Chapter Text
Jimin stretched his arms over his head, closing his eyes as he leaned backwards and then straightened back up to stare at Namjoon, who was lost in thought staring at the piece of paper on the table.
“Oh, yeah. Yeah, that totally makes sense. These numbers are great. I think we’re on track for this month.” He looked up at Jimin and grimaced. “God, I hate numbers. We would literally be bankrupt by now if it wasn’t for you.”
“I’m gonna need you to say that every day three times per day from now on,” Jimin replied smugly.
Namjoon rolled his eyes. “As CEO of this company, I will praise you as and when I see fit.”
“You choose the most convenient times to bring up the fact that you are CEO of this company,” Jimin accused half jokingly, half irritatedly.
“It’s part of the privilege of being CEO,” Namjoon replied, raising his chin defiantly.
Jimin shook his head, watching as Namjoon began packing up his things to leave Jimin’s office. “Hey,” he called. “How were the interviews last week? Did you find anyone good for the marketing-software liaison position I asked you for?”
Namjoon froze, a look of slight panic on his face. He scrambled to rearrange his features into an awkward dimple-less smile. Six years of being best friends with Namjoon, three of which he had spent working for him, had taught Jimin well that that smile did not bode well for anyone.
Jimin raised his eyebrows exasperatedly. “Oh god. Okay, what did you do this time? You didn’t find one?”
Namjoon sighed, his shoulders slumping dejectedly. “Well… yes and no. I sort of… well, I found someone. This guy—he’s super sharp, graduated from an Ivy League, and I think he’s a really good fit for the company.”
“But?”
Namjoon tilted his head, flinching proactively at what he knew Jimin’s reaction was going to be. “But he’s—we’re gonna have to train him. He’s a fresh grad, a lot of skills, but mainly in software.”
Jimin’s eyebrows raised further, this time an air of sarcasm in the movement. “Oh, you want—you want me to train him?” he sneered. “You’re joking,” he stated, crossing his arms.
Namjoon sighed again. “Jimin, he’s really good, okay? You’ll like him. And he’s—he’s really smart. He’ll be a breeze to train, he’ll pick up really quickly.”
Jimin brought his hands up to begin massaging his temples with his fingers. “Hyung, do you know how many things we have to get done this quarter in software? In order to meet your standards? That was the whole point of hiring a software-marketing liaison! So I wouldn’t have to do all of that work! And now you’re telling me that I have to continue doing that work and then also train someone to do it simultaneously?” He looked up to stare daggers at Namjoon before shrugging his shoulders. “It’s not happening. It can’t happen, hyung. I physically cannot do it.”
Namjoon sat down again, exhaling softly. “I know it seems like a lot, but listen. Just put in a couple of months of extra work. Okay? Or just this month, even. I’ll pick up some slack on communicating with marketing, if you want.” He paused to study Jimin, who had buried his head in his hands.
“And don’t worry about the standards. You guys are on track to meet most of the standards I asked of you, okay? You’re doing really well, and if some things aren’t met, it’s fine. I get that I’m asking for the moon here, but I just—I need you to view this guy as an investment. It’s going to be a bit of a struggle but only for a month or two. Okay? You’ll train him up, he’s super sharp, super eager to start working, and we’ll have an excellent software-marketing liaison in no time,” Namjoon said softly, his head tilting as he studied Jimin, concerned. “Jimin. Hey. It’s going to be fine.”
“You say that now, hyung, but you, in case you haven’t noticed, are the CEO. You just tell me what to do, and I’m the one who does it!” Jimin burst out, looking up at his boss and best friend.
“I know. I know, Jimin, and I know it’s hard, but I also know that you can do this. I’ve seen you do way more on this type of a timeline and I’ve seen you get laid every Friday in between getting shit done.”
Jimin huffed out an emotionless laugh and rolled his eyes. “That’s completely beside the point.”
“Just try. Keep me updated on how it’s going, and if it gets to be too much, then we’ll stop. Okay? I don’t want you breaking your back over this kid, but I really, really don’t think it’s gonna become that way. I think he’s gonna make both of our lives much easier.”
“God, sometimes I fucking hate you. I can’t believe I’m agreeing to literally selling my soul to the company you started.”
Namjoon thought for a second. “Think of it as renting your soul out for a month. You’ll get it back immediately after.” He then flashed an irresistibly adorable dimpled smile at Jimin, who scowled and sighed heavily.
“Okay. I’ll try it. This guy better be some type of amazing,” Jimin muttered. “Who else sat in the interviews with you?”
Suddenