for causeitsred: these days, it seems like we're complete

[bangtanmod]

Title: These days, it seems like we’re complete
Recipient: causeitsred
Pairing: Jungkook/Jimin
Rating: PG-13
Word count: ~14,500
Warnings None

Summary: Misaeng!AU. A star student and incredibly talented Jeon Jungkook has just started his internship in a company of his dreams and he is aiming for the top. Then a new intern appears out of nowhere, two weeks later than everybody else, and gets assigned to the same team as Jungkook. Sparks fly.

Author's notes: Thank you for the amazing prompt! I took some liberties and went with my ideas, but I hope you like what I came up with. I didn’t know Misaeng before but watched it for research purposes and wow. Such an awesome drama and also a great source of inspiration for this story. Everybody should check it out if you haven’t already, but it’s not necessary to be familiar with the show to read this. Also, I have never worked for a Korean company, so there are probably millions of inaccuracies. Try not to pay too much attention!


The new intern walks in wearing bright red pants and the three top buttons of his shirt open, like he’s something special and deserves to be showered with attention.

At first, Jungkook didn’t even realize the guy was there to work. They’d bumped into each other in the elevator, and Jungkook had already filed him away as an eccentric delivery guy or somebody’s overly enthusiastic boyfriend coming over to visit or something. Then the guy got off at the same floor as Jungkook, and he felt the first tiny jabs of suspicion.

The guy walks straight up to Manager Kwon’s desk, but he is surprisingly timid, which contradicts his flashy fashion, carefully styled black hair and BB cream perfect skin. Examining the guy from where he’s sitting at his own desk, Jungkook finally puts two and two together and comes up with four.

The guy must be the mysterious intern who became the headline of office gossip just a couple of days ago. Thanks to him starting two weeks later than the rest of them, the speculation has been running wild, and Jungkook has heard plenty of rumors of the new intern being some kind of sales prodigy or buying his way into the company with inherited riches. He never paid that much attention to gossip, he was busy with his first assignments anyway, but it’s easy to figure out everything now.

This guy in his flaming red pants is the new intern. However, judging by the way he gives Manager Kwon an awkward wave and asks, “Is this Marketing team two? I was told to come here by the Head manager–”, he did not graduate from the Business Department of the Seoul National University. Or missed all the crucial points of How to talk to your boss 101.

Jungkook keeps his back towards Manager Kwon’s desk and pretends to go over a budget draft he is supposed to be copying, but he’s too curious not to listen in to every word. He can almost imagine how Manager Kwon’s eyes must be turning steely, the way they do when somebody screws up particularly bad. Manager Kwon is not the type to yell with spit flying at your face, but his pissed off presence is powerful enough to have most workers sweating through their pristine white shirts.

“You’re Park Jimin?” Manager Kim’s words are sharp, and since there’s no answer from the new guy, he must have frozen solid under the icy stare. Jungkook fights not to snicker and risks turning just a little to steal a glance at the scene. A quick, sneaky look tells him that the rest of the employees are watching as well, and even Assistant Manager Kim has gotten up and fidgets rather awkwardly next to his desk.

Manager Kwon shuffles some papers, taking his time while the guy called Park Jimin just stares at him. He is clearly waiting for the manager to continue or somehow acknowledge him, to do something instead of completely ignoring him. Park is just about to open his mouth when Manager Kwon finally points at one of the desks.

“That’s yours.” When Park Jimin doesn’t move one muscle, just keeps staring with his mouth hanging open at the hinges, Manager Kwon turns around in his chair carefully and very pointedly and focuses all his attention to one of the papers.

“I’m expecting the Hyundai file on my desk in 30 minutes.”

Jungkook sees how Park Jimin swallows and slowly, like a kicked puppy waiting for another strike, turns around and then dashes to the desk assigned to him. He is clearly painfully aware of the eyes following his every move, and tries to make himself smaller and hide his flushed face.

“And one more thing, Park.”

Even though he just sat down, Park Jimin bolts up from his chair and whips around to face their manager when he hears the words. Staring at the back of his boss, the new intern is a perfect image of a deer in the headlights.

Jungkook is not even trying to pretend anymore, but follows the conversation like he paid to see it. He’s not the only one either, but the rest of the people in the office are ogling as well and all but holding invisible boxes of popcorn in their hands. Jungkook has a feeling that is exactly what Manager Kwon wanted, because he speaks a little louder than necessary, with a little more flare.

“If you ever come into the office looking like that again, you can consider yourself fired.”

“Huh? Um, y-yes, sir, I’m sorry–”

Jungkook can’t help grinning a little. He’s being considerate compared to the other interns, most of whom are openly laughing. Nobody knows why Park Jimin started two weeks later than everybody else, but it’s still a good enough reason to dislike him immediately and enjoy his humiliation in front of the whole office. Plus, it’s funny to hear their manager giving fashion advice since the man has been seen wearing crocodile skin leather pants and fur jackets.

The guy is going to quit in a week, Jungkook is sure of it. Still, to him it means nothing more than a little less competition. Not that the new guy, or any other hopeful intern for that matter, could ever reach Jungkook’s level anyway.



–



News fly fast in the office, and by noon everybody at least thinks they know everything there is to know about Park Jimin’s story. There is one common factor in every version, the sole tidbit of truth Assistant Manager Woo apparently overheard during a meeting. Park Jimin’s name was moved up on the list of the enrolled interns because of personal connections.

Jungkook has one of the best spots for observing the new intern, simply because his desk happens to be right next to Park Jimin’s. He gets to watch from the vantage point as the assistant managers in their team try their best to get the guy through the first half of the day without angering the manager further, but the more he hears, the more irritated Jungkook finds himself becoming.

Park Jimin seems completely unsuitable for being an intern. In fact, Jungkook is not sure if he could manage the job of a cleaning lady, he seems so damn inexperienced. He doesn’t know how to use a copy machine, constantly forgets what file he is supposed to go pick up and where to deliver it, and keeps stuttering when he has to take a phone call. For crying out loud, Hoseok-hyung even told Jungkook that Park Jimin first tried making coffee with cold water.

What Hoseok didn’t prepare him for is Park Jimin’s utterly infuriating habit to force himself to be the center of attention. Whenever he steps into a room, he has to somehow make himself the topic of conversation and start talking or asking questions or something equally annoying. Even more irritating is his constant smile that seems to be plastered on the guys face with superglue.

Apparently, the guy is somehow immune to the way the other interns stop in the middle of a discussion when he barges in and doesn’t notice how they smirk behind their hands when he gets told off by one of the assistant managers. He still walks up to them whenever he doesn’t know how to use the printer or where to find the file Assistant Manager Kim sent him to fetch. He doesn’t even learn after the first time somebody (Jungkook suspects it was either Wang or Tuan from Sales team two) intentionally told him to look for budget reports from the floor B7. Even an idiot should realize there is no B7, but Park Jimin tries to go there twice before lunch. Afterwards, he still follows every order like an obedient dog.

It’s no wonder Park Jimin looks a little disheveled by lunch. He has been running around the building doing whatever errands either the manager or assistant managers have ordered, even other interns, but he’s still smiling.

“Hey guys!” He yells the moment he enters the restaurant, waving obscenely enough that half the clientele is now staring at their table. Jungkook focuses on his plate, but soon enough Park Jimin drops his tray down on the empty spot Jungkook was saving for Taehyung.

“I can sit here, right? Ah, I’m starving, you know I actually had to run up the stairs a couple of times because the elevators were so busy–”

Park Jimin keeps babbling as he fusses with his food and downs an entire glass of water in one go. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he takes a look around the faces staring at him with mixed expressions of disbelief and distaste. Maybe a little amusement here and there, not necessary in a good-natured way but that’s what Park Jimin seems to latch onto.

“Oh, I don’t think I introduced myself earlier, right? Sorry, I’ve just been really, really busy. I’m Park Jimin,” he says and actually raises his hand, in case somebody wants to shake it. At least he has the sense to look a little taken aback when all of their group stays stony and silent. Jungkook can see him swallow thickly and then smile again, this time even wider.

“I’m, um, an intern. A new intern here. I just started today but I guess most of you, kind of, saw that, right–”

Jungkook shoves a spoonful of rice into his mouth to stop himself from laughing out loud. Then he almost chokes because Jimin fixes him with the most eager look he has ever seen. It’s like staring a puppy in the eyes, and suddenly Jungkook feels a strong urge to kick something.

“You’re in the same team with me, aren’t you? I wanted to talk with you earlier but there was so much to do,” Park says and even has the guts to look apologetic, as if Jungkook hasn’t been silently thanking their manager for keeping Jimin busy and off his desk and, most importantly, out of Jungkook’s way.

Jungkook makes a noncommittal sound that could mean anything from agreement to accidentally choking on lettuce. Of course, Jimin takes it as a sign of encouragement.

“I figured we should stick together, because did you notice how stuck up our manager is? Did he make you run like this during your first day? I wish I was in team one, Manager Dong seems so awesome, he actually helped me with the damn elevator... Anyway, what’s your name?” Jimin looks eager, his whole face animated and eyes all but shining. Jungkook wonders how he would react if he outright asked what the hell he is even doing in their company, since he’s nothing more than a spoiled prat who knows the right people.

