Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

  “Come on, Minnie, please ! Look at me, I’m at the verge of dying here.”

  Jimin’s eye twitches when he looks back at his friend. Really, he’s already doing her enough favours as it is (though it’s true that nobody asked him to come to her apartment with ramen from her favourite place and a matcha from the café in the neighbourhood). There’s at least a dozen other people that she could ask the same thing she’s begging him to do and he’s pretty sure that he’s actually the least suited out of all of them. 

  “Why don’t you ask someone else to do it?” Jimin grumbles, flopping himself down onto the couch too, watching as she raises herself up on her elbows to look at him.

  And well, it’s true that she’s the picture perfect of misery now — her nose is red from blowing into the tissues so hard it will probably fall off if the sickness continues, her eyes are puffy and Jimin thinks that this is the first time he’s seen her hair so greasy . He means it when he says that he would do a lot to make her more comfortable right now, to feel even a little bit better but he draws the line at going to interview Jeon Jungkook. 

  “Because you’re the only one I trust to actually do the interview and not cream your pants the second you see Jungkook,” she rolls her eyes. “Hana already offered to do it for me. And Yuna. And Jiwoo. They’d be trying to see whether the rumours about his dick are true or not.” 

  Jimin chokes on his spit. He turns to look at her, bewildered, but Vickie just shrugs innocently, as if an absurd combination of words didn’t just make their way out of her mouth.

  “What? What rumor?”

  He’s going to regret asking that, isn’t he?

  “That he has a tattoo on his dick. Or above it. I’m not sure.”

   Yeah, he does regret asking that. 

  “How do you even know that?”

  “Told you, it’s a rumor. And I know most of the rumours around here, Minnie,” she grins. 

  Which — yeah, it’s true. She does know everything, now that he thinks about it. Probably one of the reasons why she’s such a great journalist. You want to know something about someone? You go to Vickie. Preferably with a cup of coffee or a blueberry matcha. She’s more willing to give you information this way. She’s also very happy to trade information for information — which works especially well when she’s asked to do an interview with someone. He’s pretty sure she has a secret stash of files and files on the people she knows. 

  “Listen, if you really don’t want to do that, I’ll understand,” she tells him gently, blue eyes twinkling as she smiles. “I don’t want to pressure you into doing something you’re uncomfortable with, I hope you know that.”

  Of course he does. He also knows that she’s tried really hard to get that interview, and has been asking Namjoon to organise it for her for weeks already. It took some time to align both her and Jungkook’s schedules in a way for them to meet without feeling like they have to rush through everything and now she can’t even do it herself. She’s been looking forward to it — as far as Jimin knows, nobody has been able to get an exclusive interview with Jungkook since he debuted. Though Vickie at least has the privilege of having met him before, after one of the races when Namjoon introduced her. 

  What harm there is to doing it, really? Jimin may not like watching Formula One, hence why he knows close to nothing about it but he’s sure Vickie would brief him beforehand so he wouldn’t look absolutely dumb and uneducated in front of Jungkook. Not that he really cares about it, though. He’s not that keen on fighting for his attention with thousands of other fans, both men and women. 

  Besides, he already knows enough about the guy from Tae (and from the dozens of different outraged headlines that concern the two of them whenever they spend time together). Taehyung may act like he isn’t a big gossip but Jimin has known him ever since their university days, and he knows that if they were to make a podium, Taehyung would be right behind Vickie. Or in the same place. Everyone should have seen him when he first noticed Seokjin across the campus and made it his absolute mission to find his social media and anything else the internet would give him. Pretty close to being called a stalker, if you ask Jimin. Tae would just call it curiosity.

  This particular hobby of his didn’t vanish, and well, one could say it even deepened when Jimin introduced him to Vickie after meeting her at work. In hindsight, he’s not sure sometimes if it was a good decision to do that, since these two always encourage each other and make it everyone’s problem. Even worse, Jin is the one that enables the two of them even more — always eager to share whatever new gossip he learned while away on a photoshoot. 

  And from what Jimin knows, Jeon Jungkook may be young, younger than most of the current racers, but he does not fall behind them in talent even by a tiny bit – quite the opposite actually. He’s been called the Big Hit’s prodigy so many times that Jimin has already lost count. He’s pretty sure the guy has more awards than he does functioning brain cells, but who is he to judge?

  “No, it’s fine, I– I’ll do it.” Jimin sighs. It was always going to end with him agreeing to whatever she asked him to do. He’s not sure if there ever was a time when he told her no to something, apart from when she got drunk and suggested calling Taylor Swift to tell her how much she loves the new album. Because.. yeah, well. That definitely wouldn’t end well.

  She squeals, sitting up on the couch so suddenly that she chokes on her breath and starts coughing, her mouth concealed in the sleeve of her sweater. When she’s done though, she shoots him one of her brightest smiles, her teeth showing a little as she does so and even if he wanted to, he can’t not return it immediately. He wants to be mad, even just a little bit, but he can’t, not when she smiles at him like this, even though she seems exhausted and ready to slip into a deep slumber.

  “You’re an angel, Park Jimin. I hope you know that I love you. With my whole heart,” she sighs happily. “I have my notes and questions if you want to use them. Or not. I actually trust you not to ask him dumb shit.”

  “I’ll use the notes, thanks,” he murmurs when she stands up to walk over to her bag that’s been thrown carelessly on the floor in the living room. “I don’t even know shit about Formula One. Like– It’s just a bunch of cars zooming before your eyes. Who wants to watch that?”

  She raises an eyebrow. 

  “Yeah, right. I forgot you watch it just so you could have a reason to talk to Namjoon.”

  “Oh, goodness forbid a girl desperately wants to hit it.”

  Jimin snorts. Her trying to hit it has already been going on for over a year and still, it doesn’t seem like she got a new prescription for glasses to see the obvious hints that Namjoon has been dropping her way whenever they meet. Or even when they don’t. Because they text constantly. Dusk till dawn. He’s surprised her fingers haven’t fallen off yet. 

  He has a bet running with Taehyung and Jin — on whether she’ll realise that Namjoon does not treat her as another one of the sport journalists until the end of the year. And that even though they met after one of the races, during a press conference, he was perfectly able to fish her out from the crowd and he still is. No matter if there’s a dozen other people raising their hands at these kinds of things, he will always happily answer her questions first.

  Vickie rummages through her bag for a moment until a triumphant ha! falls past her lips and she walks back to the couch, sinking into the softness of it. All the money that went into this purchase was truly well-spent, rewarded with countless movie nights and stuffing themselves full of take-out food. Come to think of it, every single object in her apartment oozes the same amount of comfort – something she’s been quite a lot of time creating in here, with all the potted plants and the lamps that give off just the right amount of soft, warm light that bathes the whole space in golden shades.

  She drops a thick notebook clad in black leather into his lap — she must have gone over hundreds of these already, ever since she started working at The Herald. It’s where she takes all of her notes, writes down questions, sometimes makes shopping lists or notes the time and place of each important meeting. Jimin turns it over in his hands, surprised at how heavy it feels resting over his fingers. The weight is not something he expected, especially considering the fact that he’s more used to his tablet by now. He gave up writing by hand quite some time ago.

  “You don’t really need to know that much about racing. This interview was supposed to show him outside of it, so don’t worry if you have no idea what Parc Fermé or Grand Slam are.”

  Jimin stares at her without a reply. She could have been speaking in another language just now, if you ask him. Vickie laughs, though the sound is quickly distorted into another coughing fit.

  “You sound like you’re about to cough out your lungs.”

  “Do you want a sticker for being so observant?”

  He rolls his eyes.

  “Seeing a doctor might be a good idea, you know. I doubt this will pass on its own,” he tells her. A huff sounds in the air between them when she waves her hand dismissively as a response to his words. “I’m serious. If I do the interview for you, you have to see a doctor.”

  She frowns, lips twisting a little in a grimace, as she stares at him, clearly unhappy with what he just said. Tough luck though, because Jimin is not going to let up and if he has to resort to blackmail, then so be it. 

  “Fine, fine,” she finally huffs, rubbing a hand over her face. “I’ll call the doctor first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “And let me know when you do that.”

  “And let you know when I do that.”

  Satisfied with her answer, he nods, the corners of his lips twitching into a happy smirk. Point for Jimin.

  “Okay, back to the more important stuff.” Vickie says, pointing towards her notebook, still sitting safely in Jimin’s hands. “Like I said, I wanted this interview to focus more on Jungkook outside of racing. You can still ask him something about it, of course but– well, I just wanted to be more original,” she shrugs.

  There’s already countless interviews, albeit pretty short, about how Jungkook is the rising racing star, how many trophies he’s already won and how many records he broke – Jimin thinks it’s all pretty boring. Not to mention, Jungkook’s answers are mostly the same in all the interviews, without any personal touch to them. And it’s not what either he or Vickie like to show in their articles, so he gets her point of view perfectly well, even if they both specialise in different things: with her working in the Sports department and him in Culture. Vickie is mostly seen at sport events, always having the best seat and sitting in the first rows during conferences, while Jimin sticks to concerts and theatre, happy that not only he can interact with art but he can also dress nicely while doing that. 

  “Also, he might be… cocky. He’s not bad, just sometimes can be annoying. I’m sure you’ve heard him speak at least once. So, watch out for that,” she thinks it over. “Though I doubt you’ll have any problems with handling him, now that I think about it.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Whatever you want it to mean,” she shrugs, seemingly innocent. Her blue eyes twinkle at him, the corners of her lips almost twitching into a grin. Jimin really, desperately wants to ask for an explanation. “We were supposed to meet at Mitou at five p.m., but I can call Jungkook and ask him if he can reschedule if that’s not a good time for you.”

  Vickie’s already pulling out her phone from under the mess of pillows and blankets as Jimin just stares at her, wondering if he even heard her correctly. He doesn’t know which part of the sentence surprised him the most, if he’s being honest.

  “Call him? You just.. have his number? Like that?” 

  She raises an eyebrow, amusement sparkling in her eyes.

  “If you wanted to have it too, you could have just asked, Minnie.” 

  “Shut up.”

  Vickie chuckles. She waves her phone in front of his face.

  “So? Is five okay for you or do I call him?”

  Jimin’s still recovering from the brief shock of both learning that he’ll be going to such a fancy restaurant tomorrow, with Jeon Jungkook of all people and that his friend has the racer’s number just casually saved in her phone. And she never told him about that? She always tells him everything — during their breaks at work, during their hangouts or even while texting each other — and somehow, she’s managed to keep that piece of information from him. He guesses that Namjoon must really be pliant to her every request.

  “No, it’s fine,” he finally speaks up. “But, uh– Mitou? That crazily fancy Mitou?”

  She huffs, waving a dismissive hand between the two of them. It’s as if going to a nice restaurant like that is no big deal. 

  “It’s not that fancy, and I think you’ll fit right in, my love, don’t worry about that.” Vickie hums. And yeah, it’s true that Jimin can really dress for the occasion if he wants to but he’s more worried about other things – like prices or the kind of people that will be there. Who even goes to these restaurants? “And don’t worry about the prices either. Jungkook said he’s paying.”

  “Yeah, because he thinks you are going to be there tomorrow.”

  Jimin is like half-sure that Jungkook offered to pay because he already knows Vickie, which might as well be the reason why he agreed to do that interview for her. He never met Jimin, even though they do have shared friends and there were at least a few occasions during which they could have met each other. Be it fate or something else, somehow Jimin never got the absolute pleasure of meeting Jungkook. However, he doesn’t need to have met him to know that he’s not that good when it comes to his media presence. As far as Jimin’s concerned, the man does not give exclusive interviews to anyone, even if they offer a lot of money. 

  “Oh, trust me, he’ll be even more willing to pay for you.”

  He frowns. The way Vickie says that makes him think that she knows something she is not going to tell him, at least not anytime soon. The only thing he gets is a smirk and a wink as she leans back on the pillows, phone placed safely on her chest. 

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Nothing!” Vickie sing-songs, her eyes twinkling with amusement. 

  Yeah, right. It’s never nothing with her. But it’s too late to argue now and the only thing Jimin can do is sigh, lean back against the back of the couch and open the notebook in his hands on one of the latest pages. Hopefully, less than a day is enough to prepare for an exclusive interview with Big Hit’s prodigy, Jeon Jungkook.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

  Turns out, less than a day is definitely not enough. 

  Jimin smooths the material of his shirt, his finger sliding over the delicate satin when he gets out of the cab, dropped right in front of Mitou, which.. looks even fancier than he thought. Though he doesn’t feel underdressed in the shirt and his black, freshly ironed slacks, he can’t help the little uncomfortable feeling settling into the pit of his stomach. He doesn’t know what to define it as, at least not yet.

  He feels like an idiot standing on the sidewalk like that, so he steps in closer towards the entrance, though hesitates at the last second before walking in. Vickie told him that Jungkook would meet him outside and so he’s not sure whether he could even get to the table if he went in without the person who booked it for them. Then again, if he just stands outside like that, the staff might think he’s a creep and ask the security to–

  “Park Jimin?”

  He’s startled when he hears an unfamiliar voice right next to his ear and his instincts kick in, his whole body tensing as he turns around, fully prepared to either scream at someone or run away. That is, of course, until he actually takes a good look at the stranger and feels his brain just… short circuit at the sight.

  It’s a blessing that Vickie isn’t here and that she can’t read minds, because by God, does Jimin think that the pictures and videos online (through which he spent a fair amount of time looking last night) don’t do Jeon Jungkook justice, even in the slightest. He’s taller than Jimin and he has to raise his head a bit to look at his face clearly, making out each detail carved onto his features. Which… absolutely does not help his heart or brain right now. 

  His lip ring gleams a little in the soft, afternoon sun, bringing Jimin’s attention to it, against his own will, really. There must be some spell put on Jungkook because he’s unable to tear his eyes away from him — from the mess of dark hair that falls over his forehead, tickling his brows, or from the tattoos that peek out through the rolled up sleeves of his black shirt. Jimin is just a man, after all. A man who likes to appreciate the beautiful things shown to him and right now, it just so happens to be Jeon Jungkook, in all his glory.

  “Vickie didn’t mention you’re mute,” he huffs a small laugh, eyes narrowing in amusement as he stares down at him. “Hope we can still do the interview, though.”

