Chapter Text
Chapter 1.
Living the life of a college boy was simple.
Being wealthy enough that he didn’t have to find a job to pay rent and other obligations also made his life simple.
Having to live with someone and share everything with them was less simple, but still manageable.
What wasn’t simple was to keep his relationships with his family members intact, because they were against everything that he was doing.
Jungkook was 24, a healthy guy with ambitions. He was a dance major, and he loved his classes at his college, where he studied techniques of ballet, modern, jazz or tap dance, and things like dance history and stagecraft and choreography. He also enjoys boxing and swimming, spending his free time going to the pool or the gym to train his skills.
Jungkook was in a relationship with Jaemin, who was also Jungkook’s best, best friend. For as long as he could remember, Jaemin had been by his side. He had been the only person who believed in him since Jungkook was 14 and just starting out in dance. Jaemin had encouraged him to follow his passion, just like he had encouraged and become Jungkook’s biggest support when he came out to his parents, told them that he was gay at the age of 17 and ruined the family peace.
Jungkook didn’t feel guilty about that. He didn’t regret wanting to be himself. His parents had wanted someone different. They wanted grades based on his knowledge, they wanted him to become a lawyer, because both of them were, or to study medicine, something they deemed worthy of respect. Dance wasn’t. The expectations were a burden, and they worsened because his older brother had failed in becoming either of those.
Namjoon was four years older than him. He was the wild child, a real party animal who spent his time and money on parties and drugs. Going against his family’s wishes, his love for parties led him to become a wedding planner. Jungkook thought it was a good job, which paid well and which suits his brother, original and positive, but their parents were disappointed. They called Namjoon free spirited and blamed him for being a bad influence on Jungkook when Jungkook didn’t care for what they considered the right path, instead following the footsteps of his brother who had always told him that he was supposed to live the life that he wanted to live and chase after his dreams.
“Namjoon has a birthday party next week,” Jungkook said, walking out of the shower with a toothbrush in his mouth, the toothpaste dripping from his lips as he spoke. Jaemin turned to look at him from his spot on the couch, his glasses falling lower on his nose as he looked at him dismissively.
“So?” Jaemin asked indifferently and turned back to look at the television.
The thing was… Namjoon never really approved of Jaemin, even when all of them used to play together on the playground. Namjoon was always making fun of Jaemin, calling him a nerd and a magnifier, since he had glasses from a very young age. He had always disliked Jaemin and how Jungkook acted around him, because Namjoon wanted Jungkook to follow him instead of Jaemin who he deemed to be the loser.
The bullying grew worse when Namjoon became a teenager and started smoking, found himself bad friends, started going to wild parties, despite the many times that he got grounded. His grades at school dropped drastically, and there was even a time when he fought at school and got caught smoking weed by the cops. He didn’t appear to regret anything, instead coming back to Jaemin and Jungkook to tell them stories of how happy he was, and implying that the two of them did nothing fun. Blaming Jaemin for affecting Jungkook in the wrong way.
The truth was that, while Namjoon was a rebel and a party animal at the age of 20, his then-16 years old little brother got through puberty and started thinking that the path that his brother was taking wasn’t something that he wanted for himself.
Jungkook disliked being in loud groups of people and never found fun in drinking alcohol. He had other plans for himself, and while these plans changed through the years, he eventually realized that all that he wanted to do was dance. So he danced, but Namjoon didn’t stop trying to pull him along, to get him to tag along to parties, and even introduced him to drinking, which was a story that Jungkook kind of wanted to forget on purpose.
Two years later, as he left for college, Jaemin confessed his feelings for him. They had been together ever since, two boys, living in an apartment in the quietest neighborhood of the big city, estranged from their families, but finally free. Jungkook was happy with Jaemin, his longest friend and role model. Jaemin was everything he wanted in a partner. He was sweet, he was funny, he was smart, he took care of his looks and he was pretty. And most importantly, he loved Jungkook.
Loved Jungkook like he wanted to be loved.
The joy of living with your best friend, that youthful excitement, grew into something big, into deep love, and before Jungkook could blink, six years had already passed.
Nobody said that life for a couple living together for that many years would be easy though.
Days like this, when Jaemin looked like he was angry at someone or something, Jungkook knew that it was better to give him space or just cuddle him until the anger was gone.
He knew that Jaemin wouldn’t be happy with what Jungkook was about to suggest, as Namjoon was a sore topic, but Jungkook had already postponed mentioning it for a whole week and keeping secrets from Jaemin was stupid. After all, they had long passed that phase of their relationship and had promised to be honest with each other, even when it could lead to misunderstandings or anger.
Jungkook knew why Jaemin disliked Namjoon but no matter how different Namjoon was from them, he was still Jungkook’s brother.
Jungkook pulled the toothbrush out of his mouth and hummed, moving in the bathroom to finish his morning routine. When he came back into the living room, Jaemin was already waiting for him, hands folded in front of his chest. His expression was unreadable, but he wasn’t hard to read for Jungkook.
“So he wants us to go,” Jungkook answered and shrugged, walking closer to his boyfriend. Jaemin made a face and pointed at their bedroom. “Go put a shirt on first.”
Jungkook tilted his head and frowned. “We can’t talk if I don’t wear clothes now?”
“I need a moment to think,” Jaemin said and looked away from him with a roll of his eyes .
“Fine,” Jungkook said quietly and moved to the bedroom, opening the wardrobe, feeling agitated. He could do this quickly, but he knew what ‘I need a moment to think’ meant. Jaemin needed time to think if he wanted to see his brother or not, decide for both of them and express his negativity over the idea before he let him explain the situation. It was a new thing for Jaemin to be this irritated. It started 32 days ago, Jungkook counted.
Whenever Jaemin wasn’t in a good mood, Jungkook just had to suck it in and act normal, dismiss the elephant in the room until the other felt better and came to him with a smile on his face. If it was the other way around, Jaemin would get upset and cry. And Jungkook didn’t like to make him cry, so he would always relent first.
Shaking his thoughts away, Jungkook came back into the room and approached Jaemin, sitting on the opposite side of the couch, copying the other’s posture when he crossed his arms across his chest.
“I have a shirt now. Can we talk about the birthday party now?” He asked and Jaemin sighed.
“Is it gonna be like last year?” He asked and Jungkook briefly remembered the party at their family villa near the beach, full of drunk college boys and older people, all merging together just perfectly because they were there for the same thing - party and sex. It was crazy and it was wild. Nothing that Jaemin and Jungkook enjoyed. Jungkook specifically hated it, because it was the first time in his life where he ever laid a punch over something that wasn't his punching bag or gym trainer. He hit someone who had made Jaemin angry. So no, Jaemin was probably never going to agree to go to a party like that ever again.
“No, he said it’s gonna be regular. Nothing big, just a few of his closest friends and colleagues. Ten max,” Jungkook said and frowned. “You know that I can’t miss it. He is my brother.”
“You can’t… miss it?” Jaemin repeated, rolling his eyes. “Since when is it just about you?”
Jungkook decided that if he kept pushing, he was going to end up upsetting Jaemin again, so he stood up and shrugged.
“It’s not just me. It’s always us, you know that. I’d never leave you out. Let’s talk about it later, I don’t wanna make you upset now,” he said, leaving the room and sighing.
Well, nobody said that love was perfect. Couples were supposed to have disagreements, Jungkook tried to reassure himself. They would have a makeout session after to solve them, and it was supposed to be refreshing for their relationship.
All of Jungkook’s colleagues at university had good advice waiting for him whenever he shared his issues with them, telling him to just pin Jaemin down and get wild with him, but well, Jungkook was nowhere near wild and he had his own way of dealing with Jaemin’s grumpiness. He would hug him, he would apologize for being blunt, whispering in his ear and peppering him with kisses until he could feel Jaemin’s smile against his lips as he peppered him with those, apologizing for being too blunt.
Finally, Jaemin agreed to come under conditions; they wouldn’t stay for too long or they wouldn’t separate. Jungkook smiled and agreed to them easily, since it was what he was used to doing. Be with Jaemin and make sure that he was feeling good. It was his responsibility.
The week rolled by quickly, and before Jungkook knew it, Friday came.
Jungkook was exhausted from training at the dance hall for hours, followed by a swimming lesson, his busy schedule only interrupted by his short drive to the mall to buy Namjoon a present. When he came back home, Jaemin was clingy, hugging him and telling him about his day, about the lectures that he had and about the enjoyable walk that he had with his friends on the dog walk alley where they usually met to walk their dogs together.
While they talked about their day, Jungkook dressed up in suit pants, a button up shirt and a denim jacket. Jaemin was looking just as formal, having a similar shirt tucked in comfortable pants. The outfit looked good and stylish. Jungkook appreciated the way it made Jaemin look more mature, despite his boyish face. It made Jaemin’s smile grow more confident and Jungkook found that confidence sexy.
“Ready to go?” He asked and the smile slid off Jaemin’s face, eyes once again rolling upward. Jaemin sighed dramatically, grabbing his jacket from where they hung them near the front door.
“Yeah, I can’t wait to come back, though.”
“It won’t be bad.”
“Jungkook, you cut your connection with your brother last year,” Jaemin reminded him with a pointed look while they were putting their shoes on.
“That’s why I wanna have this reunion. And we never stopped texting, so I didn’t cut all of my connections with him,” he said, watching Jaemin lock their door and they went into the elevator, going down to the parking lot.
“You seem excited.” Jaemin eyed him and he lifted the gift bag in Jungkook’s grip, shaking it.
“I got him something fun,” he replied and led them to his car, opening the door for Jaemin.
“Let me guess. A bottle of scotch and condoms, even if he never uses those?”
“Come on, he’s not that bad.” Jungkook handed Jaemin the bag and started the car. “I got him a video game.”
There was silence before Jaemin scoffed. “He is gonna throw that into the bin with the rest of the presents that you had given him. He is not 15 anymore, babe.”
Growing annoyed with Jaemin's condescending tone, Jungkook replied with a curt 'He is gonna like it' before driving off, cutting the conversation short, letting silence fall inside the car. The only sound which could be heard was the working engine. They were used to that.There were many times when they just drove to pretty places for sightseeing, took pictures and drove back, never disturbing the silence.
The address that Namjoon sent to him a week ago turned out to be another villa. The loud music coming out of it was expected, the dozen of people smoking outside were to be expected as well and it seemed like everyone at the party just came out for a smoke.
As he and Jaemin got out of the car and walked up to the porch, more people came out. They dodged the drunk, giggling girls who were clinging to equally drunk guys, who didn’t shy away from the touch and grabbed parts of their bodies casually. Jungkook, having only been in one relationship in his life, never understood that sort of flirting game. He had never needed to flirt, because Jaemin was his before he even knew about his feelings and dared to make a move. Jaemin took that step for both of them, so Jungkook found these sights too vulgar. If two people were to engage in public displays of affection or have sex, they had to be private, in his opinion.
Jungkook and Jaemin stepped through the smoking people outside and entered the house. Reality hit Jungkook harder than his trainer in the boxing ring. The people outside weren’t the only ones at Namjoon’s birthday party. There were at least twenty people in the corridor and all of them looked wasted, singing along to a song that was coming from another room, their screams making Jaemin nervous. He gripped Jungkook’s arm and tugged him closer to himself, making him turn to look at him and see that he was angry again.
“See, it was another lie,” Jaemin said in his ear, rolling his eyes when some drunk guy bumped into him without apologizing. “Your brother is an asshole.”
“I had no idea, I swear.” Jungkook tried to appease his boyfriend while escaping his wrath. Jungkook had no idea how to find his brother in the crowd. He tried asking some girls about him, but they didn’t even know who Namjoon was.
They entered a room and it turned out to be the kitchen. Two couples were making out heavily, clothes already falling from the girls being spread out on the counter with guys in between their legs. Jungkook’s eyes went wide when he realized that the scene was being filmed by two other guys, who were too drunk to care, laughing loudly while howling at the couples.
The main hall wasn’t any different when Jaemin quickly pulled him into it, sharing Jungkook’s opinion that it was inappropriate to watch what was going on in the kitchen. The party was in full swing in that room. Namjoon’s guests were dancing on the improvised dance floor, heated bodies drunkenly grinding on each other. Some people were drinking, sitting on couches, some were making out in the corners. There were people outside where a pool party was happening, large groups of boys and girls drinking and smoking around it, some swimming inside, playing with a ball, some standing on the edge to film it on their phones.
They spotted Namjoon there and Jungkook carefully pushed Jaemin through the dancing crowd, frowning at the sight of his brother happily entertaining his guests. Suddenly, he felt stupid for being the only one holding a present there, so he placed it on a random surface and opened the glass door leading to the backyard and the pool,choosing to pretend that the music was too loud for him to hear Jaemin’s complaints.
Namjoon noticed them as soon as they stepped out and left his friends, dancing his way towards them in tiny, cheerful steps.
“Finally! Little brother, I thought you would never come,” Namjoon said, a huge smile stretched on his lips when he pulled Jungkook in a tight hug. “I know that the plan was different, but everything changed at the last minute.”
“Namjoon…” Jungkook whined, staring at his brother for a moment and it was enough to figure out that he was wasted, and probably, high judging by his red eyes. Well, Namjooon was innocently smiling there, as if everything really changed at the last minute, while Jaemin was going to give Jungkook so much shit about that party later.
“Happy birthday,” Jaemin said and offered Namjoon a fake smile, stretching a hand out to him for a formal handshake. It was stupid, considering that they also were friends back in time before Namjoon chose the path of alcohol and parties, a path that Jaemin didn’t condone.
“Oh, you brought boogeyman along. Good,” Namjoon mocked, and winked at Jaemin when his only response was the usual roll of his eyes. “Thank you Jaemin, so nice of you to come and be grumpy at my party,” he added with a laugh, then wrapped his arm around Jungkook instead and pulled him a bit apart from his boyfriend. “Why are you doing this to me? I told you to come alone.”
“And you know that I wouldn’t come alone,” Jungkook replied and took off his jacket, looking around only to realize that there was no place to hang it. He hated to lose clothes, strangers at parties always got dressed in whatever was in front of their eyes, so he settled for holding it in his hand and frowned at his brother. “Whatever. Tell me, what’s up?” Catching up at a party was a very stupid thing to do, especially when Jungkook was distracted by Jaemin, who looked straight at them with an annoyed expression on his face.
“Well if you called more often you would know.” Namjoon made sure to be critical when he spoke, but he forgave him fast enough when he poured him a glass of punch and handed it to him. “But I am fine, working, you know. It’s a busy season, people love to get married in autumn.”
“I see.” It was stupid to be this awkward talking to his own brother, and Jungkook wouldn’t be if Jaemin wasn’t killing both of them with his eyes. “Look, I am gonna try to make him relax and talk to you later, okay?”
“You won’t make him relax, but he will make you leave. So no,” Namjoon replied and before Jungkook could protest, he pulled him forward to a group of people around the pool. Jaemin didn’t follow and stood rooted on his spot. It was loud even outside and people had to raise their voice to speak, but the mood was bright and Namjoon really wanted Jungkook to feel it. “I want to meet you with some friends of mine. College boys like you. Very nice and talkative.”
“Sure,” the other replied, rolling his eyes when he realized that even if he protested against his brother’s words, he would still accomplish whatever mission he had in mind. Right now it was to introduce him to a questionable group of friends who were sharing a cigar near the poolside. It wasn't a cigar, Jungkook realized as he sniffed the air and sighed, offering the strangers a strained smile as he felt awkward standing there with nothing to say to them.
Before Jungkook could flee, Namjoon started introducing him to everyone. When the group separated to let them in their circle and turned to look at the new guest, Jungkook noticed that there were people younger than Namjoon and him, looking already heated up and high as they all offered him a smile.
“Oh is that the cute little brother?” One of them , a red haired boy with a huge smile, and a tall and lean figure, said, eyes sparkling as he looked at him. “And he wears a suit, how comfy.”
“Behave, Taehyung,” Namjoon spoke, but there was no trace of reprimand in his voice. “My brother is fourth year in college and you can exchange some experiences, since you are still juniors.”
Jungkook glanced at his brother in irritation. There was no way he could give them any information considering his major. But as he looked back at the red haired guy, he was still watching him expectantly, as if waiting to hear something funny. And that mocking look made Jungkook nervous.
He hated punks like that, who screamed trouble with the way he looked, dressed in ripped jeans and a loose vest, with a choker wrapped around his neck. Jungkook’s eyes lingered on the choker and he realized that he was probably staring, but the acccessory had ‘sex’ engraved with some sort of diamonds. He felt an uncomfortable heat crawling up under his skin, and he wanted to turn around and leave.
“Speechless already?” The redhead pulled him out of his thoughts when he spoke, his laughter making the other two with him laugh as well, and even Namjoon seemed to look amused by that stupid joke. “That was fast. But you can tell us your name if you want?”
Jungkook didn’t want to, but he figured he was supposed to do it. He didn’t have the chance however when one of the people, a blonde guy, stepped closer and pulled on his tie.
“I know it’s too early to say, but I can agree about him being cute, Namjoon wasn’t lying,” the guy said and Jungkook’s first instinct was to step back.
“I’m not single,” He replied and the blonde didn’t look surprised as he dropped his tie and faked a pout.
“I don’t know anything about you, but I can assure you that after marriage your sex life will be over, so have fun while you can,” the red haired guy said again and Namjoon hurried up to protest against what his friend just said.
“No, no marriage. We didn’t agree on anything like this.”
“Well, you know that it doesn’t depend on you,” the other guy spoke, after he threw the cigar down and smashed it with his foot, hair ash grey, lighter under the dim light outside.
“Such a romantic soul, Yoongi.” Taehyung laughed. “But my advice is real and it’s better if you listen to me, little brother.”
Jungkook was done being the clown and just smiled at all three of them, ready to turn around and go back to Jaemin.
“Thank you,” he told the red haired guy and looked at his brother, “see you around.”
With that, he left their small group, hurrying towards Jaemin who was already angry. He was shaking his head, arms crossed against his chest. The moment Jungkook stepped closer to him, Jaemin sighed, offering him a mocking smile.
“Had enough of being a social butterfly, babe?” Jaemin asked and Jungkook couldn’t agree more.
“God, I hated it. Let’s take a walk,” he said and nodded to the house, seeing Jaemin’s small proud smile.
“Anything for you.”
Unsurprisingly, the rest of the party was horrible. They left before Namjoon could come back from the room where he had disappeared off to with the same guys that Jungkook had met around the pool.
Jaemin wasn’t angry, so Jungkook was relaxed. They went back home and cuddled on the couch for an hour, watching a movie in the living room. When Jaemin had fallen asleep, Jungkook carried him to their bedroom, but did not get into bed next to him.
Instead, he returned to the living room and had a steamy jerk off session, watching late-night porn shows, mind blank while doing it. It was just to satisfy a physical need because Jaemin was sleeping. His boyfriend hated to be getting woken up for sex and Jungkook had gotten used to his hand ever since they had spoken about it a year ago.