Seokjin

“There’s film crew outside the restaurant today so you’d better work damn hard, Seokjin because this could be great business for me if the actors and crew come in and eat here, so I wanna see you at your ing best,” Sunghoon lectures, tone angry and irate already, at what? 10 in the morning? this. Seokjin thinks to himself. Standing in the doorway to the restaurant, still wearing his jacket and not even inside the building yet as he literally arrived no more than 15 seconds ago and was greeted like this. 

“Good morning,” he blinks, waiting for Sunghoon to actually let him into his place of work. Seokjin suppresses the bubbling anger at the fact that his boss wants him to work super hard today or whatever but is literally blocking the entrance to the building until he, what? Agrees to this nonsense? Of course he’ll work hard, he does every single day, Sunghoon has known him for years. 

“Were you listening to me?” Sunghoon chides, finger pointing a little too close to Seokjin’s face for comfort, who leans back away from it carefully.

“Yes, I understood,” anger is bubbling more and more. He needs to keep it at bay, if only Sunghoon would let him enter the stupid building, that would be a start.

“Good, and next time reply to me properly when I give you instructions, don’t need any of your good morning ,” Sunghoon spits as if Seokjin saying good morning to him was offensive or something. “Get in,” he waves dramatically at the door, scoffing, rolling his eyes as if Seokjin had just turned up 2 hours late with some lies and excuses or something.

“Thank you,” Seokjin sighs, walking straight past his boss who’d now moved to the side but was staring Seokjin down as he tries to remove his summer jacket to hang it on the coat rack. He has to resist the urge to spin around to face Sunghoon and bark out a ‘can I help you?!’. He suppresses, again, now moving towards the kitchen to begin opening duties, ready for whatever lunch rush they’re going to get from this film crew at midday when they open. Seokjin was not looking forward to this. 

The next 2 hours go fast as he busies himself with food prep, cleaning, and anything he can think of that’s going to make the next 10 hours go somewhat smoothly. It was looking promising, until his entire day was suddenly ruined with one sentence. 

“Seokjin, you’re on the bar today,” Sunghoon states matter-of-factly. 

“How come?” Seokjin replies, trying not to sound whiny about the request.

“Because...I said so, Kyuhyun’s working in the kitchen today, I got extra staff in because of how busy we’ll be, do you need a reason? I’m your boss,” he scolds. Ah Kyuhyun’s in today, so what Sunghoon means is that Seokjin is in fact a lot faster on the bar than Kyuhyun, so he wants him there because of how busy it will be. Of course, he won’t say that because that would be praising Seokjin, and Sunghoon never praises Seokjin under any circumstance. 

“Understood,” Seokjin grumbled with a nod, leaving the kitchen to get behind the bar, ready for a terrible day of serving customers instead of hiding away in the kitchen doing what he’s best at, bar days were terrible days, he’s a chef not a mixologist. 

Sunghoon was right, the film crew were here in full glory, crowding the entire restaurant, and after 3 straight hours of pure rushing to make drink after drink, it’s finally Seokjin’s turn to have a lull to clean the bar and take a breather. 

It’s 3pm and everyone is either finishing meals, or random stragglers are coming in for a late lunch, meaning Seokjin only has to make the odd drink every so often, which is mainly just pouring a cola or something. 

Seokjin eavesdrops on a table just in front of the bar where a man who looks not too much younger than him sits, possibly a part of the film crew now just getting a break, Seokjin guesses by the lanyard around the man’s neck. 

“Do you know what you’re having?” his colleague, a Waiter, asks the man. 

“Uh yeah just the kimchi fried rice starter and a water please,” he returns politely, closing the menu in front of him, some sort of disappointment welling in his eyes, yet he also looks mildly happy, it’s strange. 

“No main?” the Waiter asks. 

“No, thank you.”

“Not a problem, I’ll be right back with the water.” 

Sunghoon appears next to Seokjin, doing his rounds about the restaurant no doubt, schmoozing with rich looking customers and scolding the staff- mainly Seokjin- for things that aren’t their fault. Except the staff he likes, of course, they’re safe here. 

Sunghoon leans into Seokjin, too close for liking, Seokjin tries to back away as soon as he can feel Sunghoon’s alcohol breath on his neck. 

“Cheapskate at table 7 there,” the tipsy owner scoffs, rolling his eyes toward the young man.  

“He’s still a customer, regardless,” Seokjin says, trying to sound professional, when in reality he wants to punch his boss square in the nose for his behavior. 

Sunghoon snorts, shaking his head “yeah but he’s not exactly my target clientele, kid’s barely spending 8,000. Just shy of it in fact, cheapest dish on the menu and all,” he rolls his eyes again, now leaving an angry Seokjin at the bar alone again, watching Sunghoon slide back to the table of wealthy customers he was originally drinking and schmoozing with, trying to get more business out of them like the sleazy bastard he is. Seokjin watches as the 5 customers guzzle through the 3rd champagne bottle of the afternoon, feeling so special because the owner is sitting with them and even took one of the bottles off the bill, as if they need a discount. 

