“He really didn’t need to leave; we could have waited outside until you’re done.”

Seokjin huffed and shook his head. Of course Hoseok would react to it with some lame remark, even though he knew very well what Hoseok thought about Jeon’s advances. Or non-advances, just painfully obvious tries to win against him in his own, brat’s way.

A kiss per day, seriously. Was he in a romantic novel or cliché soap opera?

“They’re soulmates, just so you know,” Hoseok said with a chuckle and Seokjin raised his head again, wanting to ask him what was the point of telling him, until he realized Hoseok wasn’t there alone – but with a young brown haired woman.

“Oh!” her attitude immediately changed, her eyes shining. “Congratulations!”

I really wish people would stop saying that.

“Thank you,” he replied anyway and stood up to greet her. Hoseok wouldn’t bring her if she didn’t belong here, so he expected her to be the new Literature teacher, even though she looked about the same age as Jeon. Bright eyed with a nice, pleasant smile, her long brown hair neatly tied up in a ponytail and in a maybe a bit old-timer brown costume he thought almost too boring for her age.

“Jin, this is Miss you,” Hoseok introduced her with a smile and she immediately offered her hand in a greeting, which he returned. “Miss you, this is Professor Kim Seokjin, Physics department.”

“The new Literature teacher I assume?” he managed a smile, pushing all those swirling thoughts to the back of his mind. During his teaching career he dealt with worse brats than Jeon, so there was no point trying to get worked up over him. That much.

Except of that soulmate thing.

And an actual kissing thing.

I don’t care if you don’t think so, but I want it, he said. Because why wouldn’t he, if he knew it would make Seokjin speechless. He should have thought of that rule before Jeon got hang of it, really.

“Yes, it’s nice to meet you,” she nodded happily and he wondered how long her enthusiasm was going to last.

Well, with Jeon’s class probably a week. It won't be that long until she understands everything.

***

“Yoongi seemed to be quite taken back by the revelation.” Hoseok grinned over his own words, arranging his books and notes since their last meeting, putting aside on the cafeteria table and taking a bite of his burger from the tray, eyes glancing curiously over his colleague.

“I don’t really blame him,” Seokjin mumbled in an answer. Yoongi’s yesterday shock from finding out was still alive in his head, as well as the aftermath in the common room. “And here I thought everyone knew.”

“Well, he got back two days ago, guess nobody told him,” Hoseok chuckled in amusement, since he apparently had an interesting chat with the PE teacher. “Not to mention I’m pretty sure he got busy with Jimin anyway. Giving him this information apparently wasn’t Jimin’s priority.”

“No doubt,” Seokjin shrugged. It was no secret Yoongi and Jimin were soulmates, but at least they weren’t so far apart with the age difference. Plus they had been in the soul bond for about five years now, if not more. They still acted like it was yesterday though – or Jimin did, truth to be told, being always so excited when he saw Yoongi during the day at school. Yoongi was rather… reserved, normally, but with Jimin around there was a significant change every time, no matter how hard he was trying to hide it.

“But it’s getting better, from the look of it?” Hoseok offered, pushing his food tray away. The cafeteria was still reasonably busy and Seokjin found it slightly more calming than normally – when there was constant buzzing around him, it made him stop mauling over the same thing that didn’t have any solution.

“What is?” Seokjin glanced at him with a raised eyebrow and Hoseok shrugged.

“You and the young Jeon,” he explained, and yes, of course he would nag him about it.

“Oh yes, amazing,” Seokjin got back to his food, nibbling on it without appetite.

"I heard soul bond could make someone super sensitive." Hoseok threw the plastic wrapper into the nearest dustbin. "Because Yoongi used to be really hard to catch, like a pregnant woman. At least Jimin told me so." He grinned at the confused expression of Seokjin.

"You mean?" It was like telling him to 'stay positive when the Jeon acts like one', and Seokjin refused to believe so. He couldn't even think the rebellious and sarcastic boy like him could be so sensitive and hard to control. Well, he's uncontrollable.

“Maybe you should learn from them,” Hoseok smirked and stood up, taking his tray to his hands to leave since his first class will be the next. “For real, Jin. Give it a shot. You're one of the happy lot.”

Seokjin only waved him off, leaving any commentary to himself. With Yoongi and Jimin, it was something he at first, thought it wouldn’t work. Well – at some point it would, he thought, after some time of getting used to it, but at first… no.