Well, that would probably be too cruel and then again, somebody else is bound to ask it at some point anyway. Jungkook swallows his last bit of meat and opens his mouth to say something short and dismissive, because his name is none of Jimin’s business and will never be, when Taehyung’s shouts it loud enough to silence the entire cafeteria. Again.

“Jungkook! You didn’t even save me a seat, did you? I though we were friends!”

Taehyung steals himself a chair from the table next to theirs and jams himself between Jimin and the guy on his left sie, promptly taking more than his share of the table with his huge tray of chicken.

“Where were you?” Jungkook almost hisses but manages to somehow keep his cool when he notices Jimin’s openly curious eyes moving from Jungkook’s face to Taehyung’s.

“Cleaning the toilet,” Taehyung answers and honest to god grins when Jimin giggles next to him.

“Can you believe Assistant manager Woo made me do that? I mean, sure, I did accidentally shred the contract draft he had been working on all morning, but come on, nobody’s that heartless.”

“He could kept you there until lunch break was over so I think you were pretty lucky,” Jimin says, far too ready to butt into the conversation. He is also thoughtless enough to milk Taehyung’s willingness to recognize his existence for all it’s worth, because the next thing Park does is offering his hand.

“I’m Park Jimin, nice to meet you.”

“Kim Taehyung, Accounting team two. I heard you got in trouble with Manager Kwon on your first day? Nicely done, my friend, you gotta share your technique.”

And clearly Taehyung is all too happy to fuel the fire, too.

Jungkook spends his lunch listening to the two of them speaking about the most ridiculous things, and grunting as angrily as he can when either of them tries to drag him into the mess (it’s mostly Jimin, since Taehyung has already learned to read Jungkook’s moods). When Park Jimin’s big mouth finally closes for good and he gets up form his seat, Jungkook swears his ears are bleeding a little. He has most likely just gotten permanent brain damage, and Taehyung just sits there looking happy as a clam, as always.

“Jungkookie,” Park Jimin says, almost as an afterthought, and he turns around after a couple of steps. “I’ll see you back at the office! You can teach me how to use Excel, right?” He looks Jungkook in the eyes, deep in the eyes, and Jungkook nearly chokes on his water.

“See you, Jungkookie!”

Taehyung practically cackles next to him, and Jungkook considers hiding under the table, but just for a split second. He won’t let Park Jimin humiliate him any further.

“I like him. He’s not too stuck up,” Taehyung says after Jimin has disappeared from the cafeteria, grinning. Park’s flaming red pants seem to have imprinted themselves on Jungkook’s eyes and he can definitely feel a headache coming thanks to the mere thought of looking at the guy daily at their work station.

By six o’clock, everybody knows that Park Jimin never went to business school.

He majored in performing arts and his past experience is limited to working as a delivery boy. He knows some English, but reportedly failed to get a word out of his mouth when he tried taking a phone call from one of their American branch offices. He was accepted into the internship program not because of any kind of natural talent, but because his dad, for whatever reason, apparently spends enough nights drinking with the president that he can pull any strings he likes. One of those happened to be employing his completely incompetent son.

In other words, by six o’clock Jungkook wants absolutely nothing to do with Park Jimin, and he’s almost certain that’s how everybody else feels, as well.



–



Chinese has never been Jungkook’s strongest language, not like English and Japanese which he pretty much mastered during his exchange year in Tokyo during university. He still forgets some characters when he’s writing by hand and his vocabulary could use some updating, too. Still, instead of stressing over it when he’s presented with the opportunity to take part in a project for a Chinese clothing company around one week later, he feels like high-fiving manager Kwon right there in the middle of the briefing.

While it’s simply nothing more than a quarter of a chance given to a group of interns to prove they have something in them, it’s also a damn good way to get his name out there. Their team has been going through possible ideas for the visual aspects of the market campaign proposal and Jungkook knows his ideas are the best. No wonder, since he has been working on them day and night. He even got some encouraging nods form their assistant managers.

Yeah, so Jungkook is what you might call a workaholic. Maybe slightly masochistic, too, because putting himself on a spot like that doesn’t feel bad at all, only like a nice challenge and a way to prove himself. His self-confidence might be a tad high, too, but that’s crucial in the business world of today, where everybody is ready to walk over the weakest link to get ahead. Even the fact that Park Jimin is working on the project with him isn’t enough to sullen Jungkook’s excited mood.

Not until Jimin messes up. And this time it’s bigger than forgetting the appropriate dress code for interns.

“I swear I sent the email to the model agency, I swear! Right after Seokjin-hyung translated it for me, I didn’t even go to the toilet in between.”

“Then what the hell is it doing in your draft folder?” Jungkook hisses back, face only centimeters away from Jimin’s. He tries to keep his voice low because the last thing he wants is to attract any unwanted attention, because both their heads are on the block right now. All because of Jimin, now flushed as furiously red as his infamous pants, which he thankfully left home today in favor of normal black slacks.

“I–um–maybe the email didn’t work–”

“I’ll show you how it feels when something doesn’t work”, Jungkook says and drags his palms over his eyes. “What the fuck are we going to do know? We don’t have models, we don’t have anything–”

For a moment Jungkook seriously considers coming clean to one of the assistant managers. Shoving Jimin under the buss, so to speak, and waving merrily as the wheels crush him into blood pudding.

Manager Kwon would most likely get rid of Jimin for jeopardizing an actual, profit-making project and everybody would be happier in the end. Even Jimin, when he realizes business is something he has absolutely zero talent at. Well, his daddy might try to put in a good word for his son, but maybe even he would realize Jimin was better off doing something different.

Still, in the end that wouldn’t do Jungkook any good. This is his chance to get his foot between the elevator doors, figuratively speaking, and he cannot let some brainless idiot ruin it.

“We can just come up with a new idea for the draft. Something that doesn’t need models, right, Jungkookie?” Jimin says and he already has that stupidly positive smile on his face. As if he simply chooses not to recognize the fact that their presentation is supposed to be ready in twelve hours and they don’t even have a single damn idea. Not that Jungkook should be surprised to hear something like that coming from someone who has never in his life struggled to put together three different presentations and write a couple of essays for their business management classes.

They probably don’t even have exams at the school for performing arts. Most likely just dancing around in circles and waving their arms.

“Our plan was already set. Approved and given for us to finish, not screw up. We can’t just– seriously, do you think we can just do whatever we want without getting Manager Kwon’s approval first?”

Not to mention that Jungkook’s original idea that was used for the said plan was damn good. He knows he should just let it go, sit down and grab a notebook to start sketching something new, but his brain refuses to work and keeps pumping up images of how good the draft would have looked... And how damn perfect Park Jimin’s severed head would look decorating his work desk.

Park Jimin, who is scratching the back of his neck. The hem of his button down pulls up, because of course he hasn’t remembered to tuck it in his pants, and Jungkook notices a sliver of tanned skin pulled taught over bones and muscle.

Jungkook is staring at Jimin like a lunatic, he knows that. But suddenly there’s something like a plan forming inside his braincells and it might work. It just might.

“Jungkookie? You’re scaring me a little,” Jimin says and he sounds pretty nervous, too. Jungkook barely even notices how Jimin reaches to fix his hair under Jungkook’s intense stare.

“Is there something on my face?”

“Meet me at the meeting room at nine. One floor up. And don’t be late,” Jungkook orders instead of answering and storms off, leaving a dumbfounded Jimin in his wake.

He must have looked positively murderous, because Jungkook finds Jimin sitting in one of the rooms at exactly eight o’clock. Jungkook shuts the door behind himself, but doesn’t bother lowering the blinds in front of the glass windows because right now there are only the two of them and a couple of other employees pulling all-nighters. They should have the meeting room for themselves for the night, or however long it will take to turn Jungkook’s plans into reality.

“You came up with something? Right, Jungkookie?” Jimin pipes up when Jungkook enters.

“I did,” Jungkook says and doesn’t pause even when Jimin opens his mouth. “You’re going to be the model.”

The words that’s our Jungkookie die on Jimin’s lips and he simply stares at Jungkook, blinking like a confused owl. His eyes are huge like two saucers and his mouth hangs open, and Jungkook gives himself a mental pat on the back for shutting Park Jimin up for good.

“And just so you know, you’re gonna do this. No excuses.”

“But–but I’m–I’m not–”

“Of course you aren’t,” Jungkook says, all the while pulling the borrowed camera out of his bag. “And of course we’re not gonna use your face. Just your body. You’ve been going to the gym a lot. Now take your clothes off and put on these boxers.”

“You’ve noticed my–” Jimin says but swallows the rest of the sentence as soon as he notices Jungkook’s jaw flexing. “Um, are you sure it’s okay to do it here?”

“Positive. Now change. I’ll do the base for the presentation,” Jungkook answers, already immersed in his laptop instead of their conversation. He sees Jimin staying still in the corner of his field of vision, and then he finally starts moving his ass.

He goes for a simple, modern layout, because that was the whole concept of their original idea, anyway. It takes only a couple of minutes, save for the fine tuning, but Jungkook can do that later. With a quick glance, Jungkook checks on Jimin, who has finally managed to shred every single piece of clothing on him except for his socks, and is finally pulling on the silk boxers the Chinese company wanted them to sell.

Surprisingly, Jimin looks awkward as a chubby kid in the locker room after gym class, which is odd since Jimin is much closer to the professional athlete end of the scale. He fidgets nervously from foot to foot and spread his arms a little under Jungkook’s stare, as if looking for approval.

