Archive of Our Own

helping jimin get ready for date night with namjoon is a circle of hell jungkook must’ve skimmed over when he and namjoon read ‘dante’s inferno’ for their unofficial and absolutely sacred book club.

“oh, but what about - i have this valentino shirt that might - let me just -” jimin disappears back into his closet in search of an item of clothing that jungkook is undoubtedly already intimately acquainted with, given that jimin feels the need to show him literally everything he ever buys. no hyperbole.

jungkook knows exactly what shirt he’s talking about. he also knows that jimin is going to disregard it and the last fourteen outfits he’s tried on and go with the very first thing he picked out. what jungkook doesn’t know is when namjoon and jimin’s date nights became routine for him, but he supposes the silver lining hoseok’s always telling him to look for is that now that jungkook has done this, oh eleven thousand times or so, it no longer makes him want to take a running leap out of the nearest window.

eleven thousand times is hyperbole, jungkook can admit.

namjoon and jimin have only officially been dating for something like seven months, two weeks, three days and eighteen hours or so. it’s not like jungkook has been keeping track. it’s not like he thinks of his life now in terms of some kind of “before the world ended” and “now that everything is terrible” divide or whatever. that would be tragic. and embarrassing.

“have I worn this chain much lately? do you think it’s too long for the neckline of this sweater?”

jimin last wore this particular chain two wednesdays ago and when namjoon complimented it offhandedly jimin had spent the rest of the day toying with it, his grossly smitten little smile beaming bright enough for satellites to pick up.

namjoon and jimin are in love and that’s super great for them.

later, when namjoon comes to knock on jimin’s bedroom door like the stupidly thoughtful, recklessly romantic dork that he is, jimin giggles like he’s nervous and dips into the bathroom to spritz himself with perfume for the third time.

“what exactly, is the point in going on dates when you live together,” jungkook asks, aiming for idle curiosity, when he goes to open the door for namjoon. he can’t tell whether the way namjoon’s face falls is because he was expecting to see jimin and got jungkook instead, or because jungkook’s idea of ‘idle curiosity’ sounds a lot like anyone else’s sullen vitriol.

“we’ve been through this, jungkook. the fact that we live and work together is what makes it so important for us to set aside special time to be together.” namjoon settles on jimin’s bed to wait. he looks incredibly at home there and he’s wearing jeans that actually fit him, no bootcut in sight. jungkook sighs so deeply it comes from the pit of his very being.

“yeah, yeah. you ~cherish jimin hyung,” he says, not looking either at namjoon or jimin, when he reappears in the bathroom door. they’re both probably staring adoringly into one another’s eyes already, anyway. “we been knew, hyung.”

“maybe take a break from stan twitter and crack a book on english grammar, jungkook?” namjoon suggests, standing up to take jimin’s hand and lead him out.

jimin looks back at jungkook over his shoulder before they disappear into the hallway.

“or come with us?” he asks, with the nerve to make it sound like a serious suggestion. oh the cruelty of it all. the injustice.

“oh sure, let me just third wheel my hyungs for absolutely no reason whatsoever. that’s what every young boy dreams of. my life is a fairy tale come true.” jungkook deadpans and can’t understand why jimin is the one who has the gall to look disappointed, hurt almost.

jimin turns back to namjoon and tucks himself right up into namjoon’s side, their hands twined and their steps in sync. he fits there perfectly, always settles alongside namjoon like a picture that’s completed the moment they touch. not even jungkook can find it in himself to think otherwise.

namjoon and jimin are in love and that’s super great for them.

for jungkook? not so much.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

they all work as hard as they possibly can on whatever it is that’s expected or asked of them, but more has always been asked of namjoon and that’s simply how it’s been from day one, because namjoon was day one of bangtan.

namjoon is also one of the hardest people to comfort and support that jungkook has ever known and it’s not like he himself is famed for his encouraging approach to acceptance and compliments.

when he’s working, namjoon is single minded. he gets focused to the point that sometimes it takes him a few hours to fully re-acclimatise to the world outside of his work. somewhere along the way, jungkook had figured out that that was because namjoon made himself so totally alone in his creative space that it was an adjustment to share space with other people, again.

and so whenever namjoon is working and jungkook isn’t, jungkook goes with him. they don’t speak unless namjoon asks for a second opinion and jungkook tries not to make noise otherwise, just stays in namjoon’s space and lets him work with someone else around, sharing a room in silence, working by himself but not alone.

it’s probably dumb, but those hours become something that jungkook can almost bring himself to be proud of. when namjoon shows what’s he been working on to the rest of the members and jungkook can remember the day he wrote that part or the tshirt he’d been wearing when he asked jungkook if what he was trying to say with this one verse was coming across clearly enough … jungkook feels like he’s been a part of something incredibly important.

when namjoon starts to get up in the middle of these little sessions, gathering up sheets of paper and a handful of pens to go find yoongi or taehyung immediately because he needs to hear something in their voice right now, or sometimes just wants to show them an idea he has had like five seconds after it’s come to life, jungkook kind of wants to lie on the floor and kick his feet and scream his joy into the carpet.

a namjoon that is writing, was just working, used to come back into the fold of them all like he’d forgotten where he fits, while he was gone. he used to come back to them unsure of himself, shaken maybe by how deep into himself he goes to dig up and pull apart what he needs to make things he thinks worthy of the rest of them.

jungkook doesn’t know how it is that he’s able to do something that makes namjoon’s life a little bit easier, but he’s so grateful to be in this small way helpful that it shimmers in his blood for days after, everything he does sparked with bright flash fire bursts of ‘i did this’, ‘i was there for that’, ‘rapmon hyung needed something and i was the one who gave it to him.’

and then one day when namjoon comes to find him to get some work done, he’s not alone.

jungkook curled up in mon studio right after breakfast, because namjoon had woken up and wandered out into the kitchen in search of coffee with a notebook already tucked into the back pocket of his sweats and jungkook can read him better than he can read himself, sometimes.

he’s in a ball on the couch, hood tugged low over his face and a book pulled up on his phone when the door opens and he doesn’t look up, like always, because he’s still not very good at looking at namjoon and not grinning his fool face off at the best of times, but it’s especially hard when it’s like this, just the two of them holed up here with important things to accomplish together.

but then feet shuffle into view and jungkook frowns, because he might not be ‘grammy’ award worthy at maths, but he can tell the difference between two and four.

jimin brushes a hand through the hair hanging down into jungkook’s face from under his hood and then he keeps right on following namjoon across the floor, makes himself at home in namjoon’s lap when namjoon flops down into the senselessly huge bean bag that takes up almost a quarter of the room.

it takes maybe ten minutes for jungkook to be sure that he can speak without laughing at loud at how fucking stupid he is. he’d worked himself up to telling them he has somewhere to be, maybe asking if they want a drink and hoping they won’t notice when he never comes back, but neither of those seem like the right way to exit this scenario when it comes down to it, so jungkook gets up and leaves without a word, without looking back, in the end.

jungkook stands out in the hallway next to the door he closed firmly behind himself and swallows against the rise of laughter, gulps down air until his lungs are full. he puts a hand to his mouth to cover the sound that hiccups out of him, an awful noise that he’s so thankful no one else has to hear because it’s nothing like laughter at all, almost exactly identical to a cracked and broken sob, instead.

he takes one last look at the door that stands between him and them before he walks away.

namjoon never questioned why jungkook started showing up in the first place, so why would he question why jungkook stops showing up, once jimin starts being all that namjoon needs instead.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

probably the worst part of it all is how jungkook hadn’t even gotten any warning.

it happened on a totally normal day when they didn’t have any group schedules but were all stupidly personally busy instead.

seokjin was in college, being studious and handsome. yoongi was in his studio, being grungy and productive. hoseok was taking a private dance lesson that he could probably be teaching. taehyung was out with his hwarang hyungs, claimed to be getting acting advice but was actually just living his best life, being whole-heartedly adored by a brand new group of men who would die for him. it was jimin’s turn for clothes fitting. jungkook presumed namjoon was hunched over somewhere working, because that was where he was always.

jungkook had been in his own studio, cursing himself for how difficult he found it to work on music when he was alone and without his hyungs.

he’d been whiling the time away by catching up on the group chat with bangtan and the txt kids. he talks more there than he does in his own group chat, because he’ll be a hyung who does his hyungs proud if it’s the last thing he does and also because those freakishly tall little kids still act like fans rather than dongsaengs sometimes and jungkook is having precisely none of that, thank you.

he’d just fired off his gamer tag with an open invitation for any of them to come to him for tips and schoolings alike so when a notification popped up seconds after he’d locked his phone and set about actually doing some work for lack of anything else to do, he’d expected it to be a maybe slightly gushing reply.

instead he’d found a “team meeting, upstairs conference room at 4pm today,” message from one of their managers and promptly forgotten all about achieving anything worthwhile for the rest of the day.

by his count, they’d had four conference room confined team meetings in their lives so far and exactly none of those had been for reasons that were in any way pleasant or positive.

so jungkook had done what jungkook does at moments like this. he’d panicked. he’d paced. he’d wracked his brain for anything he could possibly have done to get himself kicked out of the group or worse - reprimanded for letting them down.

by 4pm he’d sweated through two shirts and was well into near-dehydration inside his third. he knew he looked stricken when every single one of his hyungs had detoured by his seat to touch him in some way as they entered after him, because he’d been sitting here since 3:15pm and he’d been about three seconds from a panic attack the entire time.

namjoon and jimin had entered last and just like the rest of them, they’d both looked instantly to him.

and then they’d sat down, side by side at the end of the table where their managers were instead of down by the window where the rest of the hyungs sat framing jungkook and they’d announced that they were a couple now and they knew that that would make things different and maybe difficult for them all, but they hoped they and their relationship would be accepted and supported because they wouldn’t enter into something like this lightly, they’d put a lot of thought and discussion into it and they were sure and they were determined to be honest with the rest of the group.

they’d been holding hands. on top of the table, instead of underneath it, where handholding was supposed to take place, as far as jungkook knew.

they’d looked at each of the rest of them in turn and they were a ‘they’ then and it had seemed briefly absolutely hysterical to jungkook that people had ever dared to call him lucky or blessed or golden when he’d had to sit there and realize right then that oh, he felt like he was being stabbed four hundred times in the chest simultaneously? because namjoon and jimin were in love and oh, shit, jungkook could relate, because look at that - apparently he was in love too, just with two people who in no way needed or wanted him.

and he had burst into tears, then. he’d broken open on a sob that sounded hideous even to his own ears and he’d had to pour every ounce of his will and ability into turning it into something like a laugh, instead.

