Chapter Text
“So, you’re probably wondering why I’ve gathered you here today,” Jungkook says calmly, folding his arms on the table in front of him.
“It wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with you walking in on us fucking on your bed yesterday, would it?” Tae asks innocently.
“In our defense, it’s a couch,” Jimin pipes up quickly, at least having the decency to look slightly ashamed.
“Yes, but it’s my couch. That’s literally where I sleep. You guys have your own bed. What the fuck?”
“We like to shake it up a bit,” Tae says, shrugging, still not looking the least bit remorseful for his heinous actions.
“We’re sorry Jeongguk, things just got heated. We were just caught up in the moment and let our passions run wild on the nearest soft surface,” Jimin says dramatically, giving him his wide puppy dog eyes.
Jeongguk rolls his eyes as Tae snorts. “Riiight. But that’s not the first time you’ve let your passions run wild on my couch. This is the third time I’ve walked in on you guys. Be honest, how many times have you defiled my bed?”
Tae looks grave. “You never want to hear that number.”
Jimin swats his arm, blushing slightly. “It hasn’t been that often. Promise,” he says quickly.
Jeongguk cringes. His two roommates fuck like rabbits, even Jimin saying ‘not that often’ doesn’t instill confidence. “Okay, well once is still one time too many,” he gives them his best hard stare. Tae just raises his eyebrows back at him, but he gets a blush out of Jimin at least. “Which brings us to the reason I called his house meeting. I’m about to turn twenty. I’m a full-grown adult. I should be able to have my own bed and my own room.”
Tae fidgets uncomfortably and Jimin looks at him sadly. “I know Jeonggukie, I’m sorry, but money is a little tight-“
Jeongguk cuts him off by raising a hand. He knows about the money troubles. Tae’s family doesn’t have much and he’s doing everything he can just to afford tuition. “I know, it’s not your fault. This isn’t about you, it’s about me. I think I should move out.”
The silence that follows his words is deafening.
Jimin has been Jeongguk’s best friend since they were kids back in Busan. He was the reason Jeongguk decided to move across the world to attend school in Toronto in the first place. Jimin is two years older than him, but one year ahead in school. When Jeongguk came to Canada from Busan, Jimin took him in immediately. He lived on Jimin and Tae’s couch all through first year while they helped him acclimatise to his new country. They have done so much for him since he’s come over, he’d be a mess without them, but, even though they are too kind to say it, he knows that they want their own space, and he really wants his own too. His own room, his own bed. It sounds like a dream. “I’ve been doing some budgeting.” He says, breaking the awful silence. His family doesn’t have as much money as Jimin’s does, so his allowance is smaller, but it’s enough to pay for essentials and the dirt-cheap rent he pays right now, because Jimin and Tae are too nice to ask him for a reasonable amount of money. “I can afford to rent a place up to $731.37 a month. Looking around some sites, there are places that rent that cheap for a private bedroom. I-I want my own space, and you guys have been amazing, but I’m going into second year, and I think I’m wise enough to leave the nest and fly on my own.” He cringes at his horrible analogy. Smooth. No wonder he almost failed his first-year English class.
Jimin is biting his lip, looking conflicted, but Tae looks intrigued. “Do you have people you want to live with, or would you just be looking at ads for a room available?”
Jimin swats him again, “Tae!” He complains. He looks genuinely upset. “Jeonggukkie, we don’t want you to leave because you feel uncomfortable. We love you, we want you here. We won’t do it on the couch again-“
Jeongguk cuts him off, “no, no, that’s not the reason. I really do want my own place, and you guys deserve your own space. I want my own room, and bed, and, like,” he blushes slightly. “I can never bring anyone home if I’m living on a couch in the living room, right?”
Jimin bites his lip and Tae rubs his back in small, soothing circles. “Our kid wants to move out Jiminie. He can afford it, we can afford it. We should let him.”
“But, you can bring someone home, Tae and I can leave…” Jimin presses, still looking upset.
Jeongguk cringes. “Uh, yea, no. I don’t want to have to tell you every time I wanna bang someone. I really do want this Jimin. I love living with you and Tae, but I want my own space. We’re still friends, I’ll still visit all the time. You can call every night. We can do sleepovers.”
Tae wraps his arm around Jimin. “He’s ready Jiminie. You can still baby him from afar.”
Jimin sniffs, a tear slipping down his cheek. “I don’t baby him,” he protests, but it’s weak. Jeongguk gives Tae a thankful smile, glad he’s in his corner. “If you really want to move, let me find you a good, safe place.” Jimin finally relents.
