"Y/N!"

"What?!" You leapt up, your phone making a dull thud as it hit the carpet floor. "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah! Quick, I need some money!"

You mentally facepalmed. "Hobi, you're literally an idol with millions in the bank, and you're asking me for money?"

"I left my wallet at home. Just a few won, please! For the vending machine."

You couldn't resist those puppy-dog eyes. "Fine. Here's 5000." (roughly $4)

"Thank you! You rock." Hoseok flashed you a grin and disappeared.

A few seconds later, his head popped back in the doorway again.

"Y/N?"

"Hm?"

"Aren't you supposed to be recording, or...?"

"Crap."

"You're going the wrong way!" Hoseok called after you as you ran down the hallway. You skidded to a stop and backtracked to where he was standing.

"Oh. Uhm... which way is it?" you asked sheepishly.

He chuckled. "Two rights, a left, a right, and a left. At the end of the hall."

"Okay thanks bye!" You started running again, repeating the directions under your breath. At last, after what seemed like forever, you saw the door. Bursting in, you half expected a room full people staring, but there was only one person standing with his back to you.

"Hey, Cupcake."

"Jung... kook?" you gasped, out of breath. You staggered to the table and melted down onto one of the three chairs, pausing to catch your breath before saying another word. "Wh... why are you here? I mean, why are you the only one here?"

"He said he'd be late, and you already know she's sick. It's just you and me for-" A loud beeping interrupted him, and he turned back to whatever he was doing.

He bustled around a bit, and soon the heavenly aroma of warm pepper oil and MSG reached your nostrils. The unofficial anthem of famished college students and lazy young adults.

"Is that-"

"Ramen, yeah. Want some?" He turned around, holding a bowl of something steamy.

You swallowed, as if the action would somehow calm your hunger. "Uh, no, I-I'm good." You had to clear your throat loudly over the sound of your stomach growling.

He raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh. You're drooling."

Heat filled your cheeks and you hurriedly swiped at your mouth with your sleeve.

"Don't worry, there's a lot of this stuff. I know you skipped lunch, so come and have a bite." He sat down across the table and pushed the bowl halfway between the two of you. You wanted to move away, but your leg muscles screamed at you so you didn't. What you did do was narrow your eyes.

"A bite? So... so we're... sharing?"

"Don't be greedy, Noona. I'm hungry too," he smirked and lightly hit the side of your arm. You slapped his arm right back and rolled your eyes. He laughed.

Your stomach growled again, and you sighed. "Well, I'm tired and hungry so whatever. Where are the chopsticks?"

"I only brought one pair." He grinned at your bulging eyes. "But it's okay, right? Remember how we fed each other all the time when we dated?"

You bit back a wince. It still stung, like a half-healed wound getting ripped open over and over again.

"Don't remind me," you snapped and turned away, because the sight of his face made your heart squeeze. "I'll eat later, then."

"Aw, Y/N, don't be like that. You know you want it." He paused. "That sounded less dirty in my head. Just... don't starve yourself because you think I'm gross. Come on. I was even more disgusting in high school, but you still-"

"No, Jungkook! I don't want to and that's final." You shot him a glare, then resumed the cold shoulder.

"Fine. I guess I'll have to do it."

A few seconds later, something hot touched your lips.

Screaming, you jerked backward and fell off your chair.

"It's not funny!" you exclaimed when you saw Jungkook trying his very hardest to not laugh, his left hand clamped tightly over his mouth. Your eyes trailed to his other hand, where a pair of chopsticks were holding a few strands of ramen. "What are you doing?"

"You didn't want to feed me, so I'm feeding you!"

You wanted to slap that stupid bunny smile off his perfect face, but that would probably make you lose your job so you didn't.

"You don't need to feed me," you huffed instead. "I'm not some kind of baby!"

Something in his eyes shifted. "Oh, but you're my baby, so I can do whatever I want with you."

You just gaped at him like some kind of fish, your cheeks on fire. Wha-

"Hey, sorry I'm a little late, I-" A person who you recognized from the meeting, the guy you two were supposed to be recording with, paused midstep, staring first at you on the ground, then at Jungkook who was practically sitting on the table.

"Hello. Would you like some help with that?" Jungkook asked, flashing a smile and gesturing to the bulky monitor that the guy was carrying. You got up and composed yourself, blushing furiously, and timidly asked if he wanted help as well.

"Uh, sure?" It was more of a question than an answer.

Soon, everything was in place, and the recording guy had mostly forgotten about the awkward situation he arrived at, although you still felt the occasional stare at the back of our head.

Jungkook was... better at singing than you remembered. He was already really good back then, but this was a whole other level. Your jaw actually dropped multiple times, and although you tried your best to hide it, you saw him smirking through the lyrics. Ugh.

On an unrelated topic, you found yourself a bit more useful than you expected. Like, you actually had some tips and comments to share, about both the singing and the editing. Much better than sitting in the corner like a wad of paper that missed the trashcan; everybody was annoyed that it was there, but they ignored it because they were too lazy to make it go somewhere else. Guess those college classes paid off after all. Even the recording guy seemed impressed. You weren't sure if that was a good thing or not, but you chose to take it as a good thing.

"You did pretty well, cupcake," Jungkook said as you two walked to the ride.

"You weren't so bad yourself, bunny boy."

"Bunny boy?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. You use an embarassing nickname for me, so I get to use one for you."

"Oh, so we're on nickname terms now?"