“So, um, should I do, like, a couple of push ups?”

“Why?”

“Er,” Jimin says and scratches the back of his head. “To, you know, make my muscles, like, pop?”

“Okay, whatever. Just make yourself look good. Good enough that they want to buy you.” Jungkook uses the extra minutes to go through the presentation once more, but all he spots are a couple of typos. Smiling to himself (because how many interns are there that can pull this in a couple of minutes?), Jungkook focuses on Jimin again.

He’s just in the middle of doing push ups, pushing his ramrod straight body up from the floor, and Jungkook allows himself to be a teeny tiny bit impressed. Then again, according to Hoseok-hyung, Jimin spends more time at the company gym than doing his job, so it’s not a surprise. When Jimin finally jumps up from the floor, his breathing only slightly erratic and with an actual smile on his face, Jungkook hurries to cool his own expression back to neutral.

“I’m ready!” Jimin looks perky, almost happy to the point of jumping, and doesn’t seem to mind the whole standing there half naked thing that much anymore. “How should I pose? Like this?”

“Just, you know,” Jungkook replies, clearing his throat. “Just try look like models look, okay?”

It should be enough. While Jimin is no Hollywood model, he has a pretty nice physique, and Jungkook is absolutely certain their client will buy his idea even though the pictures aren’t the same quality as expected.

“You need proper light.”

Taehyung, the master of appearing out of thin air when he is least (or most, the verdict is still out) needed, sneaks his way into the room like the ninja apprentice he is and manages to catch both Jungkook and Jimin completely by surprise.

Jungkook spins around, a waspish answer ready on his tongue, but Taehyung has already disappeared from the doorway only to return thirty seconds later. He’s carrying one of the desk lamps usually mounted next to every computer in the office.

“Now you hold this and give me the camera”, Taehyung says, grinning, and reaches out expectantly. Jungkook, too stunned to say much, simply hands over the camera after a moment of blinking and staring, and then moves on to position the lamp according to Taehyung’s gleeful directions. All the while Jimin stands there in the spotlight like somebody who’s being interrogated for coming to work wearing only his boxers.

“Do that pose from earlier,” Jungkook commands, and Jimin leaps into action almost immediately. Jungkook turns to glare at Taehyung.

“What are you doing here, anyway?”

“Overtime. The pay is awesome,” Taehyung replies as he plays with the camera, snapping a couple of quick test shots. “Why didn’t you tell me you were taking naughty pictures? I would have been here sooner.”

“Interns don’t get paid,” Jungkook bites back. “And we’re not. It’s for a project.”

“Uh-huh,” Taehyung says, his trademark angular cheshire cat grin splitting his face. “Okay now, Jimin, the muscles look really awesome, really muscly, but those nipples seem a little bored.”

And of course Taehyung wouldn’t be Taehyung if he didn’t reach out to rub the said nipples himself.

“Hey!” Jimin practically shrieks, and Jungkook has to check whether the class windows are still intact. “I can do that myself, okay? What are you, office working during the day, porn director during the night?”

“Exactly that,” Taehyung replies. “Now twist your body. No, not like that, you gotta show the ass. Or do you think dicks are better? Jungkook, what’s your opinion? Butts or bulges?”

Jimin kind of saves Jungkook from answering, because he turns around, and Taehyung lets out a little whoop at the sight.

“Definitely butts,” he says and finally lifts the camera up and starts snapping away. Jungkook could swear there’s a small grin on Jimin’s lips, especially when Taehyung keeps up the ridiculous porn director dialogue. During the two hours they work, Jungkook curses the day he ever stepped his foot in this company at least twenty times.

He might also be fighting not to laugh, practically bent in half to keep his face hidden and clutching his stomach, but nobody needs to know that.

When Jimin is safely dressed again and they upload the pictures on Jungkook’s laptop, Jungkook has to admit Taehyung knew what he was doing. The shadows are dark and strong, like thick lines drawn with black ink just as Jungkook imagined, and emphasize Jimin’s sharp hipbones and the bumps of his abs perfectly. Jungkook notices himself being almost tempted not to crop Jimin’s face out of one shot, taken at some point where all of them had been quiet and the sliver of a smile had disappeared from Jimin’s lips, leaving his face serious and his eyes looking somewhere past the photographer. Like he was waiting for somebody.

“Sweet,” Taehyung says and pats Jimin’s shoulder. “I think we have your next Christmas card photo all handled, too. You can buy me a beer as a thank you.”

“Deal,” Jimin replies. “You too, Jungkookie. It looks pretty awesome. Your idea really saved my ass.”

“Ass worth saving,” Taehyung says and aims a slap on the said pair of buttocks. Jimin dodges just in time and nearly crashes into Jungkook in the process. With a clear promise of revenge in his eyes, Taehyung starts hurrying them out of the building.

“The sauna is still open. It’s time we got naked around each other! Well, I guess Jimin already kind of did, but… Anyway, men can’t become friends until they take a bath together, you know?”



–



The faces of the other interns aren’t particularly kind or congratulating when Jungkook and Jimin finally present their work early next morning. Still, Jungkook lets the praising words of Manager Kwon and Manager Dong imprint themselves into his mind for good. He intends to hear those lines more often in the future, but the feeling of victory is so incredibly sweet he thinks he’s having a sugar rush.

“Excellent work,” Manager Kwon says, clicking away on his MacBook as he goes through the presentation once more. The pictures turned out pretty great, especially since it’s only a draft. In fact, a little makeover with photoshop all but transformed their improvised amateur photo session into a real fashion shoot. Dark contrast and Taehyung’s clever tricks with the desk lamp gave the pics just the mysterious, intimate feeling Jungkook had been hoping for.

Manager Dong is nodding next to him and gives both Jungkook and Jimin a wide grin.

“Not bad for interns, not at all. The overall layout could use some work and the text was a little too old-fashioned, but other than that… How did you divide the responsibilities?”

“The idea was mine,” Jungkook says, because he’s never been one to go for too much modesty, especially when it’s this clear who deserves some pats on the back for their work. You have to be bold in the business world. He has also waited for a chance to prove his abilities to Manager Kwon from the moment he started working for the company, so he’s not blowing this one.

“I, um, took care of the– um– model, I guess.” Jimin looks a little embarrassed but also happy for the praise and all too carefree as if his earlier clash with Manager Kwon was ancient history and they were fast friends now.

“I think the client is going to be pretty pleased with this. It needs a little fixing, but they’ve been aiming for this type of minimalist, sleek concept for a while,” Manager Kwon says and grants them both an actual smile, even though it’s more like a tiny twist of lips than a proper grin like Manager Dong’s. Still, to Jungkook it might as well be a promotion and a hug, he feels so proud of himself.

“This will look good on your evaluation. Park, I have to say I’m surprised. To be honest, I expected to have to send you cleaning your desk, but you pulled through. With honors, even. Good job.”

“Thanks! Um, I mean, thank you, sir,” Jimin says and he’s smiling so brightly it’s almost as if somebody had suddenly pulled the curtains open and let the morning sun in.

“Now get out of here. Park, send the presentation to me, you can manage that, can’t you? Jeon, spelling check once more, I spotted a couple of mistakes.”

And not another word. Nothing about Jungkook or the way he single-handedly saved the whole draft for their part. Sure, it’s not like the managers know Jimin screwed up getting them a model, but Jungkook made it pretty clear who came up with the winning idea, anyway.

They are both quiet as their make their way back to their work station. Jungkook refuses to look at Jimin, because somehow this is all his fault, once again. No matter that the practical part of Jungkook’s brains keeps telling him it was ridiculous to expect to be showered with praise. Kwon Jiyong is the best manager in the whole company, but also the strictest, and so far Jungkook’s admiration for the man is one sided. In fact, Jungkook is just one of the interns, not even a general employee, so he shouldn’t expect any special treatment. Or to be remembered.

Then again, that is exactly why it stings so much that Jimin managed to somehow cause enough stir with his idiotic antics that Manager Kwon is aware of his completely pointless existence.

“Park! Get us coffee! The usual!”

It’s Assistant Manager Park. He’s sitting on his fellow assistant manager Woo’s desk and the two of them are sniggering like a couple of school boys, clearly pleased to have interns at their beck and call. They are acting particularly boldly since all the managers are still in the meeting, and Jungkookie brushes their words off without as much as cocking his head. Jimin isn’t as smart, unsurprisingly.

“Hey, Jungkookie,” Jimin says and taps Jungkook’s shoulder. “Wanna come with me?”

“Not really. Manager Kwon gave me a task.”

“Nah, you should take a break. Come on, Jungkookie, let’s go. Coffee!”

Somehow Jungkook lets himself be bullied up from his chair. He rubs his eyes, tired from staying up until sunrise, first finish the damn presentation and then sitting in a hot tub with Taehyung and Jimin. Right now a black coffee sounds like a piece of heaven turned into a liquid form, and of course there’s also the possibility of dumping his second cup all over Jimin’s face.

“Park! We ordered two lattes with whipped cream about an hour ago. We want them before we’re dead.”

“Yes, sir! Right away, sir!” Jimin yells, but he’s grinning his good-natured grin and even saluting sloppily, and to Jungkook’s surprise both Woo and Park smirk back. They look almost accepting, happy that Jimin openly plays along with them and generally acts like a complete prat instead of a good intern.