“m’not. i’m just. i was scared something was wrong. i thought something bad had happened.” he’d stammered, waving off hoseok who’d instantly stood and looked prepared to climb across the table to get to him. he hadn’t shaken off the hand taehyung had slipped into his (under the table, where handholding should happen) and he didn’t even try to fight seokjin off when he’d hooked his foot around jungkook’s calf and stayed close.

the world was ending, he could afford to grant himself these small kindnesses.

what he couldn’t do was look at namjoon or jimin, so he’d looked to yoongi instead.

“you’re both dumbasses. we don’t care that you’re dating. i couldn’t give a flying fuck who anyone at this table dates, once it’s for the right reasons,” yoongi had said, supportive as ever in that love-tap-that-felt-more-like-being-socked-in-the-face kind of way of his.

“we love you. we support you, always,” was seokjin’s contribution, because sometimes when it came down to it he was the one who said the most serious things in the simplest and most succinct of ways.

“love is always something to celebrate,” from hoseok, who had responded to jungkook hesitantly telling them all he was into guys two years ago by spending three months putting rainbow stickers on everything he could get his hands on and buying a shirt that said ‘proud mom of a beloved gay son.’ he’d worn it, too.

“this is both exactly what i was expecting this to be about and also very different from what i was expecting you to say, but this is … if you’re both happy, then i’m happy,” taehyung had said with his grip on jungkook’s hand feeling like the only thing keeping him there, keeping him physical, keeping him from just ceasing to fucking be.

and then there had been silence. and jungkook had sniffled, his nose snotty and his heart like a broken mirror, shattered and aching inside him.

“kook?” namjoon was the one who’d asked for his response, though jimin had been the one to do most of the talking up to that point and why had even that hurt jungkook more, cut into him somehow deeper?

he’d wanted to tell namjoon and jimin both that he loved them, like the others had in varying ways, but he didn’t know how to say it now without meaning something entirely different. he also didn’t know how to look at them sitting next to each other without vomiting, or maybe crawling under the table to cry where no one could see him.

“yeah,” he’d said, eloquent as always. “yeah this is … i want you to be happy, hyungs. i’ll support you both always, no matter what.”

jungkook hadn’t felt any better after saying it but the weird, heavy tension in the room must have been something that only jungkook felt, because everyone got up and went their separate ways not long after.

jimin and namjoon had gone somewhere together and jungkook had gone somewhere else, alone and he’d wondered if it would always feel like this, now - like he was alone because he wasn’t wanted, wasn’t needed.

seokjin had randomly delivered an unasked for cup of hot milk to jungkook’s room that night and refused to leave until he’d tucked him in like a child.

taehyung had snuck underneath the covers, undoing all of seokjin’s hard work not even twenty minutes later and he’d held jungkook tight for hours that night, letting him tremble and cry in his arms for something he still didn’t totally understand, something he’d lost before he’d ever even realized it was all he wanted.

“you’re gonna be fine, 'guk-ah,” was all he’d said, when it was so late it was almost early and jungkook had just about cried himself tired enough to sleep at last.

“i know,” jungkook had replied, because he knew he didn’t really have any other choice.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

for taehyung and yoongi, compliments are evaluated and accepted in terms of quality. they don’t believe they’ve done something well unless you can make it clear to them that you understand why they did what they did the way they did it and how that differs from how someone else might do it.

seokjin and hoseok will instantly try to brush off anything praising anyone says to them, but jungkook and anyone else who cares to try and know them can easily see that they hoard compliments like shiny pebbles to be turned out of their pockets and pored over at length later, to reach for when they’re needed.

jungkook is still trying to figure out how to tell namjoon that he’s brilliant in a way that will actually let namjoon believe that. in some ways, this task has been and might always be jungkook’s white whale.

jimin, as usual, makes it easy for jungkook. pretty often, jungkook thinks with great pride about the incredible feats he must have achieved in his previous lives, because he knows nothing he’s done in this one is good enough to have earned him park jimin.

even the stupidest shit jungkook says to jimin makes him smile, genuine and dimpled and bright-eyed. jungkook can pretty much just open his mouth and let his stream of consciousness loose around jimin and literally everyone benefits from it.

“so pretty, hyung,” he says over jimin’s shoulder when he’s sitting in the makeup chair but hasn’t been touched or covered up yet and jimin grins until he’s smiling so small that jungkook knows he’s trying to contain it. “prettiest hyung,” he insists, doubling down and jimin has to bite at his bottom lip, his dimples winking in and out of view.

“stop making the rest of us look bad,” he mock pleads when jimin is practicing in front of the mirrors, sweaty and looking close to fainting until jungkook shows up to compliment him back to his true form, which is wrecked but resplendent; probably exhausted but definitely gorgeous and accomplished.

when jimin is finished plastering on a pair of leather pants so tight jungkook is pretty sure he could make out the label on jimin’s underwear - if jimin was wearing any - jungkook puts his head in his hands and pretends to sob.

“what's this now, you menace?” jimin asks, looking back at jungkook over his shoulder because of course he was cruel enough to get dressed with his back to him.

“hyung, i can’t. i just … it’s. dat ass,” he whimpers and the way jimin laughs, blushing but delighted, makes jungkook feel like someone just upped the brightness on the whole world. he falls to his knees and lifts his hands up in the air, framing jimin’s butt with them.

“made a thug wanna cry,” he bemoans and he’s only mostly kidding.

“hey namjoon-hyung, have you been sharing your spotify playlists with the baby again? you know well he’s too young for that depraved shit you listen to and yet here he is, objectifying my body.”

jimin is trying to sound stern and failing miserably, probably because he’s talking in pout.

“jeon jungkook tell jimin you love him for his brains and his beauty right this instant, young man,” namjoon is better at fake-stern, but only because he’s had years of practice. namjoon is all the way across the room and there’s about thirty people crammed into the space between them but even from here jungkook can’t unsee how thick his thighs look in the longer version of the same pants jimin has on.

“okay. sorry jimin i don’t just love you for your incredible ass. i’m equally a fan of your brains and booty.”

jimin pretends to swat at him and namjoon crosses the room in like two steps because his legs are approximately a mile long each.

“save me from this little thirst trap,” jimin says, reaching for him and jungkook watches once more as they come together, a complete picture with just the two of them, no space or need for one more.

he gets up off his knees and sets about trying to spot the cordi noona that’s been calling his name for so long now that she’s just sitting in a chair with her phone out, saying “jungkook” in this totally flat, bored tone every thirty seconds or so and not even reacting when he never materializes.

“that’s not what thirst trap means, hyung,” he tells jimin and doesn’t stick around when jimin starts to argue.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

for all that their relationship is the biggest personal crisis jungkook has ever had, namjoon and jimin being together doesn’t really change things all that much. jimin is equally overly affectionate with all of them and namjoon remains just as awkward about receiving physical attention as he’s always been, even when it’s from jimin. jungkook supposes that must change when they’re behind closed doors, but jungkook also steadfastly refuses to think about anything that happens behind any and all closed doors in this household.

they go on dates almost every week and jungkook gets dragged into being involved in some way because he’s the maknae and everyone’s unspoken personal assistant when he doesn’t just outright refuse to be.

tonight, it’s after midnight and jungkook had been in namjoon’s room showing him some lyrics he’d been working on. it had been totally normal, almost survivable and then namjoon had gotten up and announced that tonight was date night so he has to go and shower but jungkook is welcome to hang around, they can talk more as he gets ready, jungkook is working so hard, he’s doing so well, namjoon will be right back, so jungkook don’t go anywhere.

and jungkook, lovesick idiot that he is, just stays. sits on the floor next to namjoon’s bed and turns his face into the covers and doesn’t think about whether it’s just his imagination telling him he can smell jimin’s cologne there, too.

and then namjoon is back, wrapped in only a towel, with his hair wet and brushed back off his face and jungkook swallows hard and doesn’t ask if namjoon could please let jungkook suck his dick, just this once, just as friends and jimin can watch and then maybe jungkook and jimin could kiss and namjoon could tell him he’s pretty too, just like jimin and then maybe they could all cuddle and be together forever and get married maybe or whatever.

“dry my hair? you do it nearly as well as the stylists do,” namjoon asks, already holding out the hair dryer like he knows jungkook is going to scramble to his knees to reach for it immediately and probably he does because jungkook can’t remember ever telling him no even though what namjoon asks him for is never what jungkook wants to give him.

jungkook sits up on namjoon’s desk and namjoon sits on his stupid beanbag with his shoulders pressed inside jungkook’s thighs and jungkook gets to stay like that and push his fingers through namjoon’s hair and sometimes touch his face and neck under the guise of guiding his head into a better position. it doesn’t escape jungkook that the reason he’s so good at drying namjoon’s hair is because doing it well means getting to spend more time close to him, touching him like this.

jimin shows up, dressed in a blazer over a black tshirt with a sheer panel stretched just underneath the neckline, right across his collarbones and the rise of his pectoral muscles and jungkook manages to gather enough spit in his mouth to tell him he looks nice and namjoon agrees and then jimin and namjoon go out together, without him. for lack of anything else to do, for lack of someone to want to get him alone and keep him that way, jungkook will probably go back to working on lyrics that are completely about namjoon and jimin but phrased to suggest anything but, because jungkook is an overachiever even in his masochism.

“are you sure you don’t want to come with?” namjoon asks this time and it’s only because jungkook deeply respects him and not even because he’s in love with him and his boyfriend that he doesn’t snap something childish and far too obviously aching at him in response.

“why would you want me to come on your boyfriends date?” he asks, neither expecting nor waiting for an answer before he slips out of the room and back to his own, to brood.

there’s a stack of brand new notebooks on his bed when he gets back to his room, the kind he likes writing in and for a moment he wishes he’d fallen in love with yoongi, instead.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

“hey, so. do you ever think about how namjoon and jimin’s dates have always been a three person operation?” hoseok asks this question over breakfast and jungkook doesn’t flinch, doesn’t do much of anything actually because it’s 4am and being awake is pure torture.

“no,” he eventually manages, after about eight spoonfuls of cereal. “no i don’t ever think about that. when has anything good ever come from thinking, hyung?”