   And… the spell is gone. Just like that. Jimin’s eyes may like to take in beauty but his ears definitely do not like taking in stupidity.

  God, Vickie really owes him for that. 

  “Vickie didn’t mention you’re so nice.” Jimin speaks, his tone dry. He takes a small step back from the man, hoping that the distance will be enough to let his mind go back into focus mode. 

  “Aw , what a shame. And I’m always on my best behaviour around her.” 

  Honestly, Jimin doesn’t know if Jungkook even is aware of what best behaviour is. Or good behaviour even. He’s glad he never witnessed him and Taehyung in one room. It might be something Jin can survive, since he’s already set on marrying Tae (and has been for quite some time now) but Jimin doesn’t think that he’s wired with so much tolerance for bullshit. He’s afraid that what Vickie said is actually true and that Jungkook really can be annoying sometimes. He thinks back to that one article he saw about Jungkook going live on Instagram (or whatever other social media platform it was), getting drunk off wine and complaining for thirty minutes straight about how annoying his race engineer is to his millions of followers. Safe to say, Jungkook had to issue a public apology after but his engineer still quit. Jimin’s not sure who’s the unlucky guy now.

  “I’m scared to see what your worst behaviour is.” Jimin raises an eyebrow.

  “If you ask nicely, I can show you.”

  God, strike him down right now if you can see his suffering. The heat he feels in his cheeks is something he tries to ignore and hopes that Jungkook doesn’t even notice. He’d much rather drag glass down concrete than let him think he’s flustered around him for whatever reason.

  “Well, shall we?” Jungkook breaks the brief silence between them, and good lord, even his voice sounds more attractive in person. Jimin’s hardwiring must be getting fried. No other explanation for the thoughts that appear in his head like toxic mushrooms after a night full of rain. “I didn’t get the best table for us to be standing out here.”

  So, Jimin only nods because he doesn’t really trust his brain to mouth coordination right now, especially not when Jungkook lets him go in first with a charming smile on his face. Some people have already stopped to look at him, whispering to each other’s ear, probably admiring him from afar and wondering what he’s doing here with someone. 

  The inside of the restaurant is even prettier than the outside and Jimin finds himself admiring the golden details on the walls and ceiling as Jungkook talks to the waiter right in the entrance, a bright grin on his face as he asks about their table. And, well, if the circumstances were a little different and his companion was not such a brat, he might consider this as the perfect spot for a date. The elevator they’re led to is small, the lights in it dimmed a bit — a sharp contrast to the elevators that Jimin is used to. His eyes don’t hurt from the sharp, white light and he doesn’t feel overwhelmed with the amount of people squished around him.

  Still, there’s very little space left between him and Jungkook. Jimin’s sure that if he flexed his hand a little bit, their fingers would touch and the thought alone makes him ball his palms into fists, to avoid that from happening. The younger man doesn’t seem to mind at all though and he doesn’t move an inch throughout the whole ride (it might be Jimin’s imagination playing a trick on him but he could actually swear that he saw him move even closer after a second passed and the doors slid shut). 

  Thankfully, the ride is over soon enough and Jimin can once again step out into a larger space, where he’s not surrounded by the smell of Jungkook’s cologne that already seems to have taken residence in his nose, tormenting him mercilessly. Jimin should really be stronger than that, especially considering everything he told Vickie yesterday — starting from the fact that he’s not one of those mindless, horny fans that Jungkook has and ending with his promise that he would not get distracted by the man. After all, why would he? It’s just a one time occurrence, he’s here as a favour to Vickie and then he’s never going to see him in person again. Hopefully. Unless now, triggered by this meeting, the universe will actually make them run into each other when they’re meeting their friends. 

  The waiter leads them to one of the more secluded tables, settled in a corner next to the floor length windows — which gives Jimin the safe option to stare out of it, instead of having to look at Jungkook too much. Before he even gets the chance to do so, the younger man swiftly moves to pull his chair out for him, a charming grin shining on his face as he looks down at Jimin. He absolutely hates his stomach for doing that stupid thing where it flips and squeezes at the sight. How is it possible that the rest of his body seems to not be wired to the more reasonable part of his brain? 

  “Vickie mentioned you usually cover concerts and stuff. Switching to the sports column now?” Jungkook asks immediately after he sits down. There’s curiosity swimming in his dark eyes, brightened only a tiny bit by the amusement that seems to never leave him. 

  “Not if I can help it. I’m not really a sports person, just doing it as a favour to her.” Jimin shrugs. “Besides, am I not the one that’s supposed to ask the questions here?”

  Jungkook raises his hands in mock surrender, leaning back in his seat a little when the waiter places two menus on the table. He doesn’t even reach for it in the first few seconds, simply staring at Jimin, studying him as if he were an interesting exhibit at a newly opened museum, one that is not described perfectly yet.

 “You know, you’re trending on social media again.” Jimin starts, one eyebrow raised as he takes his phone out of his pocket. “Do you want me to tell you why or do you already know that?”

  Startled, Jungkook laughs. It’s a short, happy sound that turns the heads of some of the other people in the restaurant, though they quickly avert their gazes when they think he’s about to turn around and see them. Jimin can’t help the way the corners of his mouth twitch into a small smile too, his laughter a contagious thing.

  “No, I don’t know why,” he hums. “Is it about me and Tae or just me?”

  “Just you.”

  “Huh. Well, Namjoon hyung has not called me to give me a lecture yet today, so I guess it’s not about someone claiming they have my nudes again,” he shrugs. 

  Jimin blinks at him, like an owl caught in the middle of the night with a flashlight to its face. 

  “What? That really happened?”

  “Yeah. A few times.”

  “And?”

  “And what?”  

  Another question that he’s going to regret in the span of just two days. Jimin’s really out to set a new personal record. 

  “Did they really have those pictures?”

  It takes a moment but Jungkook’s lips curl into a smile so wide that his teeth are on full display and — good lord, why are his teeth so perfect? Did he just.. snatch all the good genes when he was born? 

  “No comment on that, angel.”

  There Jimin’s face goes again — heating up at something Jungkook did, completely against his will. His dignity and self respect is fading with each moment he spends here. And he didn’t even start with the interview.

  “Do you mind if I record this?” Jimin asks, tapping his phone with his finger. It’s what he came here to do, not to chat with the bright, talented Formula 1 prodigy.

  “Do you mind if I order for you?” Jungkook shoots back with his own question.

  “I–” he cuts himself off, then shrugs. It’s not really such an issue if he does so. “Fine. Just no seafood, please.”

  “Allergies?”

  “No, just pure hatred.”

  Jungkook snorts and shakes his head before waving the waiter over. He orders for them without any hesitation whatsoever, a charming smile on his face as he watches the man write down everything in his small notebook. There’s something about him that makes people automatically brighten up a little as he speaks to them, even if it’s just for a brief amount of time, a tiny second that they’re graced with his attention. Jungkook acts almost as if there’s a camera that follows him every single step, always ready to catch him in a compromising position. 

  When the waiter leaves, Jimin finally starts a recording on his phone, leaning back in his seat. He recalls all the notes that he got from Vickie yesterday and some of the questions that she’s written down for him. Thinking about the interview was much easier when he was at home and not in front of the object of interest.

  “So, what’s the first question? How do I feel about the first Grand Prix race this year?” Jungkook drawls. He tilts his head, once again fixing his eyes on Jimin so steadily that the older man squirms a little under the weight of his gaze.

  “Nope.” Jimin shakes his head. “Told you, I’m not really a sports guy. I’d rather find out something about you.”

  Jungkook raises an eyebrow.

  “Sounds like a trap.”

  “Well, it’s not.”  

  “Okay, then. Shoot.”

  “Do you miss not being famous?”

  The dark-haired man blinks, surprised at the question a little. He leans back in his seat, his arms resting on the sides of the chair and for just a split second there, Jimin’s gaze is drawn to the way that his muscles flex under the black shirt. He doesn’t think there’s any need to have muscles like that when you’re driving a car for a living. Seems completely unnecessary (then again, he doesn’t think he’s ever heard Jin complain about the way Taehyung is built — he’s constantly doing quite the opposite actually).

  “Honestly, I don’t know,” the man in front of him finally speaks up, though he does it slowly, as if he were not sure of his answer yet. “I mean, it’s nice being rich and all. Having people look up to me. Doing what I love. But sometimes.. Well, I miss the quiet sometimes. Not that I’m jumped by paparazzi everywhere I go but just– you know.”

  “Not really.” Jimin huffs out a laugh. “I’m not famous, you know.”

  Jungkook rolls his eyes.

  “Could’ve fooled me,” he teases. “I think what I miss the most is going on walks with my dog with nobody recognizing me. Sometimes I have his shit smeared on my shoe because I stepped into it by accident and someone comes up asking for a picture.”

  This time, it’s Jimin who laughs, covering his mouth as he does so. The mental image of Jungkook in such a mundane situation — having his dog’s shit smeared over his expensive shoes — is enough to make him lighten up with amusement. 

  “So, yeah, being famous is nice and all, at least I think so,” he shrugs. “Having fans is great, you know? People who share your passion with you and support you no matter what. Racing is great and I love it, but I think it’s the fact that there are people cheering me on while I’m on the track that makes it all so amazing. Meeting them is probably one of my favourite things. Not when I have Bam’s shit all over my new shoes, though.”

  Jimin doesn’t speak for a moment, taken aback a little by the answer, the softness in Jungkook’s voice when he speaks about the people that support him. He wants to say something, anything, that he appreciates him being so honest with him but before he can, the waiter comes back with their orders this time: a duck breast in a glazed sauce for both of them, a glass of white wine for Jimin and a beer for Jungkook (not a brand that Jimin is familiar with though).

  “So, if not racing, what would you be doing with your life?” 

  “Easy. Probably something to do with design. Or music.” Jungkook says, cutting off a bite of the meat and stuffing it into his mouth, before he speaks up again. “You could say I have a weak spot for creative work.”

  “You could also say you lack manners at the table,” the journalist hums, hoping that his phone was able to pick up what Jungkook said, despite it being slightly muffled by the food in his mouth. 

  Jungkook waves a dismissive hand between them. Jimin rolls his eyes. Even with cheeks puffed out like a hamster that’s afraid of his food disappearing any second now, he looks positively adorable and Jimin thinks that he must be falling weak to the man’s charm too, like the hundreds of people before him. His eyes are glued to the way his fingers flex over the slim handle of the knife, stomach twisting as he imagines them in a completely different scenario.

   Focus, Park Jimin. 

  A scenario that he does his best to kick out of his head. He doesn’t need to think about all that. There’s still a job he needs to do. It’s not like this is the first time he’s seeing an attractive man and not the first time that he’s having dinner with one. 

  “What about you? If not journalism, then what?” Jungkook asks, once he’s swallowed the mouthful of food. 

  “Didn’t I say I’m the one asking questions here?” 

  “Humour me.”

  Jimin barely resists the urge to roll his eyes. He blows a strand of his light hair out of his eyes before he even answers the question (he won’t admit it out loud but he does enjoy making Jungkook wait for his answer, leaning forward in his seat as he stares at him with those dark eyes).

  “Dancing. I used to do a lot of that when I was younger but it turns out it’s pretty hard to balance that and journalism, especially working where I do,” he finally says. “Don’t get me wrong, being a journalist is great too. I like getting people to open up and showing others things from my perspective, it’s partially why I’m working in the Culture department.”

  “Yeah, you do that really well.”

  “Sorry?”

  “Get people to open up.” Jungkook shrugs, seemingly nonchalant but Jimin easily notices the way his eyes dart to the window, cheeks colouring a little. “Don’t know how you do that.”

  Jimin grins, happy that in a way he finally has the upper hand over Jungkook and it’s not him being flustered for once. He wonders how much longer will that continue for.

  “Must be my charm.”

  “It definitely is.”

  He chooses to ignore that sentence, letting it fly like a speck of dirt that’s been blown from a surface. Instead, he takes a bite of the meat too, a happy sound that’s somewhere between a hum and a moan vibrating through him as he does so. His eyes close for a moment and he completely misses the way Jungkook looks at him, lips parting slightly, the tips of his ears reddening just a tiny bit.

  “Okay, genuine question – do you often break speed limits?” Jimin asks suddenly, when he spots a speeding car on the street outside out of the corner of his eye.

  Jungkook laughs.

  “Sometimes, yeah. Happens to the best of us, I’m sure. You’ve never broken one?” 

  “Nope. I don’t even have my license but I’ve been in Taehyung’s car often enough to know that you guys think speed limits are just a suggestion,” he rolls his eyes. True enough, Tae exceeded the speed limit more than once but somehow, every time he managed to get out of trouble with a charming smile (and sometimes an autograph). “Is it easy to switch between how you need to drive on the track and how you’re supposed to drive on the streets?”

  “Yeah, well, the streets are not as fucked to drive through as some of the tracks are, so sometimes it is difficult to switch between the two,” he says. “That and I don’t have to park on the tracks. You have no idea how much of a blessing that is.”

  Jimin laughs. He had to suffer through enough of Vickie’s breakdowns when she tried to find a parking spot in the centre of London that he can perfectly understand where Jungkook’s coming from. Especially compared to the fact that he does not need to do that while he’s racing.

  “So if finding a parking spot in London is annoying, what is something that calms you down? Before or after a race.”

  A blush forms on Jungkook’s cheeks once again and Jimin has to stuff his mouth full of the delicious meat again to not coo at the man in front of him, because the sight is just downright adorable. Lord only knows why. He doesn’t think he’s ever met someone who elicited such a wild array of emotions in him — from annoyance, through amusement, to a slight bit of attraction (but that last bit has to stay in his mind for now, he can’t let anyone know).

  “I dunno. I like spending time with my dog.”

  “And that’s all?”

  He groans.

  “Park Jimin, you are too good at this, you know. Should’ve been a priest or a detective. You really know how to make people confess,” he huffs and runs a hand through his hair. Once again, Jimin is surprised to see his body react before his mind even can. There’s a familiar kind of heat in his lower stomach, his fingers tingling with the need to see if Jungkook’s hair is as soft to the touch as he thinks they are. “I like watching animated films, I guess.”

  “And that’s it?” Jimin raises his eyebrow. The way that Jungkook got all shy, he’d think it’s really something to be embarrassed about. “Come on. That’s not bad.”

  “Taehyung made fun of me for it once,” he shrugs.