Jungkook is pretty certain that neither Assistant manager Woo or Park actually remembers his name. And Jungkook sure as hell doesn’t know how they like their coffee.

The break room is empty, of course since it’s so early in the morning and only the real employees could get away with avoiding their desks half an hour into their workday and they are usually more than happy to order interns around for that. Jungkook leans against the counter and simply watches Jimin pour coffee mix into two paper cups.

“You do know we’re not technically obliged to get the assistant managers coffee whenever they ask?” Jungkook says, and Jimin finally straightens his back and gives him a sheepish smile.

“Yeah, but I kinda have to. Last week I messed up a couple of things about a report and sent it anyway, and–er– to the wrong person, too. Assistant manager Park hasn’t told anybody yet, but I have to stay on his good side, right?”

“Why don't you just quit since you keep fucking up all the time?” Jungkook huffs. Sure, he is getting kind of angry, but he’s got a damn good reason. Fifteen minutes earlier Jimin was praised for finally pulling through and here he is confessing he has already screwed up something else. Even Taehyung isn’t like that and he’s sometimes too spaced out to answer the phone ringing right by his ear.

“You trying to sound like Yoongi-hyung with all the swearing?” Jimin says, snickering as he starts going through the cupboards. Jungkook feels completely frozen for a moment, because since when has Min Yoongi been a hyung to Jimin? How the hell would they even know each other since according to Hoseok-hyung, Min Yoongi works in marketing team one and is the type of guy who doesn’t give a shit about interns.

“How would you–” Jungkook says and then bites his lower lip hard enough for the stinging to continue even after he lets go.

“Oh, Yoongi-hyung? You know him? I went to the gym with Assistant manager Bang and then then I somehow ended up out drinking with their team. It was really great, have you been out with them? Manager Dong is so awesome, he didn’t mind me being there at all.”

Jimin’s open excitement makes it even worse. So far even Assistant managers Woo or Park haven’t invited Jungkook anywhere, much less their manager who Jungkook cannot imagine drinking anything but something bubbly and expensive in a fancy wine bar. At the same time Jungkook might have been kind of avoiding the whole thing, so he’s not entirely free of blame. It’s his least favorite aspect of working at the office, getting hammered with your boss to form bonds with your co-workers. It’s not like Jungkook doesn’t want to be a part of their team, on the contrary he is more than ready to work under manager Kwon, he’s jut not in the least interested in awkward small-talk over spicy chicken and soju.

At least that explains why Jimin is suddenly not the top name in the office shit list, because the guy is exceptionally good at talking nonsense. Apparently he also knows how to make people like him.

“I’ll bring you along next time,” Jimin says and smiles his thousand watt smile. Jungkook just shrugs, focusing on his cup of black coffee as Jimin finally pulls some kind of white powder from the shelves and starts adding it to the cups.

“Are you poisoning our assistant managers?”

“Huh?” Jimin says, turning to look at Jungkook with wide eyes, and then laughs hard enough to almost dump the two coffees all over the floor. “No, no, this is called creamer or something like that. Supposedly it can replace cream in a coffee. How awesome is that? Seokjin-hyung tipped me off.”

Figures. Seokjin, who had mentioned only couple of days ago to Hoseok-hyung that he despised corrupted companies more than anything and was thinking about quitting since graduating with an actual business degree apparently meant nothing to this one.

“Do you wanna try it? I can make you a cup,” Jimin asks, eyes practically shining, and Jungkook just shrugs again. It sends Jimin to work as effectively as if Jungkook had screamed yes.

“You know,” Jimin says slowly, busy mixing the coffee powder with hot water. “You did really good job. Manager Kwon should have given you more credit.”

“Manager Kwon doesn’t give people compliments,” Jungkook mutters, taking the offered cup only because his eyelids feel heavy enough for him to start nodding off right then and there.

“Uh, I,” Jimin says and then suddenly shuts up. He is not doing anything anymore, two steaming cups of coffee waiting for him on the table, and just looks at Jungkook and wrangles his tie in his fingers.

“How’s the coffee?”

“Good,” Jungkook says dryly. He doesn’t even really taste anything, but simply waits for the caffeine to kick in and give him enough energy to go fix that stupid presentation and then tackle whatever task Manager Kwon wants to give him next. Hopefully they won’t have anything to do with Jimin, and Jungkook gets to spend the rest of the day perfectly idiot-free. Well, if he don’t count having lunch with Taehyung.

“I can make you more. You, um, you look pretty tired,” Jimin replies. He waits for a couple of seconds if Jungkook wants to answer something, then clears his throat and leans a bit closer. Just as Jungkook is about to tell Jimin to just get out of his sight, Jimin blurts out a question.

“Would you– um– like to do the intern presentation with me?” He looks embarrassed, but not in a scared way, no, in fact Jimin is still smiling despite the light flush on his cheeks and his eyes look eager.

“We did really well together today! We could totally ace the whole thing, with your skills and– well I guess with my abs.”

“I just spent the night trying to clean up your mess and you want to do another project with me? A project that’s going to determine my entire career in this company?” Jungkook is surprised his voice sounds mostly just honestly curious and not as enraged as he feels.

Jimin has the guts to laugh, throwing Jungkook completely off balance.

“Yeah, maybe I was a little optimistic,” he says and positively grins. “Guess I have to prove myself to you, huh, Jungkookie. I’ll show you I’m the best partner you could ever hope for, okay? How about that?”

Jungkook, to his eternal shame, is completely speechless, because Park Jimin is staring at him with teasing eyes and completely ignoring the very obvious rejection Jungkook just threw at his face. Not particularly gently, either.

To be completely honest, Jungkook did think about having Jimin as his partner. He feels dirty thinking about it, but he could just use Jimin as a ladder – to make himself look good. Jungkook would still do all the work, make sure it was pitch perfect, and also take all the glory. It would basically mean doing the presentation alone, which is what Jungkook wanted to do in the first place, with the added bonus of Jimin bringing him coffee and food at regular intervals.

But that was just him playing with the thought, entertaining himself with the silly idea. Jungkook is not that evil, plus it’s obvious to anyone with a lick of sense that Jungkook will never do the intern presentation with Jimin. He has actual plans for his future, goals he intends to achieve. None of them include failing the exam alongside Park Jimin, who is unable to take anything seriously and doesn’t know the first thing about selling bottled water in the middle of a desert, much less about actual marketing.

“Okay, okay,” Jimin says and slaps Jungkook’s shoulder. “You can think about that. How about lunch, then? Or coffee? I know a really nice coffee shop really close. Or do you like movies? Hey, we could go to karaoke!”

Jungkook doesn’t exactly remember how he escaped from the break room, but five minutes later he is smashing the buttons of his computer and trying to figure out ways to avoid his desk for the rest of the day once Jimin gets back from copying that damn presentation.

He’s not going to go out with Park Jimin. No matter how much he seems to want to. To make it worse, when Jungkook inevitably has to meet Jimin again by their workstation, he acts like a lovesick puppy, asking all kinds of ridiculous questions about contract forms and marketing management, and keeps bringing Jungkook coffee. Jungkook even purposefully drops out of a small group task where he would again be paired up with Jimin, just to keep his sanity, but it doesn’t slow down Jimin the slightest. On the contrary, he keeps making his way back to Jungkook’s desk whenever he has the chance.

Jungkook is still sure Jimin won’t stay at the company and that makes it easier to deal with his lackluster way of working and the constant attention he keeps giving Jungkook. It’s a little scary to notice that at some point Jungkook starts talking to Jimin in civil tones instead of spitting out monosyllabic replies. He doesn’t want to put any stupid ideas into Park Jimin’s head, but the damage has probably been done already.

Just to reassure himself, Jungkook starts making a mental list of potential candidates for the intern presentation right then and there as he works. He’s not going to fuck up his future for Jimin. And for God’s sake, he also needs to stop thinking about things so dramatically, because he and Jimin, they don’t even have anything between them that could ruin Jungkook’s plans. They are just… work acquaintances.

Jungkook is even more annoyed to notice it’s not that easy. No matter how tough Jungkook tries to act, Jimin is still smiling, always goddamn smiling.



–



“Jungkook,” Taehyung says, pretending to nearly fall off from his tiny plastic chair as he sees them walk into the restaurant. It’s a close call, because Taehyung’s sense of balance seems to be even more off than usually.

“Is it really you? Are you a clone? An alien? How can this be? Am I dreaming?”

“Shut up,” Jungkook mutters as he takes a seat next to Taehyung. To be honest, he would have liked walking out of the door much more, but Jimin’s hands on his lower back are insistent and push him down. Everybody has already noticed him, anyway, but seeing Jimin’s victorious smile as he sits down in front of Jungkook is almost enough to have Jungkook fleeing in spite of it all. The moment passes, and then Assistant Manager Woo calls loudly for two extra pairs of chopsticks and the route to the door is blocked by the plump older lady who owns the place.

“Lemme make sure you’re real, Jungkookie,” Taehyung insists and smacks his palm right across Jungkook’s face. His fingers smell like chili paste and alcohol.

