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If All Your Gravity Did Not Hit Me

Summary:

It wasn’t that Seokjin wasn’t handsome. Jungkook knew people thought Seokjin was handsome. He knew all his friends were handsome in an abstract sort of way. He’d have to be blind to spend as much as he did with them and not notice. He just personally didn’t find Seokjin all that appealing.

Notes:

Hi! I just wanted to write cute JinKook enjoy!

Work Text:

Jungkook sighed as he walked into the blast of air conditioning in the restaurant, scanning over the full tables quickly until he caught sight of Jimin half standing and waving an arm at him. He smiled in relief and walked over, slipping into the empty seat next to Namjoon. 

“Hey, Kook!” Hoseok called from his perch in the booth sandwiched between Seokjin and Yoongi.  The others greeted in their own ways, Tae leaning over rubbing the back of Jungkook’s head, almost elbowing Namjoon and putting his butt right in Jimin’s face. Jimin swatted at him, slapping his butt with a loud ‘THWAP’ and a cackle. Seokjin chuckled quietly at their antics. 

“Enough, you’re gonna get us kicked out of here. Again.” Yoongi scolded them before they settled down.  Jungkook tried to follow the conversations but he honestly found it easier to be quiet. Namjoon was talking across the table to Yoongi and Hoseok about music they were working on, arguing goodnaturedly about a beat. Jimin and Taehyung were talking about a new anime they saw, trying to draw Seokjin into conversation. 

Of the whole group, Seokjin honestly didn’t seem to fit what Jungkook was told about him. The stories he heard from Taehyung and Jimin were usually about loud laughter and video games and karaoke. From Yoongi and Namjoon he heard about music and eating until they were sick while watching movies. The Seokjin that Jungkook saw in person was honestly a bit cold. His moves always seemed to be very calculated and reserved.  

He would smile in this soft way that seemed almost too practiced. He would laugh but always quietly and demurely. He would blow kisses at people who stared too long or wink at them and was overall very cocky about his good looks in a way that rubbed Jungkook wrongly. 

It wasn’t that Seokjin wasn’t handsome. Jungkook knew people thought Seokjin was handsome. He knew all his friends were handsome in an abstract  sort of way. He’d have to be blind to spend as much as he did with them and not notice. He just personally didn’t find Seokjin all that appealing. Honestly, if he were going to judge them in that way, Namjoon was the most attractive to Jungkook, with his broad dimpled smile and eyes that could be very intimidating. (And the way his thighs would strain through his jeans.)  

But out of the group, Seokjin was the one strangers noticed more often than not. Any time they were out, someone would inevitably walk into someone, knock something over, or just stare until Seokjin noticed and blew them an over the top hand kiss. 

  The waitress came to bring their drinks and looked flustered, stuttering over her words and nearly dropping their drinks. Jungkook quickly helped, which seemed to fluster her even more. After they all got to put in the order for the food she quickly walked off, leaving Jungkook to giggle to himself. 

“What’s so funny?” Seokjin asked, nudging him a little as he sipped on his cola.
“She was so flustered by your face.” Jungkook answered honestly. Seokjin preened a bit like a spoiled bird, even though Jungkook could see his ears and neck were a little red. 

“Of course! Have you seen my face?” he put his hands under his chin like a flower pot and gave one of those carefully smooth smiles. 

“Yeah, I have. Not that impressive, honestly.” he shot back good-naturedly, laughing a little harder when Seokjin wrinkled his nose in affront.

“Oh stop, you know Seokjinnie is beautiful!” Taehyung gasped and then reached across the table to stroke under Seokjin’s chin, earning another slap on the ass from Jimin. 

“Stop putting it in my face!” he yelped and Tae sat back to cuddle him up.

“The butt is a gift, Jiminie, accept it!”  He cooed, which made them devolve rapidly into bickering.  

Jungkook just shook his head, wondering why they ever tried to go out for a meal in public.