Seokjin looks back to the man at table 7, playing on his phone while he waits for his tiny meal. He looks sad, not as in sad right now about something in particular, but he has sad eyes. The anger rises through his core again at what Sunghoon said, he resists the urge to smash something, anything, he hates this place with a passion and having a full blown mental breakdown while at work and losing his job is a huge worry. 

He skims over the cocktail menu, trying to find the most expensive cocktail on the menu until his eyes reach the champagne raspberry spritz, ah of course, the expensive champagne Sunghoon buys from some overpriced supplier to win over wealthy customers with. Seokjin looks over to his boss again to psyche himself up with anger, seething silently at their 3rd champagne bottle sitting on the table like a centrepiece. 

Within the minute, Seokjin has whipped up a champagne raspberry spritz, being extra generous with the champagne measurement this once, and he strolls triumphantly with it around the bar to table 7, the young man looking up at him with big eyes. 

“You like cocktails?” Seokjin asks, earning a well deserved ‘I’m sorry?’ because in all fairness that was for sure out of the blue. 

“I made you this, have it on the house, just don’t mention it to anyone, and when you want to pay for the food, come to me not anyone else, okay?” Seokjin confirms, relishing in his petty revenge. It’s not even that bad, but doing something just to spite Sunghoon makes him feel almost warm inside, mixed with the adrenaline it’s almost euphoric.

“Thank you?” the man says in a confused, yet grateful tone. Seokjin nods, and hurries back to the bar. Making eye contact with the man every so often after what he must have felt was a very strange event. Some random barman gives you a fancy cocktail for no apparent reason; you’re going to be confused. It felt so great though, watching the young man sitting there happily sipping his free expensive cocktail. 

It’s a win-win situation as Seokjin has the delight of both seeing the poor man enjoy something lavish, and also knowing that he’s drinking a little bit of Sunghoon’s money. It’s the little things like this that give Seokjin something to live for each day. 

Seokjin continues quietly fulfilling his bar duties, waiting for the man at table 7 to finish up his small meal and fancy cocktail so he can come to Seokjin to pay for the food, a plan that he had figured out and ready to put into action. 

The time finally arrives and the young man is walking gingerly to Seokjin, bank card in hand. 

“Hey, you ready to pay?” Seokjin asks brightly. 

“I am,” the man nods, looking for the card machine. 

“Just one second,” Seokjin stalls, waving the man off as he fiddles with the till quickly. He adds the starter and cocktail, then writes the cocktail off as on the house. Keeping the stock correct and knowing full well that if he just throws his copy of the receipt in the bin, Sunghoon gives too many free drinks to wealthy customers to notice, knowing that they’ll come back more often and spend way more money than the drinks are worth. This leaves only the starter to pay for, and the extra meal that Seokjin is now adding to the bill, his plan almost ready. 

Seokjin looks over to the table that Sunghoon is mingling with, pleased that his boss is in fact facing the other direction entirely. He crouches down behind the counter, rifling through his bag for his own bank card and sliding it subtly to the young man in front of him, who looks completely lost at this point. 

“Use this,” Seokjin mutters, nodding towards his card, “I know the amount is more than you had but just use this to pay, then meet me around the back of the restaurant in 10 minutes if you don’t have to rush back to work.” 

The man nods quickly, still not really understanding but going along with it, tapping Seokjin’s card on the reader before sliding it back over the counter to him, bowing slightly with a confused but genuine ‘thank you’. 

“10 minutes,” Seokjin reiterates, turning back around to look busy again for the sake of any possible prying eyes, leaving the man nodding slowly before turning around to exit the restaurant and wait around the back with a bit of confusion. 

Seokjin glances at the clock, now calling over to the closest colleague to let them know he’s taking a 20 minute break. He knows he’s definitely entitled to more than 20 minutes on a 12 hour shift but he doesn’t have the energy to fight with Sunghoon over it, especially considering he lets the staff eat and drink pretty much what they want on shift simply because he can get more work from them this way. 

Removing his apron and ruffling his hair in some sort of attempt to cool down from the heat in the building, Seokjin makes his way to the kitchen before going out, quickly throwing together the meal he added to the man’s bill, knowing it was something pretty much ready to go within 5 minutes. He decanted it into a plastic to-go tub and exited the building through the back to meet the man from table 7, who was waiting there ready. 

“Hey,” Seokjin greets as he approaches him, grateful that he had the sense to wait in a shaded spot. “Here, this is for later.” Seokjin hands him the container of food.

“Is this what you added to the bill you paid for?” the man gasps, looking as if he’s trying to blink away tears. 

“Yeah, you seem like you could use it, it’s not a pity thing, just wanted to do something nice,” Seokjin smiles, happy with his good deed. He knows he doesn’t exactly make bank himself, but this kid looked like he needed it more. 

“Wow- I, wow, thank you, that’s- that’s really kind of you?” he stammers, not sure how to handle himself under this sort of sudden kindness. 

“It’s nothing, really, I hope you enjoy it! What’s your name?” Seokjin asks, leaning against the shaded wall to the opposite building of the restaurant. 

“Taehyung,” he replies with a grin. 

“I’m Seokjin, or just Jin if you like,” Seokjin returns, earning a slow nod from a still mildly confused Taehyung. 

“What was the cocktail about then?” he asks simply. “I mean I was so grateful, it was truly delicious, but-?” 