“Jeon, Park, I’m so very, very glad that you could make it,” Assistant Manager Woo says, his words slurring more than a little, and even gets up from his chair to welcome them. Jimin hurries to fill the glasses for the rest of the small party, and Jungkook himself is busy trying to get rid of Taehyung’s sticky fingers on his face without completely embarrassing himself in front of their whole team.

“Sir, sir, let’s toast!” Taehyung says, opting for wrapping his arm around Jungkook’s shoulder, mostly because he nearly loses a finger when Jungkook tries to bite him. “Jimin and Jungkookie have a lot of catching up to do, don’t they?”

“You’re absolutely right! Genius,” Assistant manager Park yells, pointing a somewhat wandering finger towards Taehyung. “Auntie, can we have two more bottles of soju? No, make that three.”

Jungkook knew from the start that this was a bad idea, but Jimin is beaming next to him and ushering Jungkook to raise his glass with the rest of them and somehow Jungkook just can’t do his usual thing. Saying no, raising his head up high and marching out of the restaurant, going home to study more Chinese characters or to memorize the pages of his new business dictionary. He has done all of that countless of times without a second thought, but somehow Taehyung’s arm around him and Jimin’s shining eyes glue him to his seat.

“Okay, Park, here’s the deal. You both finish those bottles while the rest of us take care of this one. Okay? That’s an order!”

“Yes, sir!” Jimin salutes Assistant manager Woo and immediately refills Jungkook’s glass. Taehyung is kind enough to fill Jimin’s. Jungkook should have probably done that himself in the name of politeness, but the disgusting taste of soju on his tongue is almost paralyzing.

“By the way,” Taehyung says, as if on cue, and he’s being overly friendly and casual. Jungkook knows he’s up to no good. “Shouldn’t Jungkookie do the pouring? Since he’s the youngest and all.”

“You’re younger than me?” Jimin says and turns to stare Jungkook in the eyes. Judging by the betrayed look on his face, the sky might as well be falling on their heads. Jungkook simply shrugs, and Jimin lets out a heavy groan.

“That’s it. You’re serving. And you have to call me hyung! Jimin-hyung, like that, okay?”

Jungkook feels like grimacing, but it’s not really an option since the assistant managers and other people from their team are all following the conversation with as much attention as they can manage in their current state. Taehyung practically cackles next to him when Jungkook’s answer is to down another glass of soju.

“You’re behind, Park,” he says, swallowing down the burn, and the whole table explodes with laughter. Jimin is still looking at Jungkook, but instead of being angry or at least irritated because he is being mocked and he knows it, the only emotion on Jimin’s face is something much closer to… affection?

And funnily enough, even though the bottle is now supposedly Jungkook’s responsibility, his glass keeps getting filled steadily through the night. It’s no wonder that two hours later there’s not a single person in their table who isn’t cross-eyed. Not even Jungkook, no matter that his plan was to get only moderately drunk, heavily tipsy at worst.

It was just easier to keep downing the offered shots than see Jimin’s eyes always following him or hear Taehyung talking about little green men living in the copy machine. Well, mostly it helped to avoid the strangely intense looks Jimin keeps giving him, because Taehyung is always like that and Jungkook has gotten used to it.

He doesn’t know what to do with Jimin, on the other hand. And right now, he doesn’t really know what to do with himself, either, which is good, because then he doesn’t have to think. About anything.

“Jungkookie,” Jimin slurs and reaches forward to grab Jungkook’s arm. He is a happy drunk like Taehyung, still grinning like an idiot and patting Jungkook shoulder. “Go to the movies with me. And call me hyung, alright?”

Jimin is begging, literally begging Jungkook to go out with him, and manages to do it all with a laid-back grin splitting his flushed face. Jimin is also still able to pour them both some more soju and surprisingly only a couple of drops miss the glasses. The first three bottles disappeared ages ago, but Assistant Manager Woo has been ordering steadily more and he must know the owner pretty well, because last time all he could do was raise a finger and then fall off his chair.

“No,” Jungkook replies as indifferently as he can and looks for Taehyung to save him. He is probably in the toilet or something, or out smoking. In fact, half of the team has disappeared, most likely to puke their guts out or just to go home, if they’re smart enough.

“Jungkookie.” Jimin has some kind of fixation with his name, he keeps repeating it and the way it rolls off of Jimin’s tongue is driving Jungkook crazy. It’s almost as annoying as Jimin’s thumb, stroking the skin of Jungkook’s forearm. “You’re really awesome.”

Oh god. Jungkook has a bad feeling about what’s coming next, to, scratch that, he knows and where the hell is Taehyung when you need him the most? Jimin is blushing and his eyes flicker from Jungkook’s face to the table and back, like he’s about to blurt out something extremely embarrassing. Like he’s going to do a drunk confession and that is just way too cliché.

“Jungkookie,” Jimin says again, and how many times is he going to repeat Jungkook’s name? Jungkook huffs and since Taehyung doesn’t make one of his magical appearances out of thin air, he just slams his hand on Jimin’s mouth. Anything to shut him up, even feeling Jimin’s lips and scorchingly hot breathing against his skin. It sends the weirdest shiver down Jungkook’s spine.

Then Jungkook’s eyes widen and he swallows because he thinks Jimin might be kissing his palm.

“What– what are you doing?” Junkook asks and even he has to admit it’s the stupidest thing to say. His face feels feverishly hot and air keeps getting stuck in his throat, and Jimin’s lips are still moving against his skin.

“Jimin, what the hell are you–” Jungkook repeats and then his hazy mind has finally the decency to pull his hand back. He imagines Jimin’s alcohol sticky mouth coming off with a wet pop and it doesn’t help that Jimin immediately licks his lips.

“It’s Jimin-hyung!” He all but whines, a high pitched nose that makes Jungkook’s ears ring and body shiver.

Jungkook needs a couple of minutes to think about his answer to that, swallowing down some of the poorer suggestions his brain comes up with, and then suddenly Assistant Manager Woo pulls at his arm and hauls him out of the restaurant in a blur of stumbling legs and flailing arms.

“Gotta go home,” Assistant Manager Woo sings and nearly crashes them both against the side of a bright orange taxi.

“Assistant Manager,” Jungkook says, fighting to get away from the tentacle like arm wrapped around his neck. “Where’s Assistant Manager Park?”

“In the toilet fucking some bitch–”

“Okay, uh, where’s–where’s Taehyung?”

“Probably in the toilet fucking some other bitch–”

“Let me just–” Jungkook gasps when Assistant Manager Woo’s grip gets particularly tight, but he manages to open the door to the taxi with his left hand. He pushes the assistant manager inside, none too gently either but his brain is too fuzzy to think about the finer details. Feeling the pocket of his jacket, he realizes he doesn’t have his wallet with him.

“Give him– where do you live, sir? Tell your address to the driver, please,” Jungkook says, trying to focus on Assistant Manager Woo’s face to see if he understood. Lines keep splitting and it’s so damn hard to concentrate, especially since Assistant Manager Woo is swaying back and forth. For a moment Jungkook just stares, blinking, and then the door slams shut and a sickening flash of orange tells him the taxi must have left.

Jungkook staggers on his feet and nearly loses his balance when Jimin suddenly appears next to him.

“Wanna go home?” Jimin mumbles into Jungkook’s shoulder, his fingers finding Jungkook’s bicep for support. It doesn’t really work when they both are so unsteady on their feet, but at least they’ll fall together if they do.

“You’re not coming with me,” Jungkook says but he doesn’t have the energy to push Jimin away when he shifts closer. It feels kind of nice, nicer than wobbling there alone and most likely hitting the street face first.

“Taehyung promised me his bed,” Jimin answers and he’s whining again and pressing his chin against Jungkook’s shoulder like a damn puppy begging for scraps. But what can Jungkook even say to that? He’s too drunk to argue anyway, so when a taxi finally rolls to a stop next to them, they tumble inside together and Jungkook rattles his address to the driver without a second thought.

Jimin stays huddled against the car door until they’re out of the vehicle on the other side of Seoul. He says he had to give his whole wallet to Taehyung as a deposit for the bed, so Jungkook’s only option is to pay for the cab himself and then try to guide them both to their apartment building without too many detours.

How he does it, he has no idea. Getting the downstairs door code right and then finding his keys is an even bigger mystery.

One thing he does remember, if a little hazily.

In the elevator, Park Jimin kisses him. Just stands up to his tiptoes and presses his lips against Jungkook’s, both nervous and eager to taste Jungkook’s mouth. His fingers hag dug into Jungkook’s hips and Jungkook remembers the touch sending that strange shiver though his body again.

He also remembers maybe returning the kiss, simply because Jimin’s mouth had been warm and soft and– well, at least he hadn’t been talking so much.



–



Jungkook wakes up to the worst hangover he has ever experienced and a pair of strong arms hugging his waist.

He groans, not stopping to think about waking the owner of said arms for even a second, but Jimin just makes a tiny sound behind Jungkook’s back and tightens his grip. It’s only then that Jungkook realizes the alarming amount of skin to skin contact; the arms around him are bare and settled comfortable against Jungkook’s equally unclothed upper body.

Also, somebody’s face is smashed against the nape of his neck.

Thinking back to it, he has no idea how he managed to jump up from the bed with the humongous hangover practically tearing his head apart. But he does it, and suddenly Jimin opens his sleepy eyes and yawns.

“Morning.”

