One Song Glory [2/3]
Title: One Song Glory [2/3]
Pairing: Yoongi/Jeongguk
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance.
Word Count: 5'549.
Warnings: (none) (The rating is for a bit of language.)
Disclaimer: While the content of this story is inspired by real events and people, any references made are entirely thought up by the author and in no way reflect actual actions and opinions. Any similarities are coincidence.
Summary: When Yoongi gets a call from a stranger in the middle of the night, he never expected to end up driving him home across half of Seoul.
Notes: Cross-posted on AO3 and tumblr. Inspired by the prompt "accidentally called your number while drunk asking for a ride and you actually came au" (credit to xaquaangelx on tumblr), but it got away from me. Title from the song by the same name from the musical RENT. This is for xiajin (because I got you hopeful for Sugakookie fic. I didn't mean this one, but I hope it's okay).
This is a little rough around the edges, I'm deeply sorry.
Part 1.
One Song Glory - Part 2
October
Yoongi cursed the chilly wind that crawled through every little hole his clothing left, especially that large rip right over his left knee. He could feel goose bumps scratching up against the tight jeans material on his legs. With a final shiver, he ducked into the cozy restaurant where Jimin was waiting with his selection of friends to informally celebrate his birthday. Before Yoongi had even taken off his beanie, he was assaulted by an overly enthusiastic Taehyung as a loud chorus of welcomes rang through the room.
Patting Taehyung on the back a few times before pushing him away to wriggle out of his jacket, Yoongi finally looked up to see Jimin’s ragtag group of friends crammed around a set of tables. Most of them he’d at least seen before, but it always impressed him again how good Jimin was at making friends with the most unlikely of people. And of course, squeezed in between Jimin and Sungjae, Hoseok hanging off his shoulders, and looking up at him with his wide, dark eyes, was Jeongguk. Yoongi gave him a nod and received a bashful smile in return.
“Hyung! You’re here!” Jimin jumped out of his seat to grab Yoongi into an eager hug of his own.
As with Taehyung, Yoongi long-sufferingly patted his shoulder until Jimin let go of him, then reached into his pocket to pull out his present. “Happy Birthday.”
Jimin looked puzzled at the plain envelope, but when he peeked inside, a beaming smile spread over his face. Yoongi had had to pull a few strings to get the concert tickets for Jimin, but seeing him so happy made it worth the effort. He got another tight hug for his troubles, before Jimin pushed him down into an empty seat next to Seokjin. Kicking Taehyung out of the seat on Yoongi’s other side-who squawked noisily in protest and stalked off to Jimin’s now empty chair next to Jeongguk, complaining about his fate-Jimin plopped down next to him.
“I’m glad you came, hyung. It’s been ages since you last went out with us.”
“Stop inviting me to go clubbing and I might just come out to see you,” Yoongi shot back, giving Jimin a bland look.
Jimin’s smile was unfazed. “Well, next time I’ll go drinking with you. How’ve you been, though? How’s work?”
So Yoongi told him anecdotes about concerts he’d been to and a local indie group he’d interviewed, complained about Jinyoung littering all their office desks with the books he was working on, and how his fridge had died on him on the hottest day of the past summer. In turn, Jimin griped about the stress of his final college year, working on his portfolio to prepare for his job search, and told him about how he and his girlfriend planned on moving in together once they both found jobs and could afford a nice place. Somewhere in between all the rambling about curtain fabrics and the newest drawing pad he wished he could afford, Jimin managed to inform him that Jeongguk was now officially a performing arts student, had passed his audition with flying colors in fact. Yoongi was pleased at that piece of news. More pleased than he cared to think about, actually, and tried his best to ignore the feeling of his mouth curving into a smile as he threw a quick glance at Jeongguk, who was in spirited conversation with Hoseok.
The kid looked happy, all bright-eyed and glowing in the boisterous atmosphere. Yoongi could hear his and Hoseok’s exclamations even from his seat, rising over the already loud chatter around them, and for some reason he found he didn’t mind the volume that day. It was as if seeing Jeongguk so genuinely excited soothed that prickly part of him that normally bristled at noise and crowds.
Maybe Jeongguk had felt him staring or maybe it was coincidence, but their eyes met across the table. Jeongguk grinned at him-so wide it crinkled his nose and his teeth were on display-and waved cheerfully.
He was fucking adorable.
Yoongi couldn’t help the lopsided smile that spread across his face in response, nor the wave of fondness that washed through him, warming him to the tips of his toes.
It was kind of nice, being out with friends, sitting around eating and drinking and talking and laughing in a cozy restaurant, warm for once in the middle of the most recent cold spell. On most days, talking to people exhausted Yoongi. All the effort put into keeping a conversation going and having to listen to topics he didn’t care about, it was draining. That day, however, he found it easy and relaxing, probably helped along by the alcohol that came with dinner. The room was so chaotic that talking to more than one person at a time was virtually impossible, so he could just focus on Jimin or Seokjin or Sungjae-who came over to take Jimin’s vacated seat-and catch up with them.
Even going out in the cold after dinner wasn’t that bad. They moved in a throng, huddled together in their winter coats, shouting from one end of their group to the other on their way to a noraebang. Yoongi was squeezed somewhere in the middle, Jackson hanging off his one shoulder, Taehyung off the other while they talked enthusiastically above his head. It was loud, but at least he wasn’t cold.
Still, he was glad to get inside the noraebang where it was toasty warm. Chucking off his coat, he claimed a seat in a remote corner of the room, more than happy to leave center stage for the extroverted members of their little party who were already squabbling over song selections.
Yoongi was surprised when Jeongguk plopped down next to him, still in a blue beanie and a coat. He looked good in a hat, thick dark hair pushed into his eyes, and Yoongi wanted to comb his fingers through it to see what it felt like. The feeling caught him off guard. Perhaps it shouldn’t have because he was painfully aware of how attractive Jeongguk was even when he was just pulling off his jacket and raking a hand through his hair after ridding it of the beanie. But in the end, Jeongguk was so young, still in college and despite being a legal adult, still just a kid.
As if by prior agreement, they kept silent and just watched the others jumping around the room, yelling out song lyrics or swaying to sappy ballads. There were snacks and alcohol on the tables to keep the mood high-not that it was needed with the way the loudest members of Jimin’s circle of friends kept whooping and cheering. It was extremely noisy, but also nice to float along on the happy atmosphere.
Jeongguk slowly relaxed next to him, sinking further into the seat and laughingly clapping along to a particularly energetic performance of a Big Bang song by Taehyung and Hoseok with Jimin participating as a tipsy back-up dancer. Yoongi snickered into his beer when Jaebum almost fell victim to a flailing leg and saved himself with a graceless tumble onto one of the sofas, nearly bowling Seokjin over in the process.
It escalated from there with a spirited rendition of Sunmi’s 24 Hours by Sungjae, complete with matching dance moves that sent everyone howling with laughter. Jeongguk got a lap full of breathlessly giggling Jimin and could barely keep him from sliding to the floor in mirth, clutching at Jimin’s shoulder and hip. Eyeing the situation from his side, Yoongi was tempted to just kick Jimin off the sofa to save Jeongguk the trouble, but Jeongguk was laughing himself, curved around Jimin’s shaking body, so Yoongi refrained.
From that point, it was girl group free-for-all and Yoongi felt very strongly that he’d need to find a way to bleach his brain of images he really didn’t need after that night, like Hoseok’s booty-shaking to Hot Pink or Jaebum’s exaggerated Touch my Body moves. To distract himself from the dance move slaughter going on up front, he finally cleared his throat to tell Jeongguk what he should have told him when he sat down. “I heard that you got into the school you wanted.”
