Enchanting | Jikook

9

They ride the subway in silence. Jimin looks tired Jungkook doesn't know what to say to him, has never really talked to him outside of flirting and pissing each other off, but that's alright. If he opened his mouth right now he might just spoil the fun, and he doesn't want to do that. He wants Jimin to be surprised. This is his favorite part of being outside on his own, and he's excited to share it with someone.

As soon as they leave the subway, Jimin looks around with a frown. "Where are we?"

he asks, probably more of a rhetorical question since it's not like Jungkook put a bag over his head while they were on the train, but Jungkook can't blame him. The area looks utopian.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Jungkook says softly, hands in the pockets of his jacket as they stroll through the streets. He knows exactly where he's going. It's not far from here anymore.

"Who the hell can afford shit like this?" says Jimin, still looking around so much he actually stumbles for a split second after turning his head a little too far. When he catches himself, he's squinting at Jungkook. "We're not stealing anything, are we?"

Jungkook hums a laugh. "Sort of."

"Shit." Jimin continues walking next to Jungkook like his body can't hear what he's saying. "What the fuck, I should go back home. I don't steal stuff."

"You won't," Jungkook just says as they round the last corner. "I'll do it."

They're right in front of a house now, silent and dark in the night, when Jungkook approaches, something moves in one of the windows and they see a dog raising its head and peeking out at them through the glass. Jungkook grins and waves at it.

Vaguely, Jungkook thinks he can see a tail wag in there. Jimin seems surprised that they're not getting barked at, and is frowning back and forth between Jungkook and the animal.

"Is that the dog you stole?" he ventures slowly.

"No." Jungkook laughs. "I stole a different dog. Might steal this one soon, though. But first..." With that, he throws Jimin a grin, slowly pulling a car key out of the pocket of his jacket.

Jimin's eyes go almost comically wide for a second, darting between the key and the car. "Is that-?"

"Yep. Lifted it off the owner a while ago. Poor guy's been driving with his spare key ever since."

"Are we- fuck," Jimin swears as Jungkook unlocks the car and slides smoothly onto the driver's seat like he owns the thing. Jimin is now hopping from one foot to the other on the passenger's side, still hesitant to even open the door. "Are we stealing a car?"

"You're not stealing anything," Jungkook repeats all honeyed, closing his own door very gently so he doesn't make too much noise, and cranking down the passenger's window. "Get in, loser."

That seems to set Jimin in motion again. "Mean Girls? Really?" he says as he opens the door and climbs onto the seat, making an obvious effort to close it again just as quietly. "If I end up spending the rest of tonight somewhere in holding with you, I'm literally going to murder you, just so you know."

"You really need to calm down," Jungkook says, barely containing his laughter as he backs out of the driveway slowly and Jimin buckles up..

He rounds a corner and drives for about three blocks, just until he can see Jimin slowly relax against the seat, his gaze out the window not quite as frantic anymore. Then, hi puts the Chevy in reverse and parallel parks perfectly next to another row of pretty houses.

Jimin blinks. He looks outside, then he looks at Jungkook, who's turning off the engine and stretching generously with a happy smile. "What are we doing here?"

"Nothing," says Jungkook, putting the key back into his pocket and shooting Jimin a grin before opening the door. "We're done."

He climbs out and throws the door shut, then he waits one second, two seconds, before he can hear Jimin's feet hit the ground outside and the passenger door falls shut.

"Done?" Jimin echoes, the confusion in his voice now so painfully obvious it's making Jungkook fight back a giggle in the back of his throat. "What... That was it? What was that?"

Okay, no, he can't do it. Jungkook giggles loudly as he motions Jimin to follow him. "I stole my dad's car key like four months ago," he says happily.

"Ever since then, every two weeks or so I get in his car in the middle of the night, and park it somewhere else. Now when he gets up for work in a few hours, he'll have to look for it first, and he'll wonder, again, who the fuck keeps messing with him like this."

"Your dad's-" Jimin interrupts himself to groan instead. He throws his head back and Jungkook forces himself to not stare at the way his throat works around the loud sigh he heaves like this, but then Jimin laughs, and Jungkook does stare a little, maybe.

"Okay. Sure. Your dad's car. That's why the dog liked you. Wait." He looks around once more, and then quirks a brow at Jungkook. "You live here?"

"Oh, no," Jungkook says with another laugh that's not quite the happy giggle he let out before. "My dad lives here. I live with my mom, like, four streets from that coffee shop you and Taehyung work at."

It's a shit neighborhood, and judging from the look on Jimin's face, he knows. The frown makes room for something like a grin soon afterwards though, and he shakes his head with a little snort. "Well, I'll admit, I didn't think you'd be this creative."

Jungkook grins back. This is what he wanted to achieve, he's pretty sure. Make Jimin rethink what he knew about him, make him understand that he's not all stupid, groundless pranks and criminal energy. He does what he does for reasons, and he does it with people who have it coming.

to be continued...