Low Stress: Puppy-Love (Jikook)

Chapter Six: The Return

"Great. It's raining." Jungkook muttered to himself as he walked from the subway towards the restaurant Jimin had sent him the address of. Well, more accurately Jimin had sent it into a long inactive group chat with all seven of them.

Walking down the raining city street Jungkook couldn't help the sudden strike of sentiment that lodged in his throat. Jimin had wanted to eat near Seoul National, the university the boys had all graduated from together. He recognized the bars with flashy purple lights and the Ajummas laughing with customers inside golden lit restaurants as he passed them. Each with Seoul National's emblem at its door. The taste of sharp kimchi soup was still potent in his memories. It was the one late night meal that brought him back to life after hours cooped up in the library, cramming for exams with Taehyung and Jimin.

A group of Seoul National students whisked by on electric scooters that the university provided to navigate its many hills, and Jungkook nearly laughed at the sight. He remembered taking the scooters this far off campus when he had been a student, though usually it was out of laziness and not to escape the coming rain. Jungkook checked his phone again, knowing the location of the barbeque restaurant Jimin chose by heart, but he couldn't bite down the habit of having the navigation up. Watching it gave his mind something to do other than overthink a simple dinner with his closest friends. It kept him from glaring at the people he passed by, too, as he walked further from Seoul National and more into the city area. More than one person was openly staring at him. Do they all know? He thought, eyes on the little arrow of his navigation pointing where he needed to turn. Can they tell I'm freaking the fuck out?

He clenched his jaw, wondering at first if he had something on his face, and failed to realize people were staring because the drizzling rain made his hair cling to his neck and his nerves were making him scowl. He was dangling a cigarette between his fingers before the water could snuff it out. Jungkook filled out his black leather jacket, the equally dark button up underneath open at his collarbones. The ink of his fingers seemed to darken as he brought the cigarette to his lips, allowing the memories of this campus to pool out his mind as easily as the smoke pooled from his lips.

The thick locks of his hair were starting to get a little long. He'd meant to go cut them before the dinner but found himself incapable of doing anything this morning other than stress. It wasn't a violent feeling, more like a slight buzz in the back of his head that only boxing after lunch managed to tame. The restaurant came into view and Jungkook stopped a little outside the front door, leaning his back to the wall. He could hear Hoseok's bolster of a laugh from inside. The restaurant wasn't large, but it was always lively no matter what time the boys visited it. The staff were yelling at each other, running raw meat from table to table and chastising the young students they hired for any misstep. Every table was filled with groups of friends or couples smiling over spilled beers as the smoke of simmering pork belly and tang of spicy soup filled the air. He could smell it even now, standing with one foot out the door.

Jungkook pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a private sigh as if to say what am I doing here?

He brought the cigarette to his lips and tilted his head back exposing the sharp line of his jaw and the bob of his Adam's apple. Jungkook snuffed the cigarette on the ground and finally walked inside.

It was instantly brighter in the restaurant. So bright in fact, that Jungkook had to squint to adjust his eyesight and find Hoseok waving at him from a table in the back. Jungkook's eyes quickly found Yoongi, the older boy giving him a little nod and a gummy smile that said I didn't think you'd make it. Jungkook returned the look, blinking back to Hoseok as if to say the same thing. Yoongi shrugged, touché, and Jungkook thought back to what his friend had said about the two of them stuck in the same trench.