  “Please, as if he doesn’t regularly watch Winnie the Pooh.” 

 Jungkook’s eyes brighten up and Jimin curses under his breath. He probably shouldn’t have said that but oh, well. Seems like his companion also knows how to make people talk.

  “I am so going to use that against him.”

  “Don’t tell him I told you that, though.”

  To his surprise, Jungkook extends his hand out, his pinky finger uncurled as he stares expectantly at Jimin. He stares at it for a moment, can’t even feel the amused little smile that pulls at his lips. The setting sun shines through the large windows next to them and it illuminates Jungkook so beautifully, that for a moment Jimin forgets completely about why he’s even here.

  He laces his pinky through Jungkook’s and lets a giggle slip past his lips when the man squeezes his finger. Just a simple touch and yet it manages to send a shock through Jimin’s body, the sliver of skin that he’s touching warm and soft against his own. If it weren’t for the fact that Vickie trusted him to do this interview without getting distracted by how charming Jungkook is, he thinks he’d be long gone, lost in the dark eyes that never leave him. He hates to admit it but Jungkook really does have an immediate effect on people. It makes him slightly annoyed.

  He’s used to attention, he likes it but for some reason, the attention he gets from Jungkook is completely different. It’s almost as if Jungkook’s gaze is programmed to never leave Jimin, to be glued to every single part of him until he memorises him enough to recall each line and curve from memory when they’re not together. Jimin’s body tingles, almost aches with how much he yearns for more of that attention on him, especially when they’re not surrounded by so many people.

  He brushes it off though, going back to the task at hand. He goes through the other questions he remembers Vickie writing down in her notebook and adds some of his own — he learns more about Jungkook’s dog and why he even got him in the first place (and that the Doberman didn’t go through the procedures ear cropping and tail docking), about how he met Namjoon (at one of his first trainings when he got into racing and was too scared to talk anyone), about his favourite animes (turns out it’s Chainsaw Man and Naruto) and the computer games he likes to play. They talk and talk and talk and talk and it seems as if their conversation has no end, much to Jimin’s surprise. He’s so used to Jungkook being painted as arrogant, as someone that does things just for attention and seeing him in such a light (especially after he finishes his second bottle of beer) is not something Jimin expected to see on a beautiful Friday afternoon.

  “Okay, can I ask a question now?” Jungkook suddenly says, leaning back in his seat again. “Just one, I promise.”

  Jimin tilts his head to the side and lifts one eyebrow. 

  “I don’t know, can you?”

  “Oh, come on,” the man in front of him pouts and well– Jimin thinks his brain actually stopped working. It’s gone. He won’t ever experience a logical thought ever again. “You asked me about so many things. Can we take the focus off me for a minute?”

  “Alright.”

  “Really?”

   Yeah, Jimin, really? 

  “Sure. Shoot.”

  The grin that blossoms on Jungkook’s face is as bright as the lights from all the skyscrapers outside. Jimin’s heart stutters. Two minutes and it will be as gone as his brain.

  “How do you know Taehyung? I don’t think I ever asked Vickie about that,” he hums.

  Jimin blinks. Oh. That’s his question?

  “We went to university together. I had this awful asshole of a roommate the first year. He kept leaving his shit all over the room and sometimes stole my things, and– Well, it doesn’t matter. I kept asking to switch for, hm, a month? They couldn’t move me anywhere else until someone miraculously dropped out and one of the rooms had an empty space thanks to that,” he says, recalling all that with a smile. In hindsight, he’d say that it was fate that led to him meeting Taehyung. “Turns out, it was Tae’s room. We hit it off, then moved out of the dorms and started living together. Until he moved in with Jin, of course.”

  “So, it was fate.” Jungkook says, his smile sweet as he keeps looking at Jimin. He leaned close over the course of Jimin’s short story and propped his chin up on his hand. 

  “I guess you could say that,” he shrugs. “How did you meet him?”

  “Oh, well, it’s not as exciting as your story. My team booked the track for the same time as his team did by accident. If I’m honest with you, I don’t remember it that well,” he sheepishly says. “All I do remember is telling him that I’ll kick his ass without training.” 

  Jimin raises an eyebrow. He already knows the answer to his question but feels tempted to ask it anyway.

  “And did you?”

  “Of course I did.” Jungkook puffs out his chest a little, as if it was one of his biggest achievements. “Anyway, he told me I’m a dickhead then and we kind of hit it off. Or, well, hit it off is an exaggeration. There weren’t a lot of drivers my age when I was just starting and so I kind of stuck myself to him and kept annoying him every chance I got.”

  “Sounds about right.”

  “Huh?”

  “Well, you are pretty annoying.”

  Jungkook pouts once again and oh, what is happening to Jimin’s heart?

  He redirects the conversation to another topic, once again focusing on Jungkook. That’s enough talking about Jimin. 

  He briefly wonders if he should thank Vickie for getting sick and asking him to do this interview instead of her but decides against it — she would never let him live it down. And she would definitely mention it to Taehyung, who would then mention it to Jungkook because he’s a little shit. 

  And when he runs out of questions and sees the sun has long set outside, he decides that it’s time to go home now (and preferably debrief everything that happened on a call with his friends). Jungkook gets his wallet out before he can even say a word when the waiter comes and to distract himself from seeing the actual price for the meal they shared, Jimin decides to gather his phone and stuff it into his bag. 

  This time, Jungkook isn’t able to pull his chair out of him but he still lets him get in and out of the elevator first, touches the small of his back as he guides him out of the building and into the crisp, evening air. There’s a heated look in his eyes when he looks back at Jimin, cheeks flushed, either from the sudden chill or from all the alcohol they’ve consumed through the course of the evening. There must be something in the air that prompts him to be more bold and Jungkook reaches out to brush a strand of Jimin’s hair out of his face.

  “Next time I want to do an exclusive interview, I’ll ask for you to do it,” he says, a grin pulling at the corners of his mouth. “It’s nice when someone doesn’t ask the more obvious questions.”

  Jimin snorts.

  “What, about that one tattoo you supposedly have?”

  And he regrets the words as soon as they make it out of his mouth.

  Jimin’s eyes widen at about the same time that Jungkook grins devilishly, leaning forward just a bit, until there’s not a lot of space between them. Jimin wills for the ground to open up and swallow him whole and for the sky to produce a storm and strike down Vickie for even providing him with that information he just let slip. He wonders if it’s possible to die from embarrassment. Maybe he’ll be the first test subject.

  “I meant the questions about my cars or my trophies, but...” he cuts himself off, shakes his head and straightens his back. Hands in his pockets and he looks down at Jimin with a smirk. “If you really need the answer to that, I’ll see what I can do. Goodnight, angel.”

  Yeah, Jimin is definitely going to die.

Chapter Text

  “So, you admit he’s hot.”

  Jimin groans. He falls back against the pillows on his bed and thinks about his answer for a moment – whatever it will be, Vickie will probably be on his ass about it for the foreseeable future. He wanted to call her immediately after getting back home from the interview but she texted him that Namjoon came over with food to keep her company (she also lamented that she looked like shit and he is never going to want to see her again after that), so he decided that he’ll call her first thing the next day. That way, he can sleep on his thoughts and calm down from the absolute experience that meeting Jeon Jungkook was. He’s not sure yet whether it was good or bad.

  “He’s… nice to look at,” he finally settles on. Then, immediately winces when he hears the giggle on the other end of the line. “Nothing special, though.”

  “Nothing special, my ass.” Jimin can practically hear that she’s rolling her eyes as she says that. She’s silent for a moment, shuffling some things around and groaning. “He’s just your type.”

  “No, he’s not!”

  Yes, he is. Damn right he is. His streak of exes and hookups really proves Vickie’s statement right. Though if he’s being honest, he never considered that piercings, of all things, might be something he finds attractive. Not until Jungkook and that damned lip piercing at least.

  “Besides, it doesn’t matter,” he huffs. “We probably won’t meet each other again.”

  “You don’t know that. You share half of your friends,” she reminds him. A small cough sounds out on the other side of the line. Jimin’s about to ask whether she called the doctor or not but before he can open his mouth to do that, she speaks up again. “Fate works in mysterious ways, you know.”

  “And yet we’ve never met each other up until now.”

  His phone vibrates and he frowns, putting Vickie on speaker before he pulls his phone away from his ear to stare at the screen and the notification that pops up. He’s expecting it to be another notification from Twitter or even a text message from his mom and truth be told, he’d much rather prefer it to be that .

  @j.kook started following you.

  “What the fuck?”

  “Okay, excuse you, I didn’t even say–”

  “Jungkook just followed me on Instagram.”

  There’s a moment of silence on the other side of the line. Jimin’s actually worried that he might have accidentally hung up on her or the call got disconnected but he doesn’t need to wait long to be proven wrong.

  “He what ?”

  The shriek she lets out is at such a high frequency that Jimin wonders how he was able to even hear that. He hears a thud just after that and he’s actually scared that she fell down from her bed. He’s surprised that he is still sitting down.

   The notification feels like it’s making his phone burn ten times hotter. All of a sudden, he’s scared to click anything on his screen, his heart hammering loudly in his chest. The account he followed is not the one he uses to post updates about the interviews he does or the events he sees – it’s the more private one (though he supposes he should really make it private now), the one that mostly his friends and a couple of random people follow. There’s everything there, even his silly thoughts that he has a desperate need to put out into the universe sometimes.

  Jimin touches a hand to his cheek. It’s as hot as he thought and he completely avoids looking into the mirror in his bedroom, in fear of finding a blush dusting his face. Why is he even reacting like that? It’s just a stupid notification, of a stupid guy following him on a stupid media platform. Nothing to overreact about.

  “Hello ?! Jimin?” Vickie speaks up again. “Did you die of a heart attack? Please tell me you didn’t because I need you to follow him back right this instant.” 

  “I’m not going to follow him back!”

  “What do you mean you’re not going to– You know what, I’m calling Taehyung.”

  “Don’t–!”

  Too late. Jimin’s not even able to finish his sentence because Vickie’s fingers work much faster than that (must be the practice from texting Namjoon day and night) and not even two seconds later, there’s another person joining their call. For the first time ever, he actually hates the fact that you can have group calls over the phone. 

  “Why are you gossiping without me?” There’s no greeting when Tae joins them, only an accusatory question that’s spoken with a grumble in his voice. Jimin feels bad for all three seconds before it passes. 

  He can’t see his friends but he’s almost sure that Taehyung’s sitting on his couch, legs kicked up on the cushions (he only does that when Jin is away on a shoot because otherwise he would get the scolding of a lifetime and not in a fun way) and Vickie’s sitting up, her legs crossed as she bounces with excitement. The two worst gossips in London. Scratch that, the two worst gossips in the whole world. 

  “Jungkook followed Jimin on Instagram,” says Vickie, before the actual person involved can even get a word in. 

  And well, who would have expected it? Taehyung’s reaction is pretty much the same as Vickie’s. He screeches so loud that even on the speaker, Jimin pulls the phone further away from him, his nose scrunched up. So much for a peaceful morning. 

  It’s not really that big of a deal, is it? His account is not private, it’s really not that hard to find if someone knows what they’re looking for and he doesn’t have any compromising pictures on there, apart from a few drunken photos taken on a night out with his friends. There’s nothing to be ashamed of and he’s also not a teenager anymore, so being followed by a guy like Jungkook should not even elicit any reaction from him. The logical decision would be to simply ignore the notification and go on with his life, maybe have a look at Jungkook’s account (but he already did that before the interview so there’s no point). 

  However, there are two important factors that need to be considered. One, the logical part of Jimin’s brain seems to be away on vacation since yesterday evening and he has no idea when it’s coming back because he did not approve this time off. And two, his friends are absolutely incapable of nonchalance so he can’t expect them to simply tell him to ignore all that and brush the news off.

  “Follow him back.” Taehyung immediately says. 

  “Exactly. Thank you!” 

  “I am not going to follow him back.” Jimin huffs. “Why would I? I already saw all the pictures he has– shit.”

  There’s silence for a moment. Unfortunately, that moment is pretty short because Tae erupts into such a loud laugh that the only thing Jimin can do is hide his face in his hands and hope for a bolt of lighting to suddenly come through his window and strike him down. It doesn’t happen though. Who would’ve thought?

  “I can’t believe it,” the young man manages to get through his laughs. “You stalked his account. Did you accidentally like a picture or something?”

  “I did not!” Jimin screeches, his face burning again at the sole thought of humiliating himself like that. Good God. That would be the absolute end of him.

  “Okay, follow him back then. What’s the harm here?”

  “What if he thinks I’m interested in him or something?” 

  “Might I remind you, he followed you first, my love.” Vickie speaks up again, before her voice breaks off into a cough again. He notices that it doesn’t sound as bad as it did two days ago.

  Well.. She’s right. It’s not Jimin that went out of his way to click the follow button on Jungkook’s Instagram account, even though he did have a very thorough look through all his pictures. He won’t admit it to any living soul, especially not to his friends who seemingly decided to gang up on him all of a sudden, but there were a few pictures that he had to stop on for a moment, just to take a thorough look. 

  One of them was a selfie Jungkook probably took right after a workout – his face still glistening with sweat, some of his hair sticking to his forehead and a flushed tint to his cheeks. And when Jimin looked at the picture hard enough, he spotted the young man’s reflection in the background, the back muscles on full display, even through the shirt he was wearing in the picture. Honestly, Jimin doesn’t know how low this little incident classifies on his scale of moments when he forgot about his dignity altogether but he’d rather not find out.

  “Vickie’s right, you know.” Taehyung speaks up. It’s almost surprising to hear him speak without making a joke at his expense in this situation. “I’m sure he already knows you probably got a raging boner when looking through his pictures.”

   There it is. 

  “Maybe he’s getting a boner looking through your pictures now.” Vickie supplies. That’s exactly what Jimin meant when he said that they always encourage each other. 

  “Exactly. And imagining that you’re asking him questions in bed.”

  “Naked.”

  “Probably recording too–”

  “Do you guys ever think before you speak? Be honest.”

  The other two just giggle happily, as if that was a compliment for them. Jimin doesn’t need an answer to the question, if he really thinks about it – it’s obvious that the both of them just say whatever comes to mind, especially if they know it’s going to rile him up, at least a little. 

