Work Text:
"Fucking hell."
Jungkook blinks in quick quick quick succession, and it all comes back. The stage, the cameras, the crew. A good half dozen of them descending towards the center of the space with combs and tissues and all kinds of touch-up material, and Jimin breathes heavily, hands on hips, shoulders slumped.
“Did you see that? He’s insane!” Seokjin says from the chair next to him.
Did he see. Of course he saw. He hasn’t blinked the entire last minute and a half, he’s pretty sure. Or however long Jimin’s choreo was; a minute? An hour? If anything could make Jungkook stand at rapt attention that long…
Ugh, but wait, he was leaning forward weirdly, so his back is stiff now. His throat--damn, it’s all coming back at once. Jungkook puts his fingers between his collar and his neck, holding it away from his skin for a second. Hunches his shoulders a little to hide it, so no stylist or her eagle-eyed assistants come scold him over it.
It will be his turn again soon. They can fix it up then. Until that moment, he needs to breathe.
Did he at all, when Jimin was dancing?
A slap on his thigh. "How does he do it!" Seokjin says, theatrically gesturing. "I couldn't do that if I had ten years to prepare. Yah, Park Jimin!" Jimin flicks his head up, eyes searching. "Don’t you know it’s illegal to be this good?” He smacks Jungkook's chest with the back of his hand, “You want to give people a goddamn heart attack?"
The clouds of exhaustion part instantly, blown away by the praise. Jimin smiles. His eyes disappear. Jungkook's chest stings, and he rubs his palm against it.
"Really?" He gently breaks away from the fussing around him, heading towards them. Jungkook sits up straight, tugging at his collar some more. "I think I definitely have to redo that last part." He grabs Jungkook's bottle of water from the arm of his chair, taking a big gulp. “Don’t think I got it right.”
"Nonsense." Seokjin shakes his head, slumping back into the chair dramatically, which makes Jimin laugh.
His eyes flick to Jungkook.
"How about Jungkookie?" He nudges him with the butt of his own water bottle. Jungkook blinks, and his eyes burn. "What did you think? I'll believe you. Hyung exaggerates, but I can trust you to tell me the truth, hm?"
Jungkook's words are stuck somewhere in his lungs. Blocking the air. Or maybe it's the collar. Or maybe it’s Jimin, the shirt falling away and exposing his collarbone, the drops of sweat trickling down for everyone to see.
He hums to win himself some time. He takes the bottle back and takes a sip too, right where Jimin's lips touched before; Jimin's eyes follow the move, a faint smile on his face.
"You did great, hyung." He twists the bottle back, placing it down on the floor slowly. He straightens his shoulders, puffs out his chest and crosses his arms over it. The shirt pulls, the collar digs in harder. That little smile on Jimin's face grows. "But it's always better next time, right?"
Jimin laughs. "Right." He turns to Jin, smiling a different shade of smile. "See? Jungkookie gets me."
Seokjin shakes his head. "You deserve each other. You know, if I had your talent--" Someone yells for him to go get his make-up ready, so he jumps up. “Hold that thought. Remember that, I’ll finish it later.” He pushes Jimin down onto the chair. "Breaks are for sitting, Park Jimin. Don't exhaust the crew too much before it's my turn with your perfectionism, alright?" Jimin makes a playful face at him in parting.
As soon as Seokjin melts into the people, disappearing towards the dressing rooms, Jimin sighs, posture falling inwards a little.The smile has been tucked away, ready to pull out again when the crew calls him back. He doesn't quite fall back into the chair; he puts his elbow against the armrest closest to Jungkook and leans on it, trying to stretch his neck to the other direction. Jungkook immediately reaches for him, itching for it. His thumb digs into the stubborn spot that's always, always hurting him, and like the press of a button, Jimin lets out a soft grateful noise, lost in the chaos of backstage, just for Jungkook's ears.
"How many times before you let yourself believe it's done?" Jungkook asks softly.
"I don't know," Jimin shrugs a little. He swivels his head to look at him, eyes hazy with fatigue now the same way they'd been this morning, when they blinked open to look at him for the first time that day. "Probably twice more than I should, at least?"
Jungkook smiles, slowing his massage down into a caress. He keeps his hand there, cupping the back of Jimin's head. No cameras are on them right now; they’ll pull those out when Seokjin gets dolled up too, pestering them for a comment just as Jimin’s about to finish his run. "I'm going after you."
"I could tell." He pops Jungkook's button open with one quick move, and Jungkook's quietly impressed at the rare show of dexterity. Ah, he can finally breathe. "One shirt size too small again?"
Can’t be helped, can it? He’s expressed his distaste multiple times over the years; all that’s changed is that they look apologetic now when they present him with such things. "Work is work."
Jimin's hand comes up to his neck, brushes carefully across it. "Left a mark." He frowns at it. "Don't button it before you have to go on, okay?"
Jungkook smiles, quite helplessly. What else can he do in the face of Park Jimin in all his glory, performance ready, made-up down to the last hair on his head, fussing? "Worry about yourself, Jimin-ssi."
"I am," he flutters his eyes in that way that tells Jungkook he's about to say something horribly cheesy, or horribly flirty, or both, "see?"
He lifts his hand, fist closed, until he puts his index finger out towards Jungkook. He doesn’t say the words, but Jungkook hears them. He puts his own finger out, gently touching the tip of Jimin's. "Mm,” he doesn’t quite manage to hold back the endeared laugh, “I see."
Jimin giggles, leaning his entire weight on the arm of the chair now, turned fully towards him. Jungkook mirrors him instinctively. He has to remember not to lean forwards any more than appropriate. This is probably too close already.
“I know you hate it,” Jimin's eyes flicker down to his chest, "but it suits you."
"Yeah?" He puts out his chest a little again, and Jimin slaps it down playfully. Jungkook chuckles. "I think so too. Even if it’s way too small."
Jimin should have been called back by now. Jungkook takes a look, finds the director, going over the recording and gesturing to some staff; changing the scene setting. Probably won Jimin a couple minutes. It's for the best; he's still breathing a little hard, not quite settled back down to his normal rhythm yet.
"You won't take too long, will you?" he asks, his index finger now drawing shapes on Jungkook's knee. "You can do it once, do it perfectly, and then go home?"
"Ah, so you're allowed to do it again and again, but I have to do it once?"
"Being the ace is a burden, baby," a little star that tickles Jungkook's knee, "you have to work to hold on to your title."
The baby in such a public place sparks something in Jungkook's belly. Don’t get closer, don’t get closer. What did Jimin ask? Ah, yeah. "I'll probably need to do it at least twice."
"Mm…” a tap, another, right above where he draw the little star, “maybe I'll go home then?"
Jungkook hums in agreement. "Okay." He's busy concentrating on other things; like how very, very badly he wants to kiss him, right on that tired little pout.
"You don't mind?"
He needs to move. Needs to...
He leans into his ear, not because he has something to say, but because it's the safest way to sneak in a peck, lips brushing over Jimin’s earlobe in a whisper of a touch. Jimin smiles; Jungkook can feel it when their cheeks move together just for a second, and sees it when he pulls back to a safe distance. He wishes he could see his pretty pink blush under all that make-up.
"Doesn't answer my question."
"I don't mind."
Jimin does not seem convinced, though. "You really don't mind that you always stay to watch me and I always go home or go fall asleep in the dressing room?"
Jungkook shakes his head. "No." Jimin asks such silly questions sometimes, really. He thinks of the way he’d moved just now, just on the second recording still, all the grace and light of him. "I love watching you."
"I don't know how you don't get bored," he mutters.
Bored? "It's always different.” Jimin's still not convinced, clearly, weighed down by that self-appointed pressure that never lets him be. Carefully, pointedly, Jungkook makes sure to add, “It’s what you were born to do, Jimin-ah. Who cares about sleep when I get to see that up close?"
Jimin's eyes turn from soft to hungry in a heartbeat. Something about him sharpens, tightens, and Jungkook knows that look.
"Imagine I'm kissing you right now, okay?" Jimin’s voice is low, only for Jungkook again, and it sends the intended shiver down his spine. "Imagine I've leaned forward, right here, in front of everyone, and I'm kissing you." Closer, lower. "The way you like. Little bite. Little..." He twists a finger into the nape of his own hair and tugs, a tiny movement, inconspicuous to everyone else, but more than enough to set Jungkook alight. "Hm?"
"Unfair," Jungkook says, eyes on that finger, still twirling. "Unfair, Jimin-ssi."
Someone calls for him then, and Jimin looks away from him. He nods towards the direction of the director, and the polite professional voice rings out, "Just one second!"
He turns back to Jungkook, who never stopped looking, not even for a second.
Jimin hooks two fingers in that tight collar that's been giving him too much trouble, like he popped it open before just for this, studied and targeted, brings him close until he can whisper in Jungkook's ear this time. "Changed my mind. I'll wait for you, and then I'll kiss you in the car all the way until we get home, okay?" He pulls back, hand falling away. He fixes his hair a little blindly, smiling a pure, angelic smile. The voice changes again, bright and friendly. "Think about it, Jungkook-ssi!"
Jungkook huffs, licks his lips as he shifts again, settles in with the hungry eyes Jimin had to leave behind. “I will,” he mumbles, just for himself.
Jimin knows, anyway. He gets in position, hands poised to the ends of his fingers, movement flooding out of him even as he simply stands. Just before the music starts, the very breath before, he catches Jungkook’s eye and winks.
And off Jungkook goes for another breathless, unblinking minute.