Work Text:
Park Jimin is a walking catastrophe, tight jeans that show his perky backside, silver hair made to look like he just woke up but probably took hours to do, multiple rings adorned his fingers, with a tight shirt, the first three buttons popped open and those eyes that hold suggestive promises.
Park Jimin is everything Kim Seokjin is not.
The first time Seokjin saw Park Jimin was in a dim light club, the petite man was dancing, body moving like a mermaid underwater, fluid and captivating. Seokjin just arrived after closing his coffee shop, it was Saturday night and the place was packed with people eager to unwind after a long day. Seokjin just ordered his first tequila for the night while checking his phone waiting for Jungkook to arrive. His eyes were scanning the club when he spotted Park Jimin, dancing under the dim light with smudged eyes smiling flirtatiously to every soul around him. Seokjin spotted Jungkook entering the club, he was just about to call him when he noticed Jungkook went straight to Jimin at the dance floor. He pulled the smaller man roughly into the corner of the club, Seokjin could see Jungkook sporting a massive scowl while Jimin was giggling and clinging to his side. He watched them arguing from the bar, wondering why Jungkook never told him about the man. Seokjin was about to intervene when Jimin suddenly pulled Jungkook to a rough kiss, and instead of pushing the smaller man away Jungkook was kissing back like his life depended on it.
And that was how the end started.
.
Seokjin blinks his eyes open, sunlight peeking from the curtains casting a cascading yellow light to his blanket. Jungkook sniffles behind him and then proceeds to slung his legs atop Seokjin's legs and burrow his face into Seokjin’s nape. Sunday used to be Seokjin’s favorite day, but now he loathes it. Last night's event played into his mind, everything was blurry. He couldn't remember how he got home. By the time Jungkook got home, he was busy pretending to be asleep trying to contain the pain from spilling out. He gets out of bed, his body doing his morning routine purely from muscle memory. He’s making pancakes when he feels Jungkook’s arms wrapped around his torso.
“Morning, hyung”
“Morning, Jungkook”
“It smells good”
“Everything I make smells good to you”
Jungkook just smiles and shoves a small pancake into his mouth before grabbing a plate and putting five pancakes into it. It’s so blatantly normal, Seokjin couldn’t help but think, ‘how does he do it? Is he always this good at pretending?’ and suddenly Seokjin just doesn’t know who this man he spent the last seven years together.
“So Hyung, where were you last night? I called your phone like 20 times but you weren’t picking up?”
Jungkook is asking in an aloof way, but Seokjin could tell that he is anxious and worried.
“Ah, I suddenly got tired so I decided to go straight home, my phone was dead and I forgot to charge it, I’m sorry Jungkookie.” Seokjin replies with an apologetic smile.
Jungkook just nods and continues to munch on his pancake. “That’s okay, hyung”
.
Sunday passed and Monday morning came, the coffee shop was brimming with people trying to get their caffeine to start the day. Seokjin just finished making the last order when Park Jimin stood in front of the counter looking like death looming with black t-shirt and black tight jeans, staring at him. For a moment they just look at each other, and then Jimin gives him a mocking smile. A wave of anger rushes through Seokjin, how dare he show up in Seokjin’s sanctuary and have the impudence to look like he owned the place. Never one to resort to confrontation, Seokjin gives his best customer-friendly smile.
“Hello, Welcome to Blue & Gray, what are you having for today?”
“You’re Kim Seokjin, right?”
‘Straight for the jugular then’
“Yes, I am”
“Park Jimin, never thought I’ll be able to meet you, not with how Jungkook guards you.” Jimin replies with the same mocking smile.
“You saw us didn’t you, last Saturday?”
The atmosphere around them is frigid, Seokjin is hoping that Park Jimin wouldn’t be this shameless but he definitely underestimated how bold the smaller man was.
“What do you want?”
Park Jimin is not what Kim Seokjin expected him to be, but this is outrageous, first showing up at his workplace, and now trying to humiliate Seokjin while he’s the one having an affair with someone’s boyfriend in the first place.
“I just want to see you, I want to know what got Jungkook so wrapped in your little finger. I get it now, you’re mature, successful. You’re the safe option. But that’s all you are.”
Jimin leanes down the counter eyes shining with mirth
“He’s not going to choose you forever you know, he might choose you now. But he’ll come around, because you know what?”
Victorious smile playing on those sinful lips and Jimin purrs “Because, I’m what he wants.”
Seokjin could felt something within him snaps at those words
“Get out.”
Jimin stands up, a satisfied smirk on his lips
“I’ve gotten my point across, Goodbye Kim Seokjin.”
