Jinkook Ao3 / You Came For Me (You Stayed For Us) by kuragecharms

Chapter 6

Okay, Jungkook was not smitten, no matter what Taehyung had said. Sure, he had maybe-perhaps run into Seokjin and Jimin a few times in the park or on campus in the following weeks since the birthday party. And he had maybe-perhaps gotten Seokjin’s Kakaotalk (“In case we need to talk about, y’know, class stuff.”) because he really didn’t want things to end up slowly tapering off to nothing more than casual hellos at the start of class. That in itself wasn’t so strange, right?

But changing his evening runs so that he would end up passing their apartment complex most nights? Glancing up at the lights on in the front room of their apartment and wondering what they were up to? And now ‘accidentally’ mixing up his textbooks with Seokjin’s, so he’d have an excuse to go up to the door and actually find out? He felt guilty for his actions, even though he hadn’t really done anything. Perhaps it was because Seokjin was a beautiful, perfect mask of cordiality, an unreadable book wherein he couldn’t decipher to what level he could be bold and to what level he should back off and take the situation as pure politeness. Sure, there had been those soft looks he sent Jungkook when he was playing with Jimin, but that could be so easily misinterpreted - he seemed like such a proud father, the kind to treasure everything and get pretty sentimental at times, it was probably directed at his son.

Asking ‘Does he like me?’ felt so elementary, so childish, but that was the root of it. Jungkook couldn’t pick apart what was wishful thinking and what was fact, when it came to Seokjin’s treatment of him. He wish he knew. He also wished he knew why Seokjin’s interest mattered so much, why he dared to hope that he had a sporting chance with the senior. Maybe that was why he was now standing in front of apartment 204B, biting at his lip nervously as he waited.

When the door opened, it took everything in him not to ogle and gasp at how picturesque the two Kims looked. Jin wore a pale white turtleneck and gold-rimmed circular glasses that rested perfectly on the slight upturn of the edge of his nose, giving off a warm, domestic aura, somehow heightened by the bright pink hair and the toddler he had balanced on his hip. Jimin was only wearing an enormous T-shirt that he was swimming in, round soft elbows and knees poking out and one thumb stuck into his mouth as he smiled at Jungkook so hard, his cheeks pushed his eyes temporarily out of commission. The only thing that could have made them look more welcoming, familial and poetic was if the smile on Seokjin’s face looked a little less cautious.

“Junglookie!” Jimin cried, holding out his arms in the hopes that Jungkook would hold him. He was ignored by his father for the moment, the pre-law student still holding the door open with one hand.

“Darling, it’s Jung k ook,” Jin gently corrected, offering Jungkook a little smile and a cheerful, “Well, good evening!”

“Hey,” Jungkook said, his fingers playing with the straps of his backpack. “Um, I think the other day when we were studying, our books got switched? Or else I signed up for the LSATs without meaning to. Which would be pretty funny because...that doesn’t even sound like something I’d do while drunk, and...well. Not that I get drunk that often, but it just seems like. Yeah.” His face burned. Maybe a little liquid courage would have done him some good just then.

Seokjin visibly sighed, laying a hand on his chest as though his heart had just released a string. “Oh, thank god . Replacing it would have reduced me to selling extra organs on the black market. You’re a lifesaver.”