Jeongguk breaks into a wide smile. “Thank you! Of course! I need your help with that. I don’t even know where to start!” he laughs, feeling giddy now that this is actually happening.
“So do you have people you know who you want to live with?” Tae asks again.
Jeongguk flushes slightly. “Uh, not really. Uh, most people were on residence first year so now they all have roommates picked for second so…” Making friends when your class sizes are into the thousands is hard. It’s doubly hard when you’re a shy exchange student with accented English. Jeongguk tried to be friendly with people who he had group projects with, but he wasn’t able to keep any lasting friendships. Jimin and Tae however, are social butterflies and have a lot of friends apart from Jeongguk, which makes him embarrassed about being basically friendless.
Jimin gives him a warm smile, knowing that this is a sore spot for Jeongguk. “That’s fine. Great, actually, it’s easier to find a one bedroom that needs to be filled in a house than trying to find, like, a four-bedroom apartment or something.”
Jeongguk nods. “Right, yea. I was, uh, thinking that too.”
“Great!” Jimin says brightly, still trying to keep the mood light. He pulls out paper and a pen. “When do you want to move in?”
“Uh, anytime?”
“Do you want to be within walking distance, or would you be willing to take transit in?” Jimin continues.
“Uh, walking would be preferred.”
Jimin nods, writing that down. “I think it would be best for the three of us to look for places individually, divide and conquer sort of thing. We can then reconvene in a week and go over the best ones we’ve found.”
Jeongguk and Tae both nod. “Okay, that sounds like a plan.”
-
It was a horrible plan.
Turns out there is not one sane landlord in the city of Toronto. At least not one renting for cheap.
Filtering his search to places under $750/month eliminated 95% of his options. That was the first problem. The second problem was trying to find a place that looked habitable.
The sketchiest ones were the ones that had no pictures at all. The description would say ‘beautiful basement one-bedroom for rent in charming century house’, source: dude trust me.
When Jungkook did find a place that he didn’t think he’d die in within a week, messaging the landlords was a whole other ball game.
The first man responded back asking if Jungkook had all of his teeth. Instant block.
The second one wanted his social insurance number for proof of identity... He probably should have reported that guy.
The third one was renting out a hole in the basement, and Jeongguk only responded to that ad out of sheer desperation; however, the man seemed to think that he was renting out a castle with the screening questions he put Jeongguk through. He agreed on letting Jeongguk see the place on the condition that he sign a non-disclosure agreement upon entering the house… a big red flag, but at this point Jeongguk was out of options, so he told him he’d think about it.
The one up-side of his disastrous housing search was that it really motivated him to make some friends. If he had a group of people he could even just ask about good places to rent, who were from the city, that would make a world of difference. He feels like a fish out of water, being a foreigner trying to navigate the Toronto rental market with barely any money to his name.
Jeongguk decides the best place to start is meeting like-minded people. Jimin is in a dance club and he has his dance club buddies over all the time. They get along so well because they have that common interest.
While Jeongguk is specializing this year so his class sizes will be smaller, he wants to do something outside of school. Engineering is so much work, he needs an outlet, a hobby.
He first pulls up the clubs page on the U of T website. It’s daunting. Too many options.
He then switches to the athletics page. He has always been gifted, excelling in almost everything, but especially in sports.
He scrolls through the list of options. Badminton… he wants something more physically demanding. Cross country… ew cardio. Fencing sounds cool… fuck, season’s already started. Mountain biking… how would that even work…
Rowing… interesting… he uses the rowing machines at the gym all the time. It really is an intense all-body workout.
He looks further into the rowing team. There is a novice team where no experience is required, and a varsity team. Sounds promising, so even if he doesn’t make the varsity team, he can still make the novice. The try-outs start in August, giving him enough time to google how the hell to be on a rowing team and practice on the machines at the gym.
On a pure rush of adrenaline, he submits the recruitment form and closes his laptop before he can regret his decision. He’s done it. He’s trying out for a team. He feels that excitement flow through him at the prospect of a new challenge. Making the novice team is a given. The real challenge for Jeongguk is to make the varsity team with no actual rowing experience.
He’s Jeon motherfucking Jeongguk, he is going to try out for that varsity team, and he is going to make it.
-
When Jeongguk arrives to their house meeting, he finds Taehyung trying to hold in a laugh as he looks at his laptop. It’s not exactly an encouraging sign.
“Okay, now that we’re all here… thanks for deciding to show up Jeongguk,” Jimin begins, giving him a stern look.
“I’m five minutes late,” he complains.
“Oh can I start?” Taehyung cuts in excitedly, huge shit eating grin on his face. Bad sign. “Please, can I start with the places I found?”
