two sides; same story | jikook

Chapter 3: (the end?)

The tension was absolutely fucking unbearable.

As if Jungkook's crush on Jimin wasn't bad enough already, the older man had started routinely moaning out Jungkook's name in the dead of night. The setup of their bedrooms guaranteed that every sound made in one room could be heard next door—and Jungkook certainly heard everything.

It's not that Jungkook didn't want to have sex with Park Jimin. Of course he wanted to have sex with Park Jimin, but that wasn't all. He wanted to go on dates, he wanted to watch cheesy TV shows on the couch. Jungkook wanted to take road trips and eat at cute ice cream parlors and do all of the disgustingly couple-y things he had avoided so intensely for such a long time.

Yeah, he wanted to fuck Jimin, but he also wanted to love the guy, too.

The complication of mutual attraction was so much more of a curse than he had imagined it would be. Jungkook wasn't sure whether Jimin genuinely liked him or just wanted to hook up—the ambiguity had been killing him for days.

Realistically, how could he even address the situation? Is there a good way to walk up to your neighbor and say, "Hello, I heard you groaning my name when you touched yourself last night. Want to maybe do dinner and a movie?"

Maybe if Jungkook just bit the bullet and asked Jimin out on an actual, honest-to-god date, this tension would dissipate. After all, the worst thing that could happen if that Jimin could politely turn him down. (That idea pained Jungkook more than he would like to admit.)

The problem is that Jungkook hasn't ever really done this before. Sure he's fooled around with a couple of boys here and there, but nothing serious or emotional. He doesn't know how to start a relationship, how to gauge if someone else is interested. Jungkook curses himself for not being more extraverted and open in high school. Maybe if he wasn't so goddamned shy he could have dated more, could have learned how these things are supposed to progress...

But Jungkook was too shy. He always had been, and he was growing increasingly concerned that he always would be.

His patience was wearing thin, however.

He could only take this for so long. Every time Jimin passed him in the parking lot and smiled with a modest 'good morning', Jungkook had to actively fight the urge to take the man aside and kiss him silly. Sometimes he would see Jimin on the balcony, stretching out and basking in sunlight (Jimin is pretty much a ray of sunlight himself, actually), and Jungkook wanted nothing more than to waltz over there and wrap his arms around the small brunette.

His crush was reaching critical levels. Jungkook had never deemed himself a sappy person until Park Jimin came into the picture.

There were several missed opportunities. One day Jimin had come home from a grocery store run, and Jungkook had actually successfully helped the man to carry the food upstairs. Jungkook had really meant to ask Jimin out at that exact moment, but his throat had constricted and his cheeks had burned red and nothing but silence had followed.

Another time, when they had run into each other in a café by the university. After a long day of midterms, Jungkook had simply wanted to order an indulgent cavity-inducing frappe; when he had spotted Jimin out of the corner of his eye, he nearly dropped the drink. Jimin was hunched over several textbooks, eyes wide and blank as he intently studied for what appeared to be a government exam. A choked cough emitted from Jungkook as he quickly turned and fled the shop.

He really, really had intended to walk over and ask Jimin if he wanted to study together. Jungkook chastised himself the whole way home, face flooded with embarrassment and regret at the missed opportunity.

"Jungkookie, why do you not have a girlfriend? You're so good-looking, it's a shock that you're still single," spoke one of the members of his fraternity at a party one night. The alcohol must have been getting to this guy; it had kinda been an unspoken rule among the frat members to not bring up Jungkook's love life. He hated talking about it, and his friends knew that it was indeed a touchy subject. (His closest friends knew that 'girlfriends' weren't even really on Jungkook's radar at all.)