Jungkook blinks and damn, that’s enough to make his skull hurt more. He stares at Jimin, his completely naked body stretched over the bed and then glances down to notice that yes, he isn’t wearing any boxers, either.

“Did we–”

“What?”

Jungkook’s whole face is burning, because Jimin is eyeing him, fighting not to smile and failing spectacularly. Jungkook spins around, sees his boxers laying innocently on the floor by the bookshelf and rushes to pull them on.

“Why the fuck are you naked?” He asks, well, more like demands to know rather hysterically, when he turns to face Jimin again.

“I kinda do that with you, huh. Why do we always hang out naked, Jungkookie?” Jimin sits up and scratches his hair, which is sticking to every direction possible and half obscuring his eyes. He winces and tries to protect his eyes from the bright morning sun.

“Can I have water? My mouth feels like a sandpit,” he asks after a while since Jungkook is too dumbstruck to get an answer out of his mouth and wraps the blanket around himself a bit tighter. Jungkook grimaces, but in the end his own thirst drives him to the kitchen despite the splitting headache trying to smash his brain from the inside every time he moves.

He hands Jimin a glass after coming back and leaps into the bed again, hogging back his share of the covers. Jungkook has no idea about the time but he has to have a couple of hours more to sleep, he simply has to, because the mere idea of going to the office with his head pounding, eyes stinging and whole body rendered to pure ache nearly makes him puke. Well, of course that could also be the leftover soju churning his stomach.

“Jungkookie,” Jimin says after a while, just as Jungkook is about to fall back to sleep despite the noisy slurping sounds Jimin makes while he drinks the water.

“What?” Jungkook croaks, packing as much irritation in his voice as he can muster. In his wobbly state, it’s not much.

“Wanna go to the movies with me?” Jimin asks. His voice sounds rougher than usual, maybe because it’s morning or thanks to all that alcohol.

“You’re gonna keep asking until I slip and say yes, aren’t you? Look, I don’t even like you that much.” Jungkook keeps his eyes stubbornly closed. That might have been a mistake, though, because Jimin lays one hand on Jungkook’s calf under the blanket.

“But you kissed me!”

“No, you kissed me, idiot. I was drunk,” Jungkook says and kicks back with his right foot, hitting Jimin in the thigh and making him groan. But when Jimin speaks, Jungkook can quite literally hear the grin he must be wearing, all the way to the amused tilt of his lips and the way his eyes squint.

God, he has been spending too much time with Park fucking Jimin.

“Well, can I kiss you again, then? I promise you’ll like it even more.”

“For crying out– you already kissed me. Now shut the hell up so I can sleep.”

“But you were drunk, it’s not like you remember it.” Now Jimin is pulling at the blanket, clearly just to annoy Jungkook because if he wanted more he could just lay down again next to Jungkook. Except that it would be even worse like that, so Jungkook kicks back again, his toes digging into Jimin’s thigh

Jungkook allows himself a victorious smile when he feels Jimin’s weight shift on the bed and then him getting up. For at least five minutes, Jungkook gets to enjoy the peace and silence before a loud smack and a groan (Jimin must have stuck his toe or something) bring him back to the world of the living.

“Here.” Jungkook hears Jimin’s voice from somewhere above him and then feels Jimin’s fingers bumping against his chin. Cracking his eyes open, Jungkook focuses on the small white tablet Jimin is holding in his fingertips.

“I found them from your bathroom,” Jimin says, grinning proudly. Jungkook counts it as a small victory when Jimin’s smile falters and is replaced with him blushing furiously when Jungkook eats the pill from Jimin’s hand.

He has to get up to drink the water, though, and notices Jimin actually got dressed while he was away on his quest for painkillers.

“Yeah, um,” Jimin says when he notices Jungkook eyeing his clothes. “I got like thirty messages. From Assistant Manager Park and Taehyung. We’re, uh, kinda late.”

“How late?” Jungkook asks, swallowing. He feels even sicker, thinking how much Manager Kwon hates tardiness, and then because the idea of getting up and facing the consequences right now in the state he’s in seems almost worse.

“Like, a couple of hours. No biggie, but you might wanna get dressed. And brush your teeth.”

Twenty minutes later they are outside, blinking in the bright sunlight and trying to catch a taxi. Jungkook feels hot and cold at the same time, half shivering and half cursing because his shirt is already sticking to the small of his back. The pill Jimin gave him might have just as well been candy, because his headache is only getting worse by every passing minute.

When they get out of the cab in front of the tall office building, Jungkook finally has the guts to check his phone and see exactly how late they are. He swears he nearly has a heart attack when he realizes “a couple of hours” actually meant four and a half. At least there is an empty elevator waiting for them as they rush inside since most of the workers have already headed for lunch, but it does little to ease the growing anxiety bubbling inside Jungkook’s stomach.

“No worries,” Jimin keeps saying as they stare at the doors. Jungkook can practically feel how pale he is and can only shake his head as an answer. He feels like he’s about to throw up any minute and it would be just the perfect ending for his life if the puked on Manager Kwon’s new shows or something.

“Hey,” Jimin says and suddenly he steps closer. His fingers brush Junkook’s palm and then entwine with Jungkook’s, squeezing his hand tightly. Jungkook swallows again, but still doesn’t say anything. Both because he fears opening his mouth will be the last thing he does and because it feels so ridiculously comforting to have Jimin there right now.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Jimin says and when the hell did he get so close? It’s not a surprise, not really, when Jimin’s lips press softly against the swell of Jungkook’s cheek.

Manager Kwon does yell. Well, he talks to them in the coldest way Jungkook has ever experienced, and Jungkook feels the disappointment in his eyes as if it was a physical touch. He also might be imagining it, but it feels like Manager Kwon looks at him a little longer, with more irritation. Like he’s asking what happened to Jungkook’s perfect record since elementary school.

It’s hard to think Jimin’s affection as something that’s clearly ruining Jungkook, especially when Jimin brings him coffee and somehow even sneaks a blueberry muffin from the cafeteria since Manager Kwon made it perfectly clear they wouldn’t have time for lunch. They need all the help they can get to finish the piled up work, anyway.

But it’s also hard not to, when Jungkook notices he can’t really concentrate on the numbers he’s supposed to be checking, not when Jimin and his presence seems to fill every little nook and cranny inside his brain.



–



For the whole afternoon, Jungkook tiptoes around Manager Kwon and does every given task, even the simple ones like printing documents or wiping splashes of coffee from the desks, twice as meticulously as before.

Manager Kwon hasn’t said anything more or made any additional comments regarding their late arrival, but somehow Jungkook is sure that he cannot afford to screw up again, not this soon after the first time, not during the very same day. He does know he is painfully on edge thanks to his nerves, but it’s usually Jimin who ends up being on the receiving end of Jungkook’s snappish replies and burning glares. He’s lucky, because Jimin just doesn’t seem to care.

In a way, it’s relieving to have somebody there. Not a friend, not exactly, but at least as someone who is on Jungkook’s side and not competing with him. There are also all the ridiculous little things, like sending Jungkook heart-eyed emoticons on Kakaotalk and paying for his take-out dinner (Jimin is older so there’s nothing strange about that) that somehow sneak their way inside Jungkook’s mind and stick.

That still doesn’t mean he knows what to do with Jimin. Therefore, it’s better to get some distance between them, even if Jimin seems to be dead set on all but making a nest for himself under Jungkook’s desk.

That night, Jungkook signs up to do any overtime work there is, even the shitty stuff like dull and repetitive copying of documents and resource inventory at the warehouse downstairs. A moment later Jimin comes over dragging his legs and starts complaining how Assistant Manager Park ordered him to stay as well.

At least signing up for the punishment himself might have earned Jungkook some brownie points in Manager Kwon’s eyes, assuming that the man even cares.

Jungkook stifles a yawn and tries to remember whether he already wrote down the numbers on the page in front of him. It’s hard to focus because there’s a group of interns laughing a couple of tables over and their voices echo in the empty office, but also because they are talking about the intern presentation which has been circling Jungkook’s mind the whole afternoon like vultures around carcass.

He should be over there. Asking around who wants to pair up with him, find out who has the best ideas. But there’s a nagging voice in his head constantly asking him why nobody has approached Jungkook, arguably the best intern in the whole office. He knows he’s not the easiest person to be around, but even an idiot should realize that with him they would have the best possible chances to pass.

“And then Park said that he already has a partner, which is just fucking ridiculous–”

Right. Jimin has been talking again, assuming things. The weirder thing is that the snippets that reach Jungkook’s ears imply that somebody actually asked Jimin to work with them, which in itself is even more ridiculous.

Jungkook frowns, glancing towards Jimin’s empty desk almost without thinking. Jimin went to get them both coffee, but he’s been gone for ages already, probably got caught talking with somebody in the break room. Despite what was supposed to be one of the most crippling hangovers of his young life, according to his own words at least, Jimin has been his awfully chipper and overtly social self for the whole day and it annoys the hell out of Jungkook.

“Yeah, but at least I’d look good in comparison, y’know. And since Manager Dong friggin’ adores the guy–”

“Did you hear how they complimented him?”

Jungkook wishes they would just shut up, especially after the group bursts into loud, boisterous laugher. Somethings ticks right behind his eyes, the panicked side of his brain punching his skull to get his attention when Jungkook is trying his hardest to shut his stupid inner voice down.