“you think circles around yourself, jeon jungkook. you could medal at the thinking olympics, i bet.” jungkook could medal at whatever he wanted at the olympics, thank you, but that’s not the point here.

“maybe, but true intellectuals know that there are always things that you shouldn’t think about.”

hoseok looks at him like he’s either a complete genius or a total moron and he just can’t figure out which one it is. that makes hoseok the moron, if you ask jungkook.

“so you don’t think about namjoon and jimin dating? like, at all?”

“i think of it as a thing that is happening, but that’s about as far as i go. it’s their business, hyung. and it’s definitely not mine.”

jungkook is tired. he’s tired of never getting more than five hours of sleep. he’s tired of this conversation. he’s tired of wanting.

“and yet you’re always right there. with them. maybe you should think about that, jungkook.” hoseok leaves these as his parting words and floats off to find the ugliest pair of shoes he can, probably.

jungkook looks into his cereal bowl and keeps right on not thinking, not thinking, not thinking.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

there’s literally nothing about their lives now that jungkook can bring himself to complain about without feeling like the world’s worst person, but he can almost get there when they’re on the road and they have to clear out a hotel’s entire gym for him if he wants to work out.

he feels guilty for being a nuisance but he also feels guilty when he doesn’t keep up with his fitness regime, so there’s really no winning either way.

every time they get back home with a couple of rest days before their schedules pick up again, the other members mostly become bed bugs and he basically moves into their home gym.

being back where he’s not bothering anyone, with equipment that he’s totally familiar with, in a space that’s entirely his own is something like a small piece of heaven, if you ask jungkook.

and that’s why he’s in the best mood he can remember being in for a while now, when he finishes up a workout and heads into the kitchen to grab a protein shake. he keeps his gym playlist going, just pockets his phone with kim petras still belting and figures he’ll come back for his tshirt later because he’s sweating so much a shirt would feel gross on his skin right now.

he half sings along while he unearths his shaker cup from where seokjin keeps putting it with their tupperwares, no matter how often jungkook argues it belongs with the cups and mugs instead. he’s getting better at english all the time, so he doesn’t know exactly what all of the lines in ‘do me’ are about, but he recognizes the words well enough to repeat most of them fairly accurately.

he’s silently congratulating himself on nailing the “just give it to me harder” part - which isn’t easy, because english has so many little words and you have to get them all right and make sure to leave spaces in between - and grimacing as he drinks a mouthful of his shake and finds out he maybe didn’t shake it for long enough to break up all the powder, when he turns around and realizes he’s not alone.

he’d thought everyone else was still sleeping, but jimin and namjoon are sitting at the table, dishevelled as hell and staring at him like he’s the ghost of christmas past.

jimin has his legs thrown up over namjoon’s lap and their hair is a collective disaster zone and namjoon has one hand on jimin’s neck, splotchy red and purpling bruises peeking out from under his big palm like secret constellations that make jungkook blush, which is wild because he’s literally the only person in the room cursed enough to have had precisely nothing to do with them.

there’s milk dribbled down namjoon’s chin, dripping right down the length of his shirt and jimin seems to be chewing on the spoon that’s in his mouth. jungkook winces at the clack of it against his teeth, but the thought of namjoon sucking on jimin’s throat - the thought of namjoon’s teeth - the thought of jimin’s neck - the thought of namjoon and the thought of jimin alone, honestly, is enough to make him want to chew on glass, so he’s in no position to judge anyone.

“um. hello. good morning,” he says and wonders if they’d think he was weird if he tried to hide behind the door of the fridge, because they’re each the hottest person he’s ever seen in his life and they are collectively his worst fucking nightmare come to life and here he is standing in front of them when they’re clearly in a post-sex haze and he’s shirtless and disgusting, like an idiot.

“sorry about, um. this. me, i guess,” he says and that’s such a painfully accurate summation of how he feels when he’s around them that he has to not be looking at them like right the fuck now, so he lifts his powder lump protein shake to his lips and drains it in one long swallow, shivering as the sweat still running in rivulets from his hair starts to dry as it creeps syrupy slow along his jawline, dripping down onto his neck.

namjoon starts to choke on something and jimin has to thump him hard across the back so jungkook takes their distraction as an opportunity to slip away. he makes it as far as the doorway without complication but is thwarted before he can escape down the hallway by yoongi appearing at the worst possible moment. anyone else, jungkook would simply bodily move out of his way, but he respects yoongi too much to treat him like a mere obstacle in his life and vicinity and the awful, genius little bastard knows it too. he plants his feet and crosses his arms and he doesn’t even have the decency to look put out at having to go on tiptoe to see over jungkook’s shoulder.

“you’re a mean little thing,” yoongi says, and jungkook is just about to ask ‘what in the spider man meme’ because that’s exactly what he was just thinking about yoongi.

“put a shirt on and go back to listening to nothing outside of iu sunbaenim’s discography, would you? i’m too young and too old to be dealing with this shit.”

jungkook doesn’t know what any of that is supposed to mean, but with yoongi agreement is always the quickest way out, so he nods very seriously and then books it back to his room.

if he spends the rest of the week replying to everything yoongi texts him with baby yoda memes, that’s no-one’s business but theirs.

it is also accurate as fuck and not even yoongi himself disagrees.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

muting their group chat might not have been a choice jungkook made specifically to get out of having ‘family dinner’ as often as seokjin wants, but he can’t deny that it’s been an unforeseen achievement unlocked.

eventually he’ll figure out a way to make his phone block calls based on the subject matter of the incoming call, but until then he begrudgingly lets his hyungs have this one hack for getting his attention. he even arrives when seokjin told him to, tonight. mostly because he’s still got a bruise from where seokjin flung a slipper at him when he’d turned up two hours late, with starbucks, last time they’d all planned to eat together.

it’s not that jungkook doesn’t enjoy spending time with the rest of them, but seokjin has always held fast to his “no shop talk” rule when they eat and jungkook knows for a fact that he’s not the only one who gets even more stressed when he has to set aside non-existent expendable time in an airtight schedule and can’t even talk about how much he feels like screaming about that.

spaced out right, it can actually be something like a relief to get together like this.

or that’s usually the case, at least and jungkook blames that fact for how he lets his guard down tonight.

“so jungkook. our jungkook-ie. sweet and lovely 'guk-ie,” hoseok croons and jungkook is already standing before seokjin yanks him back down into his seat. “i can’t help but notice that you seem to be especially … testosterone-fuelled, lately.” at that, jungkook is so confused he forgets to feel attacked. “tell us, babe, are you lonely? do you long for someone to play your abs like a xylophone? do you yearn?”

jungkook feels satan in this chili’s tonight. and he’s wearing a fanny pack and a bucket hat.

“did you drink earlier, hyung? do you drink alone these days? because i don’t think that’s a good idea -” jungkook reaches across the table for the bottle of beer that’s sitting in front of hoseok, makes to take it away until hoseok slaps him hard on the wrist.

“you’re a brat,” hoseok says. this is why jungkook mutes the group chat, honestly. his hyungs are always needlessly stating the obvious. “but seriously, jk. you know it’s okay if you want to try dating, right? you work so hard and you’re so young, you didn’t even have time to make dumb teenage mistakes before you came to us. you must be lonely. do you feel like you missed out?”

the entire table’s attention is focused firmly on jungkook and he is struck by the unpleasant suspicion that this conversation had been planned. at least namjoon and jimin have the decency to look like they’d rather be anywhere else in the world, right now, but also fuck them for being so happily in love that they can’t bring themselves to care about anyone else’s love life, now.

“missed out on what? embarrassing myself like the rest of you? i’m good, thanks. i don’t envy you your dark pasts.”

it’s the truth. jungkook has always thought about dating and sex as a far off, pretty vague concept. he does yearn, as hoseok has so disgustingly put it, but it’s not something he’s ever felt like he had to do something about. not so compelling and immediate an issue that he had to enlist someone else. not yet, at least. he always thought about it as a ‘when the time comes’ kind of thing.

and then namjoon and jimin got together and for a second he’d thought about it as a chance he missed, but now he’s come around to just … not. not thinking about it. not acting on how he feels. not looking at what he feels head on. not for second examining why, in hindsight, all of his very vague ‘eventually’s and ‘someday’s looked a lot like namjoon’s hand in his, or jimin’s face pressed into his neck.

he was lovesick enough to wonder, for a moment, what might have happened if he’d made a move on namjoon, or jimin, sure. but he was also smart enough to know he’d never have stood a chance with either of them and he was just self-sacrificing enough to know that he would never have wanted to be what cost them each other.

jimin and namjoon are happy together and everyone can see that.

even right now, it’s clear that the two of them are part of this group, but something else, too. they’re sitting across from one another and taehyung might be plastered to jimin’s side and yoongi is playing with the bracelets tangled around namjoon’s wrist, but while everyone else is blatantly giving this conversation their full attention while steadfastly pretending not to, jimin and namjoon look like they’re telepathically compiling the top ten best ways to get the hell out of here and immediately. jungkook desperately wants them to take him with them. jungkook desperately wants them period.

“is there someone you’re interested in, jk? is that why you’re working so hard on getting … what do the kids call it? swole?” it’s unspeakably mean of seokjin to clown himself for his old age when jungkook can’t even enjoy it, so jungkook only glares in response, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of any kind of response.

“you know you don’t have to be conventionally attractive to be worthy of someone’s love, right?” yoongi asks and it’s been a while since yoongi has given him this lecture, a couple years maybe. jungkook had almost missed it. “which isn’t to say you’re not naturally conventionally attractive, because duh. but you’re not … you don’t feel like you have to improve yourself to be desirable, do you? because -”

jungkook is about to start swearing, but he’s saved from having to when namjoon does it for him.

“leave the kid alone, hyung. he’s fine. he knows what he wants and what he doesn’t. he can make his own choices.”

jungkook and jimin frown at namjoon in tandem.

“i’m not a kid.”

“he’s not a kid.”

“yeah, joon. he’s not a kid,” yoongi says with some kind of emphasis that jungkook can’t place.

“but do you? want?” taehyung asks. fuck him for always cutting through the bullshit to ask the real questions, honestly. generally jungkook is the loudest cheerleader when taehyung decides to weaponize his intelligence, but it has to be against bro-code for him to use it like this, on jungkook, his best bro.

jungkook shifts in his seat, puts his hands on his knees and then into his pockets, takes them back out and sits on them so he doesn’t start punching people out of sheer frustration.