“Okay sure,” Jimin shrugs.
“Okay, so… first place, hear me out, I think it could be a great fit, because Jeongguk has all his teeth.”
“Oh my god!” Jeongguk yells, cutting him off, “you found that place too?!”
Taehyung bursts out laughing, “yes. Oh yes. The places I’ve found Jeonggukkie. The people I’ve messaged. They will amaze you.”
“Oh my god, no Tae, I’m not going there.”
“What’s going on? What is this about teeth?” Jimin asks, confused, looking between them.
“This one guy asked if I had all of my teeth before he’d let me see the place,” Jeongguk tells him, glaring at Taehyung as he bursts out laughing again.
“Ew, no. Tae come on be serious. He’s not going there,” Jimin chastises.
“Okay, okay.” Taehyung says, wiping the tears out of his eyes. “You may not like the second place then either. But hear me out, it could be free rent.”
“Sounds fake,” Jeongguk scoffs.
“It’s not. He’s just asking for, hold on I need the exact quote. Ah, ‘a submissive relationship in lieu of rent’.” Taehyung reads aloud, choking on his laughter.
“Tae!” Jimin yells.
“Holy shit is that a real ad?” Jeongguk asks him curiously.
Taehyung nods and tilts his computer for Jeongguk to look at. Sure enough, “wow. Hey, the place isn’t that bad…”
“Jeongguk don’t you dare!”
“Now, I think he’s looking for a woman, but I could ask if he’d be interested in a dude,” Taehyung continues, ignoring Jimin.
Jeongguk giggles but shakes his head. “Sorry, I’m no sub.”
“Guys, come on, take this seriously!” Jimin exclaims, exasperated.
“Okay, okay,” Taehyung relents. “The last one I found only wanted to make sure Jeongguk could lift 40 pounds before they let him see the place. That’s… less creepy, right?”
Jeongguk laughs again as Jimin looks at him disbelievingly. “Where the hell are you finding these people? What houses are you looking at?”
“What places are you looking at. Those are the only kinds of people I’ve been finding,” Jeongguk defends. “I had one guy ask for my social insurance number.”
“My god, you didn’t give it to him did you?!”
“Oh my god, no, how stupid do you think I am?” Jeongguk rolls his eyes. “This one guy only wants me to sign a nondisclosure agreement though…”
“Hey, that’s something,” Taehyung pipes up.
“No,” Jimin says emphatically. “You two are hopeless.” He flips through the papers he has neatly stacked in front of him. He came ten times more prepared than Jeongguk or Taehyung did. “I found a couple possible places, but there’s only one that I’m really comfortable with, so I’ll start with that one.”
He pulls out a print-out of a rental ad and slides it across the table to Jeongguk and Taehyung. “This place is renting at $700.” He explains.
“Hey, I can afford that!” Jeongguk says happily, flipping through the pictures.
“Holy shit,” Taehyung breathes, and Jeongguk has to agree. The place is amazing. It looks like it’s an old Victorian house, but one that has been very well cared for. The house is brightly lit and fully decorated with potted plants and little trees, and curtains, and all the fancy things your parents have that you never even think of having as a young adult. Tablecloths. There are tablecloths on the tables.
“What’s the catch,” Jeongguk asks suspiciously. The place is too good to be true.
“There isn’t really one other than the room is small,” Jimin says. “It’s in Koreatown. Three other Korean students from U of T are living there. Two of them are doing their masters and one is doing their undergrad. One of the students is also an exchange student from Daegu.”
“My family’s from Daegu!” Taehyung says excitedly, as he admires the pictures.
“Holy shit,” Jeongguk breathes. The place sounds literally perfect. Three other Korean students? Another Korean exchange student? He hasn’t met any other Korean exchange students, besides Jimin of course, since he’s moved here. How awesome would that be to live with one?
“They are legit. I’ve been texting the guy who posted the ad, Seokjin, in Korean. At the very least, he definitely speaks Korean. Their previous roommate graduated and found a job further away than anticipated so he had to move away. He initially planned on staying in the city and living there, which is why he signed the new years lease. You’d be subletting off him if you took the place.” Jimin further explains calmly.
“’Looking for one roommate to fill our four bedroom house in charming Koreatown. You’ll be living with three chill U of T students, two masters students and one undergrad who all speak Korean. No preference for a roommate, you don’t have to speak Korean, but this would be a great fit for a Korean exchange student adjusting to Toronto. One roommate is also an exchange student. Rent is $700/month, utilities and internet average around $50/month on top, fully furnished, no parking, available immediately.’” Taehyung reads out loud. “Damn Jimin, where’d you find this?”
