Chapter Text
“-so I’m trying to explain to him that there’s no way in hell that we’re hooking up, right?” Taehyung says, retelling something that had happened while him and Namjoon were on their anniversary vacation. They’ve been going every year for as long as they’ve been together, so Jungkook estimates this trip to have been their fifth.
Jungkook laughs where he thinks he’s supposed to, trying to pay attention to the story, but not really finding it funny at all. He’s having trouble paying attention because it’s the one time of the month that he has to be around Yoongi and Seokjin, and try as he might, Jungkook cannot get his attention off of them. Jungkook does an impeccable job at not seeing them any other time of the month; but he can’t avoid the group dinner, not if he doesn’t want everyone knowing that there’s some issue between him and Yoongi and Seokjin.
And, really, there’s no issue if you don’t count him being madly in love with both of them and them being in love with each other.
Jungkook actually used to be very close with both Yoongi and Seokjin. He’s fairly certain that he’s the only reason they even met one another.
Jungkook had met both of his crushes while they were all in college, nearly five years ago, and he thinks that he fell in love with both of them almost instantaneously.
Jungkook had met Seokjin through Taehyung.
Taehyung, being the best friend of Jungkook’s childhood best friend, is someone that Jungkook grew very fond of in college. During Jimin’s first year, he had been randomly assigned as roommates with Taehyung, and they’d basically grown attached at the hip. For a long time - really, until Taehyung started dating Namjoon - Jungkook couldn’t tell if Jimin and Taehyung were in love with one another, but Jungkook’s always been really good at not asking questions, so he just accepted it when Jimin texted him about his soulmate.
When Jungkook moved into a three bedroom apartment with Taehyung and Jimin in his own freshman year, it became pretty obvious that, though the two clearly love each other very deeply, it’s all entirely platonic. The first time that Jungkook had gone out with Jimin and Taehyung to meet Taehyung’s boyfriend, Jungkook finally understood that Taheyung is just a very loving person. Because he doesn’t think that he had ever seen two people more in love than when he saw Taehyung and Namjoon greet one another.
This is also, coincidentally, the night that Jungkook met Kim Seokjin.
Seokjin had joined the group to go clubbing with Namjoon. They were not only very good friends, but also roommates in an apartment complex on the street over from Jungkook, Jimin, and Taehyung’s own. Seokjin had walked up to Jimin and Jungkook, bowed slightly, and said, “What do a tick and the Eiffel Tower have in common?”
Jungkook and Jimin looked at each other, confused. “What?” Jimin asked.
“They’re both Paris sites!” Then he burst into a high-pitched, squeaky laughter that did not at all match the handsome face and tall frame that he had, asking if they understood the joke since neither of them laughed.
Jungkook fell in love with him right then.
In hindsight, Jungkook thinks that he had been fairly obvious about his crush on the elder boy. He basically followed Seokjin around like a puppy who had just been adopted, always texting Seokjin to meet up. Whether it was to get lunch together, study in the library that Namjoon worked in, or go to the coffee shop where Jungkook and Taehyung both worked, Jungkook was always just steps behind Seokjin wherever they went, bringing along a coffee or even - one of Jungkook’s lowest points, he’ll admit - a bouquet of flowers for Seokjin.
Jimin and Taehyung teased him about the puppy-love and Namjoon sometimes sent him pitying looks that suggested that Seokjin also knew about the small crush that he harbored, but Jungkook didn’t let it deter him. He didn’t need Seokjin to love him back in that way, he just liked being around his older friend, and that was enough for him.
Jungkook actually thought he stood a chance with Min Yoongi, however.
Jungkook met Yoongi through Hoseok.
Hoseok, or Hobi, to his close friends, was Jimin’s seonbae in college. They were both dance majors, and Jungkook had been a good enough dancer that Jimin got him to join the intramural dance club that Hoseok had been the president of in his junior and senior years of college.
After dance class one Tuesday evening, Hobi asked Jungkook and Jimin if they’d like to go to dinner with him and his best friend and roommate, Min Yoongi, saying that they would pay for the younger two to eat. Jimin and Jungkook both worked part-time jobs to afford to pay tuition and rent, so they were never ones to pass up free food.
Yoongi had mint green hair when Jungkook met him, which Yoongi would later swear he hated and that he had only dyed it that color because he lost a bet with Hoseok, but Jungkook still felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of him.
Yoongi stood up from the table, bowing slightly to them all, and muttered a low hello. His voice had been deep and raspy and Jungkook’s insides churned with a desire that he had only ever felt when he was listening to Seokjin talk before.
Much like his crush on Seokjin, Jungkook now knows that he was very obvious with Yoongi. Yoongi had offered his number to Jungkook at the end of that first dinner and Jungkook immediately started spending all of his free time with Yoongi.
A few weeks after meeting, Namjoon had been over at their place for dinner and looked a bit confused when Jimin started teasing Jungkook about his crush on Yoongi. Jungkook, to this day, is pretty sure that Namjoon and Taehyung think that he hadn’t overheard a previous interaction between them where Taehyung told Namjoon that even if Seokjin had liked the attention from Jungkook, he couldn’t expect it to last forever, not when he didn’t reciprocate the same affection. But he had. And he always knew that Seokjin didn’t like him in the same way, but it was still a little bit of a blow to him to have a definitive answer on the subject.
So he tried to pour his affection into his new hyung instead. And it really wasn’t hard for him. Jungkook and Yoongi got along well. Yoongi was a production major and Jungkook a vocal major, so they had a lot of similar interests.
Some of Jungkook’s fondest memories from college are from a night that he and Yoongi had been sitting in the cafe that Jungkook worked at, a night where Yoongi had waited for Jungkook to get off so that they could study together, but they didn’t end up studying. Instead, they had stayed at their small table, not ordering anything because Taehyung was the closing barista and would let them loiter, arguing over which hip hop album had the biggest impact on the music industry in the nineties. He remembers laughing when Yoongi got so upset that Jungkook disagreed with him that his ears turned a little red. Jungkook had tried at the time to not think about Seokjin, whose ears always turned red when he was embarrassed.
Jungkook accidentally introduced Yoongi and Seokjin at that very cafe.
Jungkook and Yoongi had been heading there to study, or argue about music, not that Jungkook minded what they ended up doing. He just liked spending time with Yoongi, much like he liked spending time with Seokjin. This time, however, he thought that Yoongi liked spending time with him just as much. With Seokjin, Jungkook was always the one following, the one making the plans, sending the text messages. And that had been fine for Jungkook. He never minded. But ever since Jungkook met Yoongi, there were only two times that he kind of interacted with Seokjin.
The first one wasn’t even an interaction. Just once, when he was over for dinner, Namjoon said to Jungkook, “Seokjinie-hyung said he hasn’t seen you around lately. Said he misses you.” The second one was a text message from Seokjin the day before Seokjin and Yoongi met, a simple, “Do you want to study tomorrow? Or get lunch?” Jungkook had ignored the message.
