warnings: smoking, implied!unhealthy relationships

gasoline dreams;

the spray of sunset-light that follows in Jungkook's wake as he bursts into the abandoned classroom reminds Jin of crimson paint splattered across bleak stretches of hallways.

Jin barely flinches from his seat in the chair tipped back against the grudgy wall, though he tugs out his earbuds and raises an eyebrow – an acknowledgement as well as a question. Jungkook doesn't answer, not right away at least. just roughly tugs out a sooty chair from the firewood-pile in the back and paying no heed to the shrieking the legs make against the floor. he pulls it right across Jin and straddles the seat, crosses his arms on the back.

impenitence douses in every nuance of Jungkook’s being and it amuses Jin more. he’s also still wearing his uniform with the black tie almost undone even though class ended a few hours ago. though, Jin thinks, it’s more likely that he hadn’t gone any of his classes all day. neither did he, but it’s far less obvious for a college student to skip out than a high schooler.

it doesn’t matter though. in this universe, where even the dusted air stands still among remnants of crumbled castles, there are only two. one is old for eighteen and one is young at twenty-two. time is like the pack of cigarettes in Jin’s pocket – just something to burn.

Jungkook reaches out a hand and Jin just bats it away, earning a frown in return. tsking in annoyance, the younger leans back in his chair until he’s arching to look out the clerestory windows where the falling night smothers another ember-sun. Jin watches the way the slanted light casts ashen shadows down the stretch of skin, the way those tinder-brown eyes are set aflame, and how in this position Jungkook could either be flying or falling.

it's much like this, Jin remembers, the first time they meet.

Jungkook had found him three years ago in this same one-room classroom, which had been empty for years and had become Jin's haven. that day Jin had turned at the sound of the opening door, and met Jungkook's smile, with his figure silhouetted by flames. there are still smoke stains of the burned desks he destroyed then strewn up against the branded walls.

Jin had watched the boy with redwood hair stride to stand beside him, eyes on the hungry bonfire and said off-handedly, "beautiful, isn't it?"

blinking, Jin found that he had nothing to say.

with a quick glance in the older’s direction, Jungkook had stared back deep into the blazes before saying, "don't you think there's something so calm and peaceful about something's that so untamed? such raw power and destruction…"

the agreement in Jin’s mind gets caught and somehow comes out as “who are you?” even now, he isn’t sure why he had asked because he had already heard all the rumors in college of the high school boy who couldn’t be caught.

“Jungkook, nice to meet you.” to Jin’s surprise, the boy had turned to the expanse of cracked dance mirrors smeared with grime and fingerprints and, a quick smirk thrown across his  shoulder, dragged a palm across the face.

he returns back and extends the gritty hand with a “let’s be friends.” Jin recognized something in Jungkook that day. so, with the dying wreckage of something that had once mattered beside them as witness, he accepted.

thinking back now, that smile had been fake. Jin hadn’t known because he couldn’t read Jungkook then.

but he does now.

"ended it," Jungkook says finally, breaking into Jin’s memories.

smirk tugging at the corner of his lip, Jin gestures at the faint red stamped against Jungkook’s cheek. "parting gift?"

the younger laughs and fingers the irritated skin.

"shame," Jin laments, stretching. "even after all that work. roses are expensive these days, you know."

nodding, Jungkook says, pitilessly, "yeah. her boyfriend was a clingy one."

no, Jin amends in his mind as he continues to gaze at the younger through his curtain of dark mahogany hair. paint is too clean for someone so saturated like Jungkook. no, gasoline would be more accurate. something about Jungkook just bleeds toxins and seeps venom and poisons everything it touches.

"remind me," he mutters, closing his eyes. the hairs on his scalp scratches against the old uneven plaster, "why you even go through the effort if it always ends like this?"

Jungkook sighs in a way that conflicts the smirk that still lingers in his voice. "ah," he says, "there's something so attractive about a woman in love."

"with someone else."

the lack of remorse is steeped in every syllable of Jungkook’s words. "is there something wrong about wanting to make something mine?"

yet, Jin smiles internally, he enjoys messes and loves the way gasoline streaks arabesque color across charcoal blacktops.

his thoughts are broken by a sharp punch to the shoulder. the impact surprised him more than it hurt but his eyelids flash open to see Jungkook leaning even closer, his eyes more mischievous than unapologetic now.

"how about you?"

"what about me?"

"please," Jungkook scoffs. "you're a whole different level of unattainable."

"according to whom?"

Jungkook’s lips turn into a thin line as he feigns deep thought. "um, everyone you've given the time of day. meaning,” he smiles, “no one."

"that's not true and you know it" gets trapped in the back Jin’s throat. but he stops. he knows that the younger is just baiting him and Jin is not for these sorts of games. so he just pulls out a cigarette and lights it instead.

"you just want something you can't have," he counters, ignoring the asking hand again.

retreating again, Jungkook says while loosening the tie around his neck, "isn't that human?" Jin watches the fabric flutter down the grungy ground and glances up in time to see the chain gleam against ivory skin. "besides, taken girls are always more interesting."

the words "until she falls for you" susurrates from Jin’s lips.

Jungkook shrugs. "they all do in the end."

but Jin doesn’t really hear behind the haze of smoke. he’s paying more attention to the way the little cross on the silver chain falls perfectly in the gaps of Jungkook’s straight collarbones and punctures in between the dashes like the k in morse code.

pieces of the plaster chip off into Jin’s hair as he shifts and speaks again. "so how long is all this” he waves noncommittally in Jungkook’s direction “going to last?"

at this, Jungkook’s eyebrows furrow. all smugness and unrepentant attitude blown out like a candle. "it's been how many years, and you're just now starting to develop a conscience?"