“Honestly? It was to spite my boss, well not entirely, you looked like you needed cheering up, but I could kill two birds with one stone, you know?” Seokjin admits, chuckling to himself at his win that probably seems so insignificant to the man next to him. 

“You don’t like your boss?” he asks.

“Not at all,” Seokjin furiously shakes his head, thinking about everything Sunghoon has put him through, scowling to himself with hatred for the man. 

“How come?” Taehyung asks, growing curious, this boy likes to ask questions Seokjin thinks, growing rather fond of him already. 

“He’s just disgusting. I’m overworked and underpaid, constantly shouted at, verbally abused while he’s striding around the restaurant schmoozing and getting drunk with rich customers and ignoring everyone else, he gives them free bottles of champagne as if they need freebies, knowing that they’ll keep coming back and spending even more money than the champagne is worth. I mean yeah the guy knows how to get business but he sure lacks any human compassion because caring about other people, right? Nevermind me working my off just to be treated like ,” Seokjin finishes his rant, slightly out of breath and almost laughing at his little outburst. “Sorry,” he adds, “it felt good to tell someone.”

Taehyung stands beside him, leaning against the wall. He stares at Seokjin, mouth slightly agape before he purses his lips and pats Seokjin comfortingly- maybe slightly awkwardly- on the back. 

“Can you quit? Must be better than putting yourself through that?” 

“It’s a tricky situation,” Seokjin confesses, hoping Taehyung will leave it. 

“I understand,” he nods politely, catching on quickly. “Well here, give me your phone and I’ll put my number in, if you ever need to rant to someone just text me, or even phone me. It’s the least I can do for your kindness today.” 

“That would be nice,” Seokjin pulls his phone from his pocket, trying to hide the fact that he’s feeling kind of giddy about making a friend. Seokjin is used to having no one because he’s too busy to make friends, works too many hours, doesn’t really go out to bars or anything social, this was happy. 

Taehyung creates a new contact on Seokjin’s phone, naming it ‘Tae’. 

How cute. 

Seokjin liked Taehyung already, he feels a little less alone in the world and it’s beautiful. He would like to tell Taehyung more about his life one day, the stuff that he keeps bottled up inside, maybe telling a friend would prevent a complete breakdown, and Taehyung has that vibe that makes you want to spill all your secrets to him, he just feels trustworthy. 

“Thanks, I appreciate that and will definitely text you soon!” Seokjin assures, sliding his phone back into his pocket. “So are you working with that film crew?” 

“Yeah, only as an extra though so it’s nothing special but it’s something, I get to partake in 18 episodes,” Taehyung grins, looking real proud of himself. 

“Wow! That’s awesome, that sounds much cooler than being part of the crew, you can see yourself on TV!” Seokjin enthuses, feeling so comfortable chatting to Taehyung like this. 

“It’s pretty cool,” Taehyung agrees. 

The pair chatted, and chatted some more, starting to lose track of time until the back door to the restaurant swings open, a drunk angry looking Sunghoon towering in the door frame. 

“Break is over Seokjin, you've been gone 22 minutes, you’re here to work so get in before I fire your . What the are you doing with him?” Sunghoon slurs, now gesturing toward Taehyung. 

“I was just leaving,” Taehyung nods toward Sunghoon politely, backing away slowly. “Text me, okay?” he whispers. 

Seokjin looks between Taehyung and Sunghoon, wanting so badly to just run off with his new friend, do something crazy and fun for once. He daydreams about ditching this job right here and now, and wants to fall down and sob on the floor right this second at the fact that he just can’t. 

“Coming,” he mumbles, nodding to Taehyung in agreement to text him, who is looking up at him with big concerned eyes as he backs away back to his film crew, knowing full well this is the boss that Seokjin was talking about. 

“Hurry up, you’re late enough,” Sunghoon snaps, aggressively waving him into the building and slamming the door shut behind him. “You know that guy from table 7?”

“No, we met today, he’s part of the film crew and we got talking on our breaks, okay?” he says in an exasperated tone. Wanting to just get back to work because the alternative is kicking and throwing everything in this kitchen around, punching Sunghoon in the face, and collapsing to the floor in floods of tears before running away from this place forever, and possibly stopping by a very high bridge to jump from on the way home because home wasn’t even any better than this. 

“Fine, just get back to work,” Sunghoon slurs, waving him off drunkenly. Seokjin silently obliges, gathering his composure and returning to his job like he does every day, never letting his walls down. 

Seokjin ing hates his life. 

 

Jungkook

Jungkook sits in his car, parked in the car park to the Gym, sending a quick text to his Mother letting her know that he’s on his way home now and will meet her and his Father at the restaurant. 

He’s not sure if he’s entirely up for a family dinner tonight, after a hard day of training- both clients and himself- all Jungkook really wants to do is crash on the sofa and watch Youtube. The more he watches other gaming channels, the more he learns about what it’s going to take to be successful on his own channel. Besides, his favourite artist ‘Agust D’ had announced a new track coming out this very evening, which was the most unexpected news and Jungkook wanted to be ready to listen upon release, which wouldn’t be happening in the middle of a noisy restaurant. 