Seokjin stares blankly at Jimin’s silhouette, the meeting feels surreal, almost like a dream except Seokjin can still smell the man’s cologne in the air. It’s different from what Seokjin likes. He always prefers the sweet smell of vanilla. Park Jimin smells of sandalwood, like a challenge ready to be conquered. And Seojin wonders if that’s what drew Jungkook to him.
The rest of the day goes in a blur, Seokjin doesn’t even know what he’s doing yet somehow he manages to not mess up any of the customer’s orders. He can’t remember anything except Jimin waltzing into his cafe like the angel of death. He tells his employees that he’s going to do the closing. As the last of his employees trickle down into the street, Seokjin takes a shuddering breath pressing his forehead into the cold countertop. The air feels suffocating, a wetness trails down his cheek followed by another and another. Before he knows it, dry heaving sobs are escaping his aching chest. As he slides down into the cold floor, hand clutching his shirt as if trying to claw the pain away, he thinks if Jungkook ever thought about him when he’s with Jimin. Does Jimin’s lips taste like Seokjin’s? Does his laugh sound like Seokjin? Does Jimin take care of Jungkook in a way he can’t? He knows those thoughts would lead nowhere but to devastation, yet he can’t stop it. Can’t stop imagining how happy Jungkook looks like when Jimin tells him a joke, how Jungkook looks like when he’s fucking Jimin.
Seokjin stays there for what feels like eternity, his legs feel numb and his face must look like a mess. His phone beeps, he fishes it out of his pocket. On the screen there’s a notification, a message from Jugkook telling him he would be home soon. Putting the phone back into his pocket, Seokjin stands up, wash his face and start to do the closing.
The drive home is filled with silence, Seokjin doesn’t even bother to open the radio. He has no intention of listening to some celebrities divorce or how’s the traffic in myeongdong. Instead he thinks about Jungkook, about the ring sitting in his cabinet.
Seokjin bought the ring two days after their seventh year anniversary. He was running errands in the Gangnam area when he spotted the jewelry store. At first he was uncertain whether he could afford the ring or not, yet there was this small voice inside his head urging him to get in, to just at least take a look. The woman who manned the store was very helpful. Gushing the whole way after Seokjin explained he was looking for an engagement ring. After cruising for an hour he finally settles on a simple silver band, with an engravement on the inside
Love you always
Somehow it felt fitting, because Seokjin couldn’t imagine not loving Jungkook; couldn’t imagine not being with him, it's in his blood, running through his veins. He asked for another engravement to be added, butterflies fluttered in his stomach when he thought about it.
Love you always -Seokjin
Now it feels like a mockery, the ring with his love proclamation engraved in it. They’re relationship was not perfect, there had been rocky patches here and there. And some nights, especially after they fought, Seokjin would lay awake staring at the ceiling, thinking about time limits and final line. About the sand inside the hourglass, trickling down bit by bit, wondering when it would run out. He thought when the end arrived, Jungkook would at least give him the courtesy to break it up rather than this, this betrayal.
And Seokjin never thought he would be able to feel this kind of hatred, least of all to Jungkook, yet the anger within him has turned into resentment. He resents Jungkook for turning their memories together into a lie, he resents Jungkook for making him question whether he ever has the love he thought he had.
Seokjin knows deep down that the bridges between him and Jungkook have been burning for a long time. The wounds they inflicted on each other may have healed but the scars are there, glaring and reminding them of what they’ve become. And Seokjin has been turning a blind eye to it, choosing to believe that they were okay. That it was just a phase, that Jungkook would always come back to him.
Yet, here they are.
He had planned to propose when things had settled down. Jungkook has been so busy these past few months, always coming home late saying that he had a big project that could lead to a promotion. Seokjin wonders if the big project was an acronym for Park Jimin. But it doesn’t matter, not anymore.
.
Seokjin opens the front door, Jungkook’s shoes aren't there yet. Which means he’s still at the office, or maybe he’s with Park Jimin, fucking in a fancy hotel somewhere his traitorous mind whispers.
The sound of rain fills the apartment, it feels unusually tranquil like the calm before a storm. Tonight's menu is a beef stew, Seokjin has just put the lid on, letting the stew shimmer, when the front door is open hastily, revealing a soaked Jungkook. Seokjin helps with his belongings and ushers him to the bathroom, chiding the whole way about using an umbrella and not running during the rain because now he could get sick and Jungkook just laughs and teases him that he has Seokjin to take care of him if he gets sick.
After the bathroom door is closed, Seokjin’s mind goes back to the event that transpired earlier that day, he’s so lost in his thoughts he doesn’t realize Jungkook has finished his shower, until Jungkook points out that the stew is ready to be simmered. Seokjin is spooning the rice into a bowl when Jungkook asks him
“So, how was today? Anything interesting happened?”
Seokjin could feel his stomach churning at the question, but he waited long enough.