  “My point still stands. Follow him back.” Taehyung finally stops laughing enough to form a sentence. He clears his throat. “You’re friends with basically the same people, it would be weird if you just ignored him like that. And it’s not like you have that many followers on that account to be able to say you didn’t notice.”

  “Yeah, well, maybe you’re–” Jimin cuts himself off and frowns. He sits up a little straighter on the bed, a crease appearing between his eyebrows as he mulls over Taehyung’s words. “Hold up. I didn’t tell you which account he followed.”

  Jimin may not be that famous but he certainly has a fair amount of followers on his more professional account, though he mostly forgets about it. The other account though, has maybe forty followers at most, even though it’s not private. He doesn’t use hashtags, doesn’t tag his friends there and he’s pretty sure that one would find this account only if they knew what they were looking for. There is no logical explanation as to how Jungkook, of all people, knew what he was looking for.

  Silence falls over the whole call for a moment. A moment that lasts longer than Jimin thought possible when it’s the three of them talking. Then, he hears Vickie gasp and Taehyung clear his throat.

  “I just– guessed,” he tries to defend himself. “You wouldn’t make it such a big deal if that was the other account.”

  “Kim Taehyung, you sneaky little shit!” Vickie screeches.

  “Okay, there is absolutely no need for my full government name here.”

  “Did you give him my Instagram?” Jimin almost screams. 

  “I did not.”

  “Lying through your teeth.”

  “Okay, well, God forbid I want to play a matchmaker,” he huffs.

  Vickie positively howls with laughter. If Jimin thinks hard enough, he can almost see her doubling over in her bed or on her couch, holding onto her stomach like she always does when something cracks her up. Too bad the laughs are at his expense now.

  “Play a matchmaker with Vickie and Namjoon.” Jimin huffs. “Did she tell you he came over with food yesterday?”

  “Alright, why are we ganging up on me now? What the fuck did I do?”

  “Laugh at me like it’s your full time job.”

  “Hello? What do you mean he came over with food?” Taehyung exclaims. “Why didn’t I know about this?”

  There’s a triumphant smile on Jimin’s face when he hears Vickie’s heavy sigh on the other side of the line. Now that the focus is taken away from him and his little Jungkook situation, he can actually open the notification and go to Jungkook’s Instagram profile. There’s nothing new there, he doesn’t know what he was expecting, really–

  That is, until he sees the colourful circle around his profile picture. 

  “Because there’s nothing to tell!” Vickie whines in embarrassment. “What do you want me to say, that I deepthroated him as a thank you?”

  “Yeah.” 

  “My sinuses are stuffed, Tae. I’d choke to death.”

  “What a way to go.”

  Jimin snorts. He can’t help it. It distracts him from the temptation of clicking the picture and just seeing Jungkook’s story. What harm is there, really? It’s not like he would be the only one seeing it and…

  And the story was added less than a minute ago. Fuck him and his curiosity. He groans.

  The attention is back on him once again. So much for his sneaky plan to put Vickie in the spotlight for a moment and give him the time to think about his next move considering the Instagram situation.

  “Did you like one of his pictures?” Taehyung asks immediately.

  “I’m sorry to say that but I’m going to piss myself if you did.”

  “I viewed his story,” he groans, because there’s no way he’s going to keep that away from them. That’s so embarrassing. What if Jungkook sees that he viewed it so quickly? “He added it less than a minute ago.”

  Taehyung snorts. Vickie is the one who takes pity on him this time.

  “He has like fifteen million followers, babe, I’m sure he won’t even notice,” she reassures him. It’s only when she says it that he feels a little dumb. “Don’t worry about it.” 

  “What did he even add to his story– you know what, let me check.” Taehyung murmurs to himself. In all his panic about viewing the story of a guy who has ten times the amount of followers that Jimin has, he didn’t even pay attention to what exactly the story was. “Oh, I can’t believe it.”

  “Wait, I need to see it too!” Vickie’s quick to exclaim, probably feeling annoyed at being left out of the loop like this. It’s not even thirty seconds later that she gasps. Then giggles. And gasps again. “Well, hello!”

  And so Jimin decides to see the story once again too, this time without clicking out of it just because he saw the time it was posted. It takes him only a second to understand what made his friends react like that but when he does, he feels his cheeks burn with embarrassment. He’s grateful that they can’t see him now.

  He might not be a Taylor Swift fan but he’s spent enough time with Vickie listening to her songs to recognise the cover and the title of the song that Jungkook posted to his story. 

   Down Bad. 

  “I didn’t take him for a Taylor Swift fan.” Vickie sighs dreamily. “Minnie, I can’t believe a guy posted this song after meeting you for the first time. I’m so jealous.”

  “Acting as if Namjoon didn’t post You Belong With Me after one of your dates.”

  “First of all, it wasn’t a date, and second of all, maybe he just likes the song and–”

  “Are you really that dumb or are you just pretending?”

  “There is no need to make that connection, you know.” Jimin grumbles, interrupting their small debate. He’s pretty sure he can feel the tips of his ears burn. “What if he just likes the song?”

  “Hate to break it to you but it’s like the equivalent of Vickie posting Future songs just for Namjoon to like her story and text her that he loves this song.” 

  “Okay, fuck you too.” 

  This time, Jimin snorts in amusement. The only person missing in this call is Seokjin, though he thinks that maybe it’s better that he’s not here – he’s the biggest supporter of Taehyung and Vickie’s tomfoolery, after all. Though he should be the voice of reason here, since he’s the oldest, it rarely ever happens that he tells them to tone it down. Jimin guesses it must be the thirst he has for drama that somehow does not get satisfied when he’s modeling for another company and in the presence of gossip at all times. 

  “Follow him back, before he actually combusts.” Taehyung speaks up again. 

  And well, Jimin really doesn’t have the energy to argue with that anymore. He tells himself that this is all there is to it, that he only does it to get his friends off his back, nothing more. His finger hovers over the follow back button, as if he was afraid that somehow, it will paralyze him the second he clicks it. 

  Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. His fingers are perfectly fine, a virus doesn’t get downloaded to his phone and the ground doesn’t open up to swallow him whole when he does that. He just sees the message button appear instead and quickly closes the app before he accidentally texts Jungkook that he can’t stop about his lip piercing and how it would feel if they happened to kiss.

  “Okay, done,” he mutters, too afraid of speaking any louder, even though he’s in the apartment alone. 

  “Hell yeah!” Taehyung practically screams. Jimin can’t resist the urge to roll his eyes. It’s as if he’s just witnessed a plan he formed in his head unfold the way he wanted it to. “This calls for a celebratory drink.”

  “It’s ten a.m.,” comes Jimin’s dry reply almost immediately.

  “I meant later,” the other man says defensively. “We could go to that bar on Vickie’s street. Heard it’s two for one on espresso martinis there today.”

  “Don’t tempt me,” the girl groans. “I can’t today. I still look and feel like shit. I don’t want to make it worse.”

  “Party pooper.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, do you want me to get tuberculosis and die?”

  “Dramatic for no reason.”

  “Tomorrow, then.” Jimin interrupts them before it escalates. “I can’t go out tonight either. I still have to finish editing that Michael Sheen interview. They need it on the website this week.”

  Taehyung simply sighs, disappointed. He must be getting awfully bored now that Jin’s on a photoshoot in Korea and will come back next week, if everything goes according to plan. Vickie and Jimin keep him company as best as they can but sometimes their work gets in the way – especially Jimin’s, now that for some reason the culture is blooming here in London. He’s been going to see theatre performances almost every week and getting new material to write about. 

  They hang up with a promise to make some plans for tomorrow and actually spend time together and if Jimin takes a few minutes to look through Jungkook’s Instagram account again, well.. nobody needs to know about that.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

  Jungkook’s not sure but he might actually be going insane. 

  He’s been staring at his phone for the past ten minutes, refreshing his feed on Instagram and hoping that Jimin will at least like his story. Seems like he went through the trouble of choosing such a perfect song and posting it just after following Jimin all for.. nothing. Then again, he should blame it all on Taehyung, not himself – he was the one that suggested it, claiming that it will certainly get the attention of this one journalist with dark brown eyes and a smile so sweet that it made his heart stutter in his chest more than once after seeing it. 

  He’s just about ready to go back to lifting the weights that Namjoon placed on the squat rack for him until his screen flashes and the notification he’s been waiting for appears right at the top.

  @lilacwave followed you back.

  Jungkook drops his phone as if he’s been burned by it.

  “Woah, you okay?”

  He raises his head to look at Namjoon, confused as to why his friend is throwing his phone on the ground all of a sudden. The only other time he reacted like that was when he thought he’d accidentally started broadcasting the porn he’s been watching on his phone on the television in the house he stayed with Namjoon during last year’s Grand Prix in Monaco. His cheeks burn now too and he scrambles to find the right words.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” he hopes he sounds convincing, especially when he shoots the man in front of him a bright smile.

  Namjoon doesn’t look all that convinced. He raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms over his chest, shoulders still heaving up and down as he tries to catch his breath after the workout he had. Jungkook’s pretty grateful that for some reason, he is cutting him some slack today – he doesn’t think he'd be able to concentrate on a more demanding workout today.

  Any other day, he would be completely fine with it but not after spending half the night thinking about Jimin and his perfectly full lips or the way he blew his light, blond hair out of his face when it started to annoy him too much. He’s pretty sure that Jimin must have been a siren in his other life. Or a nymph. Or something that’s equally as enticing because there is no reason as to why one person should look this… perfect. 

  Or he’s just a witch. And he cast a spell on Jungkook. 

  “Are you sure?” Namjoon speaks up again and this time he moves to sit on the ground next to Jungkook. He nods to his phone, still on the ground with its screen down. “Something happened?”

  “No.”

  A beat of silence passes. Then, Namjoon sighs – like a father that’s about to have a serious conversation with his son who’s just done something weird. Or worrisome. Or both.

  “You followed Jimin on Instagram, didn’t you?” 

  Jungkook sputters. He wants to deny it but he’s afraid that his face betrays him completely when he feels his cheeks warm up at the words alone. How is it possible that he always seems to be able to tell what’s hiding inside Jungkook’s head? Sometimes, he thinks that Namjoon should reconsider his career as a team principal and actually get into psychology. 

  “I did not–” he cuts himself off, then sighs. Is there any point in lying to him when he will definitely find out about it either way? “How’d you know?”

  “I saw you refreshing your feed like fifteen times in the past three minutes,” the man raises an eyebrow. “Not many reasons why you’d do that.”

  “Oh.”

  He might have hoped that Jimin texted Vickie to let her know that Jungkook followed his more private account (that he got from Taehyung of course) and that he freaked out over it and then, she texted Namjoon to let him know all of that. Or, even better, that Jimin was the one to text him, all excited. Well.

  Guess Jungkook will really need to start paying rent in the delusions land this month if his brain keeps conjuring up scenarios like that.

  “Did he follow you back at least?” Namjoon asks.

  “Yeah.” Jungkook replies. His lips stretch into a smile as if on their own accord. He found that it happens pretty much every single time he thinks about Jimin or anything connected to him since meeting him yesterday afternoon. 

  It’s not an everyday occurrence that you finally meet the guy you’ve been crushing on for years now, even if it was a complete accident. He wonders if he should send Vickie a large bouquet of flowers and a basket of her favourite food for getting sick. Would that even be in good taste? It allowed him to meet Jimin after all. All this pining over him that started with one picture he saw on Taehyung’s instagram two years ago has finally paid off. Or so he thinks. It’s just a matter of time until Jimin decides he’s the most attractive man he’s ever seen, right?

  He still distinctly remembers the day he simply opened Instagram and saw a photo that Taehyung posted – one of him, Seokjin, Vickie and Jimin at a club, drunk grins on their faces and glasses with colourful drinks or shots in their hands. And well– saying he got tunnel vision and his eyes zeroed in on Jimin only would be an understatement. Saying he almost drooled at his screen would be like saying nothing. Jungkook doesn’t think he’s ever found someone so.. beautiful (because he thinks saying hot just does not do Jimin any justice). It took him two whole minutes to finally like the picture, comment on it and then nonchalantly ask Tae about who that guy is. 

  Well. As nonchalant as Jungkook can be. Which is.. admittedly, not much. 

  He’s been trying to meet Jimin completely by accident (if you can even call him making detailed plans an accident) but for some reason, fate always kept getting in the way of him doing that. And even though he did the complete opposite of staying celibate all this time, his mind still kept drifting to the beautiful man with pouty lips he saw on his friend’s Instagram account and how much he’d like to have him under him. If you’d ask him for the largest number written on his days spent not thinking about Jimin and his lips board, he’d tell you that it’s a perfect eight. 

  “Vickie said you made a good impression on him.” Namjoon hums. He’s not looking at Jungkook but the young man can clearly see the way the corner of his mouth twitches into an amused smirk. “Jimin called her in the morning.” 

  “Did he say anything else about me?” 

  Namjoon laughs. 

  “I don’t know. She just texted to say that Jimin didn’t say you’re a dick. And to tell you that she’s sorry she couldn’t make it yesterday,” he says. Then, he turns to face Jungkook and grins. “Though I doubt you of all people feel sad about it.”

  “I’m sorry your girlfriend got sick but also, I’m happy your girlfriend got sick. That’s how I feel about it.” Jungkook shrugs.

  “She’s not my–“

  “I am not having this conversation with you,” he groans. 

  Namjoon decides against commenting on it and leans back on his elbows, a groan escaping him as his muscles stretch. They’ve been here for almost an hour already but Jungkook’s not even close to feeling as tired as his friend is – mainly for the reason that he either spent this time looking at his phone or thinking about doing that. Pathetic, really. He thought that after seeing Jimin yesterday, finally meeting him in the flesh and not through one of Tae’s stories, he would somehow calm down. Turns out, it’s even worse.

  “We could always text her to ask what Jimin thought about you.” Namjoon offers. There’s a sneaky grin on his face though he tries to hide it when he turns his head away from Jungkook a little.

  “No, I–” Jungkook cuts himself off. “I don’t wanna look obsessed with him. I have a reputation to uphold.”

  The man next to him just stares for a moment, without a word. The silence stretches for longer than Jungkook would like and he squirms a little on the ground, the tips of his ears burning with embarrassment.

  “So we’re going to pretend like the last two years never happened? And that you weren’t asking Taehyung about Jimin every chance you got?” Namjoon raises an eyebrow. “Got it.”