Jeongguk turned his head, smiling shyly down at his knees. “I did, yeah. I started in March.”
Yoongi’s fingers were itching to reach out and touch, just a hair ruffle or squeeze of the knee, but instead Yoongi gripped the glass in his hand tighter. “Congratulations, Jeongguk,” he said as warmly as he could.
When Jeongguk looked up at him, his eyes were crinkled up into charming crescents. “Thank you.”
He had stopped calling him hyung, Yoongi noticed, eyeing the glass of water Jeongguk was holding. It seemed Jeongguk wasn’t as bold around him sober, and of course they weren’t really close enough for Jeongguk to be calling him hyung, but he still felt he missed it. He nodded at the glass. “You’re not drinking today?”
Jeongguk glanced down at his water as if he’d forgotten about it. “Ah, no. I need to take care of myself a bit more now. Y’know, for vocal and dance classes.” He shrugged awkwardly, but his face was bright with happiness.
Yoongi hummed in understanding. “So you like your classes?”
With shining eyes, Jeongguk launched into a description of his different classes and what he had learned, but he hadn’t gotten far when Taehyung suddenly appeared to drag him up from his seat, chirping, “Your turn, Jeonggukie!”
“What? No, hyung, I don’t want to--”
“No excuses,” Taehyung sing-songed and pushed him towards the front. He turned back, very probably to pull Yoongi up as well, but seemed to change his mind when he caught sight of Yoongi’s glowering face. Sticking his tongue out, he pranced back to the front to drape himself around Jackson’s shoulders.
Yoongi snorted. Taehyung was a damn monkey.
Apparently, someone had already selected another girl group song for Jeongguk, and with an exasperated face, Jeongguk took the microphone. It was Girls’ Day’s Something and whoever had chosen it obviously was aware Jeongguk knew the dance. Under the loud cheers from the front rows and with Jimin and Seokjin as enthusiastic back-up dancers, Jeongguk finally just bowed to his fate and started performing with vibrating falsetto and pointed stage expressions. It wasn’t hard to notice he had the intense, attractive stare down pat.
Yoongi was so distracted that he only noticed Jackson creeping up when it was too late. Jackson bent down and fearlessly grabbed Yoongi around the middle.
“Let go, dipshit!” Yoongi tried kicking Jackson in the shin, but only managed to get pulled from his seat instead. “I’m not singing!”
“You have to, hyung!” Jackson shouted in his ear with an excited, high-pitched laugh, dragging him toward the karaoke screen.
Usually, Jackson had about zero boundaries when it came to personal space, but he was perceptive enough to keep his distance, so Taehyung must have put him up to it. Glaring at Taehyung over Jackson’s shoulder, Yoongi only received an unrepentant grin in return.
He was unceremoniously shoved up right next to Jeongguk and gave everyone the stink-eye for good measure. If they wanted him to do a girl group song, he’d kick some major ass.
Thankfully, the next notes out of the speakers were the intro to Unconditionally. Trot Yoongi could do. Jeongguk began bopping to the beat next to him and in one corner, Hoseok and Jimin were doing a weird circle dance with lots of hand movements. So Yoongi decided to just screw it and go with the flow.
When he started yelling lyrics this time, Jeongguk just laughed and sang along, no matter how off-key Yoongi’s voice got. They jumped around, more screeching than singing most of the time, and Yoongi even managed to aim a good kick at Taehyung’s butt at one point, for revenge.
Unconditionally seamlessly went over into Shabang Shabang and of course the car ride popped into Yoongi’s head. His eyes flew to Jeongguk, who was looking back with a goofy grin, obviously thinking of the same thing, and there was a huge bubble of mirth growing in Yoongi’s chest, just waiting to burst out of him. He started snickering helplessly when Jeongguk came to the line about his attractiveness again and this time performed a ridiculous pose along with it.
All the jumping around was more fun than he had in ages, but it was also exhausting, so he was ready to push the mic into the next pair of available hands and take a break once the song was done. The next song, however, he recognized immediately (Epik High’s Fly) and it seemed Jeongguk did as well, because he carefully grabbed at Yoongi’s sleeve to stop him. “You said you’d show me rap,” he said quietly enough that only Yoongi could hear, and maybe it was the look in his big eyes or the cheers of Yoongi’s name coming from the rest of the party and, well, Yoongi had said that, so he stayed and lifted the microphone again.
He felt like he hadn’t rapped in ages and the alcohol wasn’t exactly helping to make his tongue more nimble, but he’d formed the words to the song so often that his lips just kept on moving even past small stumbles. To his surprise, Jeongguk started doing the supporting parts and the chorus, smiling at him from behind the microphone.
Yoongi was out of breath when the song ended, his mind still trying to wrap around the fact that Jeongguk apparently had another hidden talent to add to his already long list. Maybe Jimin’s complete adoration wasn’t so unfounded after all, and if Jeongguk kept showing talent like that all the time, Yoongi would have to take him to a studio or something to dissect it all, tickle all the voice colors he was capable of out of him, push him to his limits.
Gladly giving the microphone over to an eager Sungjae, Yoongi retreated back into his corner and collapsed on the couch, thoroughly exhausted. Jeongguk, flushed and still grinning, flopped down next to him so that their knees pressed together. He was so radiant and the need to touch him so overwhelming that Yoongi’s hand reached out to ruffle his hair before Yoongi even registered it.
He felt Jeongguk freeze for a second, but he didn’t move away, just stayed carefully still. And Yoongi didn’t pull away either, his hand somehow sliding down until it was hesitantly curving around Jeongguk’s sweaty neck. Jeongguk was so still and taut Yoongi was afraid he might shatter at any moment, but then he took a deep breath and another one and slowly relaxed again, pushing back against Yoongi’s hand, the radiance simmering down to glowing contentment.
The noise in the room fell away when Yoongi stroked his thumb over the short, downy hairs on the back of Jeongguk’s head. He didn’t dare look over, but he could feel a little shudder wreck through Jeongguk, could feel the upper bumps of his spine under his fingers, could feel the sticky sweat clinging to Jeongguk’s skin. Blood pulsed in his ears. He wondered if the moment would break if he moved the tiniest bit, so he held his breath.
When Jeongguk’s fingers tentatively hooked through one of Yoongi’s belt loops, something so warm and giddy bloomed in his gut that he felt almost dizzy with it. Yoongi closed his eyes and exhaled as carefully as possible, irrationally worried a sudden huff might disperse the feeling. A hot pulsing started in his hip, right under the light pressure of Jeongguk’s hand.
The moment grew longer and longer until Yoongi was sure someone would look over and notice them sitting like that, notice the unusual heat of Yoongi’s normally pale face and their strange lack of movement. But nobody did. They were too busy being boisterous and hyperactive to pay them any mind, so Yoongi and Jeongguk just sat still, breathing into a shared space, watching the hilarity at the front of the room, neither of them daring to move.
But something had to happen at some point. They had to be caught, Yoongi just knew it, and he didn’t know what would happen then. Usually he wasn’t bothered by stuff like that-let them look and talk, who cared?-but this was different. Yoongi wasn’t even sure what he was doing anymore, being hung up on this kid and getting strangely touchy. Jeongguk was still so young and half of the time Yoongi wanted to coddle him silly. There never had been a situation before where he also wanted to kiss someone like that silly. It was alarming and damn confusing, and when Yoongi felt like he was going to explode with nervous tension any second now, he decided to just go home. It was late enough that no one would question him too much.