 

** * ** * ** 

 

Their chaotic nights out melted into endless days of stress. Jungkook felt like he was being slowly crushed under the weight of his part time job, his full class load, and his homework. He felt like he hadn’t even had a spare moment to breathe in months. 

He flopped his head down on his book and struggled to breathe for a minute, trying to decompress. It felt like it had been months since he did anything relaxing or fun, like ages since he had seen anyone outside of class or work. His dorm felt too small, his skin too tight, his head too full.  He stared at his phone for a minute before he grabbed it like a lifeline and hastily unlocked it. 

Jungkook:  

Hyung, what are you doing rn?

Jimin:

Mario kart with taetae and Jinnie!  You? 

Jungkook:  

Finished my homework. 

My brain hurts. 

Can I come over? 

Jimin:

Only if you wear cute pajamas! 

Jungkook:

I will see what I can do

 

He set his phone down and stared at his old sweatpants and huge black shirt and wrinkled his nose. He didn't think Jimin would count that as cute. He dug through his laundry basket of clean clothes for the pants Taehyung had given him for his birthday, flannel covered with pokemon characters. 

Close enough. 

He stuffed his feet into a pair of fuzzy toe socks and then into slides and grabbed his wallet and phone to trek over to Taehyung and Jimin’s shared apartment. 

They were thankfully close to the dorms and the walk helped a little, the evening air reviving a little bit of Jungkook's crumpled calm, clearing the little cobwebs from the corners of his mind. 

He knocked a little beat on their door and smiled when he heard Taehyung scramble over what sounded like Jin to get it, leaving him squawking in protest. 

"A Koo!!!" Taehyung cheered as he opened the door, wearing a fuzzy blue shirt with a bright star on it and matching pants spangled with matching stars and moons. "I need to buy you more cute sleep clothes," he tutted but tugged an arm around Jungkook’s neck to ruffle the hair at his nape and half hug him as he half led, half dragged him into the apartment. 

Jimin was wearing an obscenely tiny pair of pink shorts covered in hearts stretched over his thick thighs and a red t-shirt with ‘love’ written across it in a curly English script. He was sitting up on his knees with his tongue poked out to try and steer the remote the way he wanted to go, making dismayed noises when he spun out on a banana peel. Seokjin was next to him wearing a pair of pale purple pajamas in an old fashioned style, buttoned down with a collar and cuffs at the sleeves and ankles. The old man effect was mitigated by the abundance of little llamas patterned across the fabric.   His ears pinked a little as he spared a glance at Jungkook coming in before he cursed fervently when he got hit with a blue shell. 

Jungkook felt his chest ease a bit as Taehyung started rambling about his art history class (the difference between grecian and egyptian style statues was apparently ‘secret things in the hands’ and ‘uneven testicles!’) as he handed Jungkook a soda and herded him to the spare seat on the couch so he could crawl on him like an overly cuddly octopus and still put his feet on Seokjin's lap. 

"Augh nooooo!" Jimin wailed and threw himself backwards into the couch dramatically, kicking his feet out. "Aww, hyung!!!" He whined, pouting his lips out in a way that made him look a little bit like a duckling. Jungkook couldn’t help the big smile that broke out across his face. These were his favorite moments with his hyungs, their imperfections and occasional childishness were so endearing to him. 

Jungkook tried to hide his laughter behind Taehyung's shoulder and then yelped when he was attacked, Jimin sneaking his little hands between Tae's leg and Jungkook’s ticklish side. Jungkook squealed and tried to squirm away but Taehyung just clung to him harder and pet his head. 

"Punishment for laughing at our Jiminie!" He stated blandly, like Jungkook wasn’t trying to buck him off like a wild thing.  

"Seokjin-hyung, help!!!" Jungkook pleaded and kicked his feet a bit while Jimin went for his armpit. 

Seokjin just laughed a little, shook his head, and then slid his fingers ticklish over Jungkook's poor unguarded knee. It startled him enough that he just shot up, cradling Taehyung bridal style. "No fair!" 

Tae looked a little surprised at suddenly being carried and then poked Jungkook's arms. 

"I forget how strong you are. What do you need all these muscles for?" He remarked as Jungkook set him back down on his feet. 

"To escape from Jimin." He replied matter-of-factly before dropping into a fighting stance when Jimin moved.

"Down, boy." Jimin snorted and grabbed his drink. "I think you're sufficiently punished. You wanna play Seokjin-hyung?"  He offered the remote over good naturedly. Jungkook nodded and took it, going to sit curled up where Jimin used to be while Tae crawled back up to smush Jimin. 

They took a minute picking their characters and karts before starting the track, one of the jungle ones that was fun but still difficult enough to keep it interesting. Seokjin was playing peach and Jungkook fought against a smile. It seemed a little incongruous with his image of the aloof older man, his careful poise in public and small smiles. 

The whole evening was different from his usual perception of Seokjin. He still didn't see the hyung that was described to him but he was willing to concede that he might be a little biased. He resented Seokjin just a little bit for being so poised. Jungkook was embarrassed by himself a lot. He felt like his laugh was too loud, his teeth too big. He was shy a lot, wanting to be around people he trusted more than school parties where he didn't know people. 

They ended up neck and neck, leaning forward on the couch to bump each other playfully with elbows and shoulders as they went around turns or shot off bananas and shells to try and get the upper hand. Seokjin won, just barely, and looked smug before he set the controller down and stretched his hands a bit. 

Jungkook found himself staring a little. He had never noticed that Seokjin's fingers were crooked before, curving up at the middle knuckle and down at the knuckle before the tips, his thumb arched over backwards towards his wrists. 

Seokjin coughed a little and then shifted, tugging a bit on his sleeves to cover his knuckles, like he was embarrassed, and when Jungkook looked up his ears were bright red and a bit of his neck.  Jungkook felt a hot rush of guilt and tried not to make a face or make it worse, instead challenging Seokjin for round two. 

He wished he had the courage to tell Seokjin that he liked his fingers and the way they bent, making him just a little more imperfect and a little more real. 

 

********

 

By some twist of fate, every time Jungkook went to visit any of his friends, Seokjin was there. He felt like they had gone months with Seokjin and himself being satellites in an opposing orbit, occasionally overlapping where their mutual friend group met but now it felt like they were always together. 

After the first night with mario kart, any time any of their friend’s were together, it seemed like Seokjin was there too. Jungkook wasn’t complaining, he didn’t dislike Seokjin, it was just odd. Just different enough to be noticeable, to set him off kilter. 

Tonight though, he was at Namjoon, Hoseok, and Yoongi’s apartment, sprawled on the couch next to Namjoon and having what is basically an existential crisis.  

The recent month had been especially punishing with classes ramping up towards finals with endless studying and customers at his shitty retail job being extra irritable. Jungkook kept staring at the course load wondering if it was really worth it or if this was what he was really meant to be doing with his life and the only friend he thought would even be close to understanding was Namjoon. 

“It’s just been really hard recently. I keep second guessing myself and then even when I try to go relax or do something fun I just feel like I’m on pins and needles the whole time.” Jungkook admitted quietly, toying with the corners of the throw pillow closest to him. 

“What are the reasons you keep second guessing yourself?” Namjoon asked, his lanky body curled up to sit cross legged on his cushion of the couch, glasses sliding down the soft slope of his nose. 

“Mostly like did I pick the right major? Am I doing something I’m going to be happy with? Does my major go with my minor?” He started drooping as he got further down the couch. 

“I think everyone does that. But ultimately, do they have to go together? Not everything you do has to be towards the end goal of having a career. You’re allowed to do things that make you happy because you have the opportunity for them right now.” Namjoon replied, making way too much sense. Jungkook pouted at him for a moment, frowning. “What? Did I say something wrong?”

“No. You make too much sense. I don’t like it.” Jungkook replied and then smiled as Namjoon laughed and pushed his shoulder a bit. 

“Don't ask me for advice then!”  

“What else is a hyung good for then?!” Jungkook protested. 

“I have talents! And skills!” Namjoon squawked indignantly. 

“Breaking things isn’t a skill!” Jungkook shot back. They argued good-naturedly in that vein for a while before Jungkook flopped over, dropping his head to Namjoon’s shoulder. 

“It’s nice being just us for once.” He muttered and then tried hard not to feel guilty. 

“What do you mean by that?” namjoon asked, as always too perceptive. 

“It’s just… ugh I feel bad even saying it.” Jungkook covered his face. “It makes me sound like a whiny kid. But Seokjin’s been with everyone this past month and I just…” 

“You don’t like Seokjin?” Namjoon frowned, his brows pulling up in the middle. 

“It’s not that! He’s nice enough but I just can’t… relax around him. He’s always so put together and quiet, and like kind of …. cold, honestly.” 

“Seokjin is cold?” Namjoon blinked. “He’s such a dork, how is he cold?” 

“You all say that! But I just don’t see it!” Jungkook shook his head and felt foolish again. “He’s always so careful about everything and it makes me feel like I have to be careful too.” 

Namjoon was quiet for a little bit as he thought. Jungkook tried to wait patiently but he was still squirming in guilt. 

“I haven’t honestly paid attention to how he acts specifically around you. I didn’t know it was any different. I’ll try and pay attention next time. I know Seokjin has told me he is really shy. Maybe he’s just still shy around you?” 

“Did he ever act like that around you?” Jungkook asked, tilting his head. If it was just shyness, wouldn’t Seokjin have acted shy around Namjoon once, too?

“Thinking back, I think he did for a short while. He knew Yoongi for a while before I met him so when we were together it was always a pretty relaxed atmosphere. We’ve only been in groups for a while, huh?” 

“Yeah but he hasn’t seemed to relax around me at all. Then I worry about if he likes me or not or if this is just always going to be terrible and awkward.” Jungkook sighed and rolled his head around on Namjoon’s shoulder. 

“I think he might not be relaxing because you’re not relaxing.” Namjoon patted Jungkook's knee and only received a very up close glare for his trouble. 

“I didn’t want logic, I wanted sympathy.” 

“Then you should have been talking to a different friend.” 

 

*****

Jimin called the entire group together to the studio in the art building because Taehyung stayed awake for three days straight and ordered enough packages online that Jimin finally found out he hadn’t actually been finishing the framing and matting for his art exhibition but had instead been stewing in anxiety and procrastination. 

They were each given a job, one of which was wrangling Taehyung to keep him from micromanaging (this went to Jimin as the obvious choice).  Namjoon was supposed to help frame but he put a staple through his finger almost immediately and Yoongi just pointed at him any time he got near a power tool until Namjoon’s protests dried up and he slumped over to go help carefully tape drawings into mats once Hoseok finished cutting them. 

Yoongi was in charge of the saw, cutting the lumber to size and making the correct angles to piece them all together. 

Jungkook was allowed to use the staple gun after he showed he could successfully avoid stapling himself to it. Seokjin sat at the table with him to help put the hanging hardware in. 

Jungkook was… nervous. He took a deep breath and tried to remember to treat Seokjin like anyone else, like Namjoon had said. 

“I don’t know how this even happened.”  Jungkook sighed. “He’s known for months.” He shot a paranoid look over his shoulder towards where Jimin was wrestling Taehyung’s phone away from him again. 

“Taehyung is burdened with that artistic problem of being a little crazy.” 

“Must be why he’s friends with us.” Jungkook joked. Seokjin snorted a bit. 

“Friends with you maybe!  He’s friends with me because I’m beautiful.” 

“I’m pretty sure that’s not the reason, hyung.” Jungkook snorted. “I don’t think he notices anyone but Jimin like that.” 

“But we did meet because I’m beautiful. Didn’t he tell you?” Seokjin blinked, tilting his head in that way he did when he was bemused.  Jungkook just shrugged and shook his head before stapling another corner into place. “Oh, I was a nude model for the figure drawing class!” 

Jungkook stapled the desk. He felt his face flush hot and his eyes went so wide he thought they might actually escape his head as he looked at Seokjin. 

“He really didn’t tell you?” Hoseok asked, coming over to help peel the staple out of the table. 

Jungkook couldn’t talk. He just mutely shook his head. 

“Yeah, they scouted me from the drama department and my professor said it would be good with any stage fright I had and help me think about what my body looks like.” 

“Also you’re hot!” Taehyung called from in front of the painting he was rapidly finishing. 

“Also that.”  Seokjin smiled in that soft calculated way again and Jungkook squinted in suspicion. 

“You’re all just teasing me, that didn’t really happen.” he decided with a scoff. 

“....Hey, Kookie?” Namjoon called and then held up the drawing he had just framed. It was Seokjin, sprawled nude across a set of draped fabric done in Taehyung’s quick lines and shading in charcoal.  Jungkook froze like a deer in headlights and then slowly turned to look at Seokjin. 

Seokjin stared back for a second and then cracked up laughing. 

Oh No. 

His laugh was not his usual calm chuckle. It was loud, squeaky and hiccupy. His face scrunched up, cheeks crushing around his nose and eyes and teeth out as he slapped his own knee. Jungkooks heart squeezed tightly in his chest and he forgot how to breathe. 

It was the most obnoxiously beautiful thing that he had ever seen.

Oh no .  

“His face!” Seokjin wailed and pointed one crooked finger at Jungkook, who still couldn’t move. The rest of them cracked up with him and Hoseok was practically howling. 

“Four of these are you! He didn’t even realize! And then there’s the pictures!” 

“Kookie, all of my artworks are nudes! Didn’t you notice?!” Taehyung called and Jungkook felt himself blush dark red. 

“I noticed but I was….. There was--I was making the frames!” 

“That one is me!” Jimin pointed proudly and now that he knew it was Jimin’s ass he could tell but really it was just a… it was just a back! And an ass and oh god now he’d seen Jimin’s naked ass. 

“Wait. Wait a minute. Tae…. you asked me if you could draw me!” Jungkook yelped. Namjoon hooted with laughter and Jimin cackled so hard he fell off his stool. 

 

********

 

That was the start.  

The opening of Pandora’s Box. 

Once Jungkook noticed, he couldn’t stop seeing how beautiful Seokjin really was.  Even the cool faces Seokjin made in public were dangerous to Jungkook’s blood pressure because he knew what Seokjin looked like smiling genuinely. 

The first moment, that first laugh, was when Jungkook knew Seokjin was handsome. The moments after that were when he fell hard and fast.  After the day in the studio it was like the dam broke and Seokjin was finally relaxed around Jungkook. 

He was not prepared. 

Seokjin was very tactile with him, brushing his hair gently off his face or pretend boxing with him. They rough housed a lot, leaving them both breathless and giggling on the floor of whoever’s apartment they were at that day. 

They bickered over just about everything but all of it ended in them laughing, leaning into each other and clinging to stay upright. Seokjin’s laugh was so squeaky and it was the most beautiful thing Jungkook had ever heard. Now that he’d seen Seokjin at his dorkiest, most unfiltered, he saw the hyung he’d heard about from the others. The steadfast protector who was simultaneously so smart and so goofy. 

His habits were endlessly endearing. The careful smiles had melted into fond ones, where he closed his eyes slowly like a pleased cat and nodded, or raised his thumb while he was so pleased with himself and made a low “chhhh” in the back of his throat, or his loud squeak of a laugh, or the way he would gently rub the back of whoever sat closest to him. 

He was the one Jungkook found himself wanting when he was stressed or tired. Once, Jungkook had a particularly bad day and he found himself leaning on Seokjin, breathing in the clean scent of his laundry soap and the sweet smell of his shampoo and playing with his fingers. 

“You know how hard you work. You’re really the only one who needs to know that. Anyone else… they’re not that important.” Seokjin said after a little bit and Jungkook struggled not to cry at how that warmed up his chest. 

Jungkook also saw how hard Seokjin worked. He was running one of the plays for the drama department, modeling for the art students, working on his own class work, and still  helped the others when they needed it. He never complained about it and when Jungkook asked he just shrugged and said it was easier to be positive and happy. It was so effortlessly said but Jungkook could see the weight of it, how hard Seokjin worked to be positive. His heart clenched hard in his chest. 

Oh no, indeed. 

 

*********

 

To celebrate the successful opening of Taehyung’s show, he threw a party. The dress code was onesies, because during his procrastination buying he apparently bought a pack of ten off wish thinking he was just getting the one. 

Jimin was holding a fruity cocktail and looking resigned in his bright green dragon onesie. Taehyung was wearing a bear one, with curly fur and two little round ears on his head.  Hoseok was a squirrel with a fluffy tail that he was gleefully shaking at Yoongi while twerking and laughing hard because “Look at the tail, hyung!”  Yoongi was wearing a striped cat outfit and looking about as done as a person could look. 

Jungkook sighed as he dug through the onesies left: a pastel rainbow unicorn, a shark, and a raccoon. Raccoon it was then.  He changed quickly in the bathroom, leaving his boxers and a shirt on under it even though it was a little warm. 

 

There was a brief commotion when Seokjin and Namjoon arrived because Seokjin dived for the rack. “UNICORN!” He gasped. “This is just my style, yes!” He preened and then went to go change, leaving Namjoon holding the shark in a resigned fashion. 

“If I have to wear one, so do you.” Yoongi deadpanned at Namjoon with a vaguely threatening aura. 

“WE ALL LOOK SO CUTE! Procrastinating is the best!” Taehyung cheered, snapping a bunch of pictures. 

“Yeah, your bank account disagrees.” Jimin snorted and drank a little bit more before posing like he was scary, hands up and face in an adorable snarl. Jungkook laughed so hard he felt a little weak. 

Seokjin popped out of the bathroom in his onesie and posed a bit. “Am I not the most handsome unicorn?” 

Everyone roared with laughter but Jungkook found himself just smiling fondly because yes. Seokjin was indeed the most handsome unicorn. God, he was so in love with him. 

Oh god. He was so in love with him

He panicked a little bit, face falling, and felt his eyes well up with tears. He covered his ears in embarrassment. 

“Kookie? What’s wrong?” Hoseok asked and rubbed his shoulder. “Are you okay?” 

“Jungkook?” Namjoon echoed and came to Jungkook’s other side, leaning to try and make eye contact.  Seokjin’s smile fell and was replaced with a concerned look and he crouched before Jungkook, a little ridiculous in his unicorn outfit, black hair soft over his furrowed brows. 

“Oh my God, I’m so in love with you.” He breathed out at Seokjin and then promptly wanted to explode.  Jimin made a startled noise that was quickly muffled by Taehyung’s hand and Yoongi dropped his drink in surprise. Seokjin’s eyes went wide and he stilled, looking surprised. His ears went bright red. 

“You’re in love with me?” He asked quietly. Jungkook choked for a second and felt like his heart might actually beat out of his chest. He wanted to snatch the words back but he didn’t want to lie. He nodded slowly and gulped, trying not to cry. “Oh. That’s really good.” Seokjin replied and then leaned in to kiss Jungkook softly. 

Jungkook gasped into it and looped his arms around his neck and giggled into Seokjin’s mouth, ignoring Taehyung and Jimin squealing and namjoon laughing a little.  He had a very handsome unicorn to kiss, afterall.