  “Oh, come on!”

  He groans and puts his head into his hands. Jeon Jungkook, the racing prodigy, the guy who has both men and women falling at his feet for just the slightest crumb of his attention simply whines like a teenager whose crush just got discovered by his friends. Though admittedly, it’s not like he ever tried that hard to keep all of this a secret, if he must be honest – though he did limit asking questions about Jimin to Taehyung, he did not limit his talking about him to Namjoon. 

  The interview yesterday felt simply like a sign from fates after two years of somehow missing every single opportunity to meet Jimin – whether it was one of the races that he thought the other man would accompany Vickie at, or one Taehyung’s parties, or anything else, really, it seemed as if the universe just did not want the two of them in close proximity. He’s pretty sure that if he was here, Yoongi would scoff at this and tell him that he’s spending too much time watching those astrology and tarot videos on TikTok. That, or he’d tell him to ask Jimin out and stop annoying him with his whining. 

  It might be because Yoongi’s older than him (only by a few years, but still) and he really has no patience for bullshit anymore, especially after racing for so long. It’s either all or nothing with him and he’s so.. upfront about everything that it surprises Jungkook sometimes. 

  Jungkook heard from Namjoon how difficult it was for Yoongi when he first got into racing, he’s heard all about the accident on the track that left him out for half a year and how he almost threw it all to hell when he got back, especially after how the media treated him when he drove a scooter home after one glass of wine. He’s been called every possible name under the sun, people wished for him to go to jail, to get kicked out of his team all because they saw what they thought was Yoongi struggling to walk the streets, drunk out of his mind. 

  It’s mostly the reason why he doesn’t entertain any journalists now, not even for a quick word or a picture. It’s also why their team threw all the focus onto Jungkook when he joined the team, believing he would be what keeps the media’s attention on them.

  Which he does successfully. Or not. Depends how you look at it, really. For some, him being spotted drunk with one of his hookups, feeling each other up in a club might be bad publicity. For Jungkook, it’s just publicity. It makes him laugh, while Namjoon does damage control (with Vickie’s help of course, because who knows the media better than someone who is a part of them).

  “You could send him tickets for the next race.” Namjoon suggests.

  Okay, so they’re not letting Jimin’s topic go. Jungkook can deal with it. 

  “I met him once, I can’t go around sending him tickets for one of my races,” he scoffs.

  “And yet you didn’t hesitate to post a Taylor Swift song on your story after following him.”

  Jungkook’s eyes cut to Namjoon instantly. He narrows them, looking at his friend as if it's his fault that the story even appeared on his account. Not like he was the one to create it himself, look at it and say nice before hitting the button to post it. In Jungkook’s case, free will may not be the best thing to ever happen to him.

  “How do you even know that?”

  Namjoon purses his lips. It’s clear that he’s fighting a smile.

  “Okay, who snitched on me?”

  “What do you mean snitched? You posted it yourself.”

  “It was Taehyung, wasn’t it?”

  “No comment.”

  “Vickie then. Definitely her.”

  “Told you, no comment.”

  Jungkook briefly reconsiders the flowers. If she snitched on him, he’s not doing that for her.

  “Alright, so who told you?”

  “You do know that I have an account on Instagram too? And that I can see your posts?”

  “No way, I still thought you use pigeons to contact someone.” Jungkook gasps with feigned shock. There’s a grin beginning to blossom on his face but he keeps it down successfully, if only to see the annoyed frown Namjoon sends his way. 

  The older man stands up and takes a towel from one of the stands next to them just to fling it at Jungkook, much to his delight. He starts laughing, catching the towel right before it lands on his face, in all its sweaty glory. Annoying Namjoon was never in the job description but he takes it just as seriously as the training laps he does before each race. Maybe even more so. 

  “This must be why it’s taking you and Vickie so long to just get together already. You’ve been sending her letters instead of talking like normal people do. Damn, I thought you’re more innovative than that,” he sighs, leaning back on the ground.

  “You do know that you don’t have to say every single thought that comes to your head?” Namjoon sighs. “My life would be so much easier if you did.”

  “Where’s the fun in that? You’d be so bored without me.” Jungkook’s grin seems to be permanently etched onto his face already. 

  Namjoon waves a dismissive hand in his direction, and doesn't say anything else. Sometimes it’s better to simply ignore Jungkook, rather than encourage his rants and he’s learned it the hard way over the years. Besides, it’s not like he’s going to admit that Vickie did send him a screenshot of Jungkook’s Instagram story and a short voice recording of her laughing like a maniac. And he’s definitely not going to tell him that he laughed too, at the sheer absurdity of it all.

  Still, he thinks he prefers laughing at this, rather than doing damage control when Jungkook takes another hookup home and isn’t careful enough with what he tells them, which results in some poor girl going to social media to spill some crazy story about him. At this point, he thinks he might start to get grey hair much earlier than he should. Maybe he just needs to join Vickie on her weekly yoga class, since she said it’s the most relaxing thing she’s ever done. He does need all the relaxing he can get, especially with the first race coming up in just a week.

  No other reason. 

  He shakes the thought off and glances back at Jungkook who’s taken to staring at his phone once again. Really, he can’t find it in himself to tell him to cut it and actually try to pretend he’s here to workout, not to daydream about his crush. It’s the last week of slacking he will most likely have, because in just a few days they’re going to get on a plane to Australia to do a walk through on the track to get a feel of it before training and qualifications start. On top of that, they’ll need to discuss strategy a little bit more this year, since last season wasn’t as good to Jungkook or to Yoongi as the ones before that. 

  There’s still so many things he needs to do before they leave, though the most important one is to make sure that their engineering team is well-equipped and prepared for anything. After the accident involving the drivers from Williams team last year, Namjoon’s going to be even more careful to get his two drivers to the finish line without so much as a bump on the cars. Every meter on the track and every turn is a risk, no matter how great of a driver you might be. Yoongi is a living example of that.

  He can still vividly remember the day that someone (he can’t remember the name now, sue him) from the McLaren team lost control of their car for just a second – and yet that second was enough to send not only his but Yoongi’s car screeching off the track. Namjoon can still recall the absolute fear that ran through him when he had to watch it all happen from a distance. If something like that happened again, he doesn’t think he’d survive it himself. 

  After all, Jungkook is already on the verge of giving him a heart attack on a daily basis. He doesn’t need him to do that on the track too.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he catches Jungkook flexing in front of the mirror, phone in hand. Oh, for God’s sake. 

  If he posts a picture of himself all sweaty, still at the gym, on Instagram, Namjooon thinks he’s going to actually explode. He really had no idea that the interview would have such an impact on Jungkook – all of a sudden, he’s a teenager in high school, still trying to calm down after meeting someone he’s been crushing on for a while from a distance. 

  “Think about the tickets,” he calls out to Jungkook, making him startle a little, almost dropping his phone on the ground again in the span of just twenty minutes. “Maybe Jimin will change his mind. You never know.”

  He simply huffs in response and waves a dismissive hand between them. Namjoon makes a mental note to text Vickie later and ask if she got two tickets for the race next week, since sometimes her boss gives her an extra one, just in case she wants to have someone tagging along. Maybe that way they’ll get Jimin to see Jungkook racing.

  “Oh, and don’t forget that you and Yoongi have track familiarization scheduled tomorrow.” Namjoon says. “It’s at noon. Yoongi will probably pick you up.”

  The only thing he gets in response is a tired groan.

  “Jungkook.”

  “Do we really have to? I already raced in Albert Park once,” he huffs. There it is – the reason why Namjoon will go into a cardiac arrest one of these days. “I know how it looks like. I know how to drive there.”

  Jungkook is a great driver, there is no denying that, especially not after you’ve seen him behind a wheel. He controls the car as if it’s an extension of his limbs and even back when he was just a rookie, Namjoon doesn’t remember him losing this control, even for a second. He has complete trust in him, knows he can handle whatever is thrown at him but he also knows that the only thing Jungkook hates more than doing interviews is the technicalities behind racing.

  Which, to be fair, can be a bit boring sometimes. But they can also be a real life-saver, especially when it comes to a track like the Albert Park one. It’s certainly not the most difficult circuit on their calendar but it is one of the trickier ones, which is why they need to adjust the cars perfectly to perform without any faults and to give Jungkook and Yoongi as big of a chance to score the largest amount of points as possible. They need the aerodynamics, tire pressures and suspension settings to be perfect and track simulation is what helps them in that department an awful lot. 

  Doing just a few sessions will help them save so much time in the end – since they won’t need to take the cars to the garage every single time they want to adjust something. They will just need to adjust the settings on the program and see how each combination behaves with the specific variables of a given circuit. Especially considering the fact that the Albert Park circuit is in Melbourne and it is a well-known fact among all the racers that the weather is completely unpredictable there. It could be perfectly sunny one moment and then switch to rain, ultimately making it necessary to set up for quick changes during the race. Ones that will take only fractions of a second. Time is like liquid gold when racing.

  “Yes, you have to, Kookie. It’s non-negotiable,” he drily replies, raising an eyebrow, as if waiting for him to argue with that. And just because he knows it will get him a little more motivated, he adds: “I’m sure that Walker’s been doing a hell of a lot of simulations. You really want him to have a better racing strategy than us?”

  The second he sees the scowl on Jungkook’s face, he knows he won that small battle. Point for Namjoon.

  It is a low blow to mention Walker like that – the guy that for some reason has it out for Jungkook ever since he started racing – and Namjoon knows that perfectly well. He started racing around the same time that Jungkook did, just for a different team and with the added advantage of his father not only being a retired racing star but also someone who still holds a lot of influence in their little (big) racing world. It’s mostly for that reason that Walker thinks he’s simply untouchable. 

  And although there are twenty drivers on the circuit during each race, sometimes it feels as if it’s only Jungkook and Walker competing against each other, each of them trying to outdo the other one. Namjoon tried to talk to Jungkook about this childish rivalry more than once, especially each time he and Walker almost got into a fist fight after finishing a race but it had absolutely no effects whatsoever. So, he simply gave up on it and as of now, he sticks to making sure they actually don’t beat each other up. It’s harder than one might think. 

  “Fine.” Jungkook finally gets out through gritted teeth. “Noon, right?”

  Namjoon nods, satisfied. 

  “Yeah. Don’t be late,” he warns him.

  Jungkook hums in response. He doesn’t say anything else after that, just sighs and stretches a bit as he gathers his things. His phone is locked and gets dropped into the back pocket of his sweats and he throws his towel over his shoulder, unbothered by the fact that it stinks a bit.

  “Can we get something to eat now? I’m starving.”

  Namjoon barks out a laugh at that, unable to really stop himself. Just like that, the tension that appeared after he mentioned Walker is completely gone, replaced by the easy air of comfort that’s always there when they’re together. 

  “You didn’t even properly workout today,” he reminds him. For now, he decides to drop the Jimin topic too. He’s sure he’ll get all the updates about it either way, whether he wants them or not. 

  “I did!”

  “Yeah, whatever you say.” Namjoon snorts. “Let’s go. I’m pretty hungry too.”

  “Hungry for food or for–”

  “Shut it.”

Chapter Text

  By the time Monday rolls around, Jimin finally has the time and the energy to go out with his friends for a few drinks. He, Taehyung and Vickie decide to check out the bar near the girl’s flat after seeing that each day means a different special offer in there – and it just so happens that Sunday is the day when they can get two beers for the price of one. So, it’s only logical that each of them gets two pints of beer before settling into one of the more secluded tables in the place. They’ve already run into both Tae’s fans on the way here and they’re trying to avoid drunk people coming up to them and asking for more pictures and spewing questions about the upcoming race in Melbourne. 

  The bar is nicer than Jimin thought, actually. It’s not as big as the one that they usually go to but somehow, it’s still spacious enough to fit a fair number of tables inside, each divided from each other either by a half-transparent screen, some of them housing all kinds of plants in the pots hanging from them. The lighting here is dim, a warm shade that still doesn’t make it feel as if it’s just some random dump — it actually feels similar to Jimin’s own apartment and the countless different fairy lights and small lamps he has laying around the place. It’s just so that he wouldn’t have to turn on the big light, as Vickie so lovingly calls it. It gives him the creeps.

  There’s music playing too, a soft, jazz tune that drowns out all the conversations happening in the background. The windows of the bar overlook the street and with their table placed right next to it, Jimin can freely stare at the people who pass the place outside. It might sound creepy but he enjoys looking at them, wondering what their story might be — where they’re rushing, why they’re walking so slowly and staring at the screen of their phone so intently, or why there’s tension in their faces as they stare at others around them. It’s almost like taking a break from his own life, just to focus on everyone else’s.

  Vickie’s almost finished with her beer by the time Jimin only drinks half of his. It’s not even surprising at this point, if he’s being honest. 

  “I got two tickets for the Australian Grand Prix, by the way,” she speaks up, throwing the information offhandedly when Tae is finished telling them about his latest session on the track familiarization simulation. She tucks her hair behind her ears when it slips into her eyes again – in the dim light of the bar, the auburn shade seems much darker than it actually is. “You could come with me, Min.”

  He raises an eyebrow.

  “Are you playing matchmaker like Tae when he gave Jungkook my Instagram?”

  “I thought we let that shit go–”

  “Well, we didn’t.” Jimin looks at his best friend. He’s not really mad at him though – it’s not such a significant thing, now that he thinks about it. And besides, he’s not going to admit it to his friends, but watching the notifications that told him Jungkook liked almost all of his pictures was.. well, a sure boost to his ego. 

  Just for a moment, it crosses his mind that maybe he should post a picture from today, especially considering the fact that he spent quite a lot of time getting ready before going out. Would Jungkook like it immediately too?

  He brushes off the thought right after it appears. It makes him feel like a dumb teenager all over again, carefully picking and choosing what to post on his social media, just so that his crush would notice. Well– That is, of course, if Jungkook was his crush. Which he definitely isn’t.

  “I’m not.” Vickie speaks up. She tilts her head to look at Jimin with a soft smile. It’s nice to see her not looking as if she’s about to keel over and take her last breath any second. “It’d just be nice to have some company. Besides, Seokjin’s going to be there too and we haven’t seen him for so long.”

  And– Well, Jimin doesn’t have it in him to argue with the truth. It really has been a long time since they last saw Jin and as far as he knows, he’s heading straight to Australia after his project in Korea is wrapped up (which is taking longer than he initially thought) to support Taehyung during the first race of the season. More than that, he really wants to support his friend too, as well as Hoseok, the other driver on Tae’s team. He met him a few times already, every single one ending with him laughing until his stomach hurt.

  The first practice is on Friday, in just four days, which means that with every single day, Taehyung’s becoming more and more stressed, even though he tries not to let it show. Especially now, with Seokjin being on another continent, while he usually tries to be there for him before the start of each season, which is why he needs their support probably more than ever. And while Jimin may not be a fan of Formula One, he definitely is a fan of his best friend and him being happy.

  “Also, I know you have the weekend off, so you really have no excuses,” she hums before bringing her glass of beer back up to her lips. She downs the remains of it in just one go. Jimin should be surprised but he’s really not. He’s sure that she would trade him for a bottle of great quality beer. 

  “Fine.” Jimin sighs.

  “And they also– What?” Vickie gapes at him, taken completely by surprise with his response. “Really?”

  “I was thinking we’d have to get out a PowerPoint presentation to convince you.” Taehyung snorts. His shoulders visibly relax as he says that and he leans back in his seat, blows his dark hair out of his face before he gives him a smile. Jimin has a feeling that him agreeing to go actually means more than he’ll probably be voicing. 

  And well, he will probably have to rely on Vickie explaining everything to him before they actually get there and as he’s watching the race but.. it will be worth it. If Tae’s happy about it, then it’s definitely going to be worth it.

  “Yeah,” the girl chuckles, knocking her shoulder into his. “We should text Jungkook to let him know you’re going to watch the race.”

  “Or not. He’ll have a heart attack behind the wheel.”

  Jimin simply groans. In hindsight, maybe agreeing was not such a good idea. He’s said it countless times but he’s really not a fan of sports, especially not those where you can’t even see the people participating most of the time. Now though, it’s not only the fact that he’s not a die-hard fan like Vickie or as interested in it all as Taehyung is that worries him – it’s the fact that he somehow knows already that his friends will take this opportunity to push the topic of Jungkook into their conversation even more so than before. He doesn’t think he’s ready to survive it, if he’s being honest.

  “You know what, I think I changed my mind,” he groans.

  Taehyung and Vickie protest loudly, both twisting their lips into devastated pouts. He casts his eyes away from them, not wanting to see it all and be a witness of their puppy stares. Partially because they’re annoying and partially because he knows he will instantly cave in the second he sees them. He’s just easy like that.

  “Come on.” Tae huffs. He pokes at Jimin’s arm until he looks at him and flashes him a bright smile, the one that he just knows he uses in front of cameras too, just to appear as the charming guy they take him for. “You already agreed. Can’t take it back.”

  “Also, you can’t leave me all alone in there.” Vickie sends him a pout. “I’ll have nobody to talk to, and–”

  Jimin huffs out a short laugh, cutting her off. “Oh, I’m sure Namjoon will keep you company just fine,” he tells her.

  She gapes at him, then narrows her eyes. In the dimmed lights of the bar, it’s not that easy to see the blush on her cheeks but for some reason, Tae has an excellent sight and he laughs, hand reaching out to poke her face. She immediately swats his hand away.

  “You’re the worst,” she grumbles. “God only knows what I have to put up with because of you guys.”

  “Hey, I didn’t say anything!” Tae protests. He raises his hands in a mock gesture, trying to seem more innocent (which he fails).

  “Collective responsibility.”

  “What is it, communism?”

  Jimin can’t help the laugh that escapes him.

  He needs to enjoy it all while he can – when the season starts, Tae probably won’t have as much time to spend with them, at least not every week. There are small breaks between each race but he also uses that time to travel between the cities and train for each circuit. They do meet each other whenever they can but it’s not as often as they would like, especially considering the fact that Jimin also works a full-time job that consumes a lot of his days. 

  So, with a sigh, he already begins to think about the best strategy for when he goes to see the race with Vickie. He knows full well that he won’t be able to avoid Jungkook at all costs. It’d be much easier if he could, and would save everyone a lot of trouble, he thinks. He’ll just have to stick to Vickie’s side at all times which would make it all that much easier to survive those few days.

  “When do we have to leave?” Jimin asks, leaning his chin on his hand. He sips his beer through the pink straw he took with him at the bar when ordering the drink. 

  “Qualifications start on Saturday, so we’ll have to leave on Thursday unfortunately,” she sighs. “There’s no direct flights and we don’t have a private jet unlike some people,” she shoots Tae a pointed look to which he just raises his glass in a silent roast. “So, it’ll be like— a whole day of travel. Sorry.” 

  He already feels himself growing tired at the sole thought of having to sit longer than he wants to in a plane, then being so jet-lagged that he feels like a sack of potatoes tossed onto the ground by the end of it. Still — he agreed and there’s no taking it back now, not that he really wants to. He’ll survive watching twenty cars racing each other if it means he’s going to support his best friend while doing that. 

  He should definitely make a banner. Just to embarrass Taehyung. He knows Jin will be down to do it too. 

  “It’s fine,” he finally shakes his head, realising he never replied. “I’ll probably sleep most of the way.”

  “If you don’t, I have all the Jurassic Park film already downloaded and ready to go on my iPad,” she grins, eyes twinkling. 

  He snorts. Of course she does. 

  “So, anything I need to know about before I actually go to watch a bunch of cars zoom by before my eyes?”

   Taehyung and Vickie snort. He sees her take another sip of her beer and his eyes widen a bit when he notices it’s already almost halfway gone — he’s not sure if he should follow her tempo though. 

  “You’ll be watching the qualifications first.” Taehyung starts. “There’s three sessions and each one is a little bit shorter than the last, so that the slowest drivers can be eliminated,” he says. His hands move a little as he speaks. “So, five drivers drop after the first round, and then another five.”

  Jimin frowns. 

  “Okay, but there’s twenty cars racing, isn’t there? Or was I just having hallucinations the whole time?”

  Vickie snorts. 

  “You weren’t,” she reassures him, hand reaching out to pat his shoulder. 

  “Eliminating the slowest drivers is what helps determine the order of the first ten cars. You know–” Tae hesitates, bites his lip. He’s never really spent too much time explaining all the racing rules to Jimin. “Okay, so there’s these squares on the track, right? It’s lined up according to the order of the last qualification round and you can only get into those first grids if you make it to the third round of qualifications.” 

  “They change the order only if someone gets a grid penalty.” Vickie adds. “So, if you’re a dumb fuck who caused an accident on purpose or you’re an extraordinary dick off track, they can move you down the line.”

  “Happened to Jungkook once,” a snort escapes Taehyung when he thinks about it. 

  Jimin raises an eyebrow. Not that it surprises him all that much, if he’s being honest. If he had to pinpoint one person who’s the most likely to get this grid penalty they’re talking about, it definitely would be him (because he doesn’t know many other drivers). And well, he’s always been too curious for his own good, so instead of letting his mind wander, he decides that he’ll just ask. 

  “What did he do?” 

  Taehyung winces a bit, as if the mental image just jumped into his mind for a second there. There’s a crease between his eyebrows and just from that, Jimin’s sure that the story is not really as funny as he thought it would be.

  “He got into a fight with Walker like two or three years ago. Can’t even remember why but I do remember him kicking his ass to next week,” he shakes his head. “They gave a penalty to Jungkook then. Knocked him from first place to, hm, fifth? If I remember correctly.”

  “And Walker?”

  “Got away with it. His father knows too many people at FIA for him to get into any real trouble. They put the blame on Jungkook, said he’s too hot-headed and always looking for a fight. And that he was jealous of Walker.”

  Jealous? Why would Jungkook be jealous of someone? Jimin finds it hard to believe that there’s anything about this Walker guy that makes him even the slightest bit better than Jungkook is. Not that he.. thinks Jungkook is amazing. Or whatever. It’s just.. clear that Taehyung doesn’t like that other guy either. And he just trusts his judgement.

  “Assholes,” he murmurs.

  “Yeah, that’s one way to put it.” Tae sighs. “They really hate each other now. Jungkook and Walker, I mean.”

  “I don’t blame him.” Vickie murmurs. She frowns at the glass of beer in front of her, as if offended that more and more liquid is disappearing from it with every second. “Interviewed the guy once and he was so fucking annoying. You’d think he won every single Grand Prix since he started racing.”

  “And how many did he win?”

  “One. Last year,” it’s Tae one again who gives him the answer to his question. “Jungkook was second. Hobi was third.”

  Well, he didn’t know that. He was pretty sure that Jungkook won every single year since he started racing – his reputation just precedes him. But now that he thinks about it, he can vaguely recall that Vickie said something about last year’s season being not that great for the Big Hit team. 

  “God, I’m so happy you’re going with me, Minnie.” Vickie sighs. She looks at him with a soft smile. “I’ll finally have someone to gossip with. And you’ll see Jungkook all sweaty after he finishes a race–”

  “I can still change my mind.”

  “Sorry!”

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

  When Jimin wakes up to someone knocking on his hotel room’s door in Melbourne, after a whole day of travelling just to get there, he simply groans and rolls over on his stomach, pressing his face into the pillows. Maybe if he ignores it, it will simply go away and let him sleep for the rest of the day. 

  That doesn’t happen though. 

  The knocking sounds out again in the room and he finally opens his eyes, sighing deeply. He knows it’s Vickie — who else could it be? It’s barely past nine, as the clock on the nightstand tells him, and they got back to the hotel just before eleven o’clock last night. Were it up to him, he’d sleep for at least a few hours more but it seems like his plans are blown to shit.

  So, although he does so reluctantly, he gets up from the bed, yawning as he does so. It takes him a moment to cross the distance to the door, and he absolutely hates every single second of it. What could possibly be so important that she has to wake him up already? She promised they would have Friday free to do whatever the hell they want and what he wants is to spend the day rotting away in his room. Maybe get something to eat later. 

  And well, he’s not surprised at all when he opens the door and sees Vickie standing there.

  Compared to him, she’s already dressed though, hair styled and sweeping away from her face in soft, auburn waves. There’s a bag slung over her shoulder and she’s holding her phone in her hand, fingers curled safely around it. She gives him a bright grin but the only thing he can do in response is blink slowly, still trying to adjust to being awake after the absolute torture that was yesterday’s journey from London to Melbourne. He hates that she can function normally already. 

  Sometimes, Jimin thinks she must be running on Adderall half the time.

  “Morning,” she says, eyes twinkling as she tilts her head to the side. “I woke you up, didn’t I?”

  He’s only able to nod in response, stifling a yawn. A wince crosses her features and her shoulders slump a little bit, her bag almost falling down onto the floor.

  “Sorry. I really thought you were awake already,” she sighs.

  “It’s fine.” Jimin murmurs. It’s actually not fine but he can’t bring himself to be angry at her. “Going somewhere?”

  A blush rises onto her cheeks. Well, this does wake him up a bit. 

  He takes a longer look at her outfit — at the black slacks and the red top that has his eyes dipping down into her cleavage, even if he’s not really a fan of that. Still, Jimin can definitely appreciate good looking people, even if those people do not have a dick hidden in their pants. 

  “Yeah, um— Namjoon called me,” she says, shuffling her feet. “He’s here to pick me up and we’re going to get breakfast before their training.”

  “Oh.” 

  “Yeah.” 

  A beat of silence passes and then Jimin realises something, a frown creasing his brows.

  “You could have just texted me this,” he says, then narrows his eyes. 

  Vickie looks away.

  “Yeah, well..” she trails off, looking back at him with a sheepish look. He already knows he won’t like whatever comes out of her mouth next. “Namjoon’s not alone here. Kind of.”

  Yeah. He definitely does not like it.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” 

  “It means that Jungkook’s in the lobby and he wanted me to ask if you wanted to get breakfast with him too.”

  Jimin’s mouth drops open. He closes it, then opens it again, at a complete loss for words, looking like a fish that was pulled out too quickly from the water. All the while she’s just standing there, an innocent smile on her face as she waits for him to say something to that absolutely ridiculous information she threw at him unceremoniously.

  He looks down at himself, at the hotel slippers and his worn out shorts that he always sleeps in, no matter the weather. At least the t-shirt he’s wearing is faring off a little bit better, though it’s still far from something he’d like to be seen in by anyone, but especially by Jungkook. 

  Not that he even wants to see him. He’s perfectly content staying in his room all day, browsing through the channels on the TV that's in front of his bed.

  “Namjoon said that we could all go together but the reservation is in like—“ she glances at her phone and the time that shows up on it. “—twenty five minutes. And I told him that you’d probably still be sleeping and you need at least an hour to get ready.”

  Jimin sputters.

  “I do not need an—“

  She levels him with an unimpressed stare. He snaps his mount shut, no witty comeback at the end of his tongue.

  “Are you trying to convince me or yourself?” Vickie sighs. She softens then, looks at him with something very gentle in her eyes. “Listen, I can tell Jungkook that you’re not feeling well. Or that you just don’t want to go. I’m not going to force you to do anything, alright? You can just join me and Namjoon for breakfast, we’ll tell Jungkook to go the fuck back to the gym or whatever it was he was doing before he came here.”

  Jimin snorts quietly as she reaches out to take his hand in hers, giving it a quick squeeze. Her touch brings him a bit of comfort and it takes him brain away from the fact that there’s a weird feeling blossoming in his stomach — he’s not quite sure what it is yet and he’s not that keen on finding out actually. Maybe it’s just his body betraying him. It does that sometimes. 

  And even though he wants to stomp his foot and say that no, he’s absolutely not going anywhere with Jeon Jungkook of all people, the perspective of getting breakfast somewhere that is not the hotel’s restaurant is enough for him to reconsider that. He would gladly join Vickie and Namjoon, were it not for the fact that yes, he would absolutely not get himself ready in, what, twenty minutes? And secondly, going anywhere as their third wheel is just the last thing he wants. 

  Briefly, he makes a mental note to text Taehyung that these two are going on a date so early in the morning. 

  “Okay,” he finally sighs.

  Vickie’s mouth drops open a bit. She blinks, now as surprised as Jimin was just a few moments before. Was she expecting a different answer? 

  “Oh. Alright,” she hums. Blinks slowly again, then takes a step back. 

  “You thought I’d say no, didn’t you?” Jimin asks, amusement bleeding into his tone. 

