Jungkook concluded that Jimin and Yoongi were the absolute worst. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to him, but nonetheless, he kind of wanted to whack them both upside the head.

They had barged in unannounced to his home a few hours ago (as they had been doing every week for the past few months) and decided to make a mess in his living room. Yoongi lounged on his couch with a book on the history of hip hop in his hands, his teal-colored hair resting comfortably over his right eye. He tried beatboxing and rapping to a new rhythm every few pages, stumbling over his words and spitting random nonsense. Jimin sat with his legs crossed on the piano bench, pushing down random piano keys with his left hand as he rapidly typed something into his phone with his right hand (Jungkook guessed that he was texting a girl). His fiery orange hair bopped to Yoongi’s attempt to become Jay-Z as he tried to sync the dissonant chords with it.

The two of them were truly masters of making a situation chaotic.

Jungkook wasn’t quite sure why they were friends, but he grudgingly accepted it anyway. Jimin was a great guy to go dancing with, and Suga was a talented composer. On the other hand, Jimin was also notorious for stealing food off of people’s plates (Jungkook was the usual victim), and Suga was also a talented sleeper.

Jungkook rolled his eyes at the two of them and stuck his face deeper into his biology textbook. He had his final exam in two days and was starting to regret missing class every other day. It was tough trying to read a textbook and needing to look up the differences between centrioles and centromeres every other page. It was also tough trying to read a textbook with Idiot #1 making the weirdest noises possible and Idiot #2 banging loudly on his grand piano.

He skimmed through the passages in his 900-paged textbook and lamented about how he was only on page 34. He had to pass the exam. He really didn’t want to have to retake the course, especially because Dr. Jeon was an unpleasant misanthrope with a monotonous voice that even lulled Namjoon, the smartest kid in the class, to sleep once. Dr. Jeon had also taken a strong dislike to Jungkook since the day they met. Maybe it was due to the fact that he pulled a solid thirty percent on the first day test. Maybe it was due to the fact that they shared the same last name and that he felt Jungkook brought shame to everyone with the surname “Jeon.”

Mitosis. Meiosis. Small interfering RNA. Translation. Transcription. Metaphase. 

The biology terms started to blur in his mind after a few minutes, and Jungkook felt like he was about to fall asleep. Closing his eyes, he leaned his body back against the wall and started to daze off.

“Oi!” Jimin’s voice cut through his peaceful rest, waking him up. Jungkook jerked upright, and his eyes darted around, looking for any imminent danger.

“Go get the pizza, stupid.”

Jungkook raised an eyebrow at that. “Since when did you order pizza?” he demanded.

“Just now.”

“Wait, so you weren’t texting a girl?”

“Nah, man. I did that already today.” Jimin grinned cheekily and pointed at the door. As if on cue, the doorbell rang. “Go get it.”

Jungkook looked around his living room and gave him an annoyed look. “I’m literally the farthest person from the door,” he grumbled. “You’re sitting on my bench doing nothing while Yoongi is making animal noises from my couch.”

Yoongi paused mid-sentence and shrugged. “Guess you don’t know art when you hear it. Now go!”

The doorbell rang again. Sighing, Jungkook stood up and smoothed out the wrinkles in his clothes with his hands. He flipped off the two of them as he walked past and yanked the door open, just in time to see the delivery boy lift his hand to push the doorbell for the third time.

The delivery boy paused with his finger in the air, a few inches from the button, and stared at Jungkook, who stared back. They both stood in an awkward and confused position before the delivery boy straightened himself and winked.

“You have a beautiful smile,” he chirped.

Jungkook’s brain short-circuited. “What.”

“I said, you have a beautiful smile.”

A burst of laughter erupted from behind him, and Jungkook whirled around to see Yoongi and Jimin peering around the living room doorway, both of them grinning cheekily. He flipped them off once again before facing the delivery boy.

He scratched the back of his head, and his cheeks turned bright red. “Uh, thanks?”

“You’re welcome. Hawaiian pizza for, uh, ‘Kookie?’”

Jungkook facepalmed and let out a muffled scream. Jimin truly was the worst.

“I take it that you weren’t the one to order the pizza?”

Desperately shaking his head no, Jungkook finally looked up and saw Delivery Boy grinning widely.