As he moved to withdraw his hand, Jeongguk’s eyes jumped to him. “I think I’ll head home,” Yoongi told him awkwardly and he couldn’t remember when he’d last felt so shy talking to some kid.
Jeongguk nodded silently, still watching him with his dark, intense eyes. Right. Not just some kid, but Jeongguk. Jeongguk, who was too much of everything for Yoongi to even wrap his mind around, mostly too young, though.
Before he even knew what he was doing, Yoongi was asking, “How’re you getting home tonight, kid?” and immediately froze. What had he even wanted to achieve with that question? Offer Jeongguk a bed for the night? To play it off, Yoongi reached for his scarf. Goddamn, he was just asking for trouble. A fucking kid. Maybe he should just strangle himself before he got more idiotic ideas. He yanked his scarf on disgustedly.
“I’m crashing at Jimin-hyung’s place tonight,” Jeongguk answered. His hand brushed Yoongi’s thigh for a quick second in what might have been reassurance or apology. “He offered since it’s much closer than mine.”
There. Jeongguk had a place to stay and wouldn’t be wandering Seoul in the middle of the night alone, so everything was wonderful. Yoongi refused to even think about feeling disappointed.
“Good,” he said gruffly, standing up and giving Jeongguk’s dark hair another quick ruffle, without ending up stroking his neck this time. And wasn’t that just a mind-blowing success on his part.
He really, really needed to get home.
Yoongi snatched up his coat and left Jeongguk sitting in the corner of the room.
-
November
“Whoa! You’re actually here, hyung? That can’t be true. Quick, someone pinch me!”
Yoongi ignored Hoseok’s exclamations of disbelief and looked around the crowded room, already half regretting ever entering the apartment.
Jackson and one of his flat mates had decided to throw a late Halloween party and unsurprisingly (since Jackson seemed to know half of Seoul) it was a well-attended event that had costumed people filling almost every available space. Thumping music was coming from somewhere Yoongi couldn’t see, providing the backdrop for a few brave souls already dancing in one corner. Entering the apartment was like walking to a wall of noise and heat.
If not for the insistence of his work colleagues, Yoongi wouldn’t have attended, but of course Hongbin and Jinyoung knew Jackson and even claimed to be friends with him, so they dragged Yoongi along.
“This is a miracle! How did you manage to force him here, Jinyoungie?” Hoseok laughed, slapping Jinyoung on the shoulder in enthusiastic congratulations.
Jinyoung only managed a mysterious smile before he was almost knocked over with a tackle-hug from Jackson, who was screeching so loudly that it even drowned out the music for a moment. When Yoongi saw Hongbin being unceremoniously yanked into their pile of limbs, he took a few steps back for safety.
“Hey Yoongi-hyung.”
Yoongi barely had time to turn around and recognize Namjoon, then he was squeezed tightly around the middle. By now he’d gone through that process often enough to know it was Jimin pressing the breath out of his lungs and that struggling would be futile.
“What’re you wearing, hyung?” Jimin demanded when he’d let go, side-eyeing Yoongi’s army-green jacket and plain shirt combo. “That’s totally not a costume!”
Yoongi pointedly gave him a blank look over the rim of his aviators. “It’s Top Gun, you little shit.”
“You’re wearing skinny jeans and sneakers!” Jimin retorted accusingly. “And that’s the jacket you have on almost every day!”
Shrugging carelessly, Yoongi stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets. “So what? I still look better than you,” he taunted, nodding his chin at Jimin’s almost professional Charlie Chaplin getup.
Offended, Jimin stalked off with a pout, attaching himself to Hoseok who by now was part of what looked like a wrestling match between Yoongi’s co-workers and Jackson.
“Don’t think they’d allow pink hair in the Navy,” Namjoon commented with a grin. Jimin must have gotten to him earlier; his face was painted white as well to mime vampire paleness.
“I’ve had enough of the military anyways,” Yoongi replied, taking off his sunglasses to fold them into the neck of his shirt. “So, where did they put the drinks?”
Namjoon pointed him in the direction of the kitchen where Yoongi managed to unearth a bottle of imported beer for himself. The room was too full, though, so he wandered back out again, drifting along the walls, looking for a familiar face he actually wanted to see, until he unexpectedly bumped into Jeon Jeongguk.
Jeon Jeongguk, who looked stunning in some kind of formal uniform, Yoongi realized as he turned around, all long limbs and broad shoulders. Jeongguk’s expression was surprised for a moment, then a smile lit up his face. “Hyung. I didn’t know you’d be here.”
There were so many things to take in: the fact that Jeongguk was even there, that Jeongguk had called him hyung again (which Yoongi probably couldn’t and possibly didn’t want to protest anymore), the way the uniform gave Jeongguk an air of maturity, how his side-swept hair glinted almost purple under the dimmed lights, how he looked just so happy to see Yoongi. It was hard to process. Scrambling for something to say, Yoongi ended up gesturing to Jeongguk’s costume with the bottle in his hand. “What kind of uniform is that?”
Jeongguk glanced down, self-consciously smoothing his free hand down the jacket. “It actually belongs to my cousin. He’s a firefighter, this is what he wears to formal stuff.”
It looked like it had been tailored to Jeongguk’s frame with the way it hugged his chest. Yoongi took a swig of his beer and tried not to ogle. “Looks good,” he said as nonchalantly as he could manage.
“I, um… I didn’t think you were the party type of guy.”
When Yoongi shot him a vaguely amused glance from the corner of his eye, Jeongguk was focused on fiddling with the plastic cup in his hands. “No?”
“Well, Jimin-hyung said that. So I didn’t expect to see you here.”
Jeongguk didn’t exactly seem like a party person himself, with the way he was shrinking into the wall, making him appear more of Yoongi’s height than he actually was. “I don’t normally go out much,” Yoongi told him. “I hate loud places and crowds.”
“Oh. Then why are you here today?”
Yoongi smiled wryly. “My co-workers insisted.”
“I’m glad they did,” Jeongguk replied, almost inaudible over the party noise, looking like a shy bunny with the way he blinked up at Yoongi over his cup.
Yoongi didn’t want to think too deeply about how pleased he was at that simple statement. Warmth rushed through him all the same, probably tainting his cheeks, and swelling up under his jacket. He took another gulp of cool beer, then he nodded at Jeongguk’s cup. “You drinking today?”
Shaking his head, Jeongguk explained, “It’s just water. “
“Still holding back for school?”
Jeongguk smiled bashfully, as if he was half-afraid of being called a nerd. “Yeah. They’ll be selecting who’s going to participate in the year-end-showcase soon. There aren’t many slots for underclassmen.”
“Can’t do more than your best,” Yoongi told him and it came out sounding like reassurance. “Good luck, kid.” The nickname felt foreign on his tongue this time. Perhaps it was because with the uniform and his hair like that, Jeongguk almost looked older than Yoongi.
“Thanks, hyung.” He paused, shooting a nervous glance at Yoongi, before he charged on. “If I get in, will you come see the performance?”
Was it that daunting, asking him such a question? The corners of Yoongi’s mouth hitched up. “Sure. I have to see if you’re any good on a stage after all.”
A look of relief crossed Jeongguk’s face, then he smiled another hesitant smile. “Would you give me your phone number? So I can tell you when I know?”
Caught off guard, Yoongi just blinked at him, but he was fairly certain the sudden escalation of his heart rate didn’t show on his face. Trying to keep it that way, he silently fished out his phone and passed it over for Jeongguk to enter his number. Yoongi was a second away from draining his bottle in an effort to cool down and only refrained because gulping down alcohol at that speed probably wouldn’t be helpful in the least, even if it was only beer.