  “Already had a speech for Jungkook prepared,” she nods. “Some shit about you not feeling too well. Just thought I’d ask as a courtesy.”

  “You are such a great friend.”

  “I know, right?” 

  He rolls his eyes. 

  She envelops him in a quick hug, letting him smell the cherry and vanilla perfume even better, before she pulls away, squeezing his arms gently. Jimin gives her a small smile, to reassure her that he’s fine here and that he’s not annoyed at the fact that she’s leaving him for a few hours — because he’s pretty sure it’s what she’s thinking right now. He knows her too well by now.

  Jimin really has no idea himself why he agreed to do that. Again, it’s his brain cells going on a leave whenever the topic of Jungkook enters the conversation. Is he happy about that? No. Can he control it? Also no. Should he seek professional help for that? Probably.

  “Alright. Alright, fine, I’ll tell him you’ll be down in like an hour,” she says in a sweet, happy voice. 

  “I’ll try to make it quicker.” Jimin says, wincing a little as he rubs at the back of his neck.

  “Are you kidding me? Make the man wait, Minnie.” Vickie huffs, furrows her brows. 

  “Is that the strategy you’ve been using with Namjoon?”

  “I’m leaving now. Goodbye.”

  He laughs quietly when she turns around on her heel, muttering something to herself. The sound of her heels clicking against the floor on the hallways follows her closely. He watches her for a moment before he closes the door again and breathes in deeply.

  Okay, he’s getting breakfast with Jungkook. No big deal, right? They’ve already had dinner.

  Except, when they did, it was for an interview. Not because one of them came to the hotel the other was staying at and simply declared that he wanted to take him out for breakfast. Jimin isn’t sure what that means yet. Is this just Jungkook being bored out of his mind before a race? Or is he trying to play some weird prank on Jimin? He’ll say he wants to take him out to breakfast but when Jimin finally comes downstairs, he’ll be gone? 

  Or is he.. trying to take him out on a date? 

  He’s really not sure which option he prefers at this point. Not sure which option is more probable. 

  A date would be nice though.

  Jimin shakes off the thought as soon as it appears in his brain. He does not want a date with Jungkook. He’s just doing it for the free breakfast.

  He hopes he’ll be getting a free breakfast out of this. It’s the only thing that would make waking up so early worth it. 

  He tries to get ready as quickly as possible, though he’s not sure where the motivation for that is coming from. The shower takes him only ten minutes or so and as he blowdries his hair, he doesn’t give in to the temptation of scrolling through his phone while he’s at it — which only makes the process that much slower. He washes his face, does his small ritual of skincare and is once again surprised at where he finds the will to do all that so quickly. 

  The answer is pretty obvious but he doesn’t let his mind focus on it too much. And he’s not going to admit it to himself. 

  He hesitates for a second when he’s ready, his hand hovering over the doorknob — is he making it all too easy for Jungkook? Here he is, ready in absolute record time just because Vickie told him he came here to take him out for breakfast and for God’s sake, it’s not even like he knows the guy that well. Jimin briefly wonders if it’s possible to be under mind control after meeting someone just once, because there’s no other explanation as to why he feels a smile pulling at his lips at the thought of seeing Jungkook again, this time without the obligation of doing an actual interview hanging above them. It’s embarrassing.

  Nevertheless, he tucks his phone into the back pocket of his jeans, gets the keycard from the table next to the door and leaves his hotel room with his heart beating fast in his chest. The less he thinks about this whole situation, the better for his well-being. 

  The hotel is already alive with chatter, people filtering in and out of it, running up and down the stairs that lead to the lobby. Jimin is like half sure that most of these people are here for the race this weekend, which is why he’s fully expecting Jungkook to be surrounded by a bunch of people asking him for an autograph or a picture or both. It’s not like Jungkook could just walk somewhere without getting recognised, considering the fact that the racing season has already started and people are even more desperate to catch sight of him. 

  Not that Jimin.. knows all of those things. He just assumes it’s this way. 

  The thing is — he doesn’t see Jungkook anywhere in the lobby, even though Vickie said he would be waiting here for him. He’s not standing by the small bar, nor is he sitting on one of the chairs placed around a few tables here. The lobby is not that big, so he shouldn’t have trouble with finding him in the crowd of people and yet, as he scans the bright interior, decorated with numerous plants in unusually shaped pots, he can’t find the mess of black hair and the face adorned with silver piercings anywhere. His stomach squeezes a little.

  Did Jungkook leave? Was this some sort of a prank for him, showing up here and promising he would wait, when in reality he left the second he was out of his friends’ sight? Jimin doesn’t like to think of himself as naive, though in that moment he feels just that. He feels his cheek colour and even though it’s embarrassing to do so, he turns on his heel and—

  And feels someone catch his wrist. 

  He’s just about ready to yank his hand free and tell the person off for grabbing him like this out of nowhere. Just about to, because it turns out he doesn’t need to do it at all. Not when he looks into the person’s face, partially hidden by the hood of their hoodie, and realises who that is. 

  Though the urge to tell him off lingers, if he’s being honest.

  The first thing he notices is that Jungkook is dressed more casually than he was the last time they saw each other: a grey hoodie with a print from some anime (he thinks it’s Chainsaw Man but he can’t be sure). Jimin is actually sure he could fit both of his legs into one of the pant legs of Jungkook’s baggy jeans. All the piercings are still intact on his face and he can see the tattoos on his hand clearly when he glances down at it for a second, the other man’s fingers still curled around his wrist tightly. 

  “Come here.” Jungkook mutters before Jimin can even get a word out and tugs him closer to himself before walking off to a secluded nook in the hallway, partially hidden from everyone’s view by the large monstera that grows in the pot on the floor. He still doesn’t let go of his wrist, Jimin notices. 

  And he doesn’t shake him off either. 

  A beat of silence. Jungkook stares at him, doesn’t say anything, his brown eyes focused on Jimin as if there was a magnet drawing them to him. Jimin doesn’t say a word either – it’s not like he was the one to act like a total creep by tugging Jungkook away to a secluded part of the hallway.

  “Hi.” Jungkook finally speaks, with a grin that curls his lips. He tilts his head to the side. “Missed me?”

  “About as much as you miss a stomach ulcer.” Jimin frowns a bit. He has to crane his neck to look at the man in front of him clearly. 

  “Huh, I didn’t know you let stomach ulcers take you out for breakfast.”

  “As long as they’re paying, I don’t care.” 

  That gets a laugh out of Jungkook. Jimin feels the sound brush over his face in the small space that is between them. He completely ignores the weird sensation in his stomach, the one that his brain has already labelled as Jungkook-related and he can’t do anything about it. Trust him, he tried.

   “It’s nice to see you again,” the dark haired man hums, his grin changing into something softer for just a fraction of a second. “I didn’t know you were coming here with Vickie.”

  Jimin’s cheeks colour a little, even if he tries to stop that from happening. For someone who supposedly doesn’t give a single shit about racing, he agreed pretty quickly to travelling all the way to Australia just to watch twenty cars drive in circles. He hopes Jungkook doesn’t know how little convincing it took to get him to come here.

  “Last minute decision,” he shrugs.

  “Anything in particular that convinced you?”

  “Vickie said Hugh Jackman was invited.”

  Jungkook raises an eyebrow, as if he’s able to see right through Jimin’s little lie. Vickie didn’t say a word about Hugh Jackman being here, though she did mention that a lot of celebrities do come to the races in.. more glamorous locations than this one. She’s already promised to take him to the Monaco and Abu Dabhi Grand Prix (even if she has to beg her boss for two tickets). 

  “Aw, and here I thought you actually became a huge fan of Formula One after meeting me.” Jungkook sighs dramatically. He looks around as if to make sure that there is no one staring at them or coming closer to their little hideout. “Well, I’m no Hugh Jackman but I can take you to get the best waffles you’ve ever had in your entire life.”

  Jimin huffs.

  “Seems a bit like an exaggeration, don’t you think?”

  “Nah. Trust me.”

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

  “Okay, these really are the best waffles I’ve ever had.”

  Jungkook’s proud grin is probably enough to light up the whole city, should the power run out. It’s almost as if he made the waffles himself in the kitchen.

  Jimin really didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of agreeing with him but it was more difficult than he thought, especially when the waitress placed their plates in front of them and he actually saw the golden greatness, smothered in maple syrup and almost covered by cut-up pieces of fruit. He didn’t have high expectations for the place when he first saw it – a breakfast spot tucked away between streets that Jimin absolutely doesn’t remember now, the inside of it smaller than his own apartment. There’s a total of eight tables here, each of them big enough to fit three people at best and lots of posters from old films that he’s only heard of hanging on the walls. It’s nice enough though, with the music not being too loud, the floors barely passing the mark of being clean. So, a long way from the restaurant they went to for the interview. 

  Still – the waffles really hit the spot.

  “Told you.” Jungkook hums. Their knees brush under the table and Jimin barely resists the urge to kick away from him quickly.

  He doesn’t do that only because the table would go flying. And his waffles would land on the floor. That’s the only reason.

  “Well, I didn’t know that you’re a food reviewer on the side.” Jimin shrugs. “How’d you even find this place? It’s a bit of a..”

  “Dump?” Jungkook finishes for him, raising one eyebrow in amusement. When Jimin sputters and looks around, as if someone might overhear them and throw them out, he chuckles, his shoulders shaking a little with the sight. “It kinda is. I found it by accident three years ago. We stayed at the same hotel that you and Vickie are in with Joon then and I wanted to clear my head before the race, so I went on a walk and..” he trails off, as if looking for the right word.

  “It just magically appeared in front of you?” Jimin raises an eyebrow. 

  “Yeah. With magic dust around it and all. You should’ve seen it.”

  Jimin stuffs his mouth with a bite of his waffle to somehow contain the laugh that is trying to bubble past his lips. Jungkook isn’t really that funny after all. 

  “So, why’d you really decide to come here with Vickie?” Jungkook speaks up around a mouthful of his waffle. Seems like he still hasn’t learned any manners since they last saw each other. 

  “Is that an interview?” 

  “If you want it to be.”

  He doesn’t. Jungkook doesn’t need his answers to survive, now does he? But his resolve crumbles like a castle made out of cards, as it somehow does when he is around Jungkook. For whatever insane reason.

  “I just.. didn’t have anything interesting to do this weekend,” he shrugs.

  Jimin keeps completely silent on the fact that he searched up videos of Jungkook after a race, just to see him all sweaty, taking off his helmet with hair a complete mess, sticking out in every direction. He did it out of pure curiosity, just to see what the excitement between his fans was all about. The heat in his stomach must have been some kind of irritation or annoyance when he saw him answering the reporters’ questions with a goofy grin on his face, not taking anything seriously and feeling all too cocky about his results.

  “So you suddenly changed your mind about racing.”

  “I didn’t.” Jimin huffs. “I still think it’s too boring for me. But so far, I’m getting free food out of this trip, so I guess it wasn’t a bad decision to come here. Who knows, maybe I’ll even meet Charles Leclerc.”

  Jungkook frowns at that and a scoff escapes him. He digs his fork into his waffles, the crease between his brows deepening a bit when he turns to glance at Jimin and sees him smiling, all too happy about managing to get on his nerves. For once, it’s the other way round. 

  “Come on, he’s not even all that,” he mutters under his breath. “He’s such a cocky bastard.”

  “Takes one to know one, I guess.”

  Jungkook kicks his leg under the table. Jimin doesn’t say anything, just smiles again and takes another bite of his breakfast.

  He’s not sure now why he was hesitant to come here with Jungkook – when he glances at the time on his phone, he sees that they’ve been sitting here longer than he thought. Time seems to pass in the blink of an eye when he’s with him. He has absolutely no idea why. 

  “Bet he wouldn’t know where to get waffles this good.” Jungkook hums. He’s funny like this — if Jimin didn’t know better, he’d say that Jungkook is a bit jealous. 

  He simply snorts. 

  “Do you want a trophy for finding the best waffle spot in Melbourne?”

  “From you? Yeah.”

  “You’re ridiculous,” he huffs in response.

  “Ridiculously charming, you mean.” 

  “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

  “Oh, you would really help.” Jungkook’s eyes sparkle with something that Jimin doesn’t really want to name, for the fear of his mind going places it shouldn’t. He values his sanity, he really does, even if his actions lately show otherwise. 

  It’s all because of Vickie if he really thinks about it.

  “Are you coming to watch the qualifications?” Jungkook asks out of the blue. He leans his elbows on the table, bringing his face closer to Jimin’s, as if he can’t stand to be too far from him. 

  Which, considering the fact that they’re already sitting with their legs almost tangled under the small table, is kind of ridiculous. And annoying. Jimin likes his personal space but it seems as if Jungkook likes it too. 

  “Probably, yeah. I don’t know. I’ll have to ask Vickie,” he hums with a shrug. “Is it that exciting though?”

  Jungkook shakes his head in response. “No,” he says. Thinks it over, then smiles sheepishly. “But it would be nice if you came. I always wanted a personal cheerleader.”

  “Keep wanting it then.”

  The look that Jungkook gives him is almost comical – he’s like a kicked puppy, bottom lip jutted out and his wide, brown eyes fixated on Jimin. His fingers twitch over the fork he’s holding when a strand of hair falls over Jungkook’s eyes, though he does not know why exactly. And, well, he’s not going to dwell on it too much. 

  His eyes drop down to Jungkook’s lips for a second, focused on the silver ring pierced through his bottom lip, on how he pushes his tongue against it, making it slide a little. He tries to be subtle about it but tries is the key word here because Jungkook instantly notices the way his eyes linger on him and the corner of his mouth twitches into a smirk when Jimin darts his eyes away. 

  It’s why he doesn’t notice Jungkook’s hand itching closer towards him, not until his thumb settles over the corner of his mouth, skin pressed to skin. 

  Jimin’s breath hitches in his throat and he looks back at the man sitting in front of him. Jungkook is so focused on staring at his lips as he wipes something off his mouth with his thumb that he doesn’t even notice how Jimin’s eyes never leave him for the entire moment. It couldn’t have lasted more than three seconds but to Jimin, those three seconds feel like a complete eternity. 

  Oh, he thinks. Oh, as his stomach burns with want, and as his skin grows heated under the weight of Jungkook’s gaze.

