letters

Epilogue

SotC: Love Story, SURAN (feat. CRUSH)

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JIN WAS HARD AT WORK IN THE KITCHEN, COOKING THE LAST PARTS OF A SMALL FEAST, WHEN SOMEONE ENTERED THE KITCHEN.

"Hey love," Namjoon sleepily murmured as he padded into the kitchen, wrapping his arms around Jin's waist and resting his head in the crook of his neck. Jin momentarily relaxed into his boyfriend's embrace, pressing a kiss on his head before he pulled away.

"Hey babe. Sleep well?"

"Slept so well that I wish I still was," Namjoon grumbled, rubbing his eyes. Jin lightly laughed.

"You know you can go back to sleep. I have everything under control here."

"No, no, you're making so much food and I want to help." A pause. "Why are you making so much food?"

"You think I'm going to let you near a knife? You almost killed me with a fallen bookshelf, remember?"

"Fair enough."

"And really? You're asking me why I'm making so much food? Look at it."

"Babe--"

"Just look at it."

Namjoon paused, observing all the dishes his boyfriend made, until-- "These are all of Jungkook's favorites." Eyes wide, Namjoon turned to Jin.

"Jungkook's leaving today."

Jin nodded. "I figured that a nice brunch before he moved out would be a good thing to do."

"Babe, I--" Namjoon cut himself off. "I'm not ready for him to go."

"Shhhh, love." Jin attempted to comfort his boyfriend as his attention was forced back on the stove. "It's going to be okay, he's still nearby."

"Well, yes, but--" Namjoon sighed. "It's not about that. I've lived with him for so long. There were times where he was all I had. It's just... it's going to be weird without him, you know?"

"I know," Jin replied soothingly. "I felt the same way when Seokjung left. But you won't be alone," Jin continued as he pointed with a wooden spoon to a stack of packed boxes in the corner labeled "CEO JIN <3."

"You'll have me."

His boyfriend smiled warmly. "You're right."

"Damn right I am. Now get some plates, will you? The paper ones-- I don't want to clean up the mess of an apartment that I haven't even moved into yet."

As Namjoon went to the cabinet with the paper plates, grumbling that he wasn't that clumsy, Jungkook entered the kitchen. "Hey, Jin-hyung! Something smells delicious, what are you making?"

Jin grinned, responding with a quick "you'll see," as Namjoon protested. "Why are you assuming that Jin's the one cooking? How do you know it's not me?"

"Bro, I mean this with as much offense as possible: your cooking's terrible. Remember when you tried to make me eggs?"

"Hey, eggs are hard to make! You let me know how your eggs end up when you make them yourself."

The air grew thick as Jungkook's face fell. "Oh, yeah," he whispered. "Because I'm going to have to do that now."

Namjoon closed his eyes briefly as he exhaled. "You're grown up, Jungkook. It's time for you to learn how to take care of yourself."

Jungkook ran to Namjoon, who opened his arms and held him tight. The two of them didn't speak, the silence being interrupted by their quiet sniffles and the faint thud of the paper plates falling from Namjoon's hands onto the floor.

Jin couldn't help but roll his eyes. I knew that clumsy man would end up dropping those somehow.

Feeling like he was interrupting a private moment between the two brothers, Jin grabbed new plates and was about to leave when he felt a hand grab his wrist. Expecting it to be Namjoon, Jin was surprised when he realized it was Jungkook holding onto his arm like he never wanted to let go. "Jin-hyung, I--" Jungkook cleared his throat as his voice cracked. "Thank you. For everything."

"You're welcome," Jin replied warmly as he allowed himself to be absorbed in a group hug. The trio remained in each other's arms for a couple minutes until Jin pulled away. "You're going to have a great time at the university, yeah? You have some friends there, and you'll make more, and your boyfriend is there as well," Jin lightly teased, and Jungkook flushed a bit. "But we'll always miss you, and love you, and if you ever want to visit, we're right here."

"Will you guys come over sometimes and hang out with us, like how your hyung did?" Jungkook asked hopefully.

"We'll try to. And now that you're no longer underage, we can gather the rest of our friends and play drinking games after Finals Week."

Namjoon turned to Jin incredulously. "That's why you were so hungover the next day? I thought you just had a party!" He turned to Jungkook. "No drinking games."

Jin waited until his boyfriend's back was turned before rolling his eyes at Namjoon and mouthing we'll do it together. The younger boy lightly giggled in response.

"Let's eat, yeah? I didn't make all this food for nothing." Jin announced, and the two brothers murmured in agreement, each carrying a dish to the dining room, eager to have one last meal together before Jungkook moved out.

»»»

After the meal, after loading all of Jungkook's belongings in the car and taking him to the university, after unpacking his things and helping him get settled, after helping Jungkook find Taehyung and Jimin and officially adding him into the group chat that they've had since their freshman year, after the emotional goodbyes and reminders to call daily and to do his homework and to take good notes, and after the drive back, Namjoon and Jin were home.

Alone.

Namjoon unlocked the door, opening it to an apartment devoid of anyone. The couple merely stood at the doorway, looking into the apartment, not stepping in.

Jin began to laugh. "Why are we like this?"

Namjoon joined in the laughter, because it was quite funny that the couple had dreamed of an empty apartment for such a long time, and now that it was finally theirs, they weren't entering it.

"I think," Namjoon managed to reply as the young couple suppressed their giggles, "that it's because we've been talking about it for so long that we never expected to get this far, and now that we have..."

"...we don't know what to do."

"Exactly." A pause. "So what do you want to do, babe?"

"Well, I do have a lot of boxes to unpack--"

"Absolutely not."

"What? It's true!"

"Well, yes, but you can be with the boxes later. For now, though..." Namjoon trailed off as he picked up Jin bridal-style, causing him to squeal loudly.

"For now," Namjoon started again, pressing his lips to Jin's, "you're mine."

And that's how the young couple entered the apartment, now officially theirs-- with Jin in Namjoon's arms, their lips locked, and their hearts full of love for each other.

the end.

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Wrote this real quick because letters got 1k reads, so this is just a quick way for me to say THANK YOU SO MUCH I LOVE YOU.

Final remarks will be posted soon, I'll just talk about everything I went through with letters, all that.

I do hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.

Much love,

xx Bex.