When Jeongguk gave his phone back, Yoongi tapped the call icon. “That’s me. There you go.”
“I’ll message you when I know about the showcase,” Jeongguk promised.
“You do that,” Yoongi replied, putting his phone away again. “Will your parents come up for that?”
“Ah, I don’t think so…” Jeongguk trailed off, looking a little embarrassed.
Frowning at that reaction, Yoongi asked him how they felt about his change of schools and Jeongguk launched into an explanation of the almost-fight that had broken out when he called about his decision to apply for the performing arts school, how it had actually been his older brother who talked his father into letting Jeongguk give it a chance and how relations with home had been a little strained since then.
“But they’re supporting you?” Yoongi queried carefully. His conscience would gnaw at him till the end of his days if his advice had pushed Jeongguk into an unsustainable position.
At Jeongguk’s nod, the tight knot in Yoongi’s gut dissolved. “More or less. So far they’re still helping me with school fees and rent, but we made a deal that I would help out as much as possible, so I’m working part-time in a concert hall now. You know, wardrobe and bar and ticket counter and stuff. And I’ll apply for a scholarship next term.”
Yoongi gave him a grin. “Sounds like it’s working out well for you.”
Jeongguk grinned back happily, obviously content with his situation. “It is. Thanks to you, hyung.”
Amused, Yoongi huffed out a laugh. “Trying to feed my ego, huh?”
“What? No! I mean it!” Jeongguk looked adorably offended, all wide-eyed and almost pouting.
Yoongi was tempted to reach out and pat the sulking expression from his face, but settled for squeezing Jeongguk’s shoulder instead, almost grazing the skin of his neck with how close to it his fingers landed. “Alright, alright, you can flatter me more later.”
Even as he gave Yoongi a mock frown, Jeongguk didn’t shrug his and off. “Even if you don’t like it?”
“I’ll just quietly suffer through it like a good hyung,” Yoongi replied blandly, giving a last squeeze before his dropped his hand again.
“Well, I’ll pay you back with free tickets later when I’m a famous musical actor,” Jeongguk said, ruining the effect of his solemn tone by the laugh that broke through.
“Pah! For that you need to pass all your classes first.”
Jeongguk grinned. “No problem. I’m doing well, hyung, don’t worry. My vocal teacher said I’m making really good progress.”
“That’s one class,” Yoongi said in mock derision. “What about all the other classes? Dancing and acting and whatnot?”
Jeongguk seemed to sense Yoongi’s genuine interest about his school work because he talked about his favorite classes and teachers, what came easily to him and what he had to work for, about his classmates, about the songs and dances he was learning, happily detailing his efforts. He’d never willingly talked that much before and Yoongi wasn’t sure if Jeongguk did it now because he was so passionate about the topic or because he was starting to feel more comfortable around Yoongi. No matter what the reason was, though, Yoongi was glad for it. When he chattered so enthusiastically, Jeongguk’s entire face lit up and he became completely mesmerizing, breathtaking even, and it was hard to look away from him. It was wonderful to witness. Yoongi found himself soaking the image up to keep in his memory.
From the subject of Jeongguk’s training, their conversation of course turned to music again. How they ended up squabbling over which of the Avengers was coolest a good while later would remain a mystery to Yoongi, however. He only knew that they were suddenly interrupted by Hakyeon appearing next to them, throwing them accusing looks.
“Why are you two hiding in a corner discussing Iron Man?” he demanded, rudely pointing at them with a pipe. Judging by the deerstalker perched on his head and the trench coat around his shoulders, his costume was Sherlock Holmes.
Yoongi hadn’t even noticed they had backed into a small niche formed by a strategically placed bookshelf, standing almost shoulder to shoulder, mostly obscured from the main part of the room. When he glanced at Jeongguk, he looked just as surprised, blinking back owlishly.
Hakyeon didn’t seem to be bothered by their lack of answer. “Come on, guys. Namjoonie and Jiminnie said they’ve haven’t seen you for an hour now. They seemed to miss you. Do you want your friends to be sad? Of course you don’t. Let’s get going,” he exclaimed in an alcohol-fueled ramble, grabbing their wrists and proceeding to drag them back into the crowd.
They were welcomed with loud screeches of their names and thank God for Mark pressing another beer into Yoongi’s hand. His ears just weren’t made for the average volume of Hoseok’s and Jackson’s voices. Yugyeoum immediately latched onto Jeongguk and Yoongi found solace in the quietness of Mark’s and Taekwoon’s company (when they weren’t being assaulted by one of their hyperactive friends).
In the chaos of the party, Yoongi lost sight of Jeongguk. There were quite a lot of people present Yoongi knew because they were friends of friends or old school mates or due to some other convoluted connection, so he surprisingly spent a lot of time just talking to people he hadn’t seen in ages. He managed to shake off Taehyung’s attempt to drag him to the makeshift dance floor and deposited a tipsy Jaehwan talking his ear off at Seokjin’s side, who went on to calmly pat Jaehwan’s arm and nod at random intervals while Yoongi sneaked away.
He ended up drinking quite a bit more than he had originally intended, but as he also ended up staying a lot longer than planned, it was to be expected. By the time Yoongi was thoroughly fed up with people stumbling into him and all the conversational screaming over the music had given him a headache, he decided to just call it a night. A glance at his phone told him it was past three in the morning.
With a final circuit around the room to tell any of his friends he could find that he was leaving, Yoongi was heading for the door when he surprisingly did find Jeongguk again. He had thought that Jeongguk had left by now, but apparently they just hadn’t crossed paths, as he was just turning away from a conversation with group that consisted of Jimin, Wonshik and two girls whose names he didn’t know, heading in the direction of the kitchen. When he saw Yoongi, the look of surprised pleasure from earlier that night crossed his face again.
It must have been alcohol or adrenaline from the atmosphere, but Jeongguk looked so fucking good in that uniform and his smile was so warm and welcoming that Yoongi just stepped over and wrapped an arm around his neck. Jeongguk stumbled at the abrupt hug, steadying himself with a hand on Yoongi’s hip. The surprised gasp right next to Yoongi’s ear sent his blood rushing furiously as he pressed against Jeongguk’s chest, inhaling the scent of his cologne. He was so, so tempted to just bury his face in Jeongguk’s warm neck and stay there.
Jeongguk’s hand curled tighter around his hip, bringing them closer, and the hand that lifted to rest on Yoongi’s back was trembling so much that Yoongi could feel it even through his clothes. “Yoongi-hyung,” he whispered with a ragged breath.
Yoongi shifted his hand to clasp around the back of Jeongguk’s neck, sliding down his head in a rough stroke, the motion much too familiar already. “Good night, Jeongguk-ah.” He squeezed one last time, then he let go and turned to leave on shaky legs.
His heart was still racing when he got outside.
Notes: Songs mentioned: Sunmi - 24 Hours [BTOB's Sungjae], EXID - Hot Pink [Hoseok], Sistar - Touch my Body [GOT7's Jaebum (JB)], Girls' Day - Something [Jeongguk] (all inspired by the boys' actual performances of those dances in various variety shows/random vids); Park Sangchul - Unconditionally, Park Hyunbin - Shabang Shabang (both in a reference to BTS Gayo Track 8; Shabang Shabang is of course what Jeongguk sang in pt. 1); and Epik High - Fly (which is said to be the song that got Yoongi into rap).
There is a BTS - Dope MV reference not only in Jeongguk's hairstyle, but also in the uniform he wears. The official dress uniform of Korean firefighters is actually similar to the uniform Yoongi wears in Dope MV, with white ties instead of his dark one, and dark pants instead of his white ones, as far as Google tells me. ;)
Pairing: Yoongi/Jeongguk
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance.
