«Grim» → kth | jjk

I

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Jungkook in the story
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Rubber soles of worn sneakers slapped against the damp and empty sidewalk, the sound mixing with that of the gentle rain and faint thunder. The young brown haired boy, by the name of Jeon Jungkook, made his way with his hands shoved into the pockets of his dull grey jacket, and the hood pulled up over his head. A black strap was slung over his left shoulder and across his torso, carrying a fairly inexpensive camera in black casing. Thankfully it wasn't raining too hard, otherwise the camera could risk slight water damage, being that it wasn't waterproof.

Nothing exciting was happening in particular that he was going to see. Then again, nothing exciting ever happened. This was a small town, everybody knew everybody and everything.

That's what made being an independent journalist so difficult for Jungkook, the lack of stories. The lack of excitement. The lack of anything remotely interesting.

So why did he stay?

There were a few reasons. One of which being his inability to afford moving. The one thing about his 'profession' was that it didn't pay big bucks, in fact it hardly paid at all. He used to work for the local paper for roughly a year, and it was pretty stable in terms of pay, but he butt heads more than a few times with his co-workers and his boss. Jungkook loved to investigate anything and everything that caught his interest, so being told what to write about and what not to write about really rubbed him the wrong way. Being independent meant he could write about whatever, whenever- although now he had taken up photography as well to make some extra cash. So far, it had been going pretty smoothly. Sometimes he got called in to take photos for events such as weddings, parties, you name it.

The other big reason Jungkook remained where he was was because of the firm belief that he held deep, deep down; even the smallest of towns, with the cleanest history and best of people, have at least one dark, twisted secret beneath the surface. It was his goal to discover what it was.

For now, however, he had to settle for the small, hardly interesting at all, stories- if they could even be called that.

"Well, if it isn't the Jeon Jungkook in my shop. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Jungkook lowered his wet jacket hood and let it fall to rest against his back, shaking his hair out and then looking at the dark haired shop owner, who seemed to be in the middle of restocking a shelf. The small corner-store was empty, leaving it to be only Jungkook and the shop owner. It was amazing how dead these places were on rainy days.

"I know sarcasm when I hear it, Namjoon." Jungkook rolled his eyes and approached him, shoes squeaking on the linoleum shop floor.

Namjoon only shrugged and went back to restocking, lifting items out of the box at his feet and arranging them carefully. "So? What do you want?" He asked.

Jungkook pulled out a pocket sized notepad that he had carried with his camera inside the black case, and clicked the pen after flipping it open to a clean page. At the sound of the click, Namjoon visibly cringed. Jungkook came in regularly, asking if he knew something about something else, or if he had any 'leads' on any 'stories.' If it weren't for the fact they were friends, Namjoon would have brushed him off by now.

"Word on the street is the new bakery across the street only moved locations because the last one got shut down for health code violations." Jungkook began, touching the tip of the pen to the paper as he anticipated any response.
Namjoon looked over his shoulder at his friend, raised an eyebrow, and then glanced out the window to briefly look at the yet-to-be-open bakery.

"Is it, now? What kind of violations?" He sighed and went back to his task.

Jungkook wrinkled his nose. "Cockroaches."

"Uh-huh... That happens."
"Any comment? After all, it's being set up directly across the street from your shop. How do you feel about having a cockroach-infested bakery-"

Namjoon sighed heavily and picked up the now empty box. "Are you writing an article or a gossip column, Jungkook? Because right now it sounds like you're looking to get attention off of tarnishing someone else's name. That desperate? Photography not working?"

Jungkook followed Namjoon to the front of the shop as he scowled, and lowered the pen and notepad, shoving it back into his case when he realized he'd get nothing out of Namjoon.

"Well what else am I supposed to write about. Literally nothing happens here." He grumbled and leaned against the front counter. "You know I have to write about something!"

"Yeah, I know. Doesn't mean I'm going to let you resort to that crap they call 'news.' If you want to get anywhere as a journalist, you have to stay honest, and digging up stories where there are none, or where there shouldn't be any, is the opposite."

The brown haired boy huffed and looked at the elder of the two. "How's this for a story. 'Young, Aspiring Journalist Has Terrible Friends.'"

Namjoon laughed slightly as he brought out another box of items that needed to be restocked.

"Call me what you want, but I'm just looking out for you. But you're an adult. Don't let me stop you from doing anything." He shrugged and carried the box to another aisle in the store. Jungkook didn't follow this time, staying where he was and staring at the spot Namjoon had previously been standing in. He only stayed there for a moment before going back to the door, pulling his hood over his head and adjusting his jacket.

"Oh- Jungkook! Before you go, I do have something for you." Namjoon emerged from the aisle to see him.

Jungkook stood, staring at his friend. "What is it?"
"A name." He responded, and Jungkook didn't hesitate to take out his pen and notepad once again, a small bubble of eagerness becoming present in his gut.

Jungkook clicked his pen and brought it to the page, ready to write.

"Kim Taehyung."

And immediately the name was scribbled across the paper, with a new found intrigue developing within Jungkook.

He gave Namjoon a nod of thanks and then left, walking through the steady rain. He stopped at the edge of the sidewalk, looking both ways.

At this point, he could either continue straight and get home in a little under five minutes, or he could take the alley behind Namjoon's shop that lead to some woods and take the footpath, which, while taking a little longer, would be more scenic.

The rain made for a nice, peaceful mood, so Jungkook decided 'why not' and turned, taking the long way home.

A/N: This was mostly an introduction chapter to Jungkook's character! Hopefully later chapters will be more interesting... Also a bit of a side note; This is my first time writing a story for BTS, and I'm fairly new to the Kpop world, so this'll be a bit rough haha

I hope you enjoyed chapter one, though! <3 I'm super excited for this story!