It’s just as difficult as trying to close his ears from real, outside world noise.

“You’d think his daddy had been pulling some strings again–”

“Yeah, no shit, maybe his partner will get automatically flunked no matter what so that little Jimin gets in–”

Jungkook gets up from his chair and heads to the break room. He needs water, anything to get rid of the anxiety lodged somewhere in his parched throat and making him feel so suffocated.

Jungkook has always thought that Jimin has zero chance of staying in the company. The managers have seen him failing every task possible, so why would they want to keep watching him fumble through that for another year or however long the contract would be? But Jungkook never considered the possibility that Jimin’s fathers connections reached further than simply getting him accepted into the internship program.

And somebody complimented him? Jimin? For what?

Jungkook bites his lip and rubs his palm over his tired eyes. The mere thought of pulling an all-nighter makes him cringe, not only because his whole body demands sleep, but also because it would mean being alone with his thoughts for at least six more hours. And probably with Jimin keeping him company.

He doesn’t make to the break room, because Jimin is there and he’s not alone.

The room is unusually full considering it’s almost half past ten already. Jungkook backpedals as fast as he can to avoid being seen, but he has enough time to spot at least Hoseok-hyung and one or two assistant managers.

He means to leave, right after he gets to breathe for a second, but their laugher is like a heavy hand on his shoulder, keeping him there against the wall. It’s not the same, mocking tone the other interns used, but rather something casual and awfully accepting.

“It’s good that you’re doing it with Jungkookie.” Hoseok’s voice is tired and his words nearly drown under a huge, loud yawn. “He can help you with the difficult stuff.”

“Uh-huh.” Somebody else, probably Assistant Manager Bang. “And it’s perfectly okay to ask us for help.”

“Thanks, hyung.” There’s no mistaking Jimin’s bright, high-pitched voice.

“You’re gonna do just fine, Park. I spent three hours last night greasing Manager Kwon when we were out drinking, so I’d say you have it in the bag. Just don’t fuck up the presentation, get Jeon to check your work or something.”

“Hyung, your liver’s gonna explode,” Jimin answers. Jungkook would guess the other person is either Assistant Manager Park or Woo.

It’s so goddamn domestic and lovely that Jungkook feels sick.

And he’s supposed to help Jimin? Help him get in while Jungkook knows for certain that it’s him who has to do all the work, him who has to do all the speaking during the presentation because it would be fucking self-destructive to let Jimin open his mouth? Jungkook tastes bile, his stomach protesting, and at the same time his pain pulses inside his skull.

He ignores his dessert-dry mouth and turns on his heels, because there is no way he can go into that room right now. Even if he managed to keep his sharp tongue in order, nobody else but Hoseok wouldn’t understand his stony silence and they’d think he was being even colder than usual, even more of an asshole.

The other interns look at him oddly when he makes his way back to his desk, but they don’t say anything. It’s not like they are friends or anything, especially after Jungkook started to hang out with Jimin, who the other interns still despise. It’s almost amusing, how Jimin has all the higher-ups wrapped around his little finger while his fellow interns still hate him.

Jungkook stares at the screen of the computer in front of him and realizes, very slowly, that he sat down on Jimin’s chair and not his own. His eyes skim through the text file left open on the screen; a summary of the past deals with a Japanese fashion designer who their manager is trying to coax into another contract.

It looks… professional. Jungkook notices the guidebook they used back in Business school open on the desk, and clearly Jimin has learned something because while he will still need to get it translated (will probably make Jungkook do it) so that Manager Kwon can send it the client, everything else seem made with care.

Jungkook deletes the file without thinking. Well, without letting himself think. It’s even easier to move the entire folder marked as JPN_clothing_thing to the trash bin and then get rid of both of them for good.

Adrenaline makes his heart beat as he sits down again, safely facing his own computer. Jungkook feels as if he just ran a marathon and a half, he’s even panting a little, and tries to look as natural as possible. Nobody is looking, of course, but Jungkook could swear he feels eyes following his every movement.

Concentrating proves to be impossible. Jungkook doesn’t even know why, because he’s still not thinking about what he just did, and it irritates him to unnatural levels. For thirty minutes he keeps placing his hands on the keyboard and trying his best to write something, but after fifteen minutes he is still staring at an empty page.

Jungkook shuts down his computer, then Jimin’s, and heads back to the break room with both their stuff. He is working on some kind of autopilot that seems to have a perfect plan for what to do, but Jungkook himself feels like he’s watching from the sidelines as somebody else drags Jimin to the elevator and to buy spicy rice cakes before going home.

Jimin is almost too gullible, nodding along as Jungkook pressures him to “finish the work early next morning” and he seems simply happy to tag along until Jungkook’s nerves finally snap and he sends Jimin home. He doesn’t even care that Jungkook hardly says anything, because keeping up a conversation would lead to thinking and Jungkook still can’t allow himself to do that.

Instead, Jimin fills the silence with his ramblings as Jungkook eats and Jungkook finds it to be exactly what he needs.



–



“Do you realize that we almost lost that goddamn contract because of you? Do you? Because you couldn’t fucking sit your lousy ass down for one night to write a summary, one fucking summary!”

Turns out, Assistant Manager Woo can get really scary when he yells. Not even close to the levels of Manager Kwon and his snowstorm-like stare that freezes the blood in your veins, but Woo is loud and exaggerates and makes a scene. It’s strange since he’s usually so laid-back, and Jimin is clearly flustered when he’s being scolded so thoroughly by somebody he most likely considered a friend.

He’s exactly the type of person who thinks assistant managers are on your side.

“Yes, sir. I’m, uh, I’m really sorry–”

“You fucking go over there and tell Manager Kwon exactly why he has to push back the meeting!”

“Yes, sir! I’m going, sir!” Jimin bows almost deeply enough to bend in half and then runs out of the break room. Assistant Manager Woo didn’t take him there to avoid humiliation in front of the other employees, but to have the chance to yell at Jimin himself first before sending him back to Manager Kwon to get yelled at again. The assistant manager must have learned his techniques from the master sadist himself.

Jungkook has been mixing himself coffee for fifteen minutes already while eavesdropping and he only managed to sneak into the break room ten minutes after Assistant Manager Woo dragged Jimin there. Jungkook sees the deep red flush on Jimin’s cheeks when he dugs past him to get back to their work station, not to mention his wobbly chin and shaking hands, and feels too big for his skin.

It’s not a big deal. It’s not serious, it’s only a small scolding and will actually serve Jimin some good since he’s not taking the internship seriously enough anyway. It’s something that would have probably happened anyway, at some point–

“–postpone the entire meeting!”

Dragging his feet without realizing it, Jungkook makes his way back to their station and hears the end of Manager Kwon’s sentence. His voice is an almost artistic mixture of hellfire and a blizzard.

Not a big deal, not a big deal. Just one missed summary, one failed task. Yet Jungkook finds his legs taking him past his desk and behind the shelves filled with files, just so that he doesn’t have to face Manager Kwon, or worse, Jimin. The one sided conversation takes forever, though, and Jungkook feels incredibly foolish hiding there and holding his cooling coffee in his hand, at least until he notices Assistant Manager Bang doing the exact same thing behind the corner.

Then Manager Kwon storms past him, stone-faced and looking like could turn concrete into dust with a mere look. Jungkook stares after him and then, completely out of the blue, Jimin throws his arm around Jungkook’s shoulders and slumps against him.

“That was the most horrible thing I’ve ever done,” he says, his voice hollow like all life had been just sucked out of him.

“Get off,” Jungkook mutters, but he doesn’t even try to push Jimin away. Instead, he abandons his coffee on the shelf and starts walking in Manager Kwon’s footsteps. However, while the manager took the elevator up to go to the large conference room where their clients are waiting, Jungkook presses the opposite button and takes Jimin downstairs.

People are slowly trickling into the cafeteria since it’s almost eleven o’clock, but there are plenty of empty tables. They drag their trays of food to the farthest corner, and Jimin starts immediately shoveling rice into his mouth. He still looks like he just might cry if poked viciously enough.

“I should have just done it yesterday night,” Jimin says as he chews. “But I’m useless when I’m hungover, I mean for the whole day. And of course I just had to oversleep this one morning.” He sighs and then drinks deeply from his water cup. He looks like he wishes it was something stronger.

“Self-pity aside,” Jungkook says, clearing his throat. “It was just one summary. It’s not like others haven’t gotten yelled before, actually I heard that even Assistant Manager Bang screwed up a couple of times when he was interning.”

“No way that’s true,” Jimin argues, but at least he offers Jungkook a tiny smiling. “And, you know... it’s not like this was the first time. I think I’ve made some kind of mistake almost every day. Sometimes Assistant Manager Park just helps me to hide the evidence. Like, you remember when all the company notices disappeared from the computers?”

“You weren’t–”

“Yeah,” Jimin replies. He sighs and finishes the rest of his kimchi in two big mouthfuls. “And the missing copy machine?”

“How could you even have–”

“Yeah, well, I did. And you don’t even know how many times I’ve shredded something important, just because there’s never even a title in Korean or without all those weird letter combinations I bet nobody even knows.” Jimin polishes the final bits of rice from his bowl and finally puts down his chopsticks, whereas Jungkook himself has hardly started his meal.

