”
Namjoon nods as though that’s something that he understands. “I just mean that neither of you are people who really open up to others that well.” Jungkook nods, waiting for Namjoon to go on. “It was a bit surprising to hear the two of you making lunch bets already, is all.”
Jungkook shrugs. “Like I said, we’re friendly enough,” he repeats, watching the total on his order begin to get higher and higher. He has the money for it, has the money to be comfortable for about half a year, but it still makes Jungkook feel uncomfortable to be spending money that he knows he can’t replace right away.
Namjoon hums.
“He was in my parents’ house when I got there last night, I screamed a bit, then proceeded to be his ladder buddy,” Jungkook says, not sure why he’s explaining himself or why Namjoon is nodding like all of this makes perfect sense to him. “He was there when I woke up, I brushed my teeth in the kitchen, and then he was here.”
Namjoon nods again, waiting for Jungkook to finish as he leans over the counter to scan the large bag of rice sitting beside Jungkook’s feet. “Like Yoongi-ssi said, you guys are his closest friends. And you’re definitely mine, so we might as well get used to spending time together.”
Namjoon smirks, ringing up the last of Jungkook’s groceries, then adding on a discount that Jungkook assumes is for friends and family. “Yeah, that makes sense,” he says, laughing a little. “Doesn’t mean that you have to spend that time together alone , though.”
Jungkook turns around before Namjoon can see him blush too furiously. “Whatever, hyung,” he says, grabbing his reusable grocery bags off of the counter as fast as he can. “I have to go.”
“Right,” Namjoon calls as Jungkook struggles to carry his multiple grocery bags and the large bag of rice out the door. “Really important lunch plans that need to be met!”
Jungkook loads his truck quickly, thankful that he got everything out here in one trip so that he doesn’t have to go back into the store and hear Namjoon’s teasing once again.
As he drives back towards his parents’ home, Jungkook begins to feel his heart rate pick up, excited at seeing Yoongi once again. Just as quickly, though, he pushes the tentative feelings down, determined that no one, not even himself, will ever be allowed to see them.