"You know what, nevermind." You fixed your eyes on the wall next to you so he wouldn't see the blood rushing to your cheeks.

"No, I like it."

"Another reason why I shouldn't use it."

"Y/NNNN. You can't be that way forever."

"Watch me."

"We'll continue this later," he said in a low voice, pushing open the front door. "After you, m'lady."

You rolled your eyes but half-smiled. "Why thank you, m'lord."

Then he grinned so widely that you hurried out of there as quickly as you could.

"Y/N! Where have you been?" Seokjin called as you stepped into the car. "We've all been waiting for you. You're even later than Jimin."

"But I'm right on time...?" You glanced at your phone. "Oh, oops. But it's only five minutes."

"Five minutes is a lot," said Namjoon. "That's 300 seconds, or 300,000 milliseconds, or 300,000,000 microseconds, or-"

"Aah, Namjoon, stop throwing around your 148 IQ," Yoongi groaned. "And Jungkook, why are you so late?"

"Hi," Jungkook said as everybody turned to him. "Sorry, one of the managers wanted to talk about something."

"It's okay, but hurry and get in. We're late." Jimin said, beckoning for him to take a seat.

And Jungkook started getting in next to you.

"Can we move seats really quickly pleasE?" you blurted, your voice getting higher as he got closer. You can bear sitting across a table from him, but not right next to him!

"Too late," Jungkook smirked, closing the door behind him. You scooted a little closer to the left. Rather be squished with Taehyung than touch him. He just moved closer, and you resisted the urge to push him out the half-open car window.

The car started rolling smoothly forward, and all your chances of a last minute swap floated away with all your hopes of having a peaceful ride.

"Why do you look so uncomfortable, Cupcake?" he said, looking at you sideways through half-lidded eyes. Lip biting time.

"Oh, I don't know." You tapped your chin in mock concentration. "Maybe it's because you're giving me absolutely no space to breathe?"

"You want no space to breathe?" Jungkook moved closer, that smirk seeming to be super-glued on his lips.

"N-no, I do!" It came out more like a squeak.

"That's what I said. You do want no space to breathe," he said, his breath hot on your ear and sending shivers down your spine. Taehyung yelped as you squished him even more, but you were too flustered to apologize. You were sure the whole car could hear your heart hammering away inside your chest.

"Then I... don't!"

"You don't want space to breathe? Yeah, that's what I'm helping with you with. Silly Y/N."

Your limbs had turned to stone. His face was mere inches away from yours.

"Stop," you whispered, because your vocal chords seemed to be malfunctioning.

"Okay." He moved back into his own place and took out his phone, as if nothing had happened. You stared at his side profile, still hardly daring to breathe, not believing your eyes.

"Y... Y/N? Ah... can you...?"

"Oh, I-I'm so sorry!" you squeaked, quickly moving away to give Taehyung some space. He raised an eyebrow and rubbed his shoulder, but didn't say another word. You glanced at Jungkook's side profile again and bit your lip, which was surely ripped up by now.

Jungkook wasn't good for your lips.

Jungkook wasn't good for your self-control.

Jungkook wasn't good for your promise.

——

"It's hot in here," you said, rolling down the window to let some fresh air in.

"Because of me," your brother said.

"Of course. What are we doing, again?"

"Check the group chat, everything's in there," Seokjin said.

"Group chat?" you echoed, scrolling through your pathetically short contact list. "I'm not in any group chats because I'm that lonely."

"You sure?" Jimin looked over your shoulder at your phone. "You should be added already." He glanced at Namjoon, who was looking extremely interested in his fingernails.

"You're in," said Yoongi.

You thanked him and refreshed the app to see a new group at the top of the screen called yoongi is hot 🔥🔥. You raised your eyebrows.

"What an interesting name," you commented over the sound of Hoseok dying of laughter in the backseat. "But can someone send-"

"Way ahead of you, sister," Taehyung said as a text with the details of the day popped onto your screen.

"Thanks, you're the bes- costume fitting?" You raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, costume fitting." Jungkook looked over your shoulder. You pushed his face away by the nose with your finger because you didn't like him. He then wrinkled his nose and tapped your shoulder as some sort of payback. How cute.

AAAGGHHHH!

You screamed internally and pushed that thought back to the darkest, lowest place of your mind that it came from. That's illegal, Y/N. Stop it right now.

"Y/N-ah, whatever you're thinking about, don't," Jimin said, pulling you out of your thoughts.

"Uh... what?"

"You looked like you're thinking about something, um, umm, after we said it was about costume fitting."

"Wha- ah! Eww! N-no!" you exclaimed and pushed his shoulder. "How- what the heck, no, Jimin, no."

"Okay, good," Jimin said, running a hand through his hair. "You just had this weird look on your face and I got worried."

"You're soo gross," you said, pushing his shoulder again. "That's the last thing on my mind."

"Well, you still better not try anything naughty when you're measuring Kookie."

You groaned and covered your face. "I can't believe you just said that. I would never do anyth-"

Wait.

"I-I have to meas... m-measure h-h-him?" You took your face out of your sleeves to look for anything in your brother's face that could suggest that he was lying. You didn't find anything.

"Yeah? Girl, that's what you signed up for. Don't act like you're surprised."

You felt an arm snake its way around your shoulders and looked over to see Jungkook sporting a devilish smirk.

"We're gonna have so much fun, cupcake."

My god Jungkook what are you doing

💜