Delivery Boy simply snorted. “Oh my god. This delivery was one of the strangest requests we’ve ever gotten. The guy at the computer had to call all of us and the boss in to work it out. We all thought it was bullsh*t until we read the actual order and figured that anyone insane enough to put pineapple on pizza was insane enough to request us to ‘send the cutest delivery boy available and have him tell me a compliment.’”

Jungkook really wanted to punch Jimin in the face.

Upon looking closer at Delivery Boy, Jungkook realized that, to be honest, he was terribly attractive. His brown hair was neatly tucked into his company cap, and his warm eyes twinkled, shining with both amusement and interest. They were lightly lined with eyeliner, and a pair of gold earrings dangled from his years. He raised an eyebrow at the staring Jungkook and ran his tongue along his bottom lip in nervousness, his eyes darting to the side.

In his twenty-one years of existence, Jungkook had met a lot of attractive people, but none of them took his breath away the way Delivery Boy did. He wasn’t even doing anything — just standing there — somehow managing to look handsome and charming by simple existing. His overall image, coupled with an evening sky that could have easily been taken out of a painting, made him look like he emerged from a dream.

As mad as Jungkook was at Jimin, he had to admit, the pizza place got the request correct. Delivery Boy was by far the cutest guy he had ever seen.

“I’m flattered you think that.” Startled, Jungkook snapped back into reality and focused his gaze on Delivery Boy, who was trying (and failing) to stifle his laughter.

“Did I say that aloud?” Jungkook asked, panicking.

The subsequent nod made him want to curl up into a ball and disappear. His reaction caused Delivery Boy to throw his head back and howl with laughter.

“Oh my — sorry, sorry. I’m laughing too hard.” He took in a few deep breaths before continuing. “Anyway, my name is Taehyung, so no need to call me ‘Delivery Boy.’ I’m glad you think I’m cute, though. The contest was a bloodbath back at the restaurant. Hoseok took the loss pretty hard and made a bet with me for forty bucks that you wouldn’t find me attractive. Thanks for that.” He winked, and Jungkook melted on the inside.

“You’re welcome?”

Taehyung chuckled and walked up to him, handing him the pizza box. “Please tell me that the pineapple pizza was also a part of the joke too.”

“Oh no,” Jungkook murmured gravely. “Jimin will actually eat the pizza. It fits him though, since pineapple on pizza is an absolute monstrosity. Only he would enjoy that. Everyone knows the superior pizza topping is sausage.”

Taehyung’s jaw dropped. “I cannot believe you!” he exclaimed, his arms waving wildly. “Garlic chicken pizza is the greatest thing to ever exist.”

Jungkook made a face. “That sounds ridiculously disgusting.”

“I am the one who works at a pizza place.”

“And I eat the pizza.”

“Have you ever tried garlic chicken pizza?”

“Well . . . no.”

Giving him a pointed look, Taehyung rolled his eyes and threw his hands up. “And here I was, planning on asking you out to a nearby cafe for lunch next Tuesday. I guess I’ll have to teach you the proper art of pizza first.”

Jungkook wasn’t sure if he heard that correctly. Asking me to lunch?

The confusion must have been evident on his face, because Taehyung let out an exasperated sigh. “Yes, you doofus. I am asking you to lunch. Besides, if you can put up with a pineapple-pizza monster, I’m sure you can handle me.”

“I resent that!” Jimin hollered from the living room.

“Have you guys been listening to everything we’ve been saying?!” Jungkook yelled back. The roar of laughter in response made him groan.

Taehyung chuckled quietly. “Your friends sound like a handful. Anyway, I have to go. Thanks for making my night.” He shoved a receipt into Jungkook’s hand and smirked before making his way to the delivery truck.

Jungkook watched him leave before shutting the door and reentering the living room, where he saw Jimin and Yoongi reclining on the couch.

“I hate you guys,” he muttered, his face still bright red from the encounter.

Jimin chortled. “No you don’t. We got you a date.”

“That was completely unnecessary.”

“Please. You’re absolutely hopeless when it comes to these things.”

Scowling, Jungkook rolled his eyes and walked to his quiet corner, refusing to acknowledge the truth in that statement. He looked down at the receipt in his hand and found a number scrawled in black pen on the back. Pocketing it, he glanced back at his friends, who gave him a knowing look.

(There was no way he would ever tell Jimin that he stayed up until 1 a.m. looking up garlic chicken pizza).

Thoughts on a Part 2? I'd be down for writing that.