“I met Park Jimin today.”
Seokjin could feel Jungkook froze at his words, he looks up and there it is, fear and panic swirling in Jungkook’s brown orbs.
“Hyung, please I could explain.” There's desperation in his tone, his hands reaching towards Seokjin trying to placate him.
And Seokjin just feels unbearably angry, humiliated and most of all hurt.
“Was I not enough?” He whispers trying to keep the tears at bay
“No! No hyung, it wasn’t you. I swear it, it was all my fault, everything was on me” Jungkook’s hands are enveloping him, trying to tug him closer.
“Then why did you do it?” He tugs his hand out of Jungkook’s grasp watching with grim satisfaction as Jungkook’s face falls.
“I, It was a moment of weakness, hyung it was over I swear it, there’s nothing more between us.”
“How could I trust you anymore, you lied to me. Everything you said could have been a lie!”
Seokjin wants to yell his pain out. Scream to the world of how wounded he is. During their whole relationship Seokjin only ever yelled at Jungkook twice, once when he broke Seokjin’s favorite mug and when he got sick eating a stale sushi. But yelling wouldn’t solve anything and it wouldn't turn back the time. And he kept on thinking about the ring, about forever hovering on the horizon.
He was such a fool
“No!, hyung please listen to me, please I am not lying it’s over, please just...:”
Jungkook is running his hand through his hair in frustration, his wild eyes are gazing at Seokjin pleadingly.
“Please, I know I don’t deserve it, but I’m asking you, please let me fix this, let me try again. I know I ruined everything but please, hyung… I can’t lose you.”
Jeon Jungkook stands in front of him, eyes red-rimmed, his body shaking trying to hold back a sob, begging him for something Seokjin is not even sure he could give.
“How long?”
Jungkook sucks in a shuddering breath, eyes avoiding Seokjin before he answers
“Six months”
“The whole time?”
“Yes”
Seokjin swallows the lump in his throat, blinking back the blurriness in his vision. All he can see is his boyfriend of seven years standing there with pleading eyes, trying to salvage what he broke, even if there might not be anything salvageable.
“Were you ever going to tell me?”
The silence that follows is an answer itself, that Jungkook wouldn’t even give him the courtesy of knowing. And suddenly, it’s just too much, the pleading gaze, the regretful words. It’s too much and Seokjin couldn’t bear to be in the same room with Jungkook anymore. Couldn’t look at Jungkook and see nothing of the man he fell in love with.
“I need to go.”
With that Seokjin grabs the car keys, ignoring Jungkook’s panicked yell and bolts out of their apartment.
.
Jungkook met Park Jimin in the summer. He was accompanying his superior into one of the clubs in Gangnam after wrapping up a project. Jungkook was anxious, he didn’t like the crowded dance floor or the sultry looks the girls kept on giving him. He was busy texting Seokjin telling him how he’d rather be at home, cuddling with Seokjin. Seokjin being the bastard that he is, just laughed at him telling him not to stay up too late.
Jungkook looked up from the phone, eyes landed on the sight of his superior molesting, probably two underage girls on each of his side. Sighing Jungkook decided to might as well use the free bar since his superior said that he was buying. He approached the bartender, a man who looked like he was around his age with smoky eyes and plump lips that just begged to be ravished. He was clad in loose leopard pattern shirts with two buttons undone revealing his toned pecs.
“What can I get you, handsome?” The smirk was positively salacious. The man raked his eyes up and down Jungkook’s form in appreciation. His egotistical side was preening at the attention but Jungkook quickly crushed it.
“Sherry on rocks, please”
The man continued to stare at Jungkook, but when Jungkook raised his eyebrows in expectation, he let out an amused huff and started to pour.
“I’ve never seen you around here.” the man remarked as he handed the glass to Jungkook.
“Not a fan of clubs.” Jungkook answered as he took a sip.
“Really? I didn’t see that coming.” The man leaned in, resting both of his elbows on the counter.
“Why?” Jungkook asked curiously
“I mean a guy like you would fit right in here.” The man replied with another lewd smirk.
“And what exactly does a guy like me mean?” Now that this man had piqued Jungkook’s curiosity he couldn’t help but flirt back.
“You know what it means. Anyway, I didn’t catch your name yet.” The man was obviously eager, ready to throw himself at Jungkook. Normally Jungkook would ignore this kind of advance, but he and Seokjin had been busy for some time and he just feels a little lonely. What's the harm of knowing this gorgeous creature in front of him, anyway?
“It’s Jeon Jungkook. And you are?” His tone might be nonchalant but the other man knew from how heated Jungkook’s gaze was that he was nothing but interested.
“Park Jimin. It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr.Jeon.”
And that’s how the hourglass was flipped and the end began.