  When Jungkook pulls his hand away, Jimin can see the bit of whipped cream on his thumb and he’s fully expecting him to just wipe his hand off on a napkin. Though, in hindsight he really should have known not to expect something so simple from him of all people and has only himself to blame when he sees Jungkook lick the whipped cream off his finger, all while looking him in the eye. He can’t help how he shifts slightly, trying to make the pressure in his stomach disappear when he sees Jungkook’s thumb between his lips and can only think of–

  Stop. 

  He forgets how to speak for a moment and just stares ahead of himself, trying to will his cheeks to stop burning, to gather at least some of his dignity before he has to face Jungkook again.

  “I’ll show you the best pizza spot in Melbourne if you come to the qualifications.” Jungkook says after a moment, when he finally decides to look back at him. Jimin’s sure that were it an animated film, he’d have a glowing lightbulb above his head. 

  “Are you going to bribe me with food to come to every single event during this weekend?” Jimin raises an eyebrow.

  “Depends. Is that going to work?”

  He feels warmth creep up his cheeks. For someone who’s so used to being the centre of attention wherever he goes, Jungkook has absolutely no problem in giving the same amount of attention to Jimin, even though it’s only their second time interacting with each other, seeing other in person (liking each other’s Instagram stories seconds after posting them doesn’t count).

  “If the next place has bigger tables than this one, then yeah, I think.” Jimin hums. He wants to dig in his waffles more but there’s only one small bite left and he’s just going to look like an idiot if he keeps pushing it around the plate. What if Jungkook thinks he’s nervous around him if he sees him do that? It’s literally the last thing he wants.

  “But I like sitting at small tables with you.”

  “You like having your ridiculously long legs squished underneath a table?” Jimin asks, his tone dry as he looks at him, completely unimpressed.

  “Nope,” the man in front of him grins.

  Before he can even react, one of Jungkook’s legs swiftly moves to wedge itself between Jimin’s and another second later, both of his knees are tightly pressed to the sides of Jimin’s thigh. He squeezes them, the movement subtle but still enough for heat to blossom all across the blond man’s cheeks, then travelling all the way down to his stomach. It makes him realise how easy it is for Jungkook to just… cage him this way. 

  He wonders how that would feel if there was no table separating them.

  “But I can do this.” Jungkook finally speaks up. “It’s nice.”

  “Nice?” Jimin sputters a bit. He tries to pull his leg away but completely underestimates the strength that Jungkook has. 

  “Yeah. Makes you blush,” he points out.

  “I’m not–!”

  “You are.” Jungkook’s grin is so bright that Jimin is sure it could be his only source of light in the middle of the night. “It’s cute.”

  “You’re so annoying.”

  He is, unfortunately, blushing. It feels as if his body is acting completely against him and his wishes. Jimin hates it. He hates the way that Jungkook can affect him so easily, can squeeze himself under his skin and find his home there, trying to search for things that make him huff and scoff in irritation. Almost as if he is a car that Jungkook can get his hands on, work him down to the smallest bits and parts until he figures out the way to drive it.

  “And you’re cute.”

  “Shut up.”

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

  Right at the same time that Jimin is having a small existential crisis over Jungkook and how attracted he is to him for some unknown reason, there’s a girl speculating over what is happening between the two men.

  “Do you think they’re fucking right now?”

  Namjoon sputters, almost choking on his coffee in the process. When he looks down, to his side, he sees a bright grin on Vickie’s face and he just knows her eyes are twinkling behind the large sunglasses that sit on top of her nose. She’s completely unbothered by her own words, acting as if she just asked him whether he wanted to stop by for some more pastries on the way back to her hotel.

  “They went to get breakfast,” he says around a sigh. He really does not want the image of whatever Vickie is talking about imprinted into his brain for the rest of his life. Dealing with Jungkook acting like a lovesick puppy is more than enough at this point.

  “Breakfast in bed is a thing, you know?” 

  She shrugs and finally looks up at him, squeezing her hand around his arm, leaning into his side a little more as they walk. He chalks the sped up rhythm of his heart to the fear of them stumbling onto a street, nothing more. 

  “It’s the second time they saw each other, I hope you remember that.” Namjoon tells her.

  “I do and I’m also willing to bet money on them fucking by the end of the month.”

  A beat of silence passes. 

  “How much?” 

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

  Jimin ends up going to see the qualifications. 

  It’s partly because Jungkook’s offer still hasn’t left his mind and partly because Vickie is going and she told him he’s not going to stay in his room for the whole day if she can do anything about it. He didn’t want to argue with her, mostly because it would be just pointless – if she decided for him that he’s going then he’s going and that’s just the end of the story. She’s not good at taking no for an answer.

  It’s just as uneventful as he expected it to be. He watches the cars pass, sometimes getting dangerously close to crashing into each other, which makes his heart race painfully in his chest. Vickie’s unmoving though, only breaking her focus to explain who is who when the commentators mention them or when they hear a scrap of conversation from one of the team’s radios. In the last round he ended up sitting on the edge of his seat in the media centre, completely immersed in what was going on, next to his friend, who had her notebook opened, making notes (of God knows what).

  Jungkook ended up getting the first grid, with Taehyung in the second one, followed by Yoongi, Hobi and the Walker guy that Jimin’s already heard about (nothing good though and judging by the grimace on Vickie’s face when she saw him in the first ten grids, he won’t hear anything good in the future). Jimin watched them all run the laps through the screens in the media centre, his heart skipping a bit every single time he saw the black and orange car that Jungkook drove, going so fast that it made his head spin even from a distance. Every single turn that looked like it was bound to make someone crash was overtaken by Jungkook so smoothly, you’d think he was just driving around London, overtaking old ladies.

  He congratulates his friends after everything is done and sticks close to Vickie, making himself useful by recording her as she goes around the place and talks to the drivers, sweet talking them enough until they agree to answer a few of her questions first when there’s a conference tomorrow. 

  They didn’t stay long enough for him to have a full conversation with Jungkook but long enough for him to see the man all sweaty and flushed after getting out of his car. There was a bright grin on his face, his eyes sparkling with something Jimin knows well enough already – pride. He accepted all the congratulatory pats on his shoulders with chuckles and promised to finish in the same spot tomorrow but when his eyes found Jimin in the crowd that surrounded him, he stopped for a second and excused himself from everyone else just to walk up to him and envelop him in a hug.

  The warmth of it surprised Jimin, as well as the gentle way that Jungkook handled him in, his arms circling around his waist, fingers sprawled onto his back. He was still wearing the racing suit, the black material with golden elements and logos of the companies that sponsor him a nice contrast to Jimin’s white, satin shirt.

  “You came,” he breathed against his ear when his arms closed around Jimin’s frame. 

  He was pressed so tightly against him that Jimin was sure he could have felt the wild beats of his heart, how it tried to get out of his ribcage under the weight of every sensation that surrounded him. Jungkook’s smell, his arms wound tight around him, the way his hand fit easily into the small of his back and how big it would be around his–

  “Vickie dragged me here.” Jimin replied, the words slightly muffled by Jungkook’s shoulder. He tried then not to breathe, tried not to let his senses fixate on the way he smelled right now – a little sweaty, though there’s still hints of his citrusy perfume, of the vanilla that for some reason just.. fits him perfectly. And yeah, it should be at least a little disgusting, but Jimin couldn’t find one single bone in his body to feel this way. “And I was promised pizza for coming here.”

  Jungkook laughs. He pulls away from him just a bit, until their faces are just inches apart and his breath ghosts over Jimin’s cheeks. Up close like this, he can count each lash fanning over his eyes, can see the mole under his bottom lip and for some reason, he decides to commit it all to memory. For what reason, he doesn’t know yet.

  But when Jungkook’s eyes darted to his lips and stayed there for a second too long to be considered an accident, he got the feeling that he was doing the same thing. 

  Which is how Jimin finds himself in the predicament he is in right now – feeling white, hot shame creep up his spine as he lays in his bed, back in his hotel room, while his mind replays the few minutes he spent so close to Jungkook. 

  It’s stupid, he knows that. Dumb, really. And it is something that nobody, not even his best friends would get out of him, even if they tried. He’ll keep this little secret locked safely in the darkest corner of his mind, hoping that it will disappear and let him function normally once again. As normally as he used to function before he met Jungkook and he started to plague his life, like a virus that you can’t get rid of. 

  This, however, does not happen. And the image of Jungkook all sweaty, panting with adrenaline coursing through his veins stays firmly behind his eyes whenever he closes them. Even worse, he thinks he can still smell him – on his clothes, on his hands – after he hugged him so tight the second he got out of that booth and saw him standing in the hallway, at a complete loss on what to do with himself.

  He groans, twists in his bed until he can press his face right into the pillow. The scent of fresh laundry fills his nose and for the briefest of moments, he thinks he’s actually free of the grip that Jeon Jungkook has over him.

  Spoiler alert: he’s definitely not.

  He’s not free and he’s not fine. Worst of all – he feels his stomach do this stupid little thing where it squeezes and then makes his body feel like it’s on fire. For some reason, it’s been doing that way too much whenever he’s around Jungkook or even so much as thinks about him. Jimin huffs but the sound gets swallowed by the pillow and he tries to move into a more comfortable position but– he stills, all of a sudden.

  There’s stillness in the room that’s almost mirroring the way Jimin’s body looks like right now, completely frozen on the mattress as he realises a very important, very crucial thing. A thing that makes his cheeks burn so hard, he’s sure the material of his pillow is going to melt away any second now.

  He is hard. For Jungkook. Because of Jungkook– whatever. Semantics don’t really matter to him right now. What matters is the fact that he’s even more embarrassed now, can feel his face heating up so quickly that it amazes him actually. He didn’t think his body was capable of such quick reactions.

  It’s not like he’s never been touched before, not like other hands haven’t explored every curve and crevice of his body, not like his hands haven’t taken the time to learn what he loved the most and what he didn’t like at all. It’s just that Jungkook makes him feel as if he’s in high school all over again – having just discovered what sexual attraction really is and what it means to feel it towards someone else, towards someone you didn’t want to feel it for.

  “Fuck,” he breathes when his face is finally not pressed to the pillow, the air from the room entering his lungs once again. Then, he shifts once again and– oh. Well.

  The slide over the sheets in his hotel room is a very welcome friction. So welcome in fact, that he does it again. And again, and again until he feels his pants growing tight, almost uncomfortable in the way his zipper presses into his cock. He’s sure that all of his brain cells must have travelled from his actual brain into his pants because he’s not thinking clearly at all when he pops open the button of his jeans, unzips them and tugs them off his legs in a hurry, as if there was some time limit set on how long he can do all this for.

  Jimin’s brain conjures up the image of a sweaty Jungkook once again, though this time he’s not in the hallway behind his team’s booth but rather.. here. 

  Here, above Jimin in all his naked glory (because yes, he did stalk his Instagram account for shirtless pictures, and no, he doesn’t feel proud of it), warm hands travelling over the expanse of his chest, pressing into his thighs, holding them open to make the access so much easier for him. 

  A gasp travels through the room, ruins the stillness of it when Jimin sneaks a hand down his underwear, grips himself at the base and squeezes because he’s sure (don’t ask him how though) that this is what Jungkook would do, just to be a little shit. He’s sure he would tease him just to hear him beg, just to see his eyes glaze over with the need to come, the need to be touched shining in his irises. 

  His legs part even more, his thumb sliding over his head, gathering the precum already leaking there and smearing it all over himself, just to make the slide easier. The shame takes the background stand for a moment as he jerks himself off and his mind goes to Jungkook once again, to all the things they never did (and might never do), to a hand with tattoos over it rubbing itself over his thigh, to dark hair tickling his neck as soft lips trail their path over his neck and shoulder.

  He gasps, hips bucking into nothing, stomach feeling hot as if he swallowed burning coals just a moment before. Jimin’s too far gone to feel embarrassed because of this now, even as he has to reach a hand to his mouth, press his palm against his lips to silence the soft moan that wants to break itself free so badly. He can’t find it in himself to care about the fact that he jerks himself off to the thought of Jungkook of all people, not right now when his hand moves quicker with each second, fingers curled and squeezing himself when he feels as if he’s going to come too soon. 

  Too soon because the visions in front of his eyes are enough to make his heart beat faster, enough for his whole body to burn with the sweet taste of pleasure, the one that he can almost taste at the tip of his tongue too, even as he bites his lip hard enough to draw blood. He wonders, just briefly, how Jungkook's piercing would feel against his lips, how it would feel if he decided to put his mouth to better use than to annoy Jimin with whatever comes to his mind. How his eyes would shine up at Jimin when he–

  Jimin’s hand does a poor job at masking the downright sinful whine that leaves his lips when his orgasm sneaks up on him, catching him by surprise and making his thighs tremble when he jerks himself through it, getting cum all over his hand and the part of his stomach that his T-Shirt uncovered in all the slide against the sheets. His mind blanks for a second, panting as he tries to calm his racing heart. The sheets might as well be ablaze under the softness of his skin as he comes down, breath heavy, mind focused on Jungkook, Jungkook, Jungkook. 

  “Fuck,” he breathes into the emptiness of the room, wincing when he looks at the sticky mess he created all over himself. “You fucking idiot.”

  Good God. Where did his dignity go? His brain cells? 

  All he can think about is the ground opening up and swallowing him whole as he moves from the bed, his whole frame an embarrassing picture. His dignity is nowhere to be seen and Jimin guesses that he’s not going to see it for a while after all that just happened. Just like most of his brain cells, it’s going to be on a leave for an unspecified amount of time. 

  Under the burning hot water of the shower, he tries to clean not only himself but his traitorous mind of the pictures it conjured up of Jungkook too. The race is tomorrow and he’s going to see him again, knowing he just made himself come with the thought of him and his name almost falling from his lips. How can he even look him in the eye now?

  Jimin quickly decides that he’s going to take this secret to the grave with him. 

  After all, it’s not his fault that Jungkook looked just a little bit too good to be true today. Not his fault that his brain is a traitor and wants to make him suffer every chance it gets. And definitely not his fault that his body reacts before he has a chance to control it, popping a boner just because he saw the man with sweat running down his temple and eyes sparkling bright with joy.

  God. If this is how he looks after doing so well in qualifications, Jimin’s already scared to see how he’s going to look on Sunday, after he wins the race.

  Not that he’s rooting for him or anything like that.