Jungkook adored supporting a small, underground rapper. The bigger your fandom, the less personal it can feel, and having Agust D himself reply to every single one of Jungkook’s comments felt special, it made him feel something for once other than sore muscles. Jungkook couldn’t wait to be the owner of a huge youtube channel, and finally tell the world to listen to this guy. 

After a short drive home, Jungkook heads into his apartment for a quick shower and a freshen up, clock watching as he goes so as to not be late to the 7 o’clock dinner reservations, a bit of a rush considering he finished work at 6 o’clock and needs to drive to the restaurant too.

It had been months since he had seen his parents, and things had been left on a very sour note last time Jungkook visited them, making him wildly nervous about this evening.  

6 months prior: 

“What do you mean you’re breaking up with her?!” Jungkook’s Father asks in a slightly raised voice, disappointment welling in his eyes. 

“Kookie, she’s such a good woman for you, I think you’re being hasty. Are you not happy? Did something happen?” his Mother reasons, tone calmer than his Father’s, more Motherly. 

“Everything happened!” Jungkook shouted, hands shaking already, “she forced me into the personal trainer job, I never wanted this! You know I would never do this job! She’s emotionally blackmailed me this entire time because she wants me to be the boyfriend that she wants, not who I really am. I've stayed quiet this entire time and put up with it but I’ve had enough,” Jungkook rants, slumping back into his parents sofa miserably. 

“What are you talking about? You have a good, stable job with a stable income and you’re good at what you do, so she encouraged you to get the job, I wouldn’t call that emotional blackmail-”

“It’s not like that!” Jungkook interrupts, sitting up straight again, feeling tense under the piercing gazes from his parents sitting on the opposite sofa, “she made me do this job because she wants a wealthy, muscle-man of a boyfriend. I had my own dreams! She kept threatening to break up with me and take the dog with her if I don’t get the job, and I got scared of being lonely, but I can’t deal with her anymore, she just wants more and more from me and I’m paying for absolutely everything, how’s that fair?” 

“Jungkook, you’re the man of the household, and when you two give us Grandchildren you’ll have to get used to providing-” 

“I DON’T WANT CHILDREN WITH HER I HATE HER,” Jungkook screams as he rises dramatically from the sofa, towering over his parents, “DID YOU NOT LISTEN TO A WORD I SAID?”

Tears were now falling freely, he didn’t want to cry in front of his parents but he couldn’t hold it back anymore, it was out of his control. 

“Fine, what would you do without her? What’s this big dream of yours?” Jungkook’s Mother now chimes in, Motherly tone gone. 

“I’ll be a gaming youtuber, you know this, I’ve told you about it since I was 13!” Jungkook cries, his parents now scoffing in unison. 

“Oh not that old thing, grow up, Jungkook. You’re not still holding onto that nonsense, surely?” his Father scolds, also now standing up from the sofa, “get out,” he points toward the hallway to the front door, Jungkook immediately takes up the offer, stomping out of the living room, out of the front door and slamming it angrily behind him. 

Present day: 

Jungkook hasn’t spoken a word to his parents since that day 6 months ago, unwilling to be the one to make the first move on getting back in touch. Until the text came through this morning from his Mother stating that they’re going to book a table at a local restaurant for them all at 7 o’clock, as they would like to ‘reconnect’. 

Jungkook can’t tell whether they want to apologise or not, but feels good that they were the first to break, because he for sure wasn’t going to be the first after that incident. He calms his nervous brain by telling himself that they thought about what they did, realised that they ostracized their son, and wanted to bury the hatchet, and Jungkook is happy with this thought. He did miss them, admittedly, they’re his parents, but that day 6 months ago was unforgivable at the time. 

After one last look in the mirror, Jungkook is ready to head out, pulling up google maps on his phone as he walks out to the car, not entirely sure where this place is, just knows it’s some fairly decent restaurant not too far from either his or his parent’s home. 

Jungkook can feel his leg shaking nervously as he drives, simultaneously wanting to get there and get the initial awkwardness over with, yet also wishing he would never arrive because of the initial awkwardness. 

It takes around 15 minutes of driving through the city, and Jungkook feels that twang of butterflies in his stomach when he sees the restaurant sign, knowing he’s here. It’s 7:06 so no doubt his parents are already here, which makes him more nervous at the thought of having to awkwardly walk to their table, not sure how to greet them, but he was too slow for getting there first. 

Jungkook nears the entrance, he can feel his heart starting to pound a little but has a word with himself about how they’re just his parents, and it’s going to be fine. 6 months had just felt like such a long time, and as guilty as he feels- he started to get used to a life of not seeing them- terrified that a similar argument would take place if he ever saw them again. After all, they were the ones who told him to leave their house that day, he was willing to stay and reason once he finished his shouting fest. It’s not his fault they made it so tricky for him. 

“Ah, hey,” Jungkook greets awkwardly as he approaches a small 4 seater table, sitting himself down opposite his parents who were both staring back at him with polite smiles. 

“Hi, Kookie,” his Mother begins, turning a little soft at the sight of her son and breaking the ice, “how have you been?” 

“Yeah, good,” Jungkook replies casually, concerned about keeping small talk to a minimum at this stage. 

