A Still Day or A Hurricane | Jungkook

Part 11

Jungkook was unsure if you had the equipment he needed, so he showed up to your apartment with a fourth of his kitchen in paper bags, excited to entertain you with making bread while you watched him.

He gets excited at just the thought of seeing you either way - whether it's a quick morning visit at the cafe, delivering what he cooked or baked at your door when you're craving something at his insistence, or buying groceries or other baby stuff - Jungkook likes being around you.

He likes listening to your stories about your family and your friends; he likes watching you talk passionately about the cases you handle, about the people you've helped, about the goals you set for yourself that you keep achieving. He even enjoys it when you question him, when you tease him for the idiotic things he did when he was younger, or when you teach him how to do the laundry or make payments in an actual bank.

He's found out that he likes making you laugh second, and annoying you greatly first. Your exasperated face and the way your eyebrows furrow in disbelief with the stupid things he says and the ridiculous stories he shares satisfies him to no end. He adores your laugh and the sound of your groan when you've had enough of his idiocy and his teasing.

He also likes your amused look every time he makes something for you, whether it's whipping up your coffee or baking something new, your widened eyes and the glimmer in them reveal the emotions that you don't get to experience yourself as much - like the sense of awe, of innocence, of simplicity.

But he also really likes your tender face when he does something nice, like arranging your groceries in the cupboards or assembling a new bookshelf because the spacing of the shelves of the last one wasn't to your liking. You're calm and it's like you're able to breathe, like there's some sense of order in your life again even if it's not you directing it.

You're a blur sometimes - coming in and out of his life, with the bell ringing at the cafe to signify your arrival and then you're gone, off to where you need to be, and he waits for when he hears from you again, thankful you spare him even the tiniest bit of you time.

But some days, when your absence becomes too much, he wedges himself into your life and hopes you don't shun him, and the elation he feels when you don't makes all the times he didn't see you become worth it. Just like today.

"So, cream cheese and garlic bread, you say?" You smile widely at him as he enters your apartment, offering to help him with his bags but he insists and walks towards your kitchen like it's his home.

"I've always enjoyed eating it, might as well make it myself now," he says, placing all his things on your kitchen counter. "I'm still trying to perfect my bread-baking skills but I'm getting there."

You sit on the bar stool and watch him like a kid on Christmas. Jungkook takes all the ingredients, mixes what's needed for the dough, and places the whole chunk of it on his working space, all the while narrating what he's doing, with you merely humming in response. You watch him knead it with his palms, stretching it apart then folding it into layers, kneading it again, then checking its elasticity to make sure it's like how he wants it.

"I'm gonna keep doing this for like, half an hour," he informs you, his eyes flitting at your amused face.

"Mhmm, it's okay. I watch baking shows and it's nice to see this up close," you reply, scooting a little closer. "And aside from listening to Sun-hee's med school shenanigans, this has been the most interesting part of my weekend."

He bites back a huge grin and continues working, deciding to talk about different kinds of bread and what other types he wants to try making soon.

You try to listen to what he says but you're too absorbed with what he's doing, entranced with the way his hands move, as he rolls and folds and uses his flour-stained fingers to massage the dough. Your eyes mindlessly move up, the prominent veins in his forearms and the ink decorating one of them catching your attention, and you make the mistake of letting out the tiniest of moans at the sight of his biceps, taut and screaming to be noticed, as he continues his movements. You've no doubt that the dough kneading he does everyday is what makes his arms the way that they are.