Word Count: 5'549.
Warnings: (none) (The rating is for a bit of language.)
Disclaimer: While the content of this story is inspired by real events and people, any references made are entirely thought up by the author and in no way reflect actual actions and opinions. Any similarities are coincidence.
Summary: When Yoongi gets a call from a stranger in the middle of the night, he never expected to end up driving him home across half of Seoul.
Notes: Cross-posted on AO3 and tumblr. Inspired by the prompt "accidentally called your number while drunk asking for a ride and you actually came au" (credit to xaquaangelx on tumblr), but it got away from me. Title from the song by the same name from the musical RENT. This is for xiajin (because I got you hopeful for Sugakookie fic. I didn't mean this one, but I hope it's okay).
This is a little rough around the edges, I'm deeply sorry.
Part 1.
One Song Glory - Part 2
October
Yoongi cursed the chilly wind that crawled through every little hole his clothing left, especially that large rip right over his left knee. He could feel goose bumps scratching up against the tight jeans material on his legs. With a final shiver, he ducked into the cozy restaurant where Jimin was waiting with his selection of friends to informally celebrate his birthday. Before Yoongi had even taken off his beanie, he was assaulted by an overly enthusiastic Taehyung as a loud chorus of welcomes rang through the room.
Patting Taehyung on the back a few times before pushing him away to wriggle out of his jacket, Yoongi finally looked up to see Jimin’s ragtag group of friends crammed around a set of tables. Most of them he’d at least seen before, but it always impressed him again how good Jimin was at making friends with the most unlikely of people. And of course, squeezed in between Jimin and Sungjae, Hoseok hanging off his shoulders, and looking up at him with his wide, dark eyes, was Jeongguk. Yoongi gave him a nod and received a bashful smile in return.
“Hyung! You’re here!” Jimin jumped out of his seat to grab Yoongi into an eager hug of his own.
As with Taehyung, Yoongi long-sufferingly patted his shoulder until Jimin let go of him, then reached into his pocket to pull out his present. “Happy Birthday.”
Jimin looked puzzled at the plain envelope, but when he peeked inside, a beaming smile spread over his face. Yoongi had had to pull a few strings to get the concert tickets for Jimin, but seeing him so happy made it worth the effort. He got another tight hug for his troubles, before Jimin pushed him down into an empty seat next to Seokjin. Kicking Taehyung out of the seat on Yoongi’s other side-who squawked noisily in protest and stalked off to Jimin’s now empty chair next to Jeongguk, complaining about his fate-Jimin plopped down next to him.
“I’m glad you came, hyung. It’s been ages since you last went out with us.”
“Stop inviting me to go clubbing and I might just come out to see you,” Yoongi shot back, giving Jimin a bland look.
Jimin’s smile was unfazed. “Well, next time I’ll go drinking with you. How’ve you been, though? How’s work?”
So Yoongi told him anecdotes about concerts he’d been to and a local indie group he’d interviewed, complained about Jinyoung littering all their office desks with the books he was working on, and how his fridge had died on him on the hottest day of the past summer. In turn, Jimin griped about the stress of his final college year, working on his portfolio to prepare for his job search, and told him about how he and his girlfriend planned on moving in together once they both found jobs and could afford a nice place. Somewhere in between all the rambling about curtain fabrics and the newest drawing pad he wished he could afford, Jimin managed to inform him that Jeongguk was now officially a performing arts student, had passed his audition with flying colors in fact. Yoongi was pleased at that piece of news. More pleased than he cared to think about, actually, and tried his best to ignore the feeling of his mouth curving into a smile as he threw a quick glance at Jeongguk, who was in spirited conversation with Hoseok.
The kid looked happy, all bright-eyed and glowing in the boisterous atmosphere. Yoongi could hear his and Hoseok’s exclamations even from his seat, rising over the already loud chatter around them, and for some reason he found he didn’t mind the volume that day. It was as if seeing Jeongguk so genuinely excited soothed that prickly part of him that normally bristled at noise and crowds.
Maybe Jeongguk had felt him staring or maybe it was coincidence, but their eyes met across the table. Jeongguk grinned at him-so wide it crinkled his nose and his teeth were on display-and waved cheerfully.
He was fucking adorable.
Yoongi couldn’t help the lopsided smile that spread across his face in response, nor the wave of fondness that washed through him, warming him to the tips of his toes.
It was kind of nice, being out with friends, sitting around eating and drinking and talking and laughing in a cozy restaurant, warm for once in the middle of the most recent cold spell. On most days, talking to people exhausted Yoongi. All the effort put into keeping a conversation going and having to listen to topics he didn’t care about, it was draining. That day, however, he found it easy and relaxing, probably helped along by the alcohol that came with dinner. The room was so chaotic that talking to more than one person at a time was virtually impossible, so he could just focus on Jimin or Seokjin or Sungjae-who came over to take Jimin’s vacated seat-and catch up with them.
Even going out in the cold after dinner wasn’t that bad. They moved in a throng, huddled together in their winter coats, shouting from one end of their group to the other on their way to a noraebang. Yoongi was squeezed somewhere in the middle, Jackson hanging off his one shoulder, Taehyung off the other while they talked enthusiastically above his head. It was loud, but at least he wasn’t cold.
Still, he was glad to get inside the noraebang where it was toasty warm. Chucking off his coat, he claimed a seat in a remote corner of the room, more than happy to leave center stage for the extroverted members of their little party who were already squabbling over song selections.
Yoongi was surprised when Jeongguk plopped down next to him, still in a blue beanie and a coat. He looked good in a hat, thick dark hair pushed into his eyes, and Yoongi wanted to comb his fingers through it to see what it felt like. The feeling caught him off guard. Perhaps it shouldn’t have because he was painfully aware of how attractive Jeongguk was even when he was just pulling off his jacket and raking a hand through his hair after ridding it of the beanie. But in the end, Jeongguk was so young, still in college and despite being a legal adult, still just a kid.
As if by prior agreement, they kept silent and just watched the others jumping around the room, yelling out song lyrics or swaying to sappy ballads. There were snacks and alcohol on the tables to keep the mood high-not that it was needed with the way the loudest members of Jimin’s circle of friends kept whooping and cheering. It was extremely noisy, but also nice to float along on the happy atmosphere.
Jeongguk slowly relaxed next to him, sinking further into the seat and laughingly clapping along to a particularly energetic performance of a Big Bang song by Taehyung and Hoseok with Jimin participating as a tipsy back-up dancer. Yoongi snickered into his beer when Jaebum almost fell victim to a flailing leg and saved himself with a graceless tumble onto one of the sofas, nearly bowling Seokjin over in the process.
It escalated from there with a spirited rendition of Sunmi’s 24 Hours by Sungjae, complete with matching dance moves that sent everyone howling with laughter. Jeongguk got a lap full of breathlessly giggling Jimin and could barely keep him from sliding to the floor in mirth, clutching at Jimin’s shoulder and hip. Eyeing the situation from his side, Yoongi was tempted to just kick Jimin off the sofa to save Jeongguk the trouble, but Jeongguk was laughing himself, curved around Jimin’s shaking body, so Yoongi refrained.
From that point, it was girl group free-for-all and Yoongi felt very strongly that he’d need to find a way to bleach his brain of images he really didn’t need after that night, like Hoseok’s booty-shaking to Hot Pink or Jaebum’s exaggerated Touch my Body moves. To distract himself from the dance move slaughter going on up front, he finally cleared his throat to tell Jeongguk what he should have told him when he sat down. “I heard that you got into the school you wanted.”