“How’s work?” his Father asks, most likely wondering if Jungkook did something crazy like quit his job to focus on the Youtube channel, no doubt worrying his son was swimming in unpaid bills. 

“Yep it’s good, still at the same place,” Jungkook assures. His parents both visibly sigh in relief. 

“Thank you for coming,” his Mother says, placing her hands on his, “we really missed you and we were just hoping you would want to reconnect with us, maybe things could go back to the way they were before?” She offers kindly, melting Jungkook with the old classic Motherly warm smile. 

“Of course, I’m sorry I didn’t text you first, I was just in a weird place and trying to find my footing,” Jungkook partially lies, really he was angry at the two of them and didn’t want to talk to them again for a while, but guilt was filling him now and he didn’t have the heart to tell them how he really felt. 

“Well I’m glad to hear you’re still getting on with things well and are earning yourself a stable income,” his Father chirped, making Jungkook begin to feel frustrated that his job was the only thing that mattered to them, but it’s okay, he doesn’t live with them, as long as he just enjoys a meal and gets through the evening it will be okay. 

“Can I get you any drinks?” a passing Waiter offers. 

“We’ll have a bottle of your most expensive red wine and four glasses please,” Jungkook’s Father requests, making Jungkook do a double take. 

“Four?” he queries. 

“I’ve invited a guest,” his Father shrugs as if it’s nothing. Jungkook doesn’t even get to ask who until his parents are waving someone over from the entrance behind him, he spins around in his seat and is horrified to see his ex-girlfriend. He stands up quickly in protest, knocking the table with his knees slightly as he does, causing people to look round at him with frowns. 

“Sit down, Jungkook,” his Father scolds. 

“What’s she doing here?!” Jungkook demands, not complying with the request. 

“Don’t make a scene,” his Father hisses, waving him to sit down immediately. 

Jungkook wants to cry, what’s his abusive ex-girlfriend doing here? Why did his parents invite her? He has so many questions but is too angry. 

“We told you we want things to go back to how they were, things were good, Kookie. She’s ready to reconnect with you,” his Mother smiles but frowns, growing concerned over the potential situation that’s about to kick off. 

“Things may have been good for you, but not me, what about me?!” 

Jungkook’s Father stands up and reaches over the table to grab Jungkook’s jumper sleeve, tugging him down into the chair. His ex arrives at the table and takes a seat next to Jungkook as if nothing’s happened. Jungkook turns away from her in his seat, making brief eye contact with the bartender who looks away quickly, pretending that he’s not watching the scene while he buffs a wine glass with a cloth. 

“How are you, Areum?” his Mother asks kindly to the woman next to him, as if nothing ever happened and they were just meeting up for a little chinwag. Jungkook scoffs at hearing her name again, how can a girl so ugly on the inside be blessed with a name that means beautiful? 

“Jungkook, turn around and say hello,” his Father whisper-shouts. Jungkook felt childish, but his level of anger at this situation was through the roof at this point, so he continues to sit facing away, his shaky leg making the table wobble; earning a light kick in the leg from his Mother opposite him. 

A Waiter brings the fancy wine over, pouring each occupant of the table a small glass and asking if they’re ready to order food. Jungkook decides to insist that he’s not hungry, a complete lie as he’s just finished work an hour ago, but he plans to finish his small glass of wine and drive home ASAP, gladly knowing he can’t even accept another drink offer because he needs to drive. His parents give up with his stubbornness, and order their food, Areum also ordering a meal- being assured by Jungkook’s parents that she can have whatever she likes and it’s on them- this makes Jungkook seethe inside. 

“Just to make you aware,” the Waiter remembers before walking off, “we’ll be having live music tonight from 7:30 right there next to your table, so if you’d like to be moved to another table where you can talk easier I can sort that out, it’s only quiet cocktail piano though.” 

“We’re fine here,” Jungkook snaps, not meaning to snap at him, just thinking about how some music might shut everyone up and give him something to focus on that’s not this terrible meeting with his unsupportive parents and abusive ex. “Thank you, though,” he adds, feeling guilty for the snap. 

“No problem,” the Waiter smiles, clearly not naive to the family drama that was unfolding in front of the entire restaurant. At least the guy working behind the bar near this table had some entertainment tonight, and god knows the pianist will have a show when he arrives. Jungkook doesn’t want it to get nasty, but if Areum and his parents test his patience enough before he can finish the wine, it won’t be pretty. 

How could they do this to him? He’s not surprised particularly, just disappointed. Mainly in himself because he’d actually thought his parents understood his viewpoint and just wanted to move on, no burning bridges. 

“You two need to talk I think,” Jungkook’s Mother offered, smiling apologetically at Areum, who waved her off in an ‘it’s okay’ manner. How dare she act all cool and nonchalant when the last time they spoke she was thrashing about trying to hit him in the bedroom of their apartment. 

Jungkook thinks about the dalmatian that Areum took with her when she left, he still misses his girl every day, she’s a good dog, he wonders how she’s doing. She’d be much better off with Jungkook than Areum, he’d even been the one to pick her out and grow attached to her first, not to mention he paid for food, vet bills, toys, everything. It was the only way; Areum threatened leaving and taking the dog with her so many times that he eventually had to give up the fight and tell her to go. He wants his dog back so bad. 

