As well as being so anxious to finally be reaching the end of his shift, Jungkook still couldn't wait to hear what Seokjin had to say to him. An apology.

It was an awful mix of taking his time while also wanting time to speed up.

When he finally got off of work, Seokjin was still sitting out in the food court— he had only left once and came back about thirty minutes later. He'd been there pretty much all day.

And when Jungkook went over to the table to sit with him, Seokjin's eyes quickly left his laptop to lock eyes with him. He closed the laptop not too long after.

"You didn't take a lunch break."

...Huh?

Of all the possible ways to begin their conversation, that's what Seokjin chooses? Jungkook didn't give a damn about food. He had had coffee to drink and his stomach wasn't settled well enough to eat lunch earlier anyways. He had been nervous all day, knowing Seokjin was waiting over here.

"Sorry," Seokjin bashfully continued as he realized that Jungkook wasn't going to. "I just noticed you didn't take a break. Aren't you hungry?"

No... Sort of. But why? It's irrelevant. They're supposed to talk.

"I'll eat when I go back to the dorm. Don't you wanna talk? Isn't that why we're sitting here? If not..."

Seokjin pushed his laptop aside, on top of his laptop case. "Wouldn't it be okay if we talked over a meal? I haven't eaten either. I'll even pay for yours and then we can talk, if that's fine with you."

All Jungkook could do was stare at the wolf— almost in disbelief. "Go get food and hurry back. And I better hear some explaining when you get back. I'm tired of this already."

"I know, I know," Seokjin muttered as he got out of his seat. "What do you want to eat? I'll get it."

As if he didn't want anything, he rolled his eyes. "Just get me a salad." When Seokjin asked if he wanted anything else, Jungkook asked for a drink as well, thanking him quietly. He was skeptical of it, though he didn't question anything.

It was free food.

It didn't take long before they were both sitting down with their meals, Jungkook with salad for days and Seokjin with steak and vegetables— which he seemed reluctant to eat.

Maybe he was just as nervous as Jungkook. Maybe the food was meant to be a distraction.

Jungkook only nibbled on his salad a bit before Seokjin finally swallowed down his first bite.

He sighed, though. "Are you gonna—"

"I'm sorry," Seokjin cut him off by accident, both looking up at each other in acknowledgment. "For keeping secrets," he continued, "for not telling you who I was. I knew you wouldn't like it."

He knew Jungkook wouldn't like it, yet he still decided it was okay to keep it going? Wonderful.

"If you knew I wouldn't like it then why are we even here right now? You could've told me weeks ago and none of this would've happened."

Jungkook wouldn't be so upset about it if he had been told weeks ago; weeks ago before it became a daily routine to talk to him, before becoming friends... before forming a crush on Jwan.

"I didn't tell you because you wouldn't be my friend if I had." Seokjin stopped eating to lean back in his chair, frowning. "I didn't like it either. I didn't like that it was you at first."

At first..?

But he was right. Jungkook wouldn't have been his friend if he had known better. The thing is... Did Seokjin want to be friends even after he found out? Obviously, right? But why? Why would he keep it from Jungkook and why would he let it continue at all? Why was he still so rude to him if he knew?

It didn't make sense.

"You were so nice to me over text and such an ass to my face. If you weren't so rude, maybe we could've just been friends in the first place, but no."

Seokjin very visibly shrunk in defeat. "I didn't want you to know it was me. I- I only forced the ass-ness of myself onto you because I was scared you'd think that Jwan was me by like... my voice or something."

Jungkook scoffed at him. "I did think that. I thought it was you from the start." Seokjin's eyes widened in panic. "But I figured it couldn't be you. You're nothing like Jwan."

"Well... I guess my plan worked, then?"

That was his justification? His plan? Being an asshole so Jungkook wouldn't think that Jwan was Seokjin? What a dumb idea. Why the hell did it actually work?

"Your plan really sucked. If you weren't such a prick, we could've been friends all along."

Seokjin huffed. "A prick? It's not like I ran over your dog or something. We just didn't get along well. You didn't treat me any better, you know. You basically even said so yourself over text. You annoy me on purpose."

Oh.

Oh no, he mentioned that, didn't he?

"I-I'm not the one who kept a dumb secret and used it to an advantage. You sent me roses! Freaking roses! You wanna explain what all of that was about?"

"They were for you," the wolf mumbled, again shrinking in his seat. "I'm not a prick, Jungkook. I was just scared you wouldn't want to be my friend, so I kept it a secret. I wanted to be your friend, whether it was online or not."

Why would he do it in such an awful way? And why did he want to be friends so bad anyway?

"Why couldn't you just be a normal nice guy like you were before? Is it so hard?" Jungkook genuinely asked.

Seokjin picked at his food, his head hung low. "I would've if I had known you'd let me."

Well, Jungkook wouldn't have let him. He was right about that.

The only reason he was willing to now was because of one simple thing: he really wanted to. The damn wolf had grown onto him without even trying to.

He didn't want to hate Seokjin either. He knew he couldn't.

"I'm sorry," Seokjin apologized again. "I didn't mean to make you upset. I just..." He looked back up at Jungkook again, fiddling with the poor meat on his plate. "I just didn't wanna ruin what we had, I guess. I'm sorry."

What they had.

Okay. That's totally okay.

"It's... fine." Sort of.

But, "It's not," Seokjin reminded him.

He wanted to end it all, though. So, he went straight back into devouring his salad as if nothing was ever wrong. "I'm accepting your apology. You don't get to tell me whether it's fine or not."

Seokjin didn't seem satisfied with his own apology, but Jungkook only sighed, wanting to let it go.

"Well?" he asked. "How about we just take it back to the beginning? Would you wanna do that? We can just be friends as us this time." He swallowed the salad over Seokjin's silence. "Only... if you want to... that is."

"Of course," the older was quick to say. Jungkook glanced back up at him, hope flowing in the older's wide eyes. "I want to. I want to be friends if you want to, though."

Jungkook was going to say something to that, but then Namjoon suddenly walked up beside Seokjin, placing his hand on his shoulder.

"Hyung, I haven't seen you in a bit. You two having dinner together? Has he got you under hostage?" he asked Jungkook, but Jungkook wasn't paying attention to much other than the person next to Namjoon.

Not Seokjin.

The girl that was standing next to Namjoon— almost hidden behind him.

"What do you want Namjoon?" Seokjin huffed out, brushing his brother's hand off of him. "And he's here willingly, thank you."

Namjoon smiled, cheeky and dimpled. "I'm here with Yihyun for you. I heard you two have class together." He stepped aside so Yihyun could be seen. "She's... you know. An omega." He winked.

Jungkook felt like choking on his salad to end the suffering already.

Yihyun. Omega.

She must be the omega that Namjoon and Taehyung were trying to set up for Seokjin's rut. The girl meant no harm by being there, but all Jungkook could think about was the possibility of this girl being the one with Seokjin during such a time like that.

Rut. Sex. All of that.

No.

That girl looked basic as hell with no decent style, she's too quiet, and she didn't even seem interested in the conversation. Namjoon sucked at picking, that was one thing for sure.

"I'm a little busy, Namjoon."

Yeah. They were in the middle of an important conversation. A no-omega-wolves-allowed conversation.

Okay, maybe Jungkook was a little bit jealous and Yihyun didn't seem like a terrible girl, but still. They are in the middle of an important conversation.

"Okay, okay," Namjoon eventually let up. "We'll talk about this later, then? Or maybe you can meet her after class sometime, right? You'd be a perfect fit and—"

"Hyung, we're in a really important private conversation right now," Jungkook finally spoke up, "and I'm finally getting to talk to him after so long. Please..." let me have my moment, he wanted to say. He didn't want to be rude.

Namjoon silently apologized, pursed his lips shut, and then motioned for Yihyun to follow him away from their table. Should've never brought her to begin with. They both waved goodbye as they left. She didn't even say a single word the entire time she was there.

"You didn't like her?"

Jungkook poked his tongue into his inner cheek at Seokjin's question. Instead of answering, he took another bite out of his meal and leaned back in glory to shamelessly accept his own jealousy.

"Doesn't matter." He picked up his flavored drink and held it up across the table. "Let's start over?" A much-needed thing, while also serving as a distraction.

A smile made its way onto Seokjin's lips and he also reached for his drink, soon clinking it to Jungkook's. The distraction had worked.

"I'd like that. Thank you."

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