Jeongguk turned his head, smiling shyly down at his knees. “I did, yeah. I started in March.”
Yoongi’s fingers were itching to reach out and touch, just a hair ruffle or squeeze of the knee, but instead Yoongi gripped the glass in his hand tighter. “Congratulations, Jeongguk,” he said as warmly as he could.
When Jeongguk looked up at him, his eyes were crinkled up into charming crescents. “Thank you.”
He had stopped calling him hyung, Yoongi noticed, eyeing the glass of water Jeongguk was holding. It seemed Jeongguk wasn’t as bold around him sober, and of course they weren’t really close enough for Jeongguk to be calling him hyung, but he still felt he missed it. He nodded at the glass. “You’re not drinking today?”
Jeongguk glanced down at his water as if he’d forgotten about it. “Ah, no. I need to take care of myself a bit more now. Y’know, for vocal and dance classes.” He shrugged awkwardly, but his face was bright with happiness.
Yoongi hummed in understanding. “So you like your classes?”
With shining eyes, Jeongguk launched into a description of his different classes and what he had learned, but he hadn’t gotten far when Taehyung suddenly appeared to drag him up from his seat, chirping, “Your turn, Jeonggukie!”
“What? No, hyung, I don’t want to--”
“No excuses,” Taehyung sing-songed and pushed him towards the front. He turned back, very probably to pull Yoongi up as well, but seemed to change his mind when he caught sight of Yoongi’s glowering face. Sticking his tongue out, he pranced back to the front to drape himself around Jackson’s shoulders.
Yoongi snorted. Taehyung was a damn monkey.
Apparently, someone had already selected another girl group song for Jeongguk, and with an exasperated face, Jeongguk took the microphone. It was Girls’ Day’s Something and whoever had chosen it obviously was aware Jeongguk knew the dance. Under the loud cheers from the front rows and with Jimin and Seokjin as enthusiastic back-up dancers, Jeongguk finally just bowed to his fate and started performing with vibrating falsetto and pointed stage expressions. It wasn’t hard to notice he had the intense, attractive stare down pat.
Yoongi was so distracted that he only noticed Jackson creeping up when it was too late. Jackson bent down and fearlessly grabbed Yoongi around the middle.
“Let go, dipshit!” Yoongi tried kicking Jackson in the shin, but only managed to get pulled from his seat instead. “I’m not singing!”
“You have to, hyung!” Jackson shouted in his ear with an excited, high-pitched laugh, dragging him toward the karaoke screen.
Usually, Jackson had about zero boundaries when it came to personal space, but he was perceptive enough to keep his distance, so Taehyung must have put him up to it. Glaring at Taehyung over Jackson’s shoulder, Yoongi only received an unrepentant grin in return.
He was unceremoniously shoved up right next to Jeongguk and gave everyone the stink-eye for good measure. If they wanted him to do a girl group song, he’d kick some major ass.
Thankfully, the next notes out of the speakers were the intro to Unconditionally. Trot Yoongi could do. Jeongguk began bopping to the beat next to him and in one corner, Hoseok and Jimin were doing a weird circle dance with lots of hand movements. So Yoongi decided to just screw it and go with the flow.
When he started yelling lyrics this time, Jeongguk just laughed and sang along, no matter how off-key Yoongi’s voice got. They jumped around, more screeching than singing most of the time, and Yoongi even managed to aim a good kick at Taehyung’s butt at one point, for revenge.
Unconditionally seamlessly went over into Shabang Shabang and of course the car ride popped into Yoongi’s head. His eyes flew to Jeongguk, who was looking back with a goofy grin, obviously thinking of the same thing, and there was a huge bubble of mirth growing in Yoongi’s chest, just waiting to burst out of him. He started snickering helplessly when Jeongguk came to the line about his attractiveness again and this time performed a ridiculous pose along with it.
All the jumping around was more fun than he had in ages, but it was also exhausting, so he was ready to push the mic into the next pair of available hands and take a break once the song was done. The next song, however, he recognized immediately (Epik High’s Fly) and it seemed Jeongguk did as well, because he carefully grabbed at Yoongi’s sleeve to stop him. “You said you’d show me rap,” he said quietly enough that only Yoongi could hear, and maybe it was the look in his big eyes or the cheers of Yoongi’s name coming from the rest of the party and, well, Yoongi had said that, so he stayed and lifted the microphone again.
He felt like he hadn’t rapped in ages and the alcohol wasn’t exactly helping to make his tongue more nimble, but he’d formed the words to the song so often that his lips just kept on moving even past small stumbles. To his surprise, Jeongguk started doing the supporting parts and the chorus, smiling at him from behind the microphone.
Yoongi was out of breath when the song ended, his mind still trying to wrap around the fact that Jeongguk apparently had another hidden talent to add to his already long list. Maybe Jimin’s complete adoration wasn’t so unfounded after all, and if Jeongguk kept showing talent like that all the time, Yoongi would have to take him to a studio or something to dissect it all, tickle all the voice colors he was capable of out of him, push him to his limits.
Gladly giving the microphone over to an eager Sungjae, Yoongi retreated back into his corner and collapsed on the couch, thoroughly exhausted. Jeongguk, flushed and still grinning, flopped down next to him so that their knees pressed together. He was so radiant and the need to touch him so overwhelming that Yoongi’s hand reached out to ruffle his hair before Yoongi even registered it.
He felt Jeongguk freeze for a second, but he didn’t move away, just stayed carefully still. And Yoongi didn’t pull away either, his hand somehow sliding down until it was hesitantly curving around Jeongguk’s sweaty neck. Jeongguk was so still and taut Yoongi was afraid he might shatter at any moment, but then he took a deep breath and another one and slowly relaxed again, pushing back against Yoongi’s hand, the radiance simmering down to glowing contentment.
The noise in the room fell away when Yoongi stroked his thumb over the short, downy hairs on the back of Jeongguk’s head. He didn’t dare look over, but he could feel a little shudder wreck through Jeongguk, could feel the upper bumps of his spine under his fingers, could feel the sticky sweat clinging to Jeongguk’s skin. Blood pulsed in his ears. He wondered if the moment would break if he moved the tiniest bit, so he held his breath.
When Jeongguk’s fingers tentatively hooked through one of Yoongi’s belt loops, something so warm and giddy bloomed in his gut that he felt almost dizzy with it. Yoongi closed his eyes and exhaled as carefully as possible, irrationally worried a sudden huff might disperse the feeling. A hot pulsing started in his hip, right under the light pressure of Jeongguk’s hand.
The moment grew longer and longer until Yoongi was sure someone would look over and notice them sitting like that, notice the unusual heat of Yoongi’s normally pale face and their strange lack of movement. But nobody did. They were too busy being boisterous and hyperactive to pay them any mind, so Yoongi and Jeongguk just sat still, breathing into a shared space, watching the hilarity at the front of the room, neither of them daring to move.
But something had to happen at some point. They had to be caught, Yoongi just knew it, and he didn’t know what would happen then. Usually he wasn’t bothered by stuff like that-let them look and talk, who cared?-but this was different. Yoongi wasn’t even sure what he was doing anymore, being hung up on this kid and getting strangely touchy. Jeongguk was still so young and half of the time Yoongi wanted to coddle him silly. There never had been a situation before where he also wanted to kiss someone like that silly. It was alarming and damn confusing, and when Yoongi felt like he was going to explode with nervous tension any second now, he decided to just go home. It was late enough that no one would question him too much.
As he moved to withdraw his hand, Jeongguk’s eyes jumped to him. “I think I’ll head home,” Yoongi told him awkwardly and he couldn’t remember when he’d last felt so shy talking to some kid.