“Okay fine we’ll talk, how’s Bella?” he blurts out, now turning toward Areum, who laughs in return. 

“6 months apart and all you can ask about is the dog?” she scoffs, still laughing a little. 

“Jungkook,” his Mother warns. 

“Yes? Tell me how my dog is,” he demands. 

“I’m not here to talk about a stupid dog, who by the way isn’t yours, now lets talk properly. I’m willing to talk this through,” Areum offers, completely dodging the dog talk. 

“Bella isn’t stupid,” Jungkook folds his arms, looking away from Areum again, deciding either she tells him about his baby or he doesn’t talk. 

“Jungkook, grow up,” his Father groans from across the table, already exhausted with how this is panning out, but Jungkook doesn’t understand how he could have been stupid enough to think this would go well. 

Right then, a young man with platinum blonde hair turns up, clearly carrying a stage piano in a case, putting it down by the wall just opposite their table so he can set his gear up there ready to play. 

“Look, there’s the entertainment, he can take the heat off this circus going on right now,” Jungkook comments pettily, receiving another light kick from his Mother under the table. 

Jungkook watches the man set up his piano and speakers, finding it much more entertaining than listening to the awkward small talk his parents were making with Areum, happy that they’d given up on him for a minute or two. 

Once set up, the pianist begins to play some low, easy listening cocktail piano music, creating a nice atmosphere in the restaurant, almost making Jungkook forget that he’s at some sort of weird toxic family get together right now. It was beautiful music, Jungkook tried to zone out to it, taking appropriately sized sips of wine while doing so, glass thankfully almost empty. 

“Are you ready to talk,Jungkook?” Areum quips as if this whole meeting isn’t a big deal at all. 

“Are you ready to tell me about Bella?” Jungkook retorts, Areum rolls her eyes. 

“Why are you so fixated on the dog? I’ve come all the way here to fix things together, you were the one who kicked me out yet I’m still here!” she whines, pouting like a small child, Jungkook feels sick. 

“I didn’t kick you out, I took up your offer to leave like you kept threatening to do anyway, now tell me how my dog is. I miss her okay? Sue me,” he sneers, still not willing to fully face her until she answers his questions. 

“Oh but you don’t miss me?” 

“How is my ing dog?” Jungkook snaps, not willing to play this game for much longer. 

“I gave her up for adoption, okay? Happy?” Areum admits, sighing dramatically. 

“You what?!” Jungkook yells, causing the restaurant to fall into an almost silence for 2-3 seconds, the pianist awkwardly continuing his set. 

“Jungkook calm down,” his Mother warns sternly, eyebrows raised at him like she used to do when he was a child. 

“I couldn’t afford to keep her, it wasn’t fair,” Areum reasons, trying to move on to another topic quickly. 

“I could! You should have left her with me!” Jungkook says, still angry but more toned down, not even able to believe what he’s hearing. Where’s his Bella? “Which adoption shelter?” 

“Ugh it doesn’t matter! She’s probably been adopted by a nice family already, everyone loves dalmatians, now drop it,” Areum argues, Jungkook can feel her gaze piercing into the side of his head, unwilling to look at her even for a second. 

“We’ve been talking to Areum,” his Father begins, now becoming clear that this has been well planned and calculated, “and we’re all willing to compromise. If you two get back together, Areum is happy for you to reduce your hours a bit at the Gym, and work on your Youtube nonsense with the extra free time just as a side hustle, as you’ll have Areum’s income to help pay the bills.” 

Jungkook wants to laugh, and if he wasn’t so pissed, he would. 

“She works now does she?” he snarls, not believing what he’s actually hearing right now. 

“Yes, I’m a babysitter, thank you,” Areum turns her nose up. Jungkook does laugh this time, just a little, earning his 3rd kick of the night from his Mother, he balls his fists up to suppress flipping out at her. 

“And, why exactly do you think I would agree to this? I don’t need your permission to do my ‘Youtube nonsense’ thank you very much I’m a grown man with my own life, maybe I’ll even quit my job and focus full time on it, it’s more money than personal training after all,” Jungkook lies through his teeth, of course he’s not going to do that, he’s already planned how to do it, he just enjoys watching his parents squirm at the notion. It was a little payback for everything they’ve put him through tonight. 

“Fine,” Areum laughs “you do your Youtube nonsense all you like, but neither me nor your parents will be here to pick up the pieces when it fails.” 

“Fine by me,” Jungkook snaps back. 

“Fine,” Areum repeats, “don’t know what kind of success you’re expecting with a name like GukkieGames anyway!” She laughs aloud. The cocktail pianist that Jungkook had almost forgotten about plays a very obvious bum note, panicking while trying to pick the tune back up. 

Jungkook looks over to him, noticing that he’s now staring at Jungkook with big eyes. Not that Jungkook can blame him, this drama has been going on for long enough tonight. 

“She’s right,” his Father now chimes in, hands clasped together on the table, “you go ahead and ruin your life with this insane dream of yours, but just know that if you choose this route, we are no longer your parents.” 

Jungkooks heart falls from his chest, right down to the pit of his stomach, he wants to throw up immediately, but stays stoic. 