"don't mistake," Jin replies smoothly, “curiosity for concern.” he takes another long drag and the ashes dusts gray against the black of his pants.

when Jungkook doesn’t respond, Jin continues. "you know, it's getting boring,” he says, his chain-link bracelet tinkling against bony wrist. “watching this overrun show and always knowing the outcome. it’s always the same."  Jin twirls a stream in the air with a finger. "you laying the trail of petroleum and setting up the ground for fire. the only thing that changes is whether you strike the match or not."

the corner of Jungkook’s lip twitches. "why should I care about what you thi-?"

"ah, but that," Jin cuts over. "you should care about."

"and why is that?"

Jin inhales a chestful of smoke before discarding the remains of the cigarette and leans forward until his elbows rest on his knees. the crack! of all four legs hitting the ground amplifies the tension that ignites between them. his eyes never leave Jungkook’s downcast ones above him as he hisses through his barely moving lips, "I think you're afraid."

something flashes across Jungkook’s face but it’s gone before Jin can identify it through the smog.

"afraid?" Jungkook repeats it, but it’s more of a mocking statement than a question.

"of being alone," Jin finishes. he tilts his head to the side. “gotta fill the hole somehow.”

“and,” Jungkook says, never one to back down from a challenge, “what makes you think that?”

Jin chuckles, expelling the last of the smoke in his ribcages. "it took being burned once to know."

this time Jin knows the expression in Jungkook’s eyes because he knows that Jungkook remembers. he knows that the other is feeling the ghost of stolen kisses against crystal skies.

it wasn’t long after they had met, maybe two months or four. drunk on jealousy, Jin had once stopped the story of Jungkook’s broken heart clean in its tracks with a reckless kiss. that summer day, he had filled Jungkook’s ribcages with daydreams and inhaled them back, echoed by the younger’s voice.

yet not a month later they were replaced with nightmares when those betraying lips find another pair. and another. and another… the unshed tears built up in Jin’s chest until he was cramming the hollow cavity with smothering smoke, dulling the ragged edges of something ripped apart inside.

but Jin knows better now.

and this time he's not letting Jungkook go without leaving a few marks of his own.

reaching up, Jin trails a slender finger up against the exposed skin of Jungkook’s open shirt and is pleased to hear the involuntary intake of breath in response.

"we're all hiding something,” he murmurs. “you have to get close to see the truth. even if…" his finger hooks through the necklace like a clip through a collar. “it means that you have to be hurt.”

this close and beneath Jin’s resolute stare, Jungkook finally falters and looks his age. a mere eighteen to Jin’s twenty-two.

smirking now, Jin lets go but doesn’t take his hand from the collarline. instead he slides skin against skin across the bumps of veins and adam’s apple.

“so, I'm going to tell you.” his long fingers curl around the column of neck, not strangling, but still demanding attention. not that Jungkook has a choice.

“we are the same.” with every word Jin closes the distance until their lips are a breath apart. everything about Jungkook is trembling but his gaze is steady. “young and reckless and made up of perfect storms. and with voids to fill."

with his lips parted and shallow chest fluttering for oxygen, Jungkook is so vulnerable yet still resolute. and it makes Jin want to torment him more so he flickers a touch across the younger’s lips with his own.

"See the beast in me because,” he whisps a tongue across cracked skin, “I've already fallen for the monster in you."

“I’ve seen.”

Jin isn’t expecting a response so he hesitates and Jungkook is leaning up in that gap, asking, but Jin’s hand is stopping him, cutting him off.

“I’ve seen,” Jungkook insists in a way that borders begging, wetting dried lips, “and I love it all.”

a chuckle emits Jin’s lips and they are curling back in amusement. “giving in already?”

“I’m not giving in.” fired by Jin’s mocking tone, Jungkook’s eyebrows knit together and he stares so intently back that it’s almost a glare. “I’m challenging you.”

"Oh?” before Jungkook can even protest, Jin is dipping down and murmuring down the open collar. “I'd love to beat the player at his own game," he breathes this against Jungkook’s neck, outlining the sharp jawline with his nose.

Jungkook laughs at this and Jin is there, chin tiling to catch it all between his lips and swallowing it whole.

beneath redwood and unapologetic smirks and eighteen, Jungkook tastes like gasoline rags, wire, and bent nails.

but Jin is the match and the touch of their lips slotting together are the spark. and they soon are finding it difficult to breathe, gasping with their overflowing lungs of smoke and debris.

the klack! of the chair being knocked aside is the only warning Jungkook has before whatever breath in him is knocked out when his back hits the wall Jin pushes him against. the plaster is cold against their skin, with coils of serpentine flames in their grinding hips igniting their nerve endings aflame, but what is ice to the fire? black is smearing against shirts from roaming hands and mixing with sweat beneath crumpled fabrics. but they really couldn’t care less.

"don’t say I didn't warn you," Jin chokes somewhere in the little space between them but Jungkook isn’t listening. he’s too busy setting Jin’s pulse ablaze with his teeth against unmarked skin and he wants to not think anymore. and Jin is more than willing to comply.

it's either going to be forever. or it's all going up in flames.

but they both see the same gasoline-lined castles they built and know that it can be both.

A/N: so this is the beginning of my trek into bts fics haha it really changed from what I had originally intentioned OTL anyway I hope you enjoyed it~

crossposted from here (x)