With Yoongi acting like an ice queen and Jimin being the perfect opposite – and a womanizer until then on top of that – it was almost inevitable for them to crash and burn.

But Hoseok was right with one thing – they were the happy lot, they found each other and they decided it was that way because the fate wanted them to find the other and give it a go. So Yoongi melted under that simple reasoning and found out that Jimin was, in the end, his true and only soulmate that could make him happy.

From their never-ending energy they apparently still had, they were quite satisfied with the arrangement and it probably should have given him hope. Although he didn’t really know for what – he just couldn’t imagine his future with the boy no matter how he looked at it. Jeon was a walking ticking bomb, full of crazy ideas and infinite energy, and Seokjin very much doubted he would happily make a compromise when it would come to living together. Which, for soulmates, should probably happen at some point.

Jeon was spontaneous – Seokjin always thought twice before acting.

The boy was demanding and never stepped back – the older thought it was better to strike a less satisfying deal than losing the thing as a whole.

He was a student… Seokjin was his teacher.

From this simple equation it was already wrong.

“How come you always look so damn cheerful every time I see you sitting somewhere?” a voice startled him.

Seokjin blinked and then Jeon dropped in front of him to Hoseok’s seat, putting his food in front of him and giving out a long sigh. He seemed tired and maybe paler than normally and Seokjin’s first thought had been that the soul bond was acting up. Or not acting as it should.

He didn’t say anything, just frowned slightly in confusion about the boy’s presence, and Jeon shrugged.

“No avoiding,” he pointed out. “Your rule.”

“Of course,” Seokjin mumbled and grabbed his fork again. The food lost its appeal a long time ago, but somehow he got a bit hungrier again. Maybe it was thanks to the boy's presence and the soul bond? If anything Jeon said was true.

“I was thinking,” the dark brown haired boy spoke up while he picked at his meal. “Can I call you Seokjin?”

Seokjin froze for a second, the immediate no flashing through his mind, but he forced it down. He couldn’t keep him away forever, it wasn’t fair. Those small things – familiarity and closeness – should have come natural. Too bad Seokjin's walls had been built up so high already, it was fairly difficult to get past them without a significant effort.

“Not in class,” he decided to step out of his comfort zone, at least a little. He couldn’t imagine hearing his first name from the boy’s lips like it was completely normal, just greeting him with that cheeky smile of his while chanting the word over and over.

That would be odd.

“Aw,” the boy chuckled, but then gave a nod. “Fine. Would be weird, I guess.”

“Slightly,” Seokjin sipped his drink thoughtfully. If he used it during class, he was fairly sure the rest of the students would pick up on it with gusto. He still needed some authority if nothing else – and that was getting more and more difficult with each passing day when he got labelled as the one who dated a student. Even without any actual dating. “I could be blamed for favouritism, nobody wants that.”

“Nobody can make mighty Kim Seokjin to like somebody just because,” the boy snorted, and there was a jab hidden in it. A truthful one, Seokjin had to admit, but he didn’t need to like that. He watched the boy eating quietly for a moment, wondering if there was a reason to react to it, and there probably wasn’t.

Until he couldn’t really help it. Jeon thought he knew him? A kid like him, from few classes they had together?

What a joke.

“What’s the point in that?” he commented on it. “There is always a reason for everything. Just because is a bad argument.”

Jeon stopped eating and looked up again, his eyes searching. “Always the physics teacher hidden in those eyes,” he uttered dryly. “Everything doesn’t need to have a cause, you know.”

“Since when you became so philosophical?” Seokjin tilted his head and watched his companion with a raised eyebrow. “Normally you’re more of a swearing and insulting type.”

The delinquent snorted and stirred his soup absentmindedly, like he needed to keep his hands busy.

“Well, it doesn’t really work on you,” Jeon mumbled. “And since I want to spend some time with you without needing to argue all the time, I had to change the tactics.”

“Spend time with me?” Seokjin sighed. That was new. “Since when?”

“Since it makes me feel better,” Jeon shrugged. “And it makes you feel better too, right?” he smirked.

Probably. Seokjin was hungry again and his head hurt a bit less. He wondered when the soul bond was going to stop acting up like that, until they weren’t going to need to stick together to feel healthier.

What a damn lame reason anyway. Soulmates of the worst kind.

“Well, here is your cause,” Seokjin chuckled bitterly and got back to his food. Spending time together just because? Apparently nope. “This is not just because. I was right. It's because you don't want to feel the pain.” he jabbed the truth, ticking the boy's off.

