Love Story Short | Jikook/Kookmin

Chapter 5

[A/N: It's the season of the updates! How about you sprinkle this chapter with some love? :) Anybody excited to see the developments between our two mans? Let's get into it right away! Enjoy~]

The friendly truce brings about a lighthearted week. 

There is unresolved tension lingering in the air, of course, but things are better now that they are working to resolve it rather than ignoring its existence. Jungkook tries to be more approachable, tries to approach more. It all almost feels like an experiment to catch Jimin's reaction and as much as Jungkook refuses to openly admit it in his head, he looks like a little attention-seeking bunny around him. 

He doesn't mean to come across as a creep, he promises. 

He just doesn't know how to randomly walk to Jimin's desk and be nice to him. Say, he musters his courage and enters Jimin's work cubicle but immediately chickens when Jimin's eyes slide up to meet his over the distance. Like a goddamn school boy with a crush (he isn't relapsing, this is just an example okay), he makes a 90 and throws himself to the nearest colleague available, landing his hands awkwardly on their desk with a lopsided greetings grin.

It's Mr. Kyung, grimacing at Jungkook who happens to be digging his fingerprints on his freshly printed table of budgets. Yikes. 

Jimin doesn't steer his attention away from Jungkook, of course, and Jungkook has to pretend like he has business with everybody else from his team for fifteen minutes straight until he gathers the courage to walk up to him and ask if he wants to have lunch together at the cafeteria. 

He realizes he had nothing to fear about Jimin's reaction when the man beams at him, even showing eagerness to clear his desk so that he can join Jungkook sooner. 

It's nice to eat together, to joke about random things and talk about their day. This isn't university, there isn't a Taehyung to pester Jimin 24/7, and Jimin and Jungkook are two grown-ups who get along.

It's really nice, actually.

It's so nice that once turns into many, and the two of them eat lunch together everyday that week. It's so very, definitely, genuinely nice actually, that Jungkook outdoes himself and invites Jimin over to Thursday Regular that Thursday. Don't get fooled by the title — it's not all that fancy of an occasion. It started out with Jungkook taking out newbie Kevin for lunch every fourth day of the week to check on him and keep him company, but became a three-person thing when Jin happened to drop in one day and paid for the food because he was the oldest (Jungkook's favorite Korean customs feature), at which moment Jungkook had a big realization:

Food tastes better when Jin hyung pays for it.

So now Jin pays for Thursday Regulars. It's the only way he is allowed to lunch with them. As cruel as it sounds, maybe don't judge Jungkook because he literally mows Jin's lawn for free every winter because he happens to have more muscles than Jin does and Jin is a manipulative shit when his joints ache in the cold weather.

It's not like Jungkook asked to be younger than him. The age is Jin's weapon against him so if he takes advantage of the one situation where it benefits him? No judge, no touch, please.

Look the point is: that fourth day of the week, Thursday Regular is a four-person thing.

Yes, fourth day of the week as in Thursday because if you are one of those monsters who starts counting the week from Sunday, go back to the planet you came from. Jungkook has  no business to do with you. Jungkook has a goddamn problem to deal with.

Jin is sitting over there with a credible smile on his face but Jin is actually onto Jimin.

"How are you finding the job so far? Is the team treating you right?" he asks all brotherly, inhabiting the right arm of Jimin's chair at the Steakhouse Veranda. They opted for an open-air restaurant to match the summer vibes and also because, not obviously, they wanted to have steak.