bluesxde's kpop commissions!

commission #4

jungkook x reader, exchange student au, friends to lovers, unrequited love (kinda)

The autumn sunlight was different in Seoul to where you grew up. Autumn was such a tempestuous month usually; different shades of gold and grey, warm or cold, rarely something in between. But right now, it was perfect. It was all perfect, actually.

You were sitting with Jungkook on the campus lawn, his arm slung over his eyes to block out the light. Multiple students were taking advantage of the last little drop of sunshine before the winter months began to creep up on you all, and Jungkook had suggested using your free period to lounge around in the grass.

Your other friends had meant to join you, but Jimin felt ill and Momo followed wherever her boyfriend went - doting on him. Not that you could really complain or anything, you weren't much different nowadays.

As much as you fought to deny it to yourself for the first few weeks of the semester when you'd met Jungkook, you were beginning to feel something for him that went beyond platonic, healthy friendship. Something about the way he saw you, his dark eyes all bright with mischief, finding humour in anything and everything, lighting up your sad, mundane little life from the very second you'd set foot on campus.

Jungkook was the first person to make you feel comfortable when you came to the campus on foreign exchange. He never made fun of the fact you hadn't quite learned Korean as well as you'd wanted to before you arrived, and he always helped you out when you needed it. He made you feel like a friend on your very first day, so it was no surprise that the two of you would become best friends as the weeks progressed. At this point, Jungkook was one of the very few people who even really knew you, and he was also the only guy you had ever loved. But that was for another time.

"If I bleached my hair would I look weird," He murmured suddenly, and you had to pull yourself from the daydream you were in to ask him to repeat himself, "Like...I wouldn't look dumb, right?"

Far from it, you wanted to say. The dark haired charm of the boy next door had always been Jungkook's thing. That was what had caused you to fall as hard as you had, paired with his wonderfully endearing sense of humour, you don't know how you lasted as long as you did without immediately falling for him. But thirty minutes seemed like too long, even by your standards.

"No, you'd look nice," Nice didn't even cut it, but you had to keep your choice of words cool, easy-breezy, so he didn't find out you thought about him during your last hook-up.

He wasn't nice-looking. Guys like Jungkook didn't deserve nice, they deserved out of this world, beautiful, enchanting, drop-dead gorgeous. But you settled for nice because while you were his friend, you were also a whimp.

He used his sleeve to wipe his nose, and you thought even that was cute - the rational part of your brain scoffed beneath the pillow your libido was smothering her under. As he did this, you saw a whisper of the tatted skin of his arm, and everything in you clenched, your heart included. He was just so perfect, you wanted to cry right this second.

"Sana mentioned she likes blonde hair - " And once again, you felt your body sag in disappointment. Sana wasn't a cruel person, she was lovely. But wasn't that always the case when the guy you were in love with was in love with someone else? "I just thought maybe I should try it out while I'm young enough to pull it off,"

He didn't see you, but you nodded anyway, humming in response because words were lost on you. There was nothing you could say that would make you feel better, so you settled for nothing at all, covering it up as you plucked a piece of sushi from the tray despite the fact you'd been full ten minutes ago.

"Maybe you should too, you'd look cute,"

Nothing prepared you for a statement like that, and you snorted without even registering that you had been drinking your water. It spilled out of your nose as you gasped, and Jungkook sat up, eyes wide like you'd just been shot or something. Your cheeks were already heating up even as you continued to choke.

"Yeah, um - " You coughed, "I don't think blonde is my shade," Jungkook patted you on the back, and you almost leaned into his touch. What the hell was wrong with you?

Once Jungkook knew you weren't dying, he sat back on his hands as you dabbed your chin with your sweater, scrunching up your nose in pure embarrassment. When he continued to look at you, a strange little thrill shot through you, but you shoved it away before you could let yourself linger on the feeling of being watched so closely by the guy you wanted.

"What?" You said, sniffing and clearing your throat as you tried to push through the burning sensation of the water clogging up your airways for a minute, "Are you that shocked I can be such a hazard to myself?"

"No," He replied, grinning, "it was cute,"

Oh how you wished he meant it. You wanted him to mean that more than anything, but he looked away and cleared his throat at the same time you glanced down, unable to find anyway to change the subject. In looking away, you didn't spot the way Jungkook's eyes flickered over to you, his chest swimming with something he didn't know how to name yet.

"I can help you if you want to dye your hair?" You offered, finally looking over to your friend as he nodded, his head lax on his shoulders, posture laid back and effortlessly hot. He was so attractive it hurt to breathe.

He grinned, eyes crinkling at the edges, "Thanks,"

He helped you tidy up, putting the trash from your lunch into a paper bag before the two of you went to your lectures. You'd never tell Jungkook you counted down the hours until you could see him again, and later that night after you'd left his dorm room, Jungkook wouldn't notice his heart skipped every time your arm brushed his on the walk to class.