Jeongguk nodded silently, still watching him with his dark, intense eyes. Right. Not just some kid, but Jeongguk. Jeongguk, who was too much of everything for Yoongi to even wrap his mind around, mostly too young, though.
Before he even knew what he was doing, Yoongi was asking, “How’re you getting home tonight, kid?” and immediately froze. What had he even wanted to achieve with that question? Offer Jeongguk a bed for the night? To play it off, Yoongi reached for his scarf. Goddamn, he was just asking for trouble. A fucking kid. Maybe he should just strangle himself before he got more idiotic ideas. He yanked his scarf on disgustedly.
“I’m crashing at Jimin-hyung’s place tonight,” Jeongguk answered. His hand brushed Yoongi’s thigh for a quick second in what might have been reassurance or apology. “He offered since it’s much closer than mine.”
There. Jeongguk had a place to stay and wouldn’t be wandering Seoul in the middle of the night alone, so everything was wonderful. Yoongi refused to even think about feeling disappointed.
“Good,” he said gruffly, standing up and giving Jeongguk’s dark hair another quick ruffle, without ending up stroking his neck this time. And wasn’t that just a mind-blowing success on his part.
He really, really needed to get home.
Yoongi snatched up his coat and left Jeongguk sitting in the corner of the room.
-
November
“Whoa! You’re actually here, hyung? That can’t be true. Quick, someone pinch me!”
Yoongi ignored Hoseok’s exclamations of disbelief and looked around the crowded room, already half regretting ever entering the apartment.
Jackson and one of his flat mates had decided to throw a late Halloween party and unsurprisingly (since Jackson seemed to know half of Seoul) it was a well-attended event that had costumed people filling almost every available space. Thumping music was coming from somewhere Yoongi couldn’t see, providing the backdrop for a few brave souls already dancing in one corner. Entering the apartment was like walking to a wall of noise and heat.
If not for the insistence of his work colleagues, Yoongi wouldn’t have attended, but of course Hongbin and Jinyoung knew Jackson and even claimed to be friends with him, so they dragged Yoongi along.
“This is a miracle! How did you manage to force him here, Jinyoungie?” Hoseok laughed, slapping Jinyoung on the shoulder in enthusiastic congratulations.
Jinyoung only managed a mysterious smile before he was almost knocked over with a tackle-hug from Jackson, who was screeching so loudly that it even drowned out the music for a moment. When Yoongi saw Hongbin being unceremoniously yanked into their pile of limbs, he took a few steps back for safety.
“Hey Yoongi-hyung.”
Yoongi barely had time to turn around and recognize Namjoon, then he was squeezed tightly around the middle. By now he’d gone through that process often enough to know it was Jimin pressing the breath out of his lungs and that struggling would be futile.
“What’re you wearing, hyung?” Jimin demanded when he’d let go, side-eyeing Yoongi’s army-green jacket and plain shirt combo. “That’s totally not a costume!”
Yoongi pointedly gave him a blank look over the rim of his aviators. “It’s Top Gun, you little shit.”
“You’re wearing skinny jeans and sneakers!” Jimin retorted accusingly. “And that’s the jacket you have on almost every day!”
Shrugging carelessly, Yoongi stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets. “So what? I still look better than you,” he taunted, nodding his chin at Jimin’s almost professional Charlie Chaplin getup.
Offended, Jimin stalked off with a pout, attaching himself to Hoseok who by now was part of what looked like a wrestling match between Yoongi’s co-workers and Jackson.
“Don’t think they’d allow pink hair in the Navy,” Namjoon commented with a grin. Jimin must have gotten to him earlier; his face was painted white as well to mime vampire paleness.
“I’ve had enough of the military anyways,” Yoongi replied, taking off his sunglasses to fold them into the neck of his shirt. “So, where did they put the drinks?”
Namjoon pointed him in the direction of the kitchen where Yoongi managed to unearth a bottle of imported beer for himself. The room was too full, though, so he wandered back out again, drifting along the walls, looking for a familiar face he actually wanted to see, until he unexpectedly bumped into Jeon Jeongguk.
Jeon Jeongguk, who looked stunning in some kind of formal uniform, Yoongi realized as he turned around, all long limbs and broad shoulders. Jeongguk’s expression was surprised for a moment, then a smile lit up his face. “Hyung. I didn’t know you’d be here.”
There were so many things to take in: the fact that Jeongguk was even there, that Jeongguk had called him hyung again (which Yoongi probably couldn’t and possibly didn’t want to protest anymore), the way the uniform gave Jeongguk an air of maturity, how his side-swept hair glinted almost purple under the dimmed lights, how he looked just so happy to see Yoongi. It was hard to process. Scrambling for something to say, Yoongi ended up gesturing to Jeongguk’s costume with the bottle in his hand. “What kind of uniform is that?”
Jeongguk glanced down, self-consciously smoothing his free hand down the jacket. “It actually belongs to my cousin. He’s a firefighter, this is what he wears to formal stuff.”
It looked like it had been tailored to Jeongguk’s frame with the way it hugged his chest. Yoongi took a swig of his beer and tried not to ogle. “Looks good,” he said as nonchalantly as he could manage.
“I, um… I didn’t think you were the party type of guy.”
When Yoongi shot him a vaguely amused glance from the corner of his eye, Jeongguk was focused on fiddling with the plastic cup in his hands. “No?”
“Well, Jimin-hyung said that. So I didn’t expect to see you here.”
Jeongguk didn’t exactly seem like a party person himself, with the way he was shrinking into the wall, making him appear more of Yoongi’s height than he actually was. “I don’t normally go out much,” Yoongi told him. “I hate loud places and crowds.”
“Oh. Then why are you here today?”
Yoongi smiled wryly. “My co-workers insisted.”
“I’m glad they did,” Jeongguk replied, almost inaudible over the party noise, looking like a shy bunny with the way he blinked up at Yoongi over his cup.
Yoongi didn’t want to think too deeply about how pleased he was at that simple statement. Warmth rushed through him all the same, probably tainting his cheeks, and swelling up under his jacket. He took another gulp of cool beer, then he nodded at Jeongguk’s cup. “You drinking today?”
Shaking his head, Jeongguk explained, “It’s just water. “
“Still holding back for school?”
Jeongguk smiled bashfully, as if he was half-afraid of being called a nerd. “Yeah. They’ll be selecting who’s going to participate in the year-end-showcase soon. There aren’t many slots for underclassmen.”
“Can’t do more than your best,” Yoongi told him and it came out sounding like reassurance. “Good luck, kid.” The nickname felt foreign on his tongue this time. Perhaps it was because with the uniform and his hair like that, Jeongguk almost looked older than Yoongi.
“Thanks, hyung.” He paused, shooting a nervous glance at Yoongi, before he charged on. “If I get in, will you come see the performance?”
Was it that daunting, asking him such a question? The corners of Yoongi’s mouth hitched up. “Sure. I have to see if you’re any good on a stage after all.”
A look of relief crossed Jeongguk’s face, then he smiled another hesitant smile. “Would you give me your phone number? So I can tell you when I know?”
Caught off guard, Yoongi just blinked at him, but he was fairly certain the sudden escalation of his heart rate didn’t show on his face. Trying to keep it that way, he silently fished out his phone and passed it over for Jeongguk to enter his number. Yoongi was a second away from draining his bottle in an effort to cool down and only refrained because gulping down alcohol at that speed probably wouldn’t be helpful in the least, even if it was only beer.