“On a reputable site as opposed to wherever the hell you two were looking.” Jimin rolls his eyes.
Jeongguk is still admiring the ad. It still seems too good to be true. This place is perfect, absolutely perfect. “I want it,” he declares.
Jimin shakes his head. “We have to see it first.”
“Okay, then let’s see it. Can we see it today?”
Jimin sighs, “I need to give them some notice,” he pulls his phone towards him. “I’ll text Seokjin.”
“Wow, Jeongguk, this place sounds awesome,” Taehyung tells him earnestly while Jimin types away on his phone. “Koreatown is like a 25 minute walk from here. It’s totally doable. Man, we’re lucky we have Jimin,” he looks over and smiles like a love-sick idiot at his boyfriend.
“You are,” Jimin agrees, setting his phone down. “They can have us come tomorrow at 9 am to see the place.”
“Wow, that guy texts back fast,” Jeongguk comments. He feels the excitement thrum through him again. His own place. His own room. His own bed.
“He does. That’s one point he has in his favour.” He starts shuffling through his papers again. “Tomorrow is good. It’ll give me time to finish my checklist.”
“Checklist?”
“Of things to ask when we see the place.” Jimin rolls his eyes. “You two, if left alone, will just walk through the place and say ‘yea cool where can I sign’” He mimics in a deep voice that sounds nothing like them. “There are important questions you need to ask before you just sign your life away.”
Jeongguk looks at the ad for what must be the tenth time. “But this place looks good right? You think this is a good place?”
“Yea, I do…”
“Then why don’t you seem excited?” Jeongguk asks him, frowning.
“I am excited,” Jimin hedges, not looking at him. “I’m just worried about you Jeonggukkie.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“I know.” He says quietly.
Taehyung throws an arm over his shoulders. “He doesn’t wanna see you leave Jeongguk.”
“But I’m not leaving Jimin, I’ll just be twenty minutes away. I’m just getting my own space,” he tells him reassuringly.
Jimin gives him a small smile. “I know Jeongguk.”
-
“Nice,” Taehyung comments as they stop in front of the house.
It’s as beautiful in person as it was in the pictures. It took them just over 25 minutes to walk here from their place. Jimin started a stopwatch and is currently recording the time on his clipboard.
The house has an actual flower garden out front and a paved stone path winding up to the cheery blue front door. It’s charming. It’s perfect. Jeongguk’s in love.
“It’s more than nice,” Jeongguk tells Tae as they start making their way up the winding path. “It beats the front of your ugly apartment complex.”
“Oh definitely,” Taehyung agrees happily. “You even have a yard Jeongguk. Granted, it’s covered with flowers.”
“He doesn’t have anything yet,” Jimin reminds them from behind. “We’re just looking.”
Jeongguk and Taehyung reach the door and stand to the side, waiting for Jimin. Jimin raises his eyebrows at them. “What?”
“You’re the adult, you should knock,” Taehyung tells him.
Jimin sighs, “Tae, we’re the same age.”
“You’re two months older.”
“It’s like I’m a father of two,” he grumbles under his breath as he rings the doorbell.
Jeongguk stands back a bit on the step, his shyness overwhelming him again. Fuck, he wants these people to like him. How amazing would it be to live in a house with three other Korean guys who were his friends? It’s what he’d been thinking about the whole walk over. He’s never wanted people to like him so badly.
The door opens revealing a tall, very handsome man in a collared shirt. The man’s eyes widen slightly when he sees them. “Oh. Hello.”
There is an awkward silence as both Jimin and Taehyung look to Jeongguk. Jeongguk, in turn, looks to Jimin. Fuck, why is he so shy? Why is the guy so intimidatingly handsome? The tall man in front of him has the perfect features. Big eyes, thick lips, perfectly symmetrical face, wide shoulders. Jeongguk somehow feels inadequate standing in front of him.
“Hi, I’m Jimin,” Jimin says primly, breaking the awkward silence and reaching out his hand for the man to shake.
The man gives him a beautiful smile and takes his hand. “Ah, yes. We’ve been texting. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I’m Seokjin, but please call me Jin.”
“Nice to meet you, Jin. Next to me is Jeongguk, he’s the one interested in the place, and on the end is Taehyung. He’s… mine and Jeongguk’s roommate.”
Jeongguk had felt bad about it, but he’d asked Jimin and Tae to not mention their relationship to the prospective roommates. Jeongguk couldn’t even justify it with a good reason. It’s not like he wants to live with homophobes and it’s not like he’s ashamed of his friends, he just… he’s kind of afraid that they will ask him his sexuality too. But of course, that’s ridiculous, he could just say he’s straight… but it’s not that easy. Not for him. He doesn’t know anymore. He doesn’t know what he is and it’s something he doesn’t like to think about, much less talk about to people he just met. It’s a question he doesn’t have the answer to. Jimin and Tae know that his sexuality is a big no go zone, which is probably why they readily agreed not to mention their relationship.
“Ah Jeongguk, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Jin tells him politely, shaking his hand in turn. “and Taehyung. Wow, can I just say, that you are some really handsome guys.” He shakes his head and laughs.
“Why thank you,” Taehyung tells him with a grin. “But have you looked in the mirror lately?”
He lets out a loud bark of a laugh. “Of course I have, I know I’m hot.” He gives them a wide smile as he opens the door wider and steps back, gesturing them inside. “Come on in, you can leave your shoes on the rack here.”
Jeonguuk takes his first steps into the house and is already in love. It’s exactly like the pictures. It’s never exactly like the pictures. The living room is there to greet them equipped with trees and curtains, a flat screen TV and even a fireplace. The whole place is so homey.
A man stands up from the couch. Dammit, he’s handsome too. He isn’t as tall as Jin and has a smaller frame, but he has a bright, pretty face with a wide smile. “Hot damn, I thought we were supposed to be meeting a potential renter? Did you accidently hire a bunch of strippers instead?”
“Did you just call us strippers?” Jimin asks him disbelievingly, scribbling furiously on his clipboard.
“Oh shit,” the man says, smile falling. “Are we being evaluated on this?”
“Appears so. Looks like you just got a strike against you Hobi,” Jin tells him.
Taehyung chuckles. “Nah, don’t worry, Jimin just wrote ‘immaculate taste in strippers’” he tells them, looking over Jimin’s shoulder.
“Tae!” Jimin yells, holding the clipboard to his chest.
The man named Hobi laughs. “I’m Hoseok, but call me Hobi. It’s nice to meet you guys. You’re all really good looking, especially clipboard peeker over there.”
Taehyung grins. “That would be Taehyung,” he reaches out a hand to shake. “The man writing you up is Jimin, and your potential new roommate is Jeongguk.”
“I go by JK to non-Korean speakers,” Jeongguk tells Hobi as he shakes his hand, just for something to say.
“Would you like me to call you JK or Jeongguk?” Hobi asks him in immaculate Korean.
Jeongguk can’t help the smile at hearing his mother tongue. “You can call me Jeongguk.”
“What about Jin? His Korean has a horrible English accent.”
“Shut up,” Jin says, elbowing him in the side. “My Korean is excellent, thank you very much,” he says, in Korean that is in fact slightly English accented.
“Well, since we all speak Korean here,” Jimin jumps in, continuing in Korean. “Why don’t we do this in Korean then. So, I have a few questions for the two of you.”
Jin nods, small little smile on his face as he looks at Jimin’s clipboard. “Of course, ask away.”
“Is that fireplace real?” Taehyung buts in.
“Yep,” Hobi tells him. “It’s not on at the moment for obvious, we’d all sweat to death reasons, but the switch here on the wall turns it on.”
“And there’s AC?”
“You don’t feel it?” Jin asks with an eyebrow raised.
They do. They do feel it. Their apartment doesn’t have AC and Jeongguk now doesn’t know how they’ve survived without it. It feels amazing in here.
“What do you study?” Jimin quizzes them seriously.
“I’m on my final year of my masters of immunology. Please don’t ask me what the fuck I’m going to do with that, and Hobi is in his final year of a sociology bachelors degree.” Jin answers.
“Do you swear often?” Jimin asks again, scribbling furiously on his clipboard.
Jin chokes, “uh… no?”
“Jimin,” Jeongguk complains, embarrassed, “we swear often.”
“Don’t worry, Jimin just wrote ‘party mouth’,” Taehyung informs them, again peaking over Jimin’s shoulder.
Jin lets out a loud bark of laughter again. “I like you,” he tells Jimin.
“I’m reserving judgement,” Jimin tells him, but he has a small smile on his face. “You have a third roommate, where is he?” he picks back up again.
“Working. His masters program has research involved or... whatever. I don’t really know what he does, his masters is in computer science. But anyway, he works through the summer. He’s on his last year too. His name’s Yoongi and he’s the exchange student from Daegu I told you about. Really chill. You’ll probably rarely see him. If he is here, he’s sleeping in his room.”
“I see,” Jimin says judgementally, scribbling furiously on his clipboard.