“I- I see,” he stammers out, desperately trying to sound unbothered, also ignoring the fact that Areum is clearly getting a kick out of this. 

At this point the Pianist has unintentionally slowed the music, clearly listening in while trying to muster a passable tune as he does. The barman also continues to buff glasses that have definitely been buffed twice already, intensely watching the drama unfold, even other customers are tuning into the scene that’s been bubbling away for a while now. 

Jungkook starts to feel pressured from all the eyes on him, swigging the last sip of wine and deciding that he has to make a choice now.

1. He lets the contained rage out, standing up dramatically and pushing the table away from him, yelling his piece before storming out. 

2. He leaves quietly, letting his anger out away from the restaurant.

3. He tells his parent’s that he was only bluffing about quitting his job, telling them he’s going to continue with his life as it is, and that he’ll text them in the morning.  

No option is perfect, and agreeing to his parent’s terrible plan is completely out of the question. He never wants to see Areum again, that’s for sure, but does he burn a bridge with his parents, right here, right now? He went the last 6 months without seeing them, and it was fine, but they didn’t disown him that day and it was only natural that he would eventually receive contact from them about meeting up. Although he was so disappointed that this was it. 

The entire restaurant is pretty much fixated on their table, trying to continue their conversations quietly to mask the fact that they were all curious at the show unfolding in front of them, people love drama after all, it’s human nature. 

Jungkook stands up calmly, knowing he has to decide right now. His parents look up at him curiously, he can tell they can’t predict his next move.

“I guess you don’t have a child anymore. Goodbye.”

He knows he’s guilting them on purpose with the use of ‘child’ instead of ‘son’. He knows that he’s tugging aggressively at his Mother’s heartstrings, but his Father was the one that suggested this and his Mother hadn’t protested, so as far as Jungkook is concerned; his parents chose to make their bed so now they must lay in it. 

Jungkook’s heart hurts so much as he walks solemnly to the door, deciding against looking back one more time, simply because his Mother’s face might break him. The entire restaurant is watching, no one even attempting to hide it at this point. He wonders what his parents and Areum will do now, since they’re still waiting for their meals. 

He doesn’t actually care, he just wants to get to his car and cry, but his heart is too heavy. It’s pulling him down so much that he barely makes it to the low stone wall that lines the front garden area of the restaurant before he’s clutching his chest, willing away the panic attack that threatens to spill out.  

Jungkook slowly falls to his knees, he feels so dramatic right now but everything feels so heavy like there’s an anchor forcing him down, making his legs too weak to continue walking. He’ll be okay in a few minutes, he just needs to calm the hyperventilation before he can pick himself up and make it to the car again. 

It’s so hard, everything hurts, he can’t recall a time he’s ever felt this devastated. Is that it now? Does he no longer have parents? He knows he’s a full grown man in his early twenties but his parents are his parents, is this really what it’s come to? 

“Hey, try and breathe,” a low voice says quietly behind him, a hand now on his back. The voice is nice, it's really familiar and that comforts Jungkook. 

“Thank you,” Jungkook mumbles, panic attack narrowly avoided as the hand rubbing his back slowly calms his body. 

“I saw what happened and stepped out for a quick break, are you okay?” the voice asked, it sounds so familiar. 

“That’s good of you,” Jungkook whispers, still kneeling on the hard floor, head bowed with hair in his face. “I’ll be fine.” 

“Okay, I have to go back in soon, I just couldn’t let you leave like this knowing what happened,” the man patted Jungkook’s back before standing up and offering a hand out. Jungkook saw the gesture through his bangs and took it, letting himself be pulled into a standing position, legs a little shaky. 

“Here, I wrote my phone number down, I know you don’t know me but I’d love to talk, if you need someone, you know?” the man offers kindly, now offering Jungkook a napkin that he’d written his number on, which Jungkook accepted easily. 

“You sound so familiar,” he ponders aloud as he pockets the napkin. The man in front of him has a strange glint in his eyes, purposely avoiding Jungkook’s comment. 

“Just, text me?” he emphasizes, looking Jungkook straight in the eyes as if trying to convey something, Jungkook nods quickly in response and watches as the man begins to walk back to the restaurant. 

“Wait, what’s your name?” Jungkook calls out, spinning around to face him. 

“Yoongi!” the man calls back to him, not turning around to do so. Yoongi? He can’t recall anyone with that name. Maybe Jungkook doesn’t know him after all. 

 

Yoongi

“Thank you for coming along to see me play,” Yoongi smiles warmly at Namjoon, who is sitting across from him at the table he spent the enitre evening sitting at, drinking and enjoying the music; and the drama. 

“Don’t mention it! When you said you’d landed this gig here I realised it would be a great chance to see you in action, I love music,” Namjoon beams, looking happy with the friendship he had blossomed so quickly with Yoongi. 

Yoongi felt incredibly guilty that he wasn’t sure if he even liked Namjoon only yesterday when they met, the man had been so kind. 

It surprised Yoongi a lot when Namjoon had come back to the music room at the end of the day to ask Yoongi how the day went, it surprised him even more when he casually told Namjoon he’d landed a last minute gig playing some background music at a restaurant the next night and Namjoon replied ‘oh awesome, where are you playing? I’ll drop in’. And he did, he even stayed for the entire set, enjoying a night of drinking and listening to the music, which Yoongi didn’t think was even that interesting to listen to. If only Namjoon knew what kind of music he was putting out as Agust D, would he even enjoy it? 