“i’m not having any kind of personal or romantic crisis right now, but thanks for checking in. i’m still into dudes. still single. no plans to change that. can we talk about literally anything else, now? anyone have any repressed childhood trauma they’d like to unpack?”

yoongi grumbles into his soup and taehyung looks like he has something more to add, but when he opens his mouth he yelps instead and looks at jimin in betrayal.

jimin’s hand has disappeared beneath the table and his steak knife is nowhere to be seen, but what jimin does under tables isn’t jungkook’s business anymore, wasn’t even to begin with, so he says nothing. he thinks about nothing.

after dinner namjoon and jimin go to namjoon’s room.

jungkook sleeps in the living room, that night. he drags a small mountain of blankets onto the couch and he leaves the tv on. he tricks himself to sleep with the low hum of voices and weight spread out on top of him, a pillow hugged tight between him and the back of the couch.

he dreams of voices he recognizes and a hand he knows brushing his hair out of his face, fingers dipping down across his jaw to brush up over the shell of his ear.

he wakes up alone.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

after family dinner, things get weird.

there’s never really a time when you could describe their goings on as unweird, but this is a different kind of weird.

yoongi and hoseok are mad at jimin and namjoon and jungkook has no idea what to do with that.

it’s the worst kind of mad. the cold, quiet kind of fury that means they’re all still speaking to each other, all still acting like nothing is wrong at all, but dropping the temperature in every room they’re in by several degrees in seconds, glaring at each other when they think they won’t be seen.

“did they fight?” jungkook asks seokjin eventually, because he’s been doing really well at not thinking lately, but he can only take so much. plus, it’s namjoon and jimin.

“eh,” seokjin doesn’t look away from his computer screen but jungkook can see him squinting, lips pursed in his reflection in the monitor, “not a fight, no. they had a talk. it didn’t go so well.”

“was it about hyungs’ relationship?” jungkook doesn’t want to ask, does not want to know.

“kind of. you should ask them about it if you want to know the details.”

jungkook snorts and it’s not a pretty sound.

“i’m pretty sure the last thing the hyungs need is me involving myself in their relationship.”

seokjin turns around at that, doesn’t even pause his game, so jungkook sits very still and looks him right in the eye, for once gives him the respect and attention he deserves. not just because he’s jungkook’s hyung, but because he loves him and looks up to him.

“i know i joke about dropping you on your giant coconut head as a child, but you know i didn’t really, right? even if i did, i don’t think that would warrant the level of idiocy you’re displaying right now.”

it’s mean and maybe a little unwarranted, but not entirely untrue.

jungkook knows that namjoon and jimin have never tried to keep him out of their business, not even their relationship. they’ve both always done everything they could to include him, to take care of him and he knows they wouldn’t keep a single thing from him, if he asked.

he sighs.

“ugh, fine. i guess i’ll … get involved.” helping two people he’s in love with be in love and left alone about that is not something jungkook could have imagined he’d need to get good at, but he’s not about to start bailing on his hyungs just because they’re walking on the flower path together, without him, now. not today. not in this lifetime. or the next.

“such a smart boy. so handsome and kind to his dear old hyungs. i love you, jk. you’re my greatest accomplishment.”

seokjin is literally cooing and reaching out for him with grabby hands when jungkook skids out of the room on his socked heels, holding onto the doorframe to yeet himself around the corner and down the corridor faster.

_/_/_/

“why are you and yoongi hyung making things difficult for namjoon hyung and jimin hyung?”

there’s no way in hell that jungkook would ever have the balls to approach yoongi about this, so all things considered it’s nothing but a gift to him personally that hoseok is involved in this argument, too.

even with his mouth twisted up like he’s sucking on a lemon, hoseok just looks fucking funny, whereas the same expression on yoongi’s face would have jungkook running for the nearest bath tub.

“let me edit that question a little and ask it right back. doesn’t namjoon and jimin’s relationship make things difficult for you?”

and this is exactly what jungkook had been afraid of. his idiotic, juvenile ass self has failed at like the one thing he was really trying to accomplish lately; namely not making it obvious that he’s broken hearted and miserable because he was stupid enough to fall for two people who were not only completely out of his league, but also - bonus points - totally fucking devoted to one another.

and now his hyungs are fighting over it. fighting because of him.

jungkook mentally steels himself for a second and then he smashes that ‘emergency eject’ button.

“absolutely, hyung,” he says and hoseok’s mouth falls open so widely that jungkook can see his back teeth. he’s probably going to need to get that wisdom tooth on the left looked at. “i was bummed at first because they’re so cute together, you know? made me kind of lonely i guess. but you and yoongi hyung really didn’t need to make it a thing. i’m fine. totally over it. in fact -” jungkook gropes blindly for the chord to release the parachute that will save them all. “i have a date next week. so it’s all good, hyung. no need for any discussions. in fact let’s never talk about this again, yeah?”

hoseok’s mouth is still open when jungkook beats a hasty retreat out of the room. he’s getting better at these speedy getaways, he thinks. his acting is definitely improving, because hoseok is vaguely nodding.

problem: solved.

jungkook has everything absolutely under control.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

jungkook must have lost his goddamn mind. seokjin must have dropped him on his giant ass coconut head like yesterday, because he’s standing in front of his mirror looking at a version of himself that’s about to go out on a date. with someone that isn’t kim namjoon. is not park jimin. isn’t even a member of bts. jungkook has no idea when the brain bleed kicked in or where exactly he walked through a portal into another universe’s timeline, but here he is and he’s fucked. this sucks.

“you can do this,” he orders mirror-him. “you put on nice clothes, you have a nice meal, you make polite conversation with someone you don’t know and then you come home and forget any of this ever happened. simple.”

what’s shocking is how simple it was to find someone willing to go on a date with him, honestly. jungkook isn’t new to the many and complex methods of dating in the idol world, he knows how it happens and that it happens a lot. but when he’d asked one of their managers if he maybe might know via his network of manager friends if anyone would be free and interested in having dinner with him this week, he really hadn’t been expecting the guy to bow and shake his hand and thank him profusely. he also knew absolutely nothing about why the manager’s phone kept pinging with a bank app notification that jungkook recognized, or why he’d overheard the manager on the phone late one night, telling whoever he was talking to that “that much would barely get you on the board. do you know how many offers i’ve had already? i’m buying a new car next week, don’t call me again unless you’re prepared to get serious.”

the truly terrifying part is that jungkook had said no to sponsored dates right off the bat. if he’s going to spend time with someone just for the sake of it, he’s going to at least make sure the person he’s with is someone he can actually talk to. so it’s other idols that are apparently prepared to pay like actual money to date him. jungkook has to ask the manager not to ever tell him who contacted him, because he wants to be able to look his hoobaes in the face again.

in the end, jungkook was about to call the whole thing off, more horrified now by his apparent famous fan club than he is by the prospect of having to disappoint and worry his hyungs, when the manager pulled him aside.

“listen, it’s not like money is a big deal to you so you don’t need the wealthiest suitor, do you? i can’t believe i’m even saying this, let alone doing it, but a noona friend of mine asked for a favour and well … i’m a sucker for aegyo so i agreed to set this up. i know you’re looking for a boyfriend but this guy really looks up to you, wants to just talk to you, maybe get some advice. who knows, maybe it’ll turn into more, or i can definitely set you up with someone else, there’s plenty of interest and -”

jungkook had nearly fainted with relief.

so now he gets to do this sans the guilt of misleading an innocent bystander, but someone should tell him that, because he still feels wracked with guilt, stomach lurching like he’s eaten bad seafood every time he thinks about it.

he told the rest of the group about his date and had to physically bite down on his own bottom lip to stop himself from adding “i’m sorry” to the end of every sentence. he noticed that all of them except namjoon and jimin keep shooting him puzzled little looks, like they were trying to figure something out just by squinting at his face and he barely kept himself from falling to the floor and crawling on his knees toward them, butting his head into their thighs, up into their hands until they pet him and he apologized and they told him he was a good boy. he noticed absolutely nothing about jimin and namjoon because they were all of a sudden just never around now and he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why that made him want to write them both personalized apology letters and slip them under their bedroom doors, but here he is.

and tonight is the night.

he’s sick with guilt as he showers, feels gross somehow for how he chooses the really nice vanilla body wash that he only uses for events he’s nervous about. he feels like he’s committing some kind of crime when he dries his hair and manages to style it so it sits perfectly, bangs still in his face but parted to show enough forehead that he’d probably break another twitter record if he posted a selfie. he puts on a new pair of jeans, black and tight with frayed slices cut across the thighs and dresses it up with a silk shirt that he tucks in and boots that he can’t think about the price of. he puts on some chunky silver bracelets, a delicate silver chain, hoop earrings and a couple of rings and he feels like every single accessory is a sin, somehow. he puts on some concealer, a little bb cream and smudges some dark grey eyeshadow at his lash line and fights the urge to apologize - to who, he doesn’t know. for what - he has no clue.

when he’s ready to go he takes one last look in the mirror.

he’s still standing there, five full minutes later when there’s a quiet knock on his bedroom door.

“yeah?” he calls, half hoping it’s one of their managers coming to tell him he can’t do what he’s about to do, half hoping it’s one of his hyungs so he at least gets to hug someone he loves before he does this.

he’s like … a quarter right. or maybe double half right, because it’s not one of his hyungs, it’s two.

jimin comes in first. he’s tiny, dressed in leggings and a hoodie so huge that he’s lost in it, feet bare and his eyes kinda puffy, reddened. namjoon is right behind him, frowning before he even steps into the room and jungkook thanks every deity that could possibly exist, because five seconds ago he’d rather have done literally anything else than go on this date, but if worrying about him and his juvenile, one sided crush makes his hyungs look like this, then he’ll walk on hot coals to get to this stupid dinner date, he’ll crawl on his hands and knees through broken glass.

“hey,” namjoon says, but jimin forgoes words to just walk straight into jungkook’s arms.

“hey, hyung,” jungkook says back, folding his arms up around his shoulders and holding him close. “what’s all this for? if you came to help me get ready for my date, you’re a little late.”

maybe he should have waited for them. maybe they feel left out because he didn’t, didn’t think to ask for their help. it wouldn’t have been strange if he had, he knows that. he helps them on their date nights, after all. it’s a friends thing. maybe it’s something special, something important, to them. maybe that’s why he’s been feeling so guilty. maybe he’s a bad friend.

“listen, kook,” namjoon starts and jungkook watches him step up behind him in the mirror. they look good together, him and namjoon. him and jimin. namjoon and him and jimin. he closes his eyes when namjoon puts his arms around them both, rests his cheek against jungkook’s shoulder and keeps speaking. “i know we’ve been … we’re terrible at this. we’re honestly so bad at dealing with this. but we’ve talked about it. we’ve talked about it so much and it’s important to us that you know that we want you to be happy.”

jimin is trembling in jungkook’s arms now and namjoon has to be able to feel it, because he has one arm banded low and tight around jungkook’s waist but the other is around jimin’s shoulders, pressed up under jungkook’s.

jungkook has to shut his eyes even harder, because he has worried jimin so much that he’s crying over him and he’s such a bad person, such a fuck awful friend that he’s still breathless at being held between them like this and he feels sick for it.

“we want you to date, if that’s what you want, kook. but we don’t want you to feel like you’re being forced into this. no matter what, you can do what you want and have fun, but you don’t have to rush into something like this just to make it clear to us that you’re off limits. i know we’ve been … we shouldn’t have let it get this far. we’ll back off, jungkook. so go on your date and have a great time, but know that when you come home you don’t have to worry about us anymore. we get the message and we’ll get over it. we’ll work hard to make sure it doesn’t affect you, okay? we love you, bun. we never want to make you uncomfortable.”

it’s like someone turned the lights off. but jungkook already had his eyes closed.

it’s like freefalling through space. but jungkook is standing perfectly still.

it’s like every word that jungkook knows is being screamed all together, all at once, inside his head, but he opens his mouth and absolutely nothing comes out.

jimin lifts his head from where it’s been buried in jungkook’s chest and jungkook feels jimin’s hands on his face, his fingers cradling his jaw like he’s something precious.

“namjoon hyung says i can’t ask, but -”

“jimin, we agreed,” namjoon cuts in and he sounds exactly like he did that night after seokjin and taehyung’s fight. he sounds ancient and heartbroken.

jungkook opens his eyes to look at jimin. jimin, who has tears in his own eyes and is looking up at jungkook like it’s the last time he’ll ever see him.

“please don’t go, jungkook. just. just tonight, stay home. with us. next week, you can go on a date. next week, it’ll be easier. i won’t cry, i promise. but it’s too soon,” a tear spills over his eyelashes, slides down his cheek and drips onto his hoodie. “it hurts too much tonight.”

a hand comes into view, wipes away the tears spilling quicker down jimin’s cheeks now and jungkook only realizes it’s his own because of the tattoos. he doesn’t remember moving. he’s forgotten how to talk. breathing is just a concept.

“hyungs,” he says, somehow, “hyungs. i am very stupid. and also i think my brain got broken. i don’t understand what you’re saying. i don’t know what -”

jimin tilts jungkook’s face down, holds him there where he wants him, where jungkook can’t look away.

“we’re in love with you. and it’s okay that that’s too much. if you only love namjoon, if you’re upset because we got together, you don’t need to be. we only figured out we loved each other after we both loved you first. so be with namjoon. i would never stand in the way, i would never take him from you, i couldn’t -”

namjoon lifts his head from jungkook’s shoulder to look into the mirror and they make eye contact over jimin’s head, there.

“i tried telling him i’m not what you want, he won’t listen. but you two - you and jimin. you could really work. you’d be great together. and if that’s not what you want either, that’s still okay. we’ll be okay, jungkook. we have each other now and it will make us happy to see you happy.”

jungkook doesn’t know where to look or what to say but he goes with what he does know and tightens his hold on jimin, presses his face into jimin’s hair and reaches down between them to put his hand over namjoon’s, to slide his fingers in between namjoon’s and hold their hands together over his stomach.

“but you are what i want,” jungkook says, gripping them both so tightly it’s got to almost hurt.

namjoon’s eyebrows dip close together in a frown and jimin sucks in a sharp breath, wriggles in place like he’s trying to test how difficult it will be to get away.

“see,” jimin says, wiping at his own eyes now, rubbing up over his cheeks with his hands balled into fists, “i told you he -”

“both of you,” jungkook clarifies. “i want both of you. i’m in love with you. both.”

everyone and everything goes still.

“maybe i misunderstood. again, i’m very stupid. and seokjin may or may not have dropped me on my coconut head yesterday or years ago or maybe every day for my whole life. did i get this wrong? because.” neither of them are trying to detangle themselves from him, neither of them are going anywhere and this makes jungkook feel stupidly, recklessly brave. “because it seemed like you just said that you’re both in love with me. and also in love with each other. and that would honestly be the perfect solution to like all of my problems, because when you told us you were together it felt kind of like i died? and every day since i’ve only fallen more in love with you both, so. if i’ve misread that i’m sorry.”

“whaaaaaaaaaat,” jimin says, in this ridiculously tiny little voice, like the word has squeaked out of him without his permission.

“we,” namjoon’s mouth is hanging open and jungkook wonders if it’s too soon to beg to be let suck on his bottom lip. “we talked about a lot of ways this might play out, but i can’t say we saw this coming.”

it’s not like jungkook could have foreseen this, either, but he decides to skip over the part where he freaks out and doubts everything. sounds lame.

“so we …” he starts, hoping one of them will finish the sentence for him.

“we all,” jimin says.

“like all three of us,” namjoon concludes.

jimin wriggles against jungkook again, pressing closer this time instead of trying to get away.

“this is very .... very cool,” he decides and jungkook has to agree. he does so by leaning down and pressing his mouth to jimin’s. it’s the tiniest of kisses, a soft press of lips just because he can. “i like this very much,” jimin says, eyes wide and his hands start to slip lower on jungkook’s back, sliding down into his back pockets.

“but we haven’t really … did this change things? what happens now?” namjoon asks and jimin rolls his eyes and digs his fingers in around the hold he has on jungkook’s ass through his jeans. he looks up at jungkook with his eyebrows raised and jungkook knows instantly what he means.

it takes a second for namjoon to catch up, but jungkook anticipated that so he reaches back as he turns a little, just enough to get the collar of namjoon’s shirt in his hand and tug him down. this kiss isn’t quite so quick or chaste. jungkook could blame himself, because he went into this one with plans, but it suits him better to blame the way namjoon’s lips part for him, the way namjoon just opens right up, like he’s been waiting. like he’s been wanting. jungkook knows all about wanting, so he doesn’t feel even a little bit bad about how he lets his tongue dip forward into namjoon’s mouth, pulls away even though namjoon chases after him and sucks namjoon’s bottom lip between his teeth instead of kissing him properly, like he wants.

“jesus fuck that’s so hot i might start crying again,” jimin says and he’s rocking his hips forward into jungkook’s and jungkook briefly manages to spare a thought for the two of these men that he’s currently caged between, because they’ve pretty much just given him the go ahead to be in love with them, to be with them and honestly nothing can have prepared them for how this is going to go down. jungkook is about to run absolutely wild.

“not that this isn’t something i’ve had actual wet dreams about,” namjoon says and jimin laughs against jungkook’s throat. jungkook moans low at that and jimin presses in closer, starts sucking a mark into jungkook’s skin. none of them are making it out of this alive. “but um. we really seriously need to talk before we, uh -”

“fuck the living daylights out of each other?” jimin asks and jungkook will happily die right here, just like this, once he gets to know what that feels like, first.

namjoon takes a step back from where he’s been pressed along jungkook’s back and jungkook pouts. jimin puts the palm of his hand over jungkook’s mouth.

“you can’t do that now. no more pouting ever. it just makes me want to come on your face,” he sounds almost sorry, at least. sheepish. “maybe don’t smile at me so much, either.”

jungkook licks at jimin’s palm and turns right around to face namjoon when jimin screeches and starts to wipe his hand off on jungkook’s shirt.

“is he always like this?” he asks namjoon and namjoon just sighs.

“this is him behaving himself,” he says, mournfully and jungkook laughs. he steps forward into namjoon’s space, makes himself comfortable with his arms around namjoon’s waist.

“don’t worry hyung, i’ll help you handle him from now on,” behind them jimin says something mocking under his breath, but jungkook can’t look away from namjoon, who is staring at him like he’s not sure he’s real.

“will you? are you sure?” he asks, so serious and jungkook shivers at that, excited somehow by namjoon looking at him like this is a job interview, grilling him like his life depends on this. because maybe it kind of does. and jungkook is both ready and willing to give it his all.

“i am so completely sure,” jungkook tells him, “totally and utterly. 100% in.”

jimin’s hands are pawing at jungkook’s jeans again, going for his front pockets this time.

“then cancel your date and come to bed with us,” he presses jungkook’s phone into his hand and presses his mouth to the back of jungkook’s neck.

jungkook, for once, does as he’s told.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

“it was never even really a date. well for like a minute there i almost had a real date, but the bids got to be too high and i freaked out and manager hyung saved me with a hoobae friends date instead.”

it’s a couple hours later and jungkook has rescheduled his plans for tonight. he’ll meet with this eric kid next week, it’s not a big deal.

the three of them are curled up together in namjoon’s huge bed, still talking.

they’d come across taehyung in the hallway on their way here, the three of them holding hands and him walking back to his room with a bowl of noodles in one hand and yeontan in the other.

“i thought you had a date,” he’d said to jungkook, but hadn’t mentioned the hand holding, hadn’t seemed to notice.

“i cancelled. i’m dating the hyungs now,” jungkook had said, grinning and taehyung had just laughed.

“well, thank fuck for that. you not getting every single thing you want was starting to mess with my worldview, honestly. enjoy your night, happy inaugural banging etc.” and he’d been on his way. he sent the group chat a message strongly recommending the use of headphones tonight shortly thereafter and all three of them had to silence their phones when the chat immediately started blowing up.

from there it had been the simple, familiar routine of getting into their night clothes and climbing into bed. except for how they were doing that together now. and how jimin and namjoon had thoroughly enjoyed helping jungkook out of his date outfit.

“are you gonna dress up nice for us, when we take you out?” jimin asks, head pillowed on jungkook’s shoulder. he’d kept the huge hoodie on, which was adorable, but he’d changed into a pair of tiny sleep shorts, which were making it difficult for jungkook to keep his hands above the covers.

“i don’t know if we can afford him, jimin. didn’t you hear how much people were offering manager-nim?” namjoon is wearing a tshirt and boxers. jungkook is too, because he’d had to borrow namjoon’s clothes, not caring to go back to his own room for clothes or for anything else, really.

“can we please not talk about how i was almost sold to the highest bidder in my desperate attempts to not fuck things up for the two of you?” jungkook is so embarrassed. even lying here between them, knowing it all worked out in the end, he can’t believe how stupid he was. “i can’t believe how stupid i was.”

“hey, stop calling yourself stupid,” namjoon chides him. “you’re one of the smartest people i know. i’m pretty sure most people wouldn’t easily assume that two of their hyungs wanted to date them simultaneously, give yourself a break.”

jimin turns over onto his side, looks at namjoon across jungkook’s chest.

“true, but we did like … really try to date him. we invited him every single time? we went to kiss him goodnight every time we got back. you should have listened to me all those times i said we should just crawl into bed with him. that would have worked.”

“eh, it might not have,” jungkook hates to disagree, but must. “i don’t think even that would have convinced me. i was sure i didn’t have a chance. like, absolutely certain. and that was just when i thought about trying for one of you, it never even occurred to me that i could have you both. also i totally thought i dreamt you guys kissing me goodnight. i figured my pining had set in even on a subconscious level.”

“bah, pining,” jimin huffs, reaching across jungkook to brush namjoon’s hair back out of his face, “what do you know about pining? did you have to live through jungkook: the shirtless era, or spend a full week trying to cope with the thought of you dating someone else?”

“no,” jungkook admits, “but i did spend almost three quarters of a year of my life absolutely heartbroken because the people i was in love with were in love with each other, without me.”

“oh, bun,” namjoon says and jungkook feels justified in shimmying a little further into namjoon’s space, not outright asking for sympathy snuggles but making it known that he’s not opposed to the idea. namjoon cuddles him close instantly. jungkook feels invincible.

“you’re right, that’s way worse. sorry, babe,” jimin says from where he’s lying with his head on jungkook’s hip, now. the ‘babe’ part kind of rocks jungkook’s world. “it was never without you, though. like even though we were together, it was always about you, too.”

that’s the part jungkook still can’t totally understand.

“but why, though? it seemed like you were super happy together.”

“we were. still are and will be,” namjoon says, dragging his fingers through jungkook’s hair now, “but we only figured out we loved each other because we were both fucked up over being in love with you.”

jimin sighs, but it’s a sweet sound, reminiscent, maybe.

“i used to go to hyung’s room and whine when wanting you got to be too much.”

“and i would say ‘trust me, i can relate’ but jimin didn’t believe me until i went into extreme detail about how i felt about you. it was awful.” namjoon doesn’t sound all that put out about it, though.

“and then there was this really strange but awesome period where texting each other our frustrations kind of lead to like … third person pov sexting. like i said, weird. but so hot.” jimin is running his fingers back and forth across the bump of where jungkook’s knees are outlined by the blankets and that shouldn’t be at all sexy, that’s like pg at most, but here jungkook is starting to sweat, anyway. “i’d text him telling him all the things i wanted to do with you and he’d say he wanted to watch that and then i’d get messed up thinking about all the things i wanted to do with him, too, and well … you know how that story ends.”

jungkook wouldn’t mind hearing jimin spell it out for him, maybe re-enact some choice parts, but first, he has to ask,

“and those text messages. are they still in existence? viewable, maybe? if someone wanted, or needed really, to see them?”

namjoon laughs and jungkook gets to feel it in the rumble of his chest, beneath him.

“sure. but when are you going to get the time to do so extensive a backread? there were a lot of messages. and you’re kind of busy? in high demand, professionally? plus you’ve got two boyfriends to date, now.”

and isn’t that something. two boyfriends. jungkook doesn’t have to pine for them anymore or feel bad for being so jealous, because they’re still boyfriends, but now they’re his boyfriends.

“that does sound like a lot of work,” jungkook says, “maybe that will have to be a side project. i can compile your chat history and compare it with all the ways i’ve thought about making you both come. it’ll be like an art project. or a study, or something.”

“orrrrrr,” jimin turns over to face jungkook, looking up at him with his head basically in his lap, now, “we could just get to work on actually doing all of those things. just a suggestion.”

jungkook looks at him. and then jungkook looks at namjoon. and then he looks at jimin and looks back to namjoon, one last time.

“... we can do that?”

jimin drapes an arm over his eyes and sighs like he’s truly exhausted by all of this, but namjoon smiles, dimple in full view.

“did you think you had to wait? for like a special occasion or something? because we can. we can wait however long you want. we don’t even have to do anything if you’re not ready or if there’s lines you don’t want to cross, but just tell us. you’re an adult, you can make these decisions for yourself. we’re not going to pressure you into anything, but we’re also probably not ever going to tell you ‘no’ either, so. do with that what you will.”

the fact that namjoon can say all of this with this peaceful, sappy smile on his face makes jungkook incredulous. he kind of takes namjoon’s chill a little personally, too.

“just to be totally clear,” he says, gently pushing jimin off of him so he can sit up, “you’re both telling me i have free rein here, right?”

jimin, on his hands and knees now, starts to crawl up the bed towards him.

“well, yeah. we have a house full of people wearing headphones right now specifically so they don’t have to hear us fucking. seems kind of rude not to, honestly.”

jimin moves to straddle jungkook, but jungkook only lets him settle like that for about two seconds before he grabs hold of him by the waist and flips them over, gets jimin underneath him. namjoon watches, saying nothing, but jungkook doesn’t miss the way his throat works around a gulp.

“oh hyungs. my poor, gorgeous hyungs. you’re going to be so sorry you said that.”

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

jungkook has next to no sexual history to base this assessment on, but he won’t let irrelevant little things like facts or the scientific method shake him of the opinion that this bedroom, this bed, is right now the epicenter of all things hot in the universe.

they haven’t even taken their clothes off and jungkook is already shaking.

jimin is on his back in the sheets, the covers thrown off and out of the way and jungkook is lying half on top of him, one thigh pressed tight up between jimin’s legs. even through the material of jimin’s shorts and his boxers he can feel the hot length of jimin’s dick throb every time jimin grips his thigh with both hands and grinds up against him.

namjoon is sitting up, right next to jimin. he’s crossed legged and seems totally unaffected even though jungkook is holding himself up over jimin on his hands so he can stretch to reach namjoon. he licks at namjoon’s mouth, finds his lips already parted for him and jungkook is the one who gasps at that. namjoon has his hands folded in his lap, hasn’t reached out for jungkook once and it’s pretty gratifying how jimin is humping his leg so hard that the whole bed is shaking, but jungkook is kind of offended by how namjoon isn’t shaking, too.

“hyung,” jungkook whines, using his nose to tip namjoon’s chin up, so he can get at his neck, “don’t you want to touch me, hyung?” jungkook feels the movement under his tongue when namjoon swallows, hard.

jimin laughs, a dirty skittering sound and jungkook has to fight his own smile when namjoon moves his hands, but tucks them underneath himself instead of doing anything useful with them.

“he’s freaking out,” jimin supplies helpfully, sitting up and reaching for jungkook, rearranging him until he’s spread out on top of him with his knees around jimin’s hips and jimin’s hands slipping up under the hem of jungkook’s boxers. “he’s spent years thinking about doing dirty things to you. you know how powerful his mind is, 'guk-ah. you can’t even begin to imagine the things he’s thought about. his brain is screaming right now.”

that, jungkook gets. he identifies with it so much, in fact, that he gives namjoon some time to process by sitting in jimin’s lap and making out with him leisurely for a full ten minutes, but after that he starts getting twitchy again. there’s a growing wet spot on the front of jimin’s shorts that jungkook needs to get his mouth on and namjoon is sitting right next to them, jungkook’s calf is brushing up against his bare thigh and jungkook has a lot of respect for his hyungs and their process but he also has minus amounts of patience right now.

“it’s sweet that you’re trying to hold yourself back, right now, honestly it is,” jungkook barely pulls away from jimin’s mouth to say it, has to pause mid sentence a couple times to let jimin suck on his tongue, “but if you’re stalling out of concern for my blushing virgin status or whatever, that’s really not necessary.”

jimin pulls away and tilts his head at that.

“you’re not a virgin? not that it matters much either way, but when did you have the time? how did none of us notice?”

namjoon is squinting and frowning at the same time. it’s the exact face he makes when someone makes a clumsy and misguided attempt to flirt with jungkook in front of them. he’s had this same expression for years now and maybe jungkook, realizes, maybe he really is stupid after all.

“oh no, i’ve never fucked someone else,” jungkook is weirdly gratified when namjoon’s face smooths out. possessive is such a good look on him, jungkook would have fallen in love right there if he hadn’t already been up to his neck in it, “but if you think i haven’t spent the last few months with my fingers stuffed up my own ass, thinking about the two of you, you don’t know me, like - at all.”

this, at last, gets a reaction out of namjoon.

he buries his face in his hands.

jimin fists a hand in the front of jungkook’s shirt and pulls so hard that the collar tears. he kisses him like he’s trying to punish him, but jokes on him there because that’s exactly what jungkook was aiming for. he pulls back and their mouths part with a quiet little smack of sound that jungkook wants to make an audio loop of, for reasons.

“every date night, when the two of you went out together and left me here alone, i locked myself in my bedroom and fucked myself as creatively as i could, wishing it was the two of you instead.”

“you’re a brat. you’re a little demon,” jimin growls at him, smacks his butt hard enough that he’s jostled forward on jimin’s lap and their cocks press together, making them both moan.

“no he isn’t,” namjoon says and jungkook doesn’t remember letting his eyes slip shut, but they fly open again when he feels himself get bodily lifted out of jimin’s lap. he likes that jimin calls him ‘little.’ he likes that both of them are strong enough to put him where they want him.

now he’s the one on his back in the sheets and namjoon is kneeling between his spread legs, staring down at him like he’s about to eat him alive.

“he’s a patient little thing,” namjoon says, pushing the shirt jungkook is wearing up and up and up until jungkook gets the message and lifts it off, throws it aside. “he’s had to wait all this time, all by himself, without his hyungs to take care of him.”

jimin’s face appears over namjoon’s shoulder, peering down at jungkook.

“oh. i just saw his nipples get hard,” he says in wonder, like jungkook isn’t even there, like he’s a painting they’re both admiring.

and jungkook has to very sincerely whine at that. he’s spread out under them, closer to naked than they are and he feels so very wanted, so small and safe. if namjoon had called him a ‘good boy’, be might have come on the spot. because honestly, that’s all he is. he’s just a good boy who has wanted and waited and fucking yearned for so long.

“please,” he says, already desperate and he doesn’t even know what he’s asking for, but he feels like he’s been given it when namjoon and jimin grin at each other and then at him. they kiss, close enough that jungkook can see the maddening little flashes of their tongues and it’s in this moment that jungkook finally gives himself full permission to let go. when he’d said they were going to be sorry, he’d meant it. jungkook has always held himself to incredibly high standards. he’s fought every minute of his life to keep himself under the strictest control, to be the best he can be.

but with them, for them, he’s pure want. like this, in their bed, he is nothing but wanting.

namjoon hands are at his knees, lifting his legs up, moving him so he can pull his boxers off.

“you too, hyung. jimin hyung too,” jungkook asks and jimin swears at him, but namjoon just laughs.

“you don’t have any trouble remembering the honorifics when your hyungs have you naked in their bed, huh? such a polite boy,” namjoon purses his mouth, puckers it up in a condescending little kiss and jungkook doesn’t even thinking about fighting for control, just wraps his arms up around namjoon’s neck and kisses him as desperately as he feels. namjoon lets him away with it for a minute, but then he’s slowing the kiss down, gentling jungkook with his tongue in his mouth and his hands sweeping slowly up his back. “what do you want, baby? tell us how you want us.”

he whimpers, maybe because namjoon called him ‘baby’, maybe because he’s allowed to have him now, maybe because this is the greatest day of his life.

he leans back on his hands and watches namjoon’s eyes go dark as he looks at him, his gaze skittering down over jungkook’s chest, along the v-cut of his abs. namjoon reaches out and runs both thumbs up along the lines of jungkook’s hip bones like he’s hypnotized, like he can’t help himself. it makes jungkook squirm, his belly clenched tight. namjoon gets his hand on jungkook’s cock, holds it up against his stomach and then shuffles back on the bed so he can lean down and lick away the pre-come making the head shine.

“please put your mouth on me, hyung,” jungkook whispers, his thighs shifting further apart on the sheets because he’s restless, restless, restless, all he is is wanting.

jimin comes back into view, finally out of his clothes too even though jungkook definitely wants to fuck him when he’s wearing nothing but that huge hoodie, at some point. he’s pretty sure it’s namjoon’s hoodie and jungkook is going to fuck jimin while he’s lost inside it, clinging to jungkook with sweater paws and then jungkook is going to wear the hoodie, after.

“sorry, i had to find the lube and condoms. last time i put them away i didn’t plan ahead for needing quick access to fuck our maknae, my bad,” jimin sits down next to them and puts his hand in namjoon’s hair, uses a handful of it to tug namjoon’s head up until he’s looking at them.

“before you get lost in finally getting to suck jungkook’s cock, do we have a plan?”

namjoon’s mouth is still open, his tongue pushed right up inside his bottom lip like it’s a struggle to keep it inside.

“jungkook’s choice,” he manages to say, but not without some effort. a shining line of spit falls out of his mouth and lands in a wet stripe across jungkook’s cock.

at that, jungkook honestly has to lie down. he falls back onto the sheets and throws one arm over his eyes and tries not to shiver right out of his skin.

“kim namjoon, my hero and one of the two hottest human beings i’ve ever seen just drooled on my cock,” he says into his own skin, “please don’t make me live past today, because everything else will be pure disappointment, nothing will ever top this.”

“hmm,” jimin says, considering, “i bet i could. how about this - namjoon sucks your dick and if he manages to get through that without coming in his pants, we let him fuck you. you can come whenever you want, but if you think you can handle it, i get to fuck you, too, after.”

jungkook lifts his arm away to look at jimin and thinks about that. thinks about how utterly fucking impossible it sounds.

“that,” he says, reaching down to brush the hair out of namjoon’s face so he can see better when namjoon opens his mouth over the flushed head of his cock and starts to sink low, “i want that. i can come like, so many times, that’s not a problem. want you both to fuck me.”

honestly, jungkook hadn’t ever had the capacity of imagination to even think about this. but just the knowledge that they both want to fuck him lights him up, makes him feel like his whole body is something bright and liquid hot, molten gold.

“are you sure? because we can do whatever you want. you don’t have to go with whatever i say,” jimin is touching himself slowly, barely and jungkook wonders if he’s ever going to be able to take their composure as anything other than a personal attack.

“i love you and i respect you, hyung,” he says and jimin gasps, sounding truly scandalised for the first time tonight. jungkook snorts. he’s adorable. “but when i tell you that i want to suck you off while namjoon is between my legs, i mean it purely selfishly, sorry.”

“well, fuck. who am i to stand between you and what you want?” jimin looks shaken and jungkook feels distinctly accomplished.

it honestly helps, the distraction that jimin provides by swinging a leg over jungkook’s head and fucking jungkook’s mouth slowly, lovingly. because jungkook knows what namjoon gets like when he has a clear purpose, when something has his undivided attention, but no amount of knowing could have prepared him for finding himself held down by namjoon and systematically taken apart. tears gather at the corners of his eyes when namjoon gets three fingers pressed up inside him, his thumb smearing lube from the rim of jungkook’s hole right up under his balls. jimin actually pauses, sits back onto jungkook’s chest to ask if he’s okay, to make sure he’s not hurting him but starts to laugh when jungkook shakes his head frantically and opens his mouth wide, sticks his tongue out and pleads with his eyes, with his hands on jimin’s ass, trying to push him back where he wants him.

“poor baby is crying because you’re fucking him so well, namjoon,” jimin has to announce to the room and in his mind jungkook is glaring at him, but in reality he’s just sighing in absolute contentment at how good jimin’s dick feels in his mouth, the soft head of his cock pushing up into the roof of jungkook’s mouth like one was moulded for the other.

“mmf,” namjoon says and it’s probably the first time jungkook has ever heard him not be perfectly eloquent, but he supposes even wordsmith’s must struggle when they’re trying to multitask deepthroating a dick and opening up space for themselves in a tight, greedy hole that’s pulsing around their fingers.

jungkook has never felt anything like this; has never had the overwhelming pleasure of something in his ass and lips stretched wide and sucking wetly at his cock. he’s not at all surprised to find that he’s pretty close to coming.

he looks up at jimin, who has his head tipped up to the ceiling and watches the muscle in jimin’s jaw feather every time jungkook swallows around him. jimin and namjoon have been on a lot of dates, so jungkook has had a lot of time to practice with his toys. the real thing is infinitely better and jungkook taps carefully at jimin’s thigh, tries to say without words that he really doesn’t want jimin to stop fucking his mouth, but he’s about to come, just an fyi, please continue exactly as you were.

amazingly, jimin must get it, because when his head snaps forward and he looks down at jungkook, the look of concern on his face instantly melts away.

“oh,” he says, smiling sharply, “jungkook is about to come, namjoon.”

namjoon pulls his mouth off of jungkook’s cock with a sound that jungkook is going to be hearing ringing in his ears for days, but keeps his fingers inside him, curling until his fingertips rub up into jungkook’s prostate.

“yeah, i kind of suspected from how he’s riding my hand,” namjoon’s voice is low like it gets first thing in the morning and jungkook doesn’t even bother to blink away his tears, just lets them fall as he twists his tongue around the shaft of jimin’s cock, clenches around namjoon’s fingers and comes so hard he trembles through it.

“i know you’re already the worst kind of cocky brat,” jimin tells him, petting his hair and wiping at his tears, wrapping his hand around his dick and pulling back until just the head rests on jungkook’s tongue, “but i still have to tell you that you’re fucking gorgeous when you come.”

that makes jungkook cry a little harder, but that’s entirely okay.

they both back off a little. not pulling away immediately, but pulling back to give him space to breathe, time to get himself together. or as together as he’ll ever be now that they’ve broken him forever. they meet in the middle of the bed, jimin coming to namjoon because namjoon still has two fingers inside jungkook, not moving and staying a considerate distance from his still throbbing prostate. they kiss almost sweetly and jungkook shivers again, something like aftershocks racing up and down his spine just at the sight of them.

“i’ve never felt this good in my life,” he says, his own voice rough and hoarse too and jimin pets along his side without looking away from where he’s pressing his smile to namjoon’s.

“how the fuck did we get this lucky?” jimin asks and he could be talking to either of them, maybe both of them, but namjoon answers before jungkook can.

“i have no idea, but i’m really looking forward to years and years of this.”

jungkook doesn’t know how to deal with that. he can’t wrap his mind around the idea of this - them, forever. it’s not always going to be easy, it’s probably never going to be perfect, but it’s so good, it already feels so right. he can face anything, if it’s for this.

“come here, kiss me right now, i love you,” he commands, reaching for them both, grinning when they come.

jimin’s eyes are shining suspiciously when he leans down and kisses jungkook, soft and gentle but still so much now that jungkook’s mouth has been used to the point of delicious sensitivity, his lips full and tingling.

“we adore you,” namjoon tells him, slowly taking his fingers out and wiping his hand on a carelessly discarded tshirt. “thank you for letting us be the ones who make you happy.”

jungkook huffs a laugh at that, laces his fingers with namjoon’s and kisses the tip of jimin’s nose.

“like anyone else could handle me. please.”

“i am getting the impression that you’re a two man job,” namjoon agrees, nudging jimin out of the way so he can kiss jungkook for what feels like the first time in hours. jungkook loves namjoon focused and dedicated between his thighs, but he loves him like this too, eyes slipping shut when he kisses him, his hands so very careful on jungkook’s jaw, his fingers slipping into the short hair at the back of jungkook’s neck. they both touch jungkook like they already know him, but still want more. like he’s familiar territory they’ve come back to lay claim to.

“namjoon hyung has always understood me best,” jungkook declares, sighing and stretching out his arms, shaking the tension from his legs. he tosses his head on the sheets, getting comfortable, making himself at home in namjoon’s bed that they won’t share without him, anymore.

“are you done, bun? because it’s okay if it’s too much, we’ve got lots of time,” jungkook might be quicker to believe the sincerity of that if namjoon didn’t say it with his hands ghosting up the inside of jungkook’s thighs, his knees pushing jungkook’s legs apart and his gaze trained on where his fingers have already made room for him.