“What programs are you guys studying?” Jin asks them.
“I’m doing my visual studies bachelor degree with a studio specialization,” Taehyung tells them after it becomes obvious that Jeongguk isn’t going to speak up. “Jimin got into the nursing program this year,” he smiles happily at him, while Jimin blushes slightly into his clipboard, “and Jeongguk is going into his second year of engineering. He’s doing chemical engineering and he wants to specialize in biomedical engineering,” he ruffles Jeongguk’s hair.
“Wow,” says Jin, whistling. “Impressive. That nursing program in particular I heard is really competitive to get into. Congrats man.”
Jimin flushes again slightly. “Thank you. Anyway, is the internet unlimited?” he continues.
Jin scoffs, “of course. It’s highspeed too before you ask. We have a computer science major living here.”
“He’s literally live-in tech support,” Hobi adds in, “it’s great.”
“Would you like to see your room now Jeongguk?” Jin asks quickly before Jimin can come up with another question.
“Yes please,” he tells him gratefully.
Jin points to a little desk in the corner of the living room. “You are probably wondering why there is a desk in the living room.”
“Oh shit, is that my room?” Jeongguk asks, only half joking. Based on the previous ads he’s seen, it wouldn’t surprise him at this point.
Jin chokes again. “Wha- no. that’s your second desk. The one in your bedroom is really small, because the room isn’t very big, so you have a second bigger one out here.”
“Sick.”
Hobi giggles. “Oh my god, you’re so young.” He looks up at Jin with wide eyes. “Jin, he’s so cute.”
Jin chuckles. “Your room is that door behind you Jeongguk,” he tells him gently, pointing behind him.
Jeongguk turns and excitedly pushes the door open.
It’s perfect. There is a large adult bed, definitely not a single, that takes up most of the room. As Jeongguk steps inside, Tae and Jimin close on his heals, he sees a nightstand, large closet addition, dresser and, like Jin said, a small desk in the corner. The room is overtaken by a massive front window that is streaming in the morning light.
“Hey, nice closet space here,” Taehyung comments, opening the closet doors. “Lots of hanging space.”
“The room is very close to the front entrance,” Jimin comments, inspecting the dresser.
“Who cares, it’s got everything you need.”
“What size is the bed?” Jimin asks.
“It’s a double,” Jin tells them from the door. He’s watching Jeongguk with a fond little smile on his face.
Jeongguk. Is. Thrilled. Holy shit. It’s perfect. Small, but it has everything he needs. An adult bed! “My own bed!” he exclaims out loud, plopping down on the bed. “Wow it’s comfortable! Tae, Jimin, come feel how comfortable this bed is!”
Taehyung plops down beside him. “Hey, it is nice. Jimin, I think this might be better than ours.”
“He’s sleeping on our couch at the moment,” Jimin explains to Jin while Jeongguk bounces happily on the bed.
“I would have my own bed in my own bedroom!” Jungkook exclaims happily, looking around the sunny room.
“Our couch in the living room,” Jimin further explains.
“He’s so cute, let’s keep him,” Hobi says to Jin from the doorway.
Jin elbows him in the ribs.
“We can adopt him. I’ve always wanted to be a father,” Hobi continues, watching Jeongguk lay down on the bed and wiggle around.
“Would you like to see the rest of the place?” Jin asks them as Taehyung and Jeongguk start a mini wrestling match on the bed.
“Yes, I have more questions,” Jimin answers quickly.
Jin gives him a little grin. “Of course you do.”
The dinning room is down a small set of stairs and leads out a back door. “There are parking spaces behind us. The car you see right behind the house is Yoongi’s. He’s using the one parking space this house has.” Jin explains as Jeongguk admires the tablecloth. Checkered tablecloth. Wow.
“Super handy to have someone with a car too. If you annoy him enough, he’ll take you places,” Hobi continues as he leads them down another set of stairs into the large kitchen and breakfast nook.
“You have to annoy him to get a ride?” Jimin questions sharply, writing something down quickly on his clipboard.
“I mean, if he’s home he’s usually asleep, so…” Hobi explains, rubbing the back of his neck and eyeing Jimin’s clipboard nervously.
“Wow, there’s lots of cupboard space,” Taehyung comments, looking around.
He’s right, the kitchen is huge with multiple floor-to-ceiling cupboards. It also has what Jeongguk thinks is a dishwasher, though he’s never actually seen one in person before.
“That door there is the two-piece bathroom. The three of us pretty much exclusively use the one upstairs, so it’d be a great place for Jeongguk to store his toothbrush and bathroom supplies,” Jin continues, stepping out of the way to let the three of them peek into the bathroom.
“So just one shower then?” Jimin asks.
“Yes, as I told you earlier when you messaged me,” Jin says patiently.
“Just clarifying,” Jimin says, casually scanning the kitchen. “So, what is Jeongguk’s cupboard, fridge and freezer space?”
“Right here!” Hobi says quickly, as though anticipating the question. He holds open a large pantry. “The right side is Yoongi’s stuff, but the left side is all Jeongguk’s.”
The right side of the cupboard consists of mainly bottles of whisky. Jimin eyes them heavily as he writes on his clipboard.
“The middle shelf in the fridge is yours and the freezer is a bit of a free for all at the moment. There’s a little space left to store some stuff. Basically, it helps if you’re good at Tetris,” Jin continues, opening the fridge and freezer and letting them see.
“My personal method is shoving something in, slamming the door, running away, and hoping I’m not the next person to open the freezer,” Hobi shrugs.
Jin elbows him as Jimin raises his eyebrows and starts scribbling furiously on his clipboard again. “We’re going to do better this year. I emptied out all the old Eggo boxes, so we have a good amount of space now. Our goal for this year is to avoid maiming anyone with the contents of our freezer.”
“A noble goal for sure.” Taehyung gives them a thumbs up.
“Please let me know what he’s writing,” Hobi begs, watching Jimin continue to scribble on his clipboard.
Jeongguk leans over and takes a peek. “Freezer Russian roulette,” he informs them.
Jin barks out a loud laugh again while Hobi nods. “Pretty accurate, honestly.”
“What’s behind that door?” Jimin asks them after glaring at Jeongguk.
“Just the water heater.”
Jimin marches over anyway and dramatically flings the door open.
Taehyung and Jeongguk exchange a look. “Sorry, he’s just very … thorough,” Taehyung tells Jin and Hobi.
Jin smiles, “oh I don’t mind at all.”
“How’s that water heater looking Jimin?” Taehyung yells to him with a grin on his face.
“Alright…” Jimin says slowly from where he is crouched down in the doorway.
“Yea? What’s the model?”
“It’s… white.”
Taehyung gives a low whistle. “You don’t say.”
“Oh yea, the white ones are my favourite,” Jeongguk deadpans.
“White ones really are great. We’ve had no problems with that one so far,” Jin adds in.
“White definitely is the way to go in the world of water heaters.” Hobi nods sagely.
“Alright you asshats,” Jimin huffs, stepping out of the room and closing the door. “I’ll become a water heater expert tonight and tell you just how ‘great’ this heater really is!”
“Can’t wait for your appraisal,” Jin tells him with a grin.
“What’s left?” Taehyung butts in while Jimin sends Jin a very weak glare.
“Just the full piece bathroom, that’s upstairs, follow me.”
Upstairs is a hallway with five doors. The bathroom is the second door down the hall. It has a full bathtub shower combination and a brand-new looking washer and dryer.
“Any issues with the washer or dryer?” Jimin asks, resuming his checklist.
“Nope. Brand new. We just got them last year. The previous ones would definitely not have passed your inspection.” Jin chuckles.
“Especially considering you needed a butter knife and a turkey baster just to get the washer to start,” Hobi adds.
“… do I wanna know?” Taehyung asks.
Hobi shakes his head gravely.
“How’s the water pressure?”
“So good it pops the zits on my back.” Hobi replies cheerfully.
“Okay… ew. TMI, thanks,” Jimin says, scrunching his nose in disgust.
“What do you think Jeongguk?” Jin asks him quietly.
Jeongguk nods awkwardly. “It’s great.”
“What are the other doors in this hallway?” Jimin cuts in sharply.
“My bedroom, Jin’s bedroom, Yoongi’s bedroom, and the linen closet.”
“Can we see them?” Jimin asks.
“You want to see my bedroom?” Hobi asks a little disbelievingly.
“I want to see where you hide the bodies,” Jimin deadpans.
Hobi laughs. “I like you Jimin.” He gives him a wink, “yea, sure you can see my room.”
Hobi’s room is big and spacious and would look like a regular room except for one thing. One very hard to miss thing. There is a silver pole running floor to ceiling in the middle of his room. If Jeongguk didn’t know better, he would say that there’s a stripper pole in the center of Hobi’s room.
“Any… clarifications on the pole, or are you going to let us use our imaginations?” Taehyung asks, looking intrigued.
Hobi grins. “Not much clarification needed. I pole dance in my spare time.”
“Sick.”
“See, this is exactly the kind of reason I asked to see your room,” Jimin tells him, shaking his head. “You called us strippers, but you’re the only stripper here.”