Despite the whole day and yesterday night being all kinds of messed up thanks to nobody else but Jungkook himself, he can’t help the slivers of irritation wrapping themselves around his thoughts and making them all muddled. Sure, Jimin is incapable to do any office work and doesn’t even seem to be a quick learner, but to this extent? Jungkook tries to shake the feeling and focus on the miserable note of Jimin’s voice.

“Anyway, Manager Kwon told me straight not to bother coming for the intern presentation,” Jimin says and fixes Jungkook with his best beaten puppy look. “So, um. I think I’m fired now. My dad’s gonna kill me...”

Yeah. And that might be Jungkook’s fault, according to the feeling of invisible hands wrapped around his throat and choking him. He has to swallow twice before he can get any words out of his throat.

“Do you–um–do you even want to? Take the test, I mean?” Jungkook can’t help asking in the hopes that the answer would be negative. And that’s what he has always thought anyway, either that or Jimin is completely delusional.

“Yeah, I mean,” Jimin says, shrugging. “It’s my dad, you know? He got me the internship, so I just can’t give up. And I like the people, you and Taehyung, and the hyungs are pretty cool too. It’s fun.”

It makes Jungkook feel completely rotten inside. He wants to ask more, sort of prop Jimin into saying that he himself wants to do something else and is glad to get kicked out. But that would be just to ease Jungkook’s nagging conscience.

“Then you– Um, you shouldn’t just give up like that. I’m sure that’s not what he meant, anyway, so just… hang on. And do the presentation with me.”

“Huh?” Jimin says, mouth falling open. Jungkook is careful to avoid any possible eye contact with Jimin as he speaks and cools down his expression, meticulously getting rid of anything that might show his discomfort or guilt. He’s good at appearing cold anyway, and Jimin is still clueless enough not to see any different.

“As long as you let me do the speaking, I mean if we let you open your mouth in front of people they’d fire us on the spot–”

“Jungkook,” Jimin interrupts. Jungkook risks a tiny, tiny glance at his direction and Christ, how does Jimin even do that? One second ago he seemed ready to drown himself in his seaweed soup and now his face is already split by one of his sweet and fluffy smiles. The type that really drives Jungkook up the wall. He feels a sudden urge to stick his chopsticks into Jimin’s nose and has to remind himself again who the real culprit is.

“I don’t think I’m gonna take the test”, Jimin says. “I mean, I told you what Manager Kwon said, right? He’d probably throw me out of the room or something and then you’d have to do everything alone.”

“That would be better than– no, I mean, that’s what I’m gonna have to do anyway,” Jungkook argues, forcefully banging his mug on the tray. “Everybody’s already partnered up anyway.”

He means to sound matter-of-fact and dismissing, because he honestly does’t give two cents about the other interns. Still, Jimin keeps smiling and looking down bashfully like a teenager who just heard a compliment from their crush, and Jungkook knows his lower lip must be jutting out, making his words all sulky and childish.

“They’ll drop their partners the second they hear you’re still on the market. Everybody always talks about you to me, you know, they want to know how you’re so awesome at everything. The reason they’ve kept away is because we’re a couple now,” Jimin says and he even has the guts to lay a hand on Jungkook’s arm.

“We are not a couple.” Jungkook fixes Jimin with one of his deadly stares, but the idiot seems somehow immune to them and keeps grinning like Christmas has been announced half a year early. He couldn’t look less like a person who allegedly just got fired.

“Well, we’re at least a pair. And hey, we could be? Last night we totally hooked up.”

“We did not!” Jungkook says and then flushes because Jimin is now openly laughing.

“Thanks,” Jimin says and sneaks a peace of pork from Jungkook’s plate. “I really needed this after that whole thing with Manager Kwon. Thanks, Jungkookie, I really appreciate it.”

“Jimin, I–” Jungkook says, every syllable incredibly reluctant to leave his tongue, but he forces them.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Jimin sounds bright and earnest, like the whole morning and getting kicked out and being humiliated was just a bad dream. Like the memory has just been completely erased because Jungkook did a tiny, completely meaningless thing and took him for lunch.

“I– I was mean to you, wasn’t I? I’m sorry about that.” Jungkook is apologizing for something different in his head, but it’s the best he can do. “I’m sorry, Jimin.”

“It’s Jimin-hyung.” When Jungkook only stares at him, Jimin grabs his hand and smiles as as sneakily as a cat who just caught a mouse. He doesn’t seem to care about the quiet honesty in Jungkook’s voice or the fact that he actually laid some pieces of himself out there in the open. Okay, so they weren’t the parts he should have showed, but Jimin just smiles and holds his hand in a tight grip like it’s still enough for him.

“Listen, did you even hear what I said? I said I was sorry, so just–” Accept it. Let Jungkook feel a bit less like a heartless bastard than he is.

“You get to call me Jimin, I get to hold your hand,” is all Jimin says, or more like declares. Before Jungkook has the time to objects again, which he very much intends to do because he has not signed up for a contract like that, Jimin has already leaned in and kissed him. On the lips. It’s just a peck, but still leaves a burning imprint behind that makes Jungkook want to rub his mouth.

“And kiss you, too. Anywhere I want.”

Jungkook grimaces and for a second he is very close to just coming clean, just to see Jimin finally being serious. But he’s too scared and the words stick to his insides, refusing to come up, so he stays quiet and stubborn.

“I forgive, you, okay? You’re forgiven.” Jimin huffs, trying to make sense of the emotions flickering on Jungkook face, and tugs at his hand. “Now stop being so nice and get back to your normal, asshole self, will you?”

Jungkook considers for a second, thinking what would happen if he came clean. It’s difficult to imagine that he would react any differently, since Jimin has proved that he can’t hold a grudge to save his life. And if you think about it, Jungkook doesn’t even know if whatever they’re doing right now will last. So, in a sense, it won’t even matter what Jungkook says, because he’ll probably dump Jimin in two weeks or–

He swallows and then grabs Jimin’s shoulder. He’s wearing a perfectly proper white button down and dark grey slacks and with his tie and shiny black shoes he’s a textbook example of an intern. He even has a pen in his pocket and a black messenger bag, but what still makes him different from the rest of them is his face.

Jimin’s expression doesn’t have any of the fierce competitiveness Jungkook makes sure to wear every day to work, just to keep the other interns on their toes.

“Do the presentation with me,” he says and just as Jimin is about to opens his mouth to say something, probably protest, Jungkook kisses him. On the lips, with tongue and long enough to leave them both breathing heavily, and most importantly, smiling.

Comments

[causeitsred]

/falls over into a pile of uselessness

omg misaeng!au YESSS arguably the prompt i hoped for the most ;;;;;; THANK YOU SO MUCH!! 14.5k?? you are amazing and lovely and wonderful etc etc

i’m glad it introduced misaeng to you kekeke i have yet to finish the series but i really really enjoyed watching the few episodes so far! maybe because i could relate to the whole office situation ahahah (also because i enjoy siwan and sora ;;) i’ve always adored stories with office dynamics and you wrote pretty much exactly what i’d wanted in the prompt ughughuhguh

sorry wall of text comment:

i loved your jungkook, snappy, competitive and perfect, but also a loner because of that. and jimin’s bright personality and ability to just soldier on with all the shit he has to overcome, how jimin is a people pleaser in everything he does, is so spot on!!

and then there’s your taehyung lmao everything taehyung said in this was gold i lovedddd it. spacey and eccentric and obnoxious. i was wriggling with delight when he butted in to help take photos of jimin lolol

“Why didn’t you tell me you were taking naughty pictures? I would have been here sooner.”

“Okay now, Jimin, the muscles look really awesome, really muscly, but those nipples seem a little bored.”

“Ass worth saving,”

dying.

i loved the portrayal of jimin’s growing affections for jungkook so much, constantly asking him out despite being rejected hehehe my jikook headcanon precisely. jimin licking jungkook’s hand had me giggling a lot. the morning after was the cutest thing ever omg jungkook diving back into bed anyways, jimin taking care of him and them squabbling between sheets ;3;

i loved it how jungkook becomes more used to jimin even though he continues to hold that hint of intense resentment because jimin is achieving more by being an enthusiastic idiot ;;;; the internal battle he has at the end over what he did to achieve his own goals, and the guilt from screwing jimin over ;;; jungkookie ;;; and then trying to make it right SIGHS AND THEN HE JUST SORT OF ACCEPTS IT WHEN JIMIN MAKES THEM A COUPLE and then kisses him and-

welp here i am a puddle all over the floor

i legit read this during lunch break in the office lmao it really brightened my monday a lot!!! all the characters were spot on (and the cameos were rly fun kekeke), it’s really the dream fic i’d hoped for.

i really really love this ;u; thank you so much, can’t wait for reveals ♥♥♥

[galmaegi]

i really, really liked this! all of the details of the office structure/atmosphere felt real, and i loved how they worked their way into the plot. also how jungkook's perfectionism/jimin's sunny personality translates here. all of the maknae line interactions in general were great, so funny and cute. and i really liked the ending. thank you for writing this!

[skytae]

this was funny and cute.. kookie is a dick but he's cute and sorry.. jimin is hopelesss.. KIM TAEHYUNG WAS PERFECT THANK YOU!!

[xiuxun]

/claps
this is so awesome and funny. :')) i enjoy reading about the-perfection-life-of-jeon-jungkook-but-not-anymore-since-park-jimin-invasion xD