“Let’s be honest here, Seokjin,” Jeon pointed at him with his spoon. “I’d hang out with you on daily basis if you didn’t look so ing disgusted every time I get close. So yeah, this is not just because, but because I feel sick when I’m too far for too long and it . As your whole ing attitude.”

Seokjin would lie if he said he brushed it off like always. Something in him wanted to react on it, somehow, but no words could actually grasp the right meaning. He took a deep breath, then another, but his mouth just wouldn’t move.

“And quite frankly,” the dark brown haired student looked at him coldly. “I’m getting tired of chasing you down and getting this piss off expression form you every time.”

He short-circuited Seokjin’s brain so thoroughly. Jeon managed to eat the rest of his lunch in complete silence without the professor being able to say a damn thing, then rise up and walk away, leaving the man dumbfounded at the table.

Somehow, Seokjin felt bad for making things so difficult when it's completely nothing.

***

“I was hoping to catch you here.”

Seokjin looked up only grudgingly. There were still two classes ahead of him and he could barely concentrate on the reviewing the subject, seeing how the time was running short. He seriously didn’t have time for Minah’s chatting or wasn’t in any shape to give her useless advices.

“Miss Minah,” he said quietly and she suddenly seemed rather uncomfortable. “Is something the matter?” the man tried hard to hide his bad impression of her.

“I’ve just wanted to apologize,” she started, fidgeting like a school girl. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you for several days, but couldn’t really find the courage.”

“I see,” he said simply. He had a bad feeling it was about Jeon Jungkook.

“I didn’t know you and Jungkook-,” she stopped, clearing . “You and Mr. Jeon are soulmates. If I had known, I’d never… I’d…”

“Never sleep with him?” he offered and his bitter tone surprised him probably more than her. She looked panicked for a moment, like she wasn’t prepared for him to react this way – and to be quite frank he didn’t know either. He never really knew, it was just a hunch, but it made sense. Minah always had a weakness for the boy – as for Jeon he didn’t know.

Maybe he had been in love with her?

Maybe he still was?

“I just thought… these past few days, I wasn’t really sure, but…” she tried again, her words not making much of a sense. “He always looked so tired and I don’t want him to hurt, so please.”

“Please what?” he watched her coldly, a weird surge of antipathy rising in him. He never had a problem with her; she was usually just somebody he worked with, idealistic and maybe a bit too soft with the students.

“Please take care of him?” her voice dropped so low he barely heard her. “I was trying to comfort him, but it didn’t really help and-,”

“Comfort him?” he repeated sharply and his mark flared like it was branded with fire, making him hiss.

“Not like that!” she quickly assured him, but the burning remained. “And not like he wanted to, I swear it never- I just… I’m so sorry!”

He wanted to say something, but everything that came to his mind sounded hateful and not like him at all. All those words – where did they come from?

He clenched his marked hand to ease the pressure building in it and abruptly stood up. “Sorry,” he gritted through his teeth. “The class is going to start soon.”

Before she could say anything else, he stormed out of the common room and left her to it.

Comfort him! Was that woman stupid? A newly bonded person with somebody else, what good did she thought she could do for him?

Seokjin thought in irritation, clearly recalled the boy saying he had been throwing up and feeling bad – and now it made sense. Seokjin wasn’t chipper either, but he never had such problems to deal with it as Jeon had, that stupid kid.

He was halfway from the classroom when the bell rang, so he picked up speed and arrived just in time to see the dark brown haired boy leaving the room with a sullen expression on his face.

It took him a moment before he took notice of Seokjin standing there, but when he did, shock was the first emotion Seokjin caught in the flurry of them. In the last moment it morphed into a careful mask though, like a learned gesture,

“You look like you’ve killed somebody,” he shuffled towards Seokjin with suspicion, letting other students pass around them with hushed whispers. “Are you alright?”

“You’re going to spend time with me,” words flew out of Seokjin like he had been rehearsing them forever in his mind. “From today.”

“What?”

“After school you’re going to my place.”

“What?!”

“And there is no discussion available.” Didn't need any word, Seokjin himself managed to stun himself.

Jeon stared at him like Seokjin lost his damn mind, and well, maybe he did, but the simple fact there was a high probability this stupid kid was making himself sicker by searching for something deeper with Minah because Seokjin had his head in his , that was absolutely unacceptable.

“For real?” the boy gasped, his eyes wide, and Seokjin crossed his arms on his chest in impatience. His class was starting soon and yet he just couldn’t leave until he was sure his demand was settled.

“Yes,” he just bit out. “I have two more classes to go. Wait for me in the common room; just tell them I’ve allowed it.”

“I-,”

“And avoid Miss Minah, if you’d be so kind,” Seokjin added a bit too strongly and Jeon blinked in surprise. “And call home. Or somebody. Let them know.” he ordered calmly.

With that he turned around and wanted to leave, if there wasn’t a voice stopping him from retreating like there was fire behind his heels. He glanced back at the boy, raising an eyebrow.

“Two hours is pretty long,” Jeon pointed out, hands in pockets, and Seokjin forced down the urge to roll his eyes. “And I’m pretty sure Miss Minah is going to be there for the whole time.”

Oh. Right.

“I can stay in your class,” the solution came quickly. “Will be quiet as a mouse.” Jeon said cheerily.

“You?” Seokjin snorted and the boy made several steps forward, until they were within reach.

“Me.” Jeon challenged with his tensed brown orbs.

There was no use fighting him. No damn use whatsoever. Seokjin huffed in silent.

I should get used to it.

The professor strayed away from the gaze between them and lead the way to his next class.

******

Jungkook POV.

"Among the great conceptual achievements of the 19th and 20th centuries was the consolidation of the idea of energy by the inclusion of heat, electricity and magnetism, and then light. The laws of thermodynamics, and most importantly the introduction of the singular concept of entropy began to provide a macroscopic explanation for the properties of matter.”

Jungkook never really noticed Seokjin’s voice was always so lively during the lecturing. He usually ended up focusing on a different matter when he was in his own class, but now, sitting in a completely secluded area without any need to actually make notes or pretend to listen, it was different.

People were watching him with curiosity at first, when he just sat obediently where Seokjin pointed at, but once the lesson started they lost interest pretty fast, focusing on their Professor instead.

Seokjin even gesticulated a lot while propping against the edge of his table with his damn long legs crossed, his hands drawing abstract shapes in the air. Jungkook never really knew – or maybe his own class was different – that students were actually pretty interested in Seokjin’s presentation, now when he saw them hanging on his every word.

Physics wasn’t even that interesting, but there was something in the man’s voice that kept them attentive – and Jungkook too, somehow, watched him with curiosity.

“Statistical mechanics followed by statistical physics emerged as an offshoot of thermodynamics late in the 19th century. Another important event in the 19th century was the discovery of electromagnetic theory, unifying the previously separate phenomena of electricity, magnetism and light,” Seokjin continued easily, his hands slowly falling down to grip the edge of the table and Jungkook quietly hummed.

Minah, huh.

What did she do, he wondered, that it made Seokjin act this… well, out of character? Not that Jungkook was against it – it was weird, okay, just out of blue telling him that he was going to spend time in his place while until today he had been trying very hard to forget Jungkook even existed. But it was also a good start – and Jungkook really needed a good night sleep at least once per this week.

Not that he knew he was going to get it with Seokjin being close, alright. It might have been too weird for him to actually get relaxed – not to mention there could be a catch.

Maybe Seokjin was going to lock him up in a basement and keep him there so he would not feel sick, but also didn’t need to deal with it more than he needed to. Maybe he just wanted to shut him up for a while, get over the term of settling of the bond and then return to his previous ignorance mode.

Maybe it was because he decided it was better to keep Jungkook close for a while to annul the kissing rule.

As if.

The kissing rule was cheeky, yes, and also a bit out of blue as well, but so far there was nothing else that worked as good as that simple gesture did. Skin to skin touch was fine, kind of, like it could calm the burning a bit, but a kiss had a deeper connection and better results.

Not to mention it wasn’t anything atrocious, geez, just a peck once per day. If he ought to stick his tongue down Seokjin’s throat, well, yeah, that would be weird.

That guy was a bigger baby than Jungkook had been, no matter how often he called him a kid, or a brat. He alone was childish, stubborn and cowardly and Jungkook was ready to throw it at him at the first argument they were inevitably going to have.

Probably even by tonight, at this guy’s place, fighting over something super stupid.

Like the bed.

Was Jungkook going to sleep in one bed with him? Because that would make sense, wouldn’t it? Except it was probably a little too personal and Jungkook was a kicker – or a hugger – or he even talked in his sleep, it depended on the day before.

Once he even kicked his girlfriend out of the bed – probably a reflexive thing to defend himself – and, well, they broke up over it. Not a big deal though, they were dating for short and Jungkook hadn’t even been into it very much.

Well, now when he thought about it, he probably was never into anyone that much, no matter who it had been. Like there was something missing – now when he had the bond it was very obvious what it had been – so he took it rather selfishly and never dived too deep. When the relationship ended – or he ended it – he never felt as bad as he probably should have.

Maybe that was why it felt so wrong when Seokjin rejected him at first. Like he was the only person who shouldn’t have, who was rightfully his, and yet never showed an inclination of wanting that.

Jungkook wondered why he wanted it in the first place when Seokjin was… well. Seokjin. The only tendency he always had was to try to make him lose his patience, to challenge him somehow, to reach out and –

God.

The bell almost made him fall off the chair how he buried himself too deep into his own thoughts, and people were starting to get up and leave the room with a constant buzzing. Jungkook managed to stood up as well, his legs probably fell asleep during the lesson, and descended from the stairs to Seokjin who was apparently going through the attendance.

“Congratulation on staying quiet,” the man said without looking up and Jungkook snorted while he stopped at the table, right next to the bent form of his soulmate. He had pretty a neat handwriting for a guy – Jungkook’s usually reminded of somebody trying a new pen in an indiscernible scribble.

“Told you I would.” he grinned.

“I appreciate it,” the older man glanced at him and there was a small smile on his lips – something Jungkook rarely saw, especially aimed at him. “One more class to go though.”

Jungkook hummed, watching him to finish the writing and then straight up, immediately towering over the boy with his height superiority.

“I’m kinda tired,” the delinquent mumbled. “To sit here one more hour just like that.”

“Just like that, what’s that supposed to mean?” Seokjin raised an eyebrow and Jungkook tilted his head to the side, waiting for his brain to catch up. It was apparently a slow process, because the older man was staring at him rather dubiously for a moment, then blinked and then it apparently dawned on him, since he took a sharp breath and rolled his eyes.

“What a ing ordeal, eh,” Jungkook nagged him because he could and Seokjin grumbled.

“Language,” he said and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just deal with it for one more hour, be a dear.”

“Be a dear,” Jungkook parroted with an eye roll. “Really?”

 “We are in a classroom, if you haven’t noticed,” the older man commented dryly, glancing at the slowly arriving students that were giving them curious looks. “I’m sure sitting for the next hour won’t tire you too much.”

There was a fleeting touch on Jungkook’s forearm like Seokjin was trying to make him going, or maybe just assure him, but none of it worked anyway – it only made the mark flare more.

“You’re the one who’s the child in all this,” the dark brown haired boy uttered and crossed his arms on his chest. “It’s not like I’m Frenching you, what’s your problem?”

“The class is going to start soon-,”

“It doesn’t do anything for you, like turn on?” he asked a little quieter and Seokjin’s expression morphed into a confused one. “Because it really does for me.”

A blink and a bit dumbstruck expression followed, and when Jungkook repeated the phrase in his head, it did sound a bit… yeah. He snorted and gestured towards his neck, just for a good measure.

“For the burning I mean, you dirty minded,” he grinned at him, immediately spotting how the shame washed over Seokjin’s features for actually thinking that.

“I don’t feel much of a change,” Seokjin mumbled after, shuffling slightly and apparently checked the crowd that slowly multiplied behind them. “The burning is mostly so faint I barely pay attention to it.”

“Lucky you,” the boy sighed, rubbing the mark absentmindedly. “Mine hurts like a .”

“Might be because you decided to antagonize it with somebody unbounded to you,” Seokjin delivered bitterly, and if Jungkook didn’t know this guy didn’t like him a bit, he would say it sounded like jealousy. “I thought you’d be smarter than that.”

“I thought my soulmate would be nicer than that,” Jungkook shot back immediately and Seokjin huffed.

“We will have this discussion later,” he gestured against him. “Not here, not now.”

“Yeah, right,” Jungkook rolled his eyes, his words almost swallowed by the bell ringing. “Probably during the bubble bath and romantic evening, you arse.”

“Go sit in the back.”

“How about I sit right here, in the front?” Jungkook challenged him instead and Seokjin’s eyes narrowed threateningly. “What, afraid you wouldn’t be able to keep your calm?”

“In the back,” Seokjin pointed at the back row Jungkook had been sitting at the whole previous lesson and that was already surrounded by students who apparently found the exchange very amusing.

“Nah,” the dark brown haired boy just shrugged, circled the Professor leisurely and sat at his desk. “As much as you like giving orders, dear, I don’t need to take them, since my lessons are over.”

“Kook,” Seokjin used his nickname like a deadly weapon, gritting through his teeth. “We had a deal about the classroom behaviour.”

“We also had a deal about kissing.”

Several chuckles and oooohs sounded behind them and Jungkook could perfectly pinpoint the moment when Seokjin realized they weren’t only observed, but also heard, and definitely blamed Jungkook for it, since his next glare was like a death penalty.

“We are going to talk about this,” Seokjin just told him so quietly nobody else could hear it but him, and then turned around and started his lesson.

His back was tense the whole time.

***

It wasn’t much of a surprise the drive to Seokjin’s house had been quiet. Well, maybe more like suffocating. He didn’t say a single word to the boy, his face absolutely blank, but there was anger in his eyes and Jungkook wondered if it made him a masochist to be a little pleased about it.

The thing was – Kim Seokjin was always like… a machine, probably. A cold, calculative, dry robot that never showed emotions, no matter how anyone tried to antagonize him. And hell, Jungkook really tried, but it was like he just couldn’t get under his skin. The fact he actually started to react now was great – although with consequences that probably going to end badly. Or maybe just a bit worse than Jungkook anticipated.

Which could be even more worse, since he anticipated a failure right from the start.

So yeah, the silent drive, the silent stop, the even more silent getting out of the car and into the big house – a nice house, really, Kim wasn’t living cheap and he seemed like a rich guy – and equally silent treatment once they were in the building and Seokjin acted like Jungkook had been an air only.

Alright, it was a bit overboard and he antagonized him more out of habit than because he really wanted to, but in that moment it felt like a suitable exchange since Seokjin decided to be stingy again.

As if it was secret they were soulmates. If they kissed, people would maybe do some more oohs, but it wouldn’t be a faux pas. At least not that big. So instead of that they witnessed Seokjin’s really stiff shoulders and Jungkook’s utter disrespect of the teacher’s desk and then they were leaving and Seokjin was going so damn fast, Jungkook almost had to jog to keep up with him.

He expected an earful in the car. Then in the house. But since they were already here and Seokjin was still quiet, but his movement sharp and everything he opened, got closed again with a bit too much force, it seemed like he was one of those people who let it boil inside and then explode once it accumulated enough.

Jungkook could apologize, sure. But that would make Seokjin the winner, and he didn’t really deserve it. At least not entirely.

“Can I get something to drink?” he asked once he watched Seokjin banging with the dishes and mugs and cupboards enough for a lifetime.

“Suit yourself.”

Right.

The banging continued. Jungkook thought the kitchen was a dangerous zone, so he didn’t enter, just stood between the door, in a safe distance. The longer he stood there, the less patience the man seemed to have, until he finally stopped, gave Seokjin a hard stare and walked towards the fridge, took out a juice box and put it on the kitchen desk, along with a glass. Jungkook could swear he heard the glass crack a bit under the force of an impact.

“Thanks,” he piped, earned another glare, and shuffled towards it so he could pour himself a little. “So, about Minah…”

Seokjin let out a deep exhale. Uh oh.

“It is very simple,” the man’s voice sounded eerily calm, despite his clenched fists and all. “You do that again, you are going to feel sick. If you feel like throwing up is fun, don’t let me stop you. I don’t feel a damn thing anyway.”

That sounded like jealousy. Or maybe he'd just imagining it.

“Hey,” the boy frowned, leaving the glass abandoned to focus fully at his soulmate who was now standing almost across the whole kitchen. “I’ve done nothing with her after we bonded, okay?”

“Of course,” a mocking answer. “That’s why she came pleading me to forgive her.”

“Fine, we may have kissed.”

Yep, an evident anger now.

“Look, you’ve basically told me to screw myself,” Jungkook changed into an offence mode, because that usually worked more than being all sorry. “Minah was always nice. I just needed to calm down-,”

“I always thought you’re smart,” Seokjin interrupted him coldly. “Lazy, but smart. Guess you were just lucky after all.”

“It’s not like we ed, for ’s sake-,”

“It’s not like it matters,” the older man cut him off unmercifully and his whole posture radiated distaste. “I’ve brought you here so it wouldn’t repeat and you wouldn’t make yourself suffer like a stubborn idiot. Now I’m regretting this choice, because you are a stubborn idiot.”