“Pole dancing is a very athletic and physically demanding sport, thank you very much,” Hobi says, hand over his heart. “I don’t strip… publicly. Give me 50 000 won and I’ll think about it.”
Jeongguk laughs. He likes him.
Jin’s room is a lot less exciting compared to Hobi’s, but it is also bright and spacious. In contrast to Hobi’s room, Jin’s is meticulously organized, with a corkboard and schedule pinned up above his desk surrounded by at least twenty potted plants.
Jeongguk watches Jimin give a big checkmark on his clipboard. “Nice room,” he comments, sounding impressed.
Jin gives him a wide smile. “Thank you, I had a feeling you’d like it.”
“I have the same day planner,” Jimin points out.
“That surprises me not at all.”
“The last door leads to Yoongi’s room,” Hobi tells them. “He has the penthouse so to speak. His room occupies the entire top floor. We won’t go up there because he’s not here now and he didn’t expect us to bring anyone up. But his room also has a balcony, so if you ever wanna sit outside on our roof, just knock on this door. Yoongi has no problem with us coming up to use the balcony, just give him a heads up first, because he might be sleeping… he’ll probably be sleeping.”
“And that concludes our tour,” Jin tells them, glancing over at Hobi. They nod to each other. “I’ll let you guys talk it over, but we’d love to have you as a roommate Jeongguk. You would be a perfect fit here, and I’m glad you brought your friends,” he waves a hand at Jimin and Taehyung. “It’s nice to know you have a great support system and people who obviously care about you… it’s also great to know that you’re a normal person.”
“You won’t believe some of the people we’ve gotten!” Hobi exclaims exasperatedly. “One guy kept asking us if we knew what kind of females lived in this area, and another guy seemed completely normal until the very end when he asked if he could keep is boa constrictors in the linen closet!”
“Oh that reminds me!” Jeongguk exclaims.
Jin and Hobi tense and Jeongguk laughs. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding, please let me live here!”
Hobi lets out a breath and Jin laughs. “I’ll let you guys discuss it, but we do have the lease downstairs if you’re interested.”
Hobi and Jin leave them in the hallway and Jeongguk immediately turns to Jimin and Taehyung. “I want it.” He says flatly. He’s dead set on this place. It’s perfect in every way. He loves every inch of it. He wants it. He wants it so bad.
“I think we should deliberate…” Jimin begins uneasily.
“Deliberate what? It’s perfect. I can afford it. I want it.”
“This is only the first place we’ve looked at,” Jimin counters.
“You said it was the only place you were comfortable with, and all the other places were terrible! We’re not going to find a place like this again, and if we wait it could be taken by some snake keeper!”
“I heard that, and I object so hard to that!” he hears Hobi yell up from the living room.
Jeongguk flushes slightly.
“We’re not eavesdropping!” Jin yells up. “Hobi! Move away from the stairs!”
“Jimin, I agree with Jeongguk, this place is great. Jeongguk could have a pole dancing roommate!”
They hear a choking noise come from downstairs.
“Away from the stairs Hobi!” Jin yells again.
Jimin bites his lip. “Well, there’s still more questions to ask first… like…” he flips through his clipboard frantically. “I… I haven’t checked the water heater yet,” he finishes lamely, blinking furiously.
“Jiminie,” Taehyung says gently, and as soon as Jimin hears his soft voice he breaks out in a sob. Taehyung pulls him into his arms and rocks him gently back and forth. “It’s a good place. He’s going to leave one day. It’s best to let him go to a good place where he wants to be.”
Jeongguk feels tears warm on his own cheeks at watching his friend cry and leans in to hug him from behind, sandwiching him between the two of them. “I’ll be close Jimin hyung. Thank you for everything. I’ll call everyday. I love you.”
Jimin lets out another sob and turns to pull Jungkook into his arms. “You text at least once a week so I know you’re alive,” he says in a shaky voice.
“I will.”
“And you tell me if you need anything or if anything is wrong and I will come and get you in a heartbeat. Got it?”
“I will.”
Jimin nods against his shoulder. “Okay.”
Signing the lease is one of the most exciting moments in Jeongguk’s life to date. Despite Jimin’s obvious reservations, he brought everything they needed to sign the legal document, leaving Jeongguk and Taehyung once again realizing that they would never survive without him.
Jimin read the lease to the letter and made them correct minor spelling or grammatical errors before he would let Jeongguk sign it. But in the end, after many tears on both Jimin and Jeongguk’s part, the lease was signed, and Jeongguk was officially starting his new life as an independent international student on August first.