But things with Yoongi were different than they were with Seokjin. Yoongi texted him first. Yoongi would come to the cafe to wait for Jungkook to get off whereas Jungkook hadn’t seen Seokjin in there even once since he quit trying to hang out with Seokjin all of the time. All Jungkook could think was that Seokjin was probably relieved that he didn’t have to entertain Jungkook any longer. He tried to push that thought away, because as much as he liked Yoongi, the yearning for Seokjin refused to leave his heart.
Jungkook had just sat down at the table that he always sat at with Yoongi, one in the far back corner, when he saw Seokjin walk into the cafe. Jungkook’s eyes flitted toward Yoongi who was chatting animatedly with Taehyung at the counter about something while Taehyung made their drinks.
Jungkook noticed Seokjin looking toward the table that the two of them had always sat at. Yoongi preferred the quiet back of the coffeeshop, while Seokjin preferred the bright light near the window, so Jungkook was nowhere near where he had always sat with Seokjin.
It wasn’t long before Seokjin noticed Jungkook in the back corner, immediately heading toward the table. Jungkook’s heart raced. He didn’t want to see Seokjin. He liked Yoongi, didn’t want any more confusing feelings to show up in his brain, just wanted to push all of the feelings for Seokjin out of his heart. It’s why he hadn’t texted Seokjin back the night before.
Yet, there was Seokjin, unannounced in the cafe. He marched over to Jungkook, who only could look toward Taehyung with somewhat terrified eyes. Though he had thought that he’d been painfully obvious about his crush on Seokjin, Taehyung is the only person that he had ever actually confirmed his feelings to. Taehyung’s eyes widened too, looking just as confused as Jungkook had felt.
“Did I do something wrong?” Seokjin asked, sitting in Yoongi’s seat. “Because you haven’t texted me in, like, two weeks.”
Jungkook felt scolded, but he also knew that he was sort of in the right here. It wasn’t like Seokjin had reached out to him either besides one text the night prior. “You didn’t text me, either,” Jungkook pointed out. When he looked back over, Taehyung was frantically pushing Yoongi toward the pair.
When he returned his gaze back to Seokjin, he looked confused. To this day, Jungkook doesn’t know why. Seokjin had opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Yoongi. “Jungkookie, is this guy bothering you?”
Jungkook looked at Yoongi, not really comprehending the question. “What?”
“This guy in my seat,” Yoongi said, giving Seokjin something like a side-eye. “Is he bothering you?”
“Who are you?” Seokjin asked, looking annoyed at Yoongi for some reason.
Yoongi never turned his face away from Jungkook, making sure that he was okay. Jungkook wished his feelings for Seokjin would go away. “Yoongi-hyung,” he said. “I’m fine. You know Taehyungie-hyung’s boyfriend?”
“Namjoon-ssi?” Yoongi asked. Jungkook thinks that they had only met once in passing, but Yoongi was friendly enough with Taehyung that he’d definitely heard the name more than enough times.
Jungkook nodded. “Yeah. This is his best friend, Seokjin.”
Seokjin’s face hardened at the introduction, but once again, Jungkook wasn’t sure why . “And you are?” He asked Yoongi.
“I’m Jungkook’s friend. And we’re here trying to study, so if you could please give me my seat back…”
Seokjin stood up and went to the counter to talk to Taehyung. Jungkook tried not to watch the interaction, but it was hard to tear his eyes away from it. He felt so confused. Why would Seokjin just show up like that? Why did he care so much about Yoongi? Why did he get so upset about the way Jungkook introduced him?
Taehyung rolled his eyes toward Jungkook when Seokjin finally left. Jungkook shrugged, trying to say that he hadn’t understood it either.
Jungkook, to this day, pretends that he hadn’t heard Taehyung and Namjoon fighting about it on the phone later that night.
It was probably another month before Seokjin and Yoongi started dating.
For a month, Seokjin would show up pretty much every time that Jungkook and Yoongi hung out. He and Yoongi would make passive remarks to one another that Jungkook didn’t try to read into, mostly because he was trying to pretend that Seokjin and Yoongi didn’t look hot together when they argued. He had overheard Taehyung’s fight with Namjoon, heard Taehyung yell about how Seokjin wasn’t entitled to Jungkook’s time and was only feeling jealous because Jungkook had his attention on someone else. Jungkook’s heart cracked a little when he heard that, but he knew it was true.
So Yoongi and Seokjin argued a lot. Jungkook was confused about his feelings, which only grew for both of them the more time he spent around the two of them. Life went on.
And Jungkook supposes that life went on after he walked into the library study room that he had signed out for him and Yoongi to study in and saw Yoongi and Seokjin furiously making out.
He shouldn’t have been surprised, but he was hurt. “Oh,” he said, out loud, on accident. “I’m so sorry,” he apologized, dumbly, like he was the one who was intruding, when he had rented the room out. “I’ll go.”
He left the library before either of them could say a word.
Both Seokjin and Yoongi tried to reach out to him in the following week, but Jungkook didn’t want to talk to them, so he didn’t.
By the time he saw the two of them again, at a party that Taehyung and Jimin had dragged him to, convinced that he was being moodier than normal, Seokjin and Yoongi were full-fledged boyfriends.
Jungkook did his best to push the feelings away- to forget that he had ever had a crush on Seokjin or Yoongi. He threw up in the bathroom, cried once, and then promptly decided to never talk about liking Seokjin or Yoongi again.
Taehyung pushed him to talk about his feelings, but Jungkook never budged, pretending that the feelings never existed in the first place. He hadn’t told anyone else that he had liked either of the older boys, so to the rest of their friends, nothing about Seokjin and Yoongi dating was weird for him. Taehyung said it was unhealthy, Jungkook pretended that an ache didn’t sit deep in his chest after spending months falling in love with two separate people, they compromised by not talking about it.
Yoongi-and-Seokjin became a part of Jungkook’s everyday life. Taehyung and Namjoon became more serious, Jimin and Hoseok began dating, and Jungkook was left all alone. His friends said that it was only romantically that he was left alone, a joke that neither Yoongi nor Seokjin ever made, only further confirmation to Jungkook that the two knew about his feelings for both of them. His friends assured him that they all loved him as their friend, which is also something that neither Yoongi nor Seokjin ever said - and Jungkook was always glad for that. He never wanted to hear Seokjin or Yoongi say that they loved him. Not when it could never be in the way that he wanted. But his best friends being in love with Seokjin and Yoongi’s best friends meant that he would never be able to fully get away from them.
That doesn’t mean that Jungkook didn’t try his best.