The restaurant was open for another half an hour and as much as Yoongi wanted to go home, he knew he should stay for a drink with the man who’d just sat and listened to the entire thing. It was his own fault that he stayed up the entire night previously, furiously writing his new track ‘To My Fans’, he had made the mistake of announcing his new work on his 93 follower Twitter account, so that he would definitely have to commit to it, especially considering the tweet instantly received a like from the twitter user that he is sure must be Gukkie. The backing track for it wasn’t anything special, he had mostly reused old samples that he had made over the years while bored, they came in handy. The lyrics though; he was very proud of them, maybe they were rushed, but frantic writing can often turn out beautiful. 

“Was that kid okay? I saw you dash out to find him,” Namjoon asks, concerned after watching a terrible family drama pan out right in front of him. 

“Mm, he was okay, just needed some comfort,” Yoongi hums, still reeling from the shock of meeting his number 1 fan. He knew it had to be him, after the girl with him yelled that comment about ‘what kind of a username is GukkieGames’ something clicked in Yoongi so hard that it almost made him mess up the entire song he was playing.

He searched the internet quickly before going back inside, in search of anyone else with a similar username, but there was no one, this was the guy. He didn’t have the heart to tell the poor guy, it was the wrong timing. As much as it probably would have made Jungkook’s night better knowing who he just met, the kid looked like he was about to implode from emotion and he couldn’t shock him like that. He had figured out his name is Jungkook pretty quick from the amount of times his parents said it, and realised where the username had stemmed from, breaking Yoongi’s heart even more when he realised Jungkook wants to be a gaming Youtuber but is being shattered by his family, maybe this is why he has no uploads on his channel.

Yoongi feels more nervous about releasing his track when he gets home now, he mentioned Gukkie in the lyrics, working his name cleverly into it so that he can say thank you to him for being his fan for so long, but he’s since met the man himself, so now what? Will Jungkook make the connection alone? Texting him after the song is released, asking if Yoongi’s who he thinks he is? Maybe he could put something in the video description like ‘it was good meeting you tonight, Gukkie, let’s meet again’ or is that cheesy? He mentioned Mint Green Porsche guy in the lyrics too, but it’s all up in the air whether he will get in contact or not, however it’s exciting regardless.

“Someone’s deep in thought, you okay?” Namjoon asks, head tilted and brows furrowed. 

“Yes, sorry, late night last night, got lost in thoughts, thank you again for coming tonight you really didn’t have to.”

Yoongi really is grateful. 

“Stop thanking me,” Namjoon laughs, “I needed a night out and I genuinely really enjoyed it. I’m worried about that kid though, his parents just disowned him in the middle of a restaurant!” 

“I know, it was pretty crazy,” Yoongi agreed, mulling over whether to drop his entire life story to Namjoon or not, but realising now is maybe not the moment. He feels pretty confident in the fact that he’s made a new friend out of Namjoon and will tell him one day, just not yet. 

“Did he seem stable?” Namjoon asks.

“Not at first, but by the time I left I was pretty sure he’d be okay, I gave him my number in case he needs someone,” Yoongi confessed, not originally planning on revealing that detail. 

“Oh really? That’s nice of you,” Namjoon hums, taking another sip of whatever he was drinking from a glass bottle. 

“Yeah, he might not even text though,” Yoongi lied, feeling pretty confident that Jungkook would text him. 

“Maybe, it was still the right thing to do though,” Namjoon assured him. What a nice guy Yoongi thinks, wondering how his life sort of went from solitude to making 1 possibly 2 friends in just two days. Maybe this was the start of a different lifestyle? Maybe life was no longer going to be waking up, teaching piano, eating alone, making anonymous music, then going to bed. This might be the start of a more fulfilling life. 

Yoongi finishes up his drink and makes his way home, getting as many funny looks on the train back as he did on the train there, piano strapped to his back like a guitar but bigger. 

It was a good workout for sure, but it wasn’t ideal, he needs to save up for a car really, and accepting one-off gigs like these was a pretty good way to do it. 

Once home, he gets ready to release the new track at 11:43pm, narrowly avoiding releasing it after midnight meaning it’s practically a day late. Of course he hadn’t intended to release it this late at night, but he really had to stay with Namjoon after what he did, and he didn’t regret it. 

He gets everything ready to post, writing the description last. He does his usual thing of writing a bit about the song and what it means, writing about the equipment used to produce, he isn’t even sure if Jungkook reads the description down this far because it’s not anything interesting, but he leaves a short line right at the end reading: ‘Gukkie, let's meet again’. 

He presses upload, knowing he doesn’t have time to mess about if he wants to upload it today, luckily his internet connection does well and uploads nice and quick, his computer notifying him of the successful upload. 

6 minutes pass since releasing the track, they feel like the longest 6 minutes ever, but Yoongi realises it was worth the wait as soon as his phone pings twice, 2 beautiful notifications adorning his lockscreen. 

‘New donation from: GukkieGames’ 

‘1 new text from: unknown’