in which kim taehyung was an artist in search of a muse for his upcoming gallery collection, and jeon jungkook was just a pretty boy who worked in a coffee shop.
______
"am i really that pretty?"
"oh my darling love, there is no such painting that...
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"𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒈𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑, 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅."
[𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞]
"ugh... these long shifts are so draining." hoseok groaned, his head cupped in his hand as he looked around the cafe. he shifted his gaze to seokjin, who was writing on a clipboard. "hyung, where's jungkook?"
"he called in sick this morning." the older man explained, not looking up from his writing. "jimin's covering his shift later."
"sick?" hoseok lifted his head, frowning as he looked over, seeing namjoon come out from the back room with a fresh batch of halloween cupcakes. "is he alright?"
"he had a date with yugyeom last night and stayed over at his place, i think he's just hungover." jin shrugged, chuckling a little. "you know how they'd drink together in college. either way, i'm happy to give him the day off. he's been working hard recently."
"not to mention the busy night at the gallery." namjoon carefully put he tray down into the display, taking a cake out to take a bite. "kook's had a busy last few weeks."
"oh, yeah!" hoseok's eyes widen. "how was it? the display? i saw it in the news... vante's new collection, apparently the even raised nearly 5 million won... ah, to be rich."
"he hates being called vante." jin chuckled as he looked up, hitting namjoon with the clipboard. "and you, what did i tell you about eating the halloween cakes?"
"ow, hyung!" namjoon whined, wiping some buttercream on the tip of his husband's nose. "i'm just taste testing."
hoseok chuckled, shaking his head. "namjoon hyung, you-"
"hey, could i have two black coffees please?"
"h-huh?" hoseok looked up and gave a hearty smile at the handsome mint haired man at the counter. "o-of course!" he nearly squeaked, a little taken aback from the handsome man. "coming right up!"
"thanks," the man leaned forward, reading the name tag with a small smirk. "hobi."
"yoongi hyung." namjoon watched hoseok stumble around making the drinks with red cheeks like a fool, and chuckled. "how're you? have you... heard from tae recently?"
"i'm good but tae, well... he just... wants to be alone." yoongi frowned, leaning against the counter. "he hasn't even told me what's up, has he told you?"
"i haven't heard from him since the gallery." namjoon sighed. "i know he likes solitude, but..."
"i'm sure he just needs to calm down from the big event." yoongi soothed. "i'm going over to his place, i'll try and cheer him up a bit.. you know how he gets."
"yeah." namjoon sighed, ruffling his own hair. "i'm just a little worried. he usually comes by every other day... it's been nearly three that i haven't seen or heard from him."
"i'll let you know what's happening." yoongi confirmed, before flickering his gaze to hoseok's back; the redhead bustling about as he made the two coffees. "hey joon, you never told me you had cute staff."
hoseok tensed up, and blushed as he kept his back turned and jin's lips twitched up as he watched the ordeal. "ah, that's hobi.... hoseok, this is min yoongi, a close friend of namjoon and taehyung. yoongi, this is hoseok, jungkook's best friend."
"pleasure to meet you." yoongi winked, causing hoseok's cheeks to warm up as he put the two coffees on the counter. "keep the change, cute boy." the mint haired man gave him the money, before grabbing the drinks. "see you guys later."
"was... was he flirting with me?" hoseok choked out, eyes wide as he watched yoongi leave. "h-he-"
"was definitely flirting." seokjin cackled, ruffling hoseok's hair. "yoongi's a good guy, he seems into you... why not give it a shot?"
"i don't even know-"
"that could change." the eldest mused, giving hobi a wink. "you never know how these things work."
hoseok gaped like a fish, before clearing his throat, turning around to hide his red face. "w-whatever..."
—
halloween was always one of jungkook's favourite holidays. since he was a child, he adored the concept of pumpkin carving, the spooky decorations; it was his favourite holiday, right after christmas.
"hey kook~" yugyeom grinned, his hand hidden as he held a chunk of pumpkin guts and seeds as he waited for him to look up from his own pumpkin. "check this out!"
"what is it?" jungkook looked up, his eyes wide when yugyeom suddenly pushed the pumpkin seeds into his face. "hey!" he barked out a laugh, shoving his hand into his own pumpkin to scoop up some pumpkin guts to launch at the other.
the two quickly broke out into a pumpkin seed fight, laughing and cackling in yugyeom's kitchen. the counter tops were covered in the stuff, halloween candy and bear on the surfaces.
they went on that date, after the gallery. and it was... nice. they saw a movie, and had takeout- something they did in the senior year of highschool.
despite his initial nervousness about the date, jungkook had found himself enjoying the simple joy of spending time with his old friend.
the familiarity of their shared memories from high school and college brought a sense of comfort, easing any lingering tension from the previous night.
with each playful exchange of pumpkin guts and seeds, jungkook felt a sense of freedom and happiness wash over him. for a moment, he forgot about the gallery, about taehyung, about everything except the pure enjoyment of the present moment.
but unbeknownst to the brunette, taehyung was spending halloween night alone, his thoughts consumed by the events of the past few days.
as the artist sat in his dimly lit, empty mansion, surrounded by his own artwork and misery, he couldn't shake the feeling of emptiness that seemed to settle over him like a heavy fog.
in the midst of the halloweenb festivities, two souls, once intertwined by fate, found themselves on separate paths, each lost in their own thoughts and emotions on this spooky autumn night.
jungkook's eyes crinkled with joy, his laughter loud and bright... completely unaware that his favourite artist who he had rejected, was spending the evening all alone and miserable.
________
Poor tae, all alone on halloween, huh. :( i can't wait for jungkook to realise his feelings :3