He spent months only seeing Jimin and Taehyung inside their shared apartment. He never went to parties with them because he knew that Seokjin and Yoongi would be there. Only went to dinner with Hoseok and Jimin when they were going directly after dance club, when Jungkook knew that Yoongi wouldn’t be around. Only went to the cafe for work - never to study. In fact, he only studied inside his own bedroom after that point. He figured that the best way to squash the love out of his body was to separate himself as much as he could. Plus, he was determined that no one else in their friend group ever find out about his feelings.
Unfortunately for him, that did mean that Jungkook had to start attending the same events as the two of them.
Which, for years, Jungkook had gotten good at going to. He had gotten fairly good at being in the same room as Yoongi and Seokjin without feeling like his heart was going to burst out of his chest or like he was going to throw up.
Sure, both Seokjin and Yoongi tried their hardest to get back into Jungkook’s inner circle, but Jungkook was smarter than that. He kept both of them at arm’s length, not letting them become close to him. If Jungkook were to visualize his circle of friends, he’d have placed Jimin and Taehyung in the innermost circle, Hoseok in the middle circle, and then Namjoon, Seokjin, and Yoongi in the outermost circle- people that he saw at parties, maybe was in a group chat with mutual friends together, but never people that he would go out of his way to text and would feel awkward if they were ever alone together.
So, he was able to be in the same room as Seokjin and Yoongi, even was able to make polite small talk with them, and he was okay with that.
But apparently Seokjin and Yoongi weren’t okay with that. They’d both, as a pair and separately, try to talk to Jungkook about things that they had talked about when Jungkook was more embarrassing and followed both of them around like he ever had a chance at dating them.
Yoongi would ask him his opinion on a newly released album (always one that Jungkook absolutely loved because Yoongi knew exactly what type of music Jungkook liked and Jungkook wouldn’t ever listen to those albums again for fear of Yoongi taking over his brain every time he heard it) or talk about his own production job that he had gotten, and was Jungkook looking into any internships, and Yoongi’s boss really liked Yoongi so if Jungkook wanted to put him down as a reference, that was very fine with Yoongi. Jungkook never told Yoongi that he switched his major to graphic design in his second year.
Seokjin would ask Jungkook about his workouts. Seokjin would ask if he was still working at the cafe and if he still liked overly sugary drinks, as though he knew anything about Jungkook at all (lying to himself and saying that Seokjin never cared was much easier than accepting that Jungkook himself had been a bad friend and ghosted Seokjin for Yoongi). Seokjin would invite him over for dinner, saying that Jungkook deserved to have someone cook for him because Seokjin knew that Jimin and Taehyung never cooked dinner. Jungkook never told Seokjin that he only pretended to enjoy cooking because Seokjin wanted to teach him about it.
Jungkook had gotten so good at pretending that he didn’t have any feelings for either of them that, sometimes, even he believed it.
Sometimes he didn’t even notice the thrumming in his heart whenever Yoongi or Seokjin would try to talk to him. Sometimes, Jungkook actually thought that other boys were cute, thought that maybe he could like them. And he would go on a date, not ever to the cafe that he worked at, but he couldn’t make himself kiss any of the boys he had taken out. Couldn’t let anyone into his bedroom or his heart because he felt like he might pass out or throw up even at the thought of kissing someone that wasn't Seokjin or Yoongi, so he didn’t always think that he was over them like he wanted to believe.
Things got a lot easier for Jungkook when his hyungs started to move out. Jimin and Hoseok moved in together first. Jungkook was a little bit relieved. He had never lived without either Taehyung nor Jimin in his college career, but Jimin was always a bit more pushy with Jungkook in terms of going out than Taehyung ever was.
When Jungkook would say that he didn’t want to go out, usually because he didn’t think that his heart could handle seeing Yoongi and Seokjin together, Jimin would guilt Jungkook into going out with them anyway, whereas Taehyung never pushed him to go out if he didn’t want to.
So, after Jimin moved in with Hoseok, Jungkook was able to get away with not going out way more often than he had been when Jimin lived with him and Taehyung. It became easier and easier to avoid going out with the group.
And then, Jung Hoseok created the monthly dinner for the seven of them.
Jungkook didn’t blame Hoseok for doing that. If he hadn’t been in love with Yoongi and Seokjin, he would have enthusiastically agreed to a monthly dinner with all of his closest friends, but, unfortunately, Jungkook was in love with two of his friends’ friends, so he never wanted to go out with them.
Jungkook learned fairly quickly, too, that he couldn’t get out of going to the monthly dinners. He hadn’t shown up at the first one and his phone got so many calls and he got scolded for being a bad dongsaeng, so he knew that he couldn’t skip another one unless he wanted a verbal lashing from an offended park jimin.
So, he continued to show up to the dinners, continued to repress his feelings, and continued to pretend that at some point in his life he wouldn’t like Seokjin and Yoongi any longer.
It’s why now, nearly three years since the monthly dinners started, Jungkook is sitting at a dinner with six other people who he really only sees once per month when they all get together for this specific reason.
Taehyung has finished telling his story, something about someone who tried to pick him up while Namjoon was standing right beside him, and Jungkook wants to go home. He has to finish packing his stuff because his lease ends on his birthday and he really doesn’t want to have to deal with paying another month's worth of rent because it’s a three-bedroom apartment and he can’t really afford to do that any longer. It’s why he’s switching to a one-bedroom apartment after losing Taehyung to Namjoon as a roommate.
“Jungkookie,” Seokjin says from across the table. Jungkook had positioned himself distinctly as far away from Seokjin and Yoongi as possible. “Isn’t your birthday next week?”
Jungkook hums. He hasn’t been necessarily rude to Yoongi or Seokjin, but he’s definitely not actively engaging in conversation with either of them.
“It is,” he agrees. He doesn’t want to tell either of them that he has plans for his birthday. Because Yoongi and Seokjin are still trying to be his friends again, so they’ll take anyone saying that he has plans as an invitation to join.
And, usually, Jungkook wouldn’t really care about it. If they were going out to a club like Jimin had planned out for them to do the year before, Jungkook wouldn’t care. It would be easy to ignore them because he could find some cute enough guy to make out with for the night and pretend that he’s not in love with two people already dating. But this year, Jungkook, Taehyung, Jimin, Hoseok, and Namjoon are moving Jungkook into his new apartment and then having a few beers while unpacking Jungkook’s few belongings. Maybe play a game if Jungkook and Jimin can figure out how to put the coffee table together that Jungkook’s parents had sent him for his birthday. Jungkook can not have them in his apartment.
“I’m not doing anything for it, though,” he says, feeling a bit scared. He’s normally better about keeping his cool in check around them, but he knows them better than he should. Jungkook knows that Yoongi is about to ask what his plan is and invite himself and Seokjin to join.
Jungkook pretends to not notice the disappointed look on Yoongi’s face, but Jungkook can’t let himself get close to them again.