When Jeongguk gave his phone back, Yoongi tapped the call icon. “That’s me. There you go.”
“I’ll message you when I know about the showcase,” Jeongguk promised.
“You do that,” Yoongi replied, putting his phone away again. “Will your parents come up for that?”
“Ah, I don’t think so…” Jeongguk trailed off, looking a little embarrassed.
Frowning at that reaction, Yoongi asked him how they felt about his change of schools and Jeongguk launched into an explanation of the almost-fight that had broken out when he called about his decision to apply for the performing arts school, how it had actually been his older brother who talked his father into letting Jeongguk give it a chance and how relations with home had been a little strained since then.
“But they’re supporting you?” Yoongi queried carefully. His conscience would gnaw at him till the end of his days if his advice had pushed Jeongguk into an unsustainable position.
At Jeongguk’s nod, the tight knot in Yoongi’s gut dissolved. “More or less. So far they’re still helping me with school fees and rent, but we made a deal that I would help out as much as possible, so I’m working part-time in a concert hall now. You know, wardrobe and bar and ticket counter and stuff. And I’ll apply for a scholarship next term.”
Yoongi gave him a grin. “Sounds like it’s working out well for you.”
Jeongguk grinned back happily, obviously content with his situation. “It is. Thanks to you, hyung.”
Amused, Yoongi huffed out a laugh. “Trying to feed my ego, huh?”
“What? No! I mean it!” Jeongguk looked adorably offended, all wide-eyed and almost pouting.
Yoongi was tempted to reach out and pat the sulking expression from his face, but settled for squeezing Jeongguk’s shoulder instead, almost grazing the skin of his neck with how close to it his fingers landed. “Alright, alright, you can flatter me more later.”
Even as he gave Yoongi a mock frown, Jeongguk didn’t shrug his and off. “Even if you don’t like it?”
“I’ll just quietly suffer through it like a good hyung,” Yoongi replied blandly, giving a last squeeze before his dropped his hand again.
“Well, I’ll pay you back with free tickets later when I’m a famous musical actor,” Jeongguk said, ruining the effect of his solemn tone by the laugh that broke through.
“Pah! For that you need to pass all your classes first.”
Jeongguk grinned. “No problem. I’m doing well, hyung, don’t worry. My vocal teacher said I’m making really good progress.”
“That’s one class,” Yoongi said in mock derision. “What about all the other classes? Dancing and acting and whatnot?”
Jeongguk seemed to sense Yoongi’s genuine interest about his school work because he talked about his favorite classes and teachers, what came easily to him and what he had to work for, about his classmates, about the songs and dances he was learning, happily detailing his efforts. He’d never willingly talked that much before and Yoongi wasn’t sure if Jeongguk did it now because he was so passionate about the topic or because he was starting to feel more comfortable around Yoongi. No matter what the reason was, though, Yoongi was glad for it. When he chattered so enthusiastically, Jeongguk’s entire face lit up and he became completely mesmerizing, breathtaking even, and it was hard to look away from him. It was wonderful to witness. Yoongi found himself soaking the image up to keep in his memory.
From the subject of Jeongguk’s training, their conversation of course turned to music again. How they ended up squabbling over which of the Avengers was coolest a good while later would remain a mystery to Yoongi, however. He only knew that they were suddenly interrupted by Hakyeon appearing next to them, throwing them accusing looks.
“Why are you two hiding in a corner discussing Iron Man?” he demanded, rudely pointing at them with a pipe. Judging by the deerstalker perched on his head and the trench coat around his shoulders, his costume was Sherlock Holmes.
Yoongi hadn’t even noticed they had backed into a small niche formed by a strategically placed bookshelf, standing almost shoulder to shoulder, mostly obscured from the main part of the room. When he glanced at Jeongguk, he looked just as surprised, blinking back owlishly.
Hakyeon didn’t seem to be bothered by their lack of answer. “Come on, guys. Namjoonie and Jiminnie said they’ve haven’t seen you for an hour now. They seemed to miss you. Do you want your friends to be sad? Of course you don’t. Let’s get going,” he exclaimed in an alcohol-fueled ramble, grabbing their wrists and proceeding to drag them back into the crowd.
They were welcomed with loud screeches of their names and thank God for Mark pressing another beer into Yoongi’s hand. His ears just weren’t made for the average volume of Hoseok’s and Jackson’s voices. Yugyeoum immediately latched onto Jeongguk and Yoongi found solace in the quietness of Mark’s and Taekwoon’s company (when they weren’t being assaulted by one of their hyperactive friends).
In the chaos of the party, Yoongi lost sight of Jeongguk. There were quite a lot of people present Yoongi knew because they were friends of friends or old school mates or due to some other convoluted connection, so he surprisingly spent a lot of time just talking to people he hadn’t seen in ages. He managed to shake off Taehyung’s attempt to drag him to the makeshift dance floor and deposited a tipsy Jaehwan talking his ear off at Seokjin’s side, who went on to calmly pat Jaehwan’s arm and nod at random intervals while Yoongi sneaked away.
He ended up drinking quite a bit more than he had originally intended, but as he also ended up staying a lot longer than planned, it was to be expected. By the time Yoongi was thoroughly fed up with people stumbling into him and all the conversational screaming over the music had given him a headache, he decided to just call it a night. A glance at his phone told him it was past three in the morning.
With a final circuit around the room to tell any of his friends he could find that he was leaving, Yoongi was heading for the door when he surprisingly did find Jeongguk again. He had thought that Jeongguk had left by now, but apparently they just hadn’t crossed paths, as he was just turning away from a conversation with group that consisted of Jimin, Wonshik and two girls whose names he didn’t know, heading in the direction of the kitchen. When he saw Yoongi, the look of surprised pleasure from earlier that night crossed his face again.
It must have been alcohol or adrenaline from the atmosphere, but Jeongguk looked so fucking good in that uniform and his smile was so warm and welcoming that Yoongi just stepped over and wrapped an arm around his neck. Jeongguk stumbled at the abrupt hug, steadying himself with a hand on Yoongi’s hip. The surprised gasp right next to Yoongi’s ear sent his blood rushing furiously as he pressed against Jeongguk’s chest, inhaling the scent of his cologne. He was so, so tempted to just bury his face in Jeongguk’s warm neck and stay there.
Jeongguk’s hand curled tighter around his hip, bringing them closer, and the hand that lifted to rest on Yoongi’s back was trembling so much that Yoongi could feel it even through his clothes. “Yoongi-hyung,” he whispered with a ragged breath.
Yoongi shifted his hand to clasp around the back of Jeongguk’s neck, sliding down his head in a rough stroke, the motion much too familiar already. “Good night, Jeongguk-ah.” He squeezed one last time, then he let go and turned to leave on shaky legs.
His heart was still racing when he got outside.
Notes: Songs mentioned: Sunmi - 24 Hours [BTOB's Sungjae], EXID - Hot Pink [Hoseok], Sistar - Touch my Body [GOT7's Jaebum (JB)], Girls' Day - Something [Jeongguk] (all inspired by the boys' actual performances of those dances in various variety shows/random vids); Park Sangchul - Unconditionally, Park Hyunbin - Shabang Shabang (both in a reference to BTS Gayo Track 8; Shabang Shabang is of course what Jeongguk sang in pt. 1); and Epik High - Fly (which is said to be the song that got Yoongi into rap).
There is a BTS - Dope MV reference not only in Jeongguk's hairstyle, but also in the uniform he wears. The official dress uniform of Korean firefighters is actually similar to the uniform Yoongi wears in Dope MV, with white ties instead of his dark one, and dark pants instead of his white ones, as far as Google tells me. ;)