“you wish, hyung,” jungkook is always cheekiest when he’s looking for something, when he has his target locked. he bends a knee and drags his leg up on the bed, pushing his arms up over his head and arching his back off the sheets. “c’mon, show me what i’ve been missing out on.”

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

jungkook comes completely untouched, when namjoon fucks him.

while namjoon is searching the sheets for a condom and then wrapping a dripping hand slick with lube around what has to be the most beautiful cock jungkook has ever seen, jimin lies on his side next to jungkook and tells him quietly, cruelly about the very first time namjoon had fucked him.

when namjoon presses the big, blunt head of his cock against jungkook and just stays like that, with the wet clutch of jungkook’s hole clenching around him, jimin tells him that namjoon had fucked him against the tiles of the shower that shares a wall with jungkook’s bedroom, had held jimin’s mouth open with his fingers pressed into his tongue and told him that maybe if he made pretty enough sounds, jungkook might come in and fuck him, too.

by the time namjoon is pushing the last inch of his cock inside jungkook, jimin has fingernail shaped crescents cut shallowly into the soft skin of his bicep and he’s giggling as jungkook holds a trembling hand over his mouth, anything to get him to shut the fuck up for five seconds so jungkook can give his undivided attention to getting his back blown out.

“so fucking good, hyung,” he whimpers, his eyes rolling up into his head and his ankles locking behind namjoon’s back. “you feel so good inside me.”

namjoon’s face does something hilarious, some failed attempt at astonishment and disbelief combined and jungkook starts to laugh but ends up shouting instead, when namjoon pulls almost all the way out and then grabs him by both hips, holds him still so he can fuck back into him, hard.

jungkook comes first, loses it completely when namjoon grinds in deep and nails his still sensitive prostate, looks jungkook right in the eye and says, soft and honest, “you’re beautiful like this, so pretty on my cock.”

they do that really dumb thing again, where they doubt his stamina once he’s come. namjoon cleans himself up and jimin stays where he is, kissing along jungkook’s shoulder and playing with his nipples, telling him how lovely he is, how much they’ve always wanted him, how well they’re going to take care of him now that he’s theirs.

“that’s really sweet and everything, hyung,” jungkook says absolutely honestly, because he’d always suspected but he’s certain now that jimin could talk him to orgasm, “but can you tell you how much you love me while you fuck me, please, because i was promised a double fucking, if you recall.”

namjoon comes back to the bed, has pulled on a clean pair of boxers that jungkook spares a moment to give the stink eye to.

“you’ve already come twice, bun. are you sure you’re not too sore to go again?” he says this all soft and deep and caring, reaching between jungkook’s legs with such gentle fingers that it’s kind of hard to believe that this same man is responsible for the bruises jungkook can already feel blossoming warm and pleasantly painful along the back of his thighs.

“i am very sure, sir,” jungkook chirps, “i solemnly swear that i have fucked myself open on multiple toys multiple times right here in this very apartment while you both were elsewhere, but always on my mind and in my heart.”

at this, jimin sits up to look at namjoon.

“the irony of me being the one to say this does not escape me, but literally why were we so stupid for so long and also we’re absolutely in over our heads here, see you when we all get to hell, hyung.”

namjoon just shrugs and eventually jimin does the same, sighing. he goes to sit up against the headboard and grabs the lube as he goes.

“well i guess if you’re sure,” he’s settled and crooking a finger at jungkook and in an instant letting his expression sharpen, harden into something so darkly beautiful that jungkook scrambles onto his knees, clumsy with how quick he tries to get to him.

“come be a good boy for your hyung,” he says, words silken and his mouth all pouty and pink.

jungkook just came like five minutes ago, but his dick starts to swell, a little too soon, a little bit painful.

“like this?” he asks, straddling jimin and looking up at him with huge eyes, already so eager to please. “do you want me like this?”

“oh baby,” jimin croons, his hands banded around jungkook’s biceps to help him steady himself, “i want you every way i can have you.”

he’ll probably be embarrassed later, but jungkook sways forward, totally entranced. he stops just short of jimin’s mouth, bites down on his own bottom lip and tries not to pant, tries to be patient until jimin smiles and sits up a little, kisses jungkook sure and deep.

“you can have me all the ways. every way there is, hyung.”

a hand trails up the length of jungkook’s back and the bed shifts beneath him, namjoon settling behind him, resting his cheek against jungkook’s shoulder. this is exactly how they’d been earlier tonight, standing in front of jungkook’s mirror, asking him not to go, not to leave them.

the jimin that had cried and shook in jungkook’s arms is nowhere to be seen now, though.

“tonight, i think i wanna see you ride me,” he says, his mouth not really smiling but his canines visible, glinting in the lamp light. jungkook briefly wonders if he asked nicely enough, if jimin would let him lick his teeth.

“c’mon pretty, sit on hyung’s cock,” jimin says and jungkook stops thinking entirely.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

namjoon circles his arms around jungkook’s hips and jerks him off as jimin’s cock is still jerking inside of him.

leaning back against his broad chest, jungkook holds onto namjoon’s forearms and falls apart, knees still trembling as much from the force of jimin’s orgasm as his own. it’s not like he’d actually come inside jungkook, but telling him he wanted to, pulling jungkook down onto his dick and snarling into the side of his face that he couldn’t wait to see his come dripping out of jungkook’s eager little hole had made a lasting impression nonetheless.

“we should shower,” namjoon suggests eventually, though he makes no move to stop running his fingers up along the cut of jungkook’s abs.

jungkook pleads them into letting him carefully tip over onto his side, jimin still inside him but softening now, so he can lie between them like this, just for a minute, just for a little while.

it sucks when they have to get up, when jimin kisses him on both cheeks, on his eyelids, on his bunny teeth and winces and tells him sorry as he carefully pulls out, leaves jungkook empty.

it’s a lot, for a minute and jungkook’s legs are still wobbly when they guide him between them into the shower, but once they’re all cleaned up and back in bed in new sleep clothes, it’s not so bad anymore.

“you’re the sweetest, hottest little shit i’ve ever met,” jimin tells him, yawning behind a tiny fist, his eyes already slipping shut.

“thanks hyung, i love you too,” jungkook says, pulling namjoon’s arm across his ribs and lacing their fingers together. jimin flops an arm over theirs, his hand landing near the hem of jungkook’s shirt and slipping instantly up underneath it.

“best day ever,” namjoon says, solemn and lovely like always, even now. he noses at the back of jungkook’s neck, breathes in the smell of his shampoo and sighs contentedly.

“love you too, hyung. always will,” jungkook thinks he mumbles, as sleep sweeps in to take him.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

the next morning, jungkook wakes up first. he’s sore, but no more than he would be after a full day in the practice studio or a particularly gruelling session in the gym.

jimin and namjoon don’t wake up when he slips out from between them, though jimin even in sleep burrows toward warmth until he’s curled up in namjoon’s arms, where jungkook had just been. it’s cute and jungkook is still smiling when he gets to the kitchen, hums as he readies the coffee maker.

yoongi comes in, clearly having been in the studio all night, when jungkook is bent over at the fridge looking for the almond milk that namjoon likes.

“i was gonna ask about some interesting things that were said in the group chat last night, but i guess you’ve already answered all my questions.”

jungkook twists to look back at him, but yoongi is looking at the shirt he’s wearing - namjoon’s - or maybe the slippers he has on, which are jimin’s. when jungkook straightens up and crosses back to the kitchen counter where they keep the sugar, he feels a mild strain in his legs and remembers, oh yeah, namjoon fucked him so hard his thighs are black and blue, so that’s actually probably what has yoongi smirking to himself as he types furiously on his phone.

“you want coffee?” jungkook asks, in lieu of saying literally anything else, because he’s got nothing else to say.

“mm,” yoongi grunts and jungkook takes down a fourth cup out of the cupboard.

“milk? sugar?” he asks, because sometimes yoongi doesn’t always take his coffee the same way, he doesn’t think. now that he thinks about it, he’s actually not sure how yoongi takes his coffee ever.

“just sugar, no milk,” yoongi informs him and jungkook files that information away, knowing already it’s bound to be forgotten.

once he’s handed yoongi’s coffee off, he fixes his and jimin and namjoon’s coffee the way they each like it and heads back to namjoon’s room, the three mugs balanced carefully between his two hands.

he pushes the door open with his foot, trying to be as quiet as he can, but he needn’t have bothered, he sees, because they’re both awake now, sitting up in bed. namjoon has his glasses on and is frowning at his phone. jimin has his arms crossed over his chest, frowning down at the blankets rucked up in his lap.

“um,” he says and both their heads snap up to look at him, eyes wide.

“oh,” he says, soft now. “you thought i’d left.”

“well you did!” jimin says, loud and indignant, talking in pout already at the crack of dawn and jungkook’s heart gets inexplicably eight times larger in his body.

he puts the mugs down on the bedside table and reaches for namjoon’s glasses and phone, puts them aside too.

and then he lifts the covers and climbs back in, reaching for them both and sandwiching a still complaining park jimin between him and namjoon.

“I’m sorry,” he says, kissing the top of jimin’s head and tangling his fingers in the collar of namjoon’s tshirt.

“i’m sorry, hyungs, but if i’m dumb and you’re both dumb too then this relationship is doomed. you need to be smarter than this, because i’m pretty sure my IQ is already maxed out,” he reasons and pretends it hurts when jimin punches him in the chest.

“it’s not dumb to think we’d fucked this up,” jimin says, but he lets jungkook get both his wrists in his hands and pull him in close, fitting small and perfect between him and namjoon.

“is too,” jungkook argues and he might sound flippant but he really means it. “i’m not going anywhere ever. like, sorry if you both decided that last night was a mistake and it was just the thought of me that you liked, but you broke the seal so to speak, so i’m legally your property now. we’re common-law married by some country’s standards.”

“we’ve both been in love with you for years,” namjoon says and jungkook had been trying for light, for funny, but namjoon is looking at him with big serious eyes, with his feelings written all over his face and jungkook can only take so much, he is just one man.

“yeah well, i only learned what love was because of you two.”

even before he knew himself or his own feelings well enough to see that how he felt for them was called love, he’s always known it was different. back before he’d looked at them and known what word to use, he’d always thought of them in ways that were never just friendship, never nothing more than respect.

“oh, baby,” namjoon says, soft like something tiny, something delicate.

“yours, hyungs,” jungkook barely breathes, hopes they hear because he put everything he has into those two little words.

“ours,” jimin says, the word a hum right over jungkook’s heart.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/