A few times over the past few years, on nights when he was far too wasted and shouldn’t have been, Jungkook let himself talk to Yoongi and Seokjin like he had done before. One night, he even let Seokjin help him to the bathroom and then Yoongi put him to bed.
Jungkook hasn’t drank with them since that night.
“I thought we were moving you into your new apartment and then playing games and drinking,” Hoseok says. “Didn’t you specifically request that we all bring either rum or diet coke to your new place as a housewarming gift?”
Jungkook internally groans, forcing himself not to roll his eyes. “We are,” he says. “Which isn’t something to bother any more people with.” He settles. “Hyungs are always saying that they work too much and are so tired. We wouldn’t want to bother them.”
“ I’m always at work and tired and you still bullied me into helping you move,” Jimin says, pinching Jungkook’s side that’s closest to him, causing Jungkook to yelp. “Where’s that respect for all of your hyungs?”
Jungkook glares at him, trying to move the topic away from their plans for his birthday. Or at least get out of the restaurant before Yoongi and Seokjin can say that they really don’t mind and would like to help. “Then don’t come,” he says to Jimin. “You and Hoseokie-hyung can stay at home and make out, or whatever it is that you couples do. And you’ll just have to think about your sad dongsaeng who can’t put together a coffee table by himself-”
“-Yoongi’s really good at putting together furniture-”
“Please,” Jimin screeches, earning a look from a nearby table. “No one here is thinking of you while they’re making out.”
Namjoon snorts. “Sure,” he says.
Suddenly, all eyes are on Namjoon. “Are you thinking of Jungkookie while you’re making out with Taehyung?” Hoseok asks slowly.
“That’s-” he says, stuttering, face turning beet red. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I was aroused by Jungkookie once while making out with Hoseokie,” Jimin says, casually.
Hoseok nods while everyone else looks at the pair silently. “It was after a particularly sexy dance practice. We both felt really bad about it afterwards.”
Jungkook pauses. “Was that the week that you two kept giving me gifts and apologizing to me?”
Jimin nods enthusiastically before resuming his dinner.
The table is quiet for a moment, everyone a bit confused about what just happened.
“Okay,” Jungkook says, figuring now is as good a time as any to sneak away. He turns to Taehyung. “Can I venmo you for my portion of the food, Hyung? I need to finish packing my stuff.”
“No way,” Taehyung says. “I haven’t gotten to see you since you got your full-time job. This dinner is my treat to celebrate you!”
Jungkook smiles, trying to ignore anyone else’s faces. He hadn’t exactly told any of the rest of them that he got a new job. He assumes that Namjoon and Jimin know since Taehyung never stops bragging about Jungkook like he’s Taehyung’s own child. And if Jimin knows, then Hoseok definitely knows. But he doubts that Namjoon or Hoseok would have mentioned it to Yoongi and Seokjin. And as much as Jungkook wants to keep them at a distance, he’s still in love with the both of them, and it hurts to see them upset. Hurts to know that he’s the cause of it. “Thank you,” Jungkook says, standing up to leave. “It was nice to see you all again.” He bows slightly, because even though these are supposed to be his closest friends, Jungkook can’t help but put a mask on in front of everyone.
“We can take you home,” Seokjin says, standing up as well. “You’re on our way.”
“Oh,” Jungkook says. He doesn’t think that he can say no without sounding rude. Especially because he knows that Jimin and Taehyung both live in the opposite direction. He doesn’t know where Yoongi and Seokjin live, despite being invited over for multiple events in the two-ish years that they’ve lived together. “Um,” he looks toward Taehyung, but Taehyung is not paying him any attention. “Okay.”
As much as he doesn’t want to get into the car with them, he reminds himself that Seokjin and Yoongi are supposed to be the same to him as Namjoon and Hoseok are. Not his closest friends by any means, but Jungkook knows that he’d never refuse a car ride from Namjoon or Hoseok, so he figures that it would seem weird to everyone else if he declined one from Seokjin and Yoongi. “Thanks, Hyung,” he says, forcing a smile on his face. “That’s really kind of you.”
Jungkook hugs the rest of his friends goodbye, asking Taehyung to call him in the morning so that he could properly whine about his unrequited feelings for Seokjin and Yoongi (just whine - Jungkook won’t let himself cry over them again because then it makes the feelings real), and follows Yoongi and Seokjin to their car.
And of course they have a car. They’re so adult and mature and can afford to take a car places. Not like Jungkook, who had chosen his new apartment based on its proximity to his workplace. From the apartment that he and Taehyung shared, Jungkook needed to take two buses to get to work and he’ll now be a seven-minute walk away, something that he’s really happy about.
Once Jungkook settles in the backseat, behind the driver’s seat, he immediately feels like throwing up. Jungkook spent a solid twelve seconds debating on whether it would be better to have Seokjin or Yoongi be able to turn around and speak to him before realizing that he didn’t know which one of them even usually drives the car, because even though it’s Yoongi’s car, Jungkook knows that Yoongi hates driving so maybe Seokjin drives, and deciding that he’ll just have to suck it up either way.
Maybe he can look out the window the entire time. Maybe, if he’s really lucky, Yoongi and Seokjin will blast music in the car so loudly that neither of them will even remember that Jungkook is in the car. Sure, that would mean that he would have to walk back to his apartment from their apartment (that he doesn’t even know the location of), but he figures that’s a small price to pay so that he doesn’t have to endure small talk with the two people that he’s in love with who just want to be really good hyungs to him.
Seokjin gets in the driver's seat. Yoongi does not blast the music.
The air in the car is definitively awkward, almost awkward enough that Jungkook debates how long he has to jump out of the car before they’re driving fast enough that he would get hurt.
Not that Jungkook is surprised that there’s a layer of discomfort surrounding them. Seokjin had known about Jungkook’s feelings for him, and Yoongi and he were really, really close friends before Seokjin and Yoongi started dating, but it’s probably a bit confusing to them to have a dongsaeng who continues to randomly disappear from their lives.
And Jungkook knows that it’s wrong of him to keep ghosting the two of them. But, sometimes he thinks that he’s over his feelings enough to become friends with them. So he’ll send a text or go to a hangout and they won’t really talk because it’s awkward, but Seokjin and Yoongi will dote on him and Jungkook will realize that he’s definitely not over his feelings and that he needs more time away from them.
“So,” Yoongi says. “Taehyung said that you got a job? I know that there are a few record labels around here - I never heard your name come up at mine. Where did you get a job at?”
Jungkook shuffles uncomfortably. This is one of the times that Jungkook feels bad because he knows that he’s about to make Seokjin and Yoongi feel really shitty. “Oh, I actually got a job at Wander Lab.”
“Oh?” Seokjin asks. “I’ve never heard of that record label.”