“But you’re a ing saint,” Jungkook snorted, but Seokjin didn’t budge.

“We’ve agreed on some rules, Jungkook,” Seokjin used his first name, like it was an insult. “Can you explain why you decided to break them like an insolent brat that just has to be the centre of attention? Does it really matter that goddamn much?”

“You broke the rule first,” Jungkook pointed out, but it wasn’t so easy anymore. When there was no real feedback, doing things like those was simple, the small consequences never mattered. But this was like hitting a brick wall – no way out, no way back, no way forward. Dealing with it .

“We were in a classroom. That was my rule,” Seokjin pointed out, obviously. “And as far as you’re unable to understand, snogging you there would only break it.”

“Snogging,” the boy rolled his eyes. “It’s not even a proper kiss-.”

“I’ve asked you to be good. You promised to be quiet,” Seokjin’s habit to interrupt every Jungkook’s try to talk was getting annoying. “It wasn’t like I told you no. I just told you later. One damn hour, you were just trying to gain an upper hand-!”

“The I was!” Jungkook bit out and took several steps forward. “You’re always so ing unattached; I just want you to react a little!”

“And I want this to work out!” Seokjin raised voice back at him and it shook him to his inner core. “But you’re making it so damn hard!”

“No, you don’t,” Jungkook’s voice lost all its strength and his body as well. Such a blatant lie – wanting it to work out? Since when? An utter bull.

“What?”

“You don’t want it to work out,” the brown haired boy elaborated, looking away. “You’re struggling with the sole concept from the beginning and it’s pretty obvious you’re just trying to find the least painful way, because you feel guilty to just shut me out.”

“Yes,” Seokjin said with less anger in his voice, like he calmed down as well to the point of being utterly passive. “That’s true.” his expression didn't shattered.

Jungkook could feel the mark burning again, but it was different – not making him sick or anything, it just burned like it was trying to make itself known more.

“I am struggling with the concept,” Seokjin continued with a deep sigh. “Look, it’s probably not so bad for you, but for me… I’m used to be alone. This whole thing is like I suddenly got a baby and don’t know how to change diapers or feed it or give it love.”

“It is bad for me too. It wouldn’t be if you didn’t make it so difficult,” Jungkook opposed weakly and there was a bitter laughter coming from the man.

“I don’t know how to make it easier.”

It was a bitter truth, Jungkook could tell, but that was why people learned, right? And if they wanted to learn, they needed to talk.

“Let it flow?” Jungkook offered, his voice was calm and collected. “Like just… accept it. So you got a baby at your doorstep, alright? And there is no one you could give it to.”

Not that being compared to a little kid was alright, but it suited the explanation anyway.

“The hospital,” Seokjin pointed out and Jungkook shook his head, mentally groaned in dilemma.

“No, stop trying to dodge the responsibility. You don’t have any other options,” he reminded him and Seokjin sighed, probably not very keen on being lectured. But hey, somebody had to be the mature one in this, when not the guy who could have been his father.

A sick thought.

“So would you put it in the corner and let it die there?”

“Of course not,” Seokjin rolled his eyes.

“You’d try to feed it, to stop it from crying, to get the crap away and keep it clean, yeah?” Jungkook made few more steps forward and Seokjin nodded like an obedient student. Who knew if he ever dealt with toddlers?

He should have brought Shinae, his little sister here for a bit, to see how good this guy was with kids. It usually said a lot about character and Shinae was an angel. Until she started crying. But then again, work under pressure was always a good experience.

“Nobody needs to tell ya that,” Jungkook concluded. “So just… stop overthinking this . I don’t know what your exact problem is than 'don’t know how to', but just don’t force yourself to do anything and just accept it. This should come naturally.”

He watched the man take a deep breath and then another. He seemed like he contemplated it a bit, doing pros and cons, and then pinched the bridge of his nose.

“It would be easier if you weren’t such a little though,” he said after a moment and Jungkook barked out a laugh.

“I guess,” he agreed, because hey, he never said he was an easy person to get along with. “But imagine I just knocked on your door and you have no other option but to let me in. So?”

“I need a smoke.” Seokjin muttered.

For the first time, Jungkook had a hope they were onto something. 

 ……………………………………

To be continued. (And your character will be quite important in here tho. Until then.) Thnx for reading  ;)