“It’s, um, a graphic design company,” Jungkook says, feeling sick to his stomach. He wouldn’t have had those shots of soju if he had known that Yoongi and Seokjin were going to take him home. “But it’s really nice,” he says, trying to ignore the looks of confusion on Seokjin and Yoongi’s faces. “It’s a hybrid position, so I only work in the office two days a week and from home three days a week. Actually, the last two months I was using Jiminie-hyung’s old bedroom as an office, which I’m really going to miss now that I’m moving into a one-bedroom place-”
“Graphic design?” Seokjin asks, cutting Jungkook’s rambling off, a strange lilt to his voice.
“But you love singing,” Yoongi says. “You have one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard.”
Jungkook shrugs, feigning nonchalance. He doesn’t want to say that he got so used to making music with Yoongi in even one short semester that singing for anyone else felt awful for him, that his professors were questioning how he even got into the vocal program when he couldn’t be bothered to try his best any longer, so he doesn’t.
“Well,” he says. “Things have changed since I was a freshman, I guess.”
“But, why wouldn’t you stay with something in your major? Maybe you didn’t see them, but I emailed you a few internships at Big Hit. And even a few auditions to become a backup singer if that’s the route you want to take-”
“It is in my major,” Jungkook interrupts. “I switched to graphic design my sophomore year. I was basically failing out of the vocal program, so I quit it,” he admits, feeling embarrassed. But he hopes that this honesty is enough to stop the conversation.
The car is quiet once again and Jungkook is thankful. He wishes he hadn’t accepted the ride, but at least they don’t try to talk to him much anymore.
“Do you still live in the same place?” Seokjin asks.
Jungkook hates the feeling in the pit of his stomach that he has at hearing this question. Much like the fact that Seokjin and Yoongi didn’t know that he got a new job, didn’t know that he was moving apartments, didn’t know that he switched his major, Jungkook thinks about how Yoongi and Seokjin must not have ever even asked about him to their friends. Sure, Jungkook never offered up any of this information, but he knows that none of his friends would have hesitated to talk all about what Jungkook was up to if either of them had just asked .
“Yeah,” Jungkook sighs. “Same place for now.”
Jungkook spends the remainder of his week packing up the rest of the apartment while he should be working. Fortunately, his job doesn’t require him to be on screen often, so as long as he actually meets his deadlines, there’s no issue for him to be doing other things right now. Plus, he doesn’t usually take advantage of this fact and he knows that some of his coworkers, like Eunwoo and Jihyo, definitely use this to their advantage. He’s sure that the company knows people do this, but don’t really care as long as the work is done and done well.
He’s really going to miss this apartment. After all, it’s the first place he’s ever lived that felt like his . Even though he shared it with Jimin and Taehyung for four years, and then just Taehyung for another year, the space still always felt like he belonged there.
As he’s packing up, though, Jungkook realizes that there are a lot of places in the apartment that he’s not entirely going to miss. Or, maybe he’ll miss them in the most self-sabotaging way. Time will tell, he supposes.
Due to the fact that Jimin and Taehyung had both moved in with significant others who already lived by themselves, almost all of the furniture and everyday household items in the apartment had been left behind. Jungkook’s thankful for this, mostly because he’s really too lazy to go out and find a new couch or a new ironing board. But, he’s also reminded of too many things from his years of being in love.
The new pots and pans that Seokjin had bought the first Christmas that they had known each other, for example, are coming with Jungkook. The gift had technically been for him, Jimin, and Taehyung, but Jungkook was the only one who ever really cooked, and Seokjin knew that, so it was most definitely a gift for Jungkook.
Or the baby grand piano that had come with Jimin (since his parents had forced him to take piano lessons for his entire life) that Jimin has absolutely no interest in is coming with Jungkook. It also happens to be the piano that Yoongi spent an entire semester sitting at when he would visit Jungkook. Jungkook would sing silly songs about absolutely nothing just to see Yoongi smile so fondly at him.
He wonders if he can get rid of any trace of Yoongi and Seokjin before moving out. Thinks that it would probably be better for him to have a fresh start.
me > jiminie-hyung
hey
do you want to get your piano
jiminie-hyung > me
absolutely not
i have no room for that thing here
i know i’ll want to have it for my children someday though
could you keep it for me for now 🥺
me > jiminie-hyung
yeah
but now you have to pay for the moving van
i wouldn’t need one without the piano
jiminie-hyung > me
ok
that’s a lie
but i will pay for it because i love you and it’s your first big move!!!!!!
me > jiminie-hyung
my first big move was in with you
jiminie-hyung > me
it’s your first big move by yourself
you’re the only one of me, you, and tae to live alone
we could use seokjin’s truck for a lot of the stuff…
me > jiminie-hyung
i told you i don’t want to bother them!!
i’ll send you the moving company rental <3
jiminie-hyung > me
you know
if you ever want to actually talk about it…
i’m here for you
always
me > jiminie-hyung
i know
there’s just nothing to talk about
Jungkook sighs, pocketing his phone before Jimin can message back. He knows that he’ll have to face Jimin’s kind, yet embarrassing, insistence that it’s okay to like someone, but Jungkook doesn’t want to hear it. He’s been very deliberate in never expressing his feelings to anyone in his friend group. Of course, Jungkook knows that Taehyung knows, but he’s very determined to keep his secret safe.
In fact, he wants nothing more than to get over Yoongi and Seokjin with all of his might. Jimin will comfort him and teach him how to be okay with his feelings, something that Jimin knows all too well because figuring out his own sexuality had been a struggle. But Jungkook doesn’t want to feel okay with his emotions. He’s not okay with them at all.
He grabs his laptop, thankful that he had disengaged the messages from appearing on his laptop, and opens up Naver, quickly searching for a decent cookware set in his price range. He’s happy to find a set that looks nothing like the pretty blue set that Seokjin had bought him, and he’s able to get next-day shipping on it, even though it costs almost as much as the set itself, and immediately adds all of his current pots and pans to the box that he’s donating the next day.
Once he’s hauled all two boxes of things that he’s donating (including every present that he’s ever gotten from Seokjin or Yoongi and a lot of young adult mystery books that Jungkook found in Taehyung’s old closet) to the area right beside his door, he pulls out the final bottle of soju in his house - something that he had saved for this very specific occasion. Despite the intense desire to move on from Yoongi and Seokjin, he’d never quite made it to getting rid of the things they’ve gifted him, and the emotional taxation is enough to require a bottle of peach soju.
He sinks into the couch, and allows himself to wonder about what Yoongi and Seokjin are doing. It’s not something that he allows himself to do often, preferring to ignore any of his emotional issues in favor of pretending that everything is fine. But, with a few shots of soju in him mixed with the melancholy of getting rid of the things that remind him of the pair (except for that damn piano, which he will try his hardest to get Hoseok to take with him on Saturday), he figures that it’s a good time to allow himself last thoughts of Yoongi and Seokjin.
He’d already decided, after the awkward drive home from dinner, that he wouldn’t be attending anymore of the monthly dinners. He will still meet with Jimin and Taehyung at least once a week, meaning that he’ll see Hoseok and Namjoon at least twice a month, so he figures that it will be fine enough for the six of them to get dinner once per month without him. It’s not like Seokjin and Yoongi would ever ask where he’s at anyway, so he doesn’t think that it will affect anyone that much at all.
Once he moves out on Saturday, he’ll be rid of them entirely. He even considers switching phone carriers. He knows that Jimin wants to switch to being on Hoseok’s plan anyway, so it’s the perfect time to switch carriers and get a new phone number. He won’t transfer Yoongi or Seokjin’s phone numbers, and since they would never ask any of their friends for his, they’ll be completely out of contact.
Jungkook falls asleep with tear tracks drying on his face at the thought.
Jungkook takes Friday off of work. He had already put in for a personal day, explaining to his boss that he needed to deep clean his apartment so that he could get his deposit back (which, really, should be a three-way split between him, Jimin, and Taehyung, but they had both told him to keep the entire deposit as a housewarming gift) and his boss had chuckled, saying that he understood and had some useful tips if Jungkook needed to cover up any holes in the wall or stains.
The first thing Jungkook has to do is get Namjoon’s car.
He has to rent a rug cleaner from a rental place and lugging one of those around on the bus would be weird, and Namjoon, Yoongi, and Seokjin are the only people that he knows who have cars, so he had planned with Namjoon to get his car on Friday morning.
He decides to take the donation boxes with him, figuring that he can drop them off after getting the car. It’s only two boxes of things. Besides the pots and pans, there’s only a few items of clothing and pairs of shoes and the books of Taehyung’s, which he should probably give to Taehyung instead of donating anyway.
A nice man at the bus stop offers to hold a box for Jungkook until they get on, so he has next to no issues getting the boxes to Namjoon and Taehyung’s apartment.
His original plan was to leave the box mentally labeled “YOONGI AND SEOKJIN: DO NOT TOUCH” on the sidewalk next to Namjoon’s car, but it starts sprinkling as Jungkook arrives. He doesn’t want to leave it out to get wet and then have to give it to the nice lady who works at the thrift store and everything fall through the bottom or something because he left it outside in the rain, so he lugs both of the boxes up the four flights of stairs because Taehyung and Namjoon don’t live in an apartment complex with a working elevator.
He’s nearly exhausted by the time he finally knocks on the door, sweat dripping down his forehead. His shirt was already wet from the light rain, but he can feel it getting more damp as he sweats more and more.
“Oh, thank god,” he says when the door finally opens. He can’t see above the boxes that he’s holding - which he suddenly realizes that he could have absolutely left them in the lobby and it wouldn’t have really mattered if someone had taken them because he doesn’t want the items inside them anyway. “I think I need to borrow a shirt, hyung,” he says, not knowing who is on the other side, but assuming it’s Namjoon, who mostly works from home. “I sweat through mine like crazy.”
He hears a kind of a choked noise from the opposite side of the box that definitely doesn’t sound like Namjoon or Taehyung. He sets the boxes down quickly, surprised to be face to face with Yoongi.
“Uh,” he says, not eloquently at all. “What’s up?”
He internally face palms, wondering why he’s such an awkward person, especially around Yoongi and Seokjin.
Yoongi’s eyes have not met Jungkook’s own yet, still staring somewhere in Jungkook’s pectoral area. Jungkook blames the red on his cheeks from walking up four flights of stairs.
“Hyung, is it Jungkookie?”
Jungkook’s never been so thankful to hear Namjoon’s voice in his life, he thinks.
Yoongi’s eyes snap up to Jungkook’s face, widened as though he’d been in some sort of trance. He doesn’t have a chance to say anything to Jungkook before Namjoon and Taehyung enter the small hallway and, for that, Jungkook is grateful.
“Jungkookie,” Taehyung practically shrieks, running toward him. “You’re soaked? Did it start raining?”
“You can’t hear it?” Namjoon asks, looking to the window where the rain has clearly picked up speed.
Taehyung shoots Namjoon a small glare - not very threatening, but effective in making Namjoon fairly compliant to whatever it is that Taehyung wants. “Hush,” Taehyung says, rather harshly. “Take Jungkookie to get a new shirt. He definitely needs one.”
Namjoon nods and waves a hand for Jungkook to follow him.
Jungkook definitely doesn’t need Namjoon to take him through the apartment - he’d helped Taehyung move in and has been in the apartment multiple times since that day - but he follows anyway, not wanting to be rude and assume he’s allowed in Namjoon and Taehyung’s bedroom.
“It’s raining a lot,” Namjoon comments, handing Jungkook a large, black shirt. He doesn’t usually see Namjoon wearing black, but it looks vaguely familiar, so he figures that it must be one that he doesn’t wear often.
Jungkook nods, peeling his own shirt off of his body. Namjoon, very politely, takes it so that he doesn’t have to hold onto it while putting his new one on. “Yeah. And your elevator is out again so I carried those boxes the entire way up here.”
Namjoon nods. “I thought you were coming later in the day,” he says. “I didn’t mean for Yoongi-hyung to answer the door.”
Jungkook pauses, wondering what that means. Did Namjoon think that Jungkook still had feelings for Seokjin? That he was jealous of Yoongi? Did he still see Jungkook as the pathetic freshman who followed his roommate around?
Jungkook laughs at himself. Of course he does. Jungkook just switched from following Seokjin and Yoongi around to following Jimin and Taehyung around.
“It’s fine. There’s no reason Yoongi-hyung couldn’t open the door for me,” Jungkook says hastily, pulling the much too large shirt over his head. “Some of the stuff in the one box belongs to Taehyungie. I want to see if he wants it before I drop the boxes off at the donation center.”
Namjoon nods, stepping out of the room before him. “I’ll hang this in the bathroom for a few minutes, okay? Sit down and I’ll make some tea for you.” Jungkook halts, debating. He doesn’t really want to stay in the house with Yoongi, but he also shouldn’t be rude when Namjoon is literally loaning him a car to start packing things up in. “Taehyung-ah,” Namjoon calls out. “Jungkookie said some stuff in one of those boxes is yours. Look through it, okay?”
He hears an affirmative from Taehyung and allows himself a minute to compose himself. It’s been a long time since he’s been in a small space with just Yoongi. Even the car ride with Yoongi and Seokjin felt less awkward. He’s not sure why, but Yoongi being able to look directly at him makes him feel a bit more uncomfortable.
He finally makes his way back toward the kitchen and dining area when he hears Namjoon leave the bathroom. He figures that if Namjoon has already started to make him some tea, then he probably is halfway done with it already. He wagers that he only has to spend fifteen minutes in the apartment at maximum. He doesn’t mind burning his tongue on the tea if it means leaving sooner.
“Finally,” Taehyung says, sounding overly dramatic, when Jungkook reaches the dining table. He’s already sitting down with both boxes dumped on the table.
Wait.
Taehyung has both boxes dumped out on the table.
Oh, fuck.
“Jungkook-ah, this is such a nice shirt,” Taehyung laments, holding up a shirt that’s nearly identical to the one he has on. Jungkook realizes almost instantly that he’s wearing Yoongi’s shirt. And the one that Taehyung is holding up is one that Yoongi had bought for both him and Jungkook during the first month that they had known each other.
Yoongi’s crestfallen face is nearly enough to make Jungkook cry.
“I-” Jungkook starts, unsure what to say.
Taehyung, seemingly unaware of the awkward tension filling the dining room, continues to pull things out of the box. “And funny socks? These ones have cats on them and another pair with pickles? Hyung,” Taehyung calls out to Namjoon. “Jungkookie’s getting rid of these socks that have a pun that would make Jinie-hyung laugh. Do you think we should take them and give them to him for his birthday? I know it’s still a few months away, but he would really love them.”
“What’s the pun?” Namjoon calls back, somehow also unaware that Jungkook and Yoongi are both about to cry in his dining room.
Taehyung laughs. “Hyung, there’s a pickle on it and it says ‘Dill with it’!”
Jungkook hears Namjoon laugh. “That is funny. You’re right, hyung would absolutely love them.”
Jungkook knows that Seokjin would love them because Seokjin had been the person to buy them for him. Both pairs of socks were from the awkward time before Seokjin and Yoongi got together, where they were battling over Jungkook like a pair of divorcing parents. Seokjin had randomly brought the dill pickle socks to the cafe one day. Jungkook had long stopped inviting either Seokjin or Yoongi anywhere, figuring that they would both just show up at some point no matter where he went for the day.
The next day, Yoongi brought him a pair of socks with cats all over them. Jungkook had laughed, thinking that Yoongi was really cute when he was acting jealous.
Jungkook remembers this as one of the times that he really, truly thought that he had a chance to become Yoongi’s boyfriend. It had been only days before Yoongi and Seokjin got together.
He feels dumb, thinking back on it.
“You’re-” Yoongi starts, seemingly at a loss for words as well. “You’re getting rid of all of these things?” He asks, making eye contact with Jungkook for the first time since he came out from changing. He also appears to notice Jungkook wearing his shirt.
Jungkook stays silent. He doesn’t know what to say.
He just wants a clean fucking break from them.
“I mean, hyung, I’ve never seen him wear any of the stuff in here and we lived together for almost five years,” Taehyung says, packing everything back into the box.
“Oh,” Taehyung says when he finally looks up at Jungkook. “How funny that Namjoonie gave you the same shirt that you’re getting rid of!” He laughs. Lowering his voice, Taehyung leans in toward him. “Hey, I have a couple of things of hyung’s that I have been dying to get rid of. Can I sneak them into there?”
Jungkook nods mutely. He wonders how Taehyung manages to miss the tension filling the air between him and Yoongi. Jungkook thinks he might choke on it.
“Thanks, Kook-ah. You really are the best.”
Taehyung quickly leaves Yoongi and Jungkook alone in the dining room.
“You’re really getting rid of it?” Yoongi asks. He doesn’t make eye contact with Jungkook again.
Jungkook almost laughs. “You can’t really expect me to hold onto any of it, right?” He asks, feeling exhausted. Feeling a lot like he had felt right after he found Yoongi and Seokjin kissing in the library that horrible day.
Jungkook huffs out a laugh, though he’s sure it sounds absolutely humorless. “I mean, first Seokjin and Namjoon when I started hanging out with you. And then Taehyung,” he says, not feeling like he needs to explain his thought process, like he doesn’t need to say that everyone keeps expecting him to be hung up on two people who are clearly so perfect for one another. “But I fucking thought you understood, at least. How could you not? Otherwise, why the fuck would you act like I’m going to break the minute that you talk to me?”
“Jungkook-” Yoongi starts, but Jungkook is really not in the mood to hear it.
“No,” he says. “You can’t just want me to be in love with you, you know. Either of you.”
Jungkook knows that he’s being unfair. He hadn’t ever actually expressed his feelings to Yoongi when he was in college. After Yoongi and Seokjin started dating, Jungkook made it a very specific point to act like he wasn’t affected.
It mostly worked. Jungkook is sure that it did because Jimin and Hoseok never even found out that Jungkook had liked either Seokjin or Yoongi. Taehyung and Namjoon hadn’t found out that he liked Yoongi. No one gave him pitying looks after they got together. But he knows that there’s no way Yoongi didn’t know about his feelings for both of them. Jungkook doesn’t think that he’ll ever forget the guilty look on Yoongi’s face when Jungkook found them. Knows that it wouldn’t have been there if Yoongi didn’t know how he felt.
“It’s not fair to anyone,” Jungkook says, pushing out his chair and standing up.
Namjoon enters the dining room with a mug of tea at that moment and Jungkook is really fucking thankful. “Hyung, can I please have your keys?” He asks, feeling on the verge of tears.
“Kook, what’s wrong?” Namjoon asks.
Jungkook’s thankful for his hyung’s concern, but he told himself years ago that he would never let Yoongi or Seokjin see him cry. And he’s certainly not going to break that promise to himself during the last conversation he’s ever planning to have with Yoongi. “Hyung,” he says, feeling his voice crack, the hot tears pressing behind his eyes. He needs to get out of here. “Please.”
Namjoon nods, leading Jungkook toward the door. His keys are on a small table beside the door and Jungkook quickly snatches them up.
“Let me drive you,” Namjoon says. “I’ll take the bus back here.”
Jungkook shakes his head. “Hyung, it’s fine-”
“You shouldn’t drive if you’re going to be crying,” Namjoon says. Then, in a lower voice, “And I don’t want you to be alone if you’re upset.”
Jungkook, using all of the acting skills that he’s gained in the last four years pretending not to be in love with Yoongi and Seokjin, says, “Hyung, I’m just upset about moving!” Namjoon levels him with a stare, clearly not believing him. “Really,” Jungkook insists. “I lived there for so long with hyungs - it just makes me a little scared to be on my own. But, I’m fine!”
Namjoon still doesn’t look like he entirely believes Jungkook, but at least recognizes that Jungkook really wants to be alone for the time being. He must deem Jungkook coherent enough to drive himself safely, because he says, “Well, how about we grab those boxes, then? You can drop them off at the thrift store on your way home so that you don’t mix them up with the stuff you’re taking to your new apartment.”
Jungkook nods, not trusting his voice to tell Namjoon that had been his plan anyway.
Namjoon rushes to grab the boxes, offering to carry them down to the parking garage with Jungkook. “Memories, huh?” Namjoon asks, assuming that it’s the memories of what’s in the boxes making Jungkook cry.
He’s not entirely wrong.
“You have no idea,” Jungkook says.
Jungkook wakes up before his alarm the next morning.
He doesn’t know if it’s the prospect of moving into a new place on his own, or the fact that he’s decisively made the decision to cut Yoongi and Seokjin out of his life entirely, but he wakes up feeling nauseated, like there’s an anchor sitting in his stomach.
He figures that it’s just nerves and pushes them down. Hoping to be rid of them when he moves into his new place.
Jimin and Hoseok show up with the moving truck at about quarter after seven in the morning. Jungkook’s also very thankful to see that they’ve brought coffee, since his coffee machine is all packed up already.
“Go strip your bed,” Jimin says, tossing a garbage bag Jungkook’s way. “We’ll move your mattress once your pillows and blankets are off of it.”
“I don’t have a pillow,” Jungkook mumbles, making grabby hands for one of the to-go cups in Jimin’s hands. He isn’t sure which one is his, but he knows that Jimin likes black coffee and he would forever regret taking a large swig of Jimin’s drink instead of his own.
Jimin hands him one of the cups. “The fuck you mean you don’t have a pillow?”
“I think Tae accidentally took it,” Jungkook admits, happy to get caffeine into his system, even though he knows that he won’t feel it for a few minutes.
Jimin levels him with a stare.
“Taehyung moved out nearly three months ago,” Hoseok says from where he’s moving boxes.
“Yeah,” Jungkook says, heading toward his (old) bedroom with the garbage bag in one hand and coffee in the other. “It’s been a bad few months for my neck.”
He can practically feel the scolding coming his way from Jimin, but Hoseok says, “Yell at him tomorrow. It’s his birthday today.”
Jungkook smiles to himself, thankful to have the birthday excuse on today of all days.
The plan is for Taehyung and Namjoon to meet them at the apartment complex.
It will be the first time that any of them have seen his new place, as Jungkook had insisted on doing everything in regards to getting a new place on his own. He made appointments, went to tours, and figured out his budget entirely on his own.
Jimin had been a bit sour about the fact that Jungkook wanted to do something on his own, but Hoseok had talked Jimin down quickly, saying that it was a good thing that Jungkook wanted some independence.
“Oh,” Hoseok says when they pull up outside the apartment. “Why didn’t you tell us that you were moving into the same apartment as Yoongi and Seokjin?”
Jungkook’s heart drops.
“Oh my god,” Jimin says, laughing. “Here I was- all worried that you wouldn’t have anyone around to make sure that you were taking care of yourself! Hyung, I bet he didn’t tell us because he likes it when I’m stressed out.”
He almost tells Hoseok that he got the address wrong and that he actually wasn’t ever supposed to move out of their old place and this is all an elaborate prank to make him and Jimin waste time and money in helping him move.
He quickly remembers that not only was Taehyung paying double rent the last three months, so there’s no way that Jungkook could pay for his old place by himself, but also the landlord had told him the day before that he had already found a group of three college students to move in the same day that Jungkook was moving out. There was no possible way for Jungkook to continue to live in his old apartment.
“No wonder they were all acting like Seokjin and Yoongi weren’t going to help out,” Hoseok says, parking the van. Jungkook opens the door quickly, feeling like he needs air now or he’ll throw up everywhere.
Jimin and Hoseok don’t seem to notice anything off about him, so Jungkook figures he has a few moments to think. He’s never been a super talkative person, so he figures that his hyungs won’t think that he’s acting weird if he doesn’t talk while they move things into the apartment.
He tries to reason with himself. This apartment complex is bigger than his old one and he almost never ran into any of his neighbors when he was there, so the likelihood of him ever actually running into Yoongi or Seokjin are fairly low anyway.
He probably can figure out which apartment exactly they live in and avoid that area of the building for the entirety of his year-long lease. He figures that there’s no way he’ll re-sign in a year's time. No matter how much he loved the apartment when he had toured it.
“You know,” Jungkook says, as casually as he can muster, while he’s leading Jimin and Hoseok toward his new apartment. He’s on the second floor, which is nice because if this apartment complex is anything like Namjoon and Taehyung’s, then he at least only has one set of stairs that he has to trek up. “I’ve never been in Yoongi and Seokjin’s apartment.”
Hoseok laughs. “I’m not surprised.”
Jungkook freezes for a second. Had Seokjin and Yoongi mentioned that they specifically would never invite Jungkook over?
But that doesn’t really match up with Jungkook’s experiences with them. Jungkook’s confused.
“What?”
“I mean, you know how they are,” Hoseok continues. “They didn’t let any of us help move them in and haven’t had any of us over since then. They’re too private.”
Jungkook sighs. So Hoseok and Jimin didn’t know what apartment Seokjin and Yoongi were in. That will make his plan a little bit harder, but he thinks that maybe it’s better if he doesn’t know what apartment they’re in either.
“Stop gossiping about hyungs and let's get this stuff inside,” Jimin huffs. “You got the key, Jungkook-ah?”
“Of course I did,” Jungkook says. “I got it while you two were outside arguing over who was going to go to the home store and get me a pillow,” he teases.
Hoseok sighs dramatically. “I can’t believe that Jiminie beat me in rock, paper, scissors.”
“You always throw scissors first, hyung,” Jimin says. “Of course I beat you.”
“Do I really?” Hoseok asks while Jungkook sets the boxes down in front of his new apartment. He’s still feeling really anxious about running into Yoongi and Seokjin, but figures that he can just not use any of the amenities that the apartment offers and sprint between his own door and the front door of the complex. Hell, maybe he should always take the stairs because Seokjin and Yoongi are definitely the type to use the elevator.
Jimin laughs loudly and Jungkook tries to shush him, somehow already struggling to put the key into the lock. “Hyung,” he says. “I think I got the wrong key from the landlord.”
Jimin laughs even louder and Jungkook wants to smack him. He’s being way too loud for as early in the morning as it is. He doesn’t want to make a bad impression on his new neighbors. “Jiminie-hyung,” he pleads, trying once again to shove the key into the lock. He can hear the door across from his open and he prays that it’s not his neighbor already coming to scold him. “Please be quiet.”
“Jimin-ah?”
Jungkook freezes. There’s no fucking way.
“Jungkook-ah,” Hoseok screeches. Jungkook turns around, wholly unsurprised to see Seokjin, wearing a fucking matching pajama set, standing in the open doorway. “You managed to hide the fact that you’re neighbors with Yoongi-hyung and Seokjinie-hyung? You really go all out when you’re trying to surprise us!”
Jungkook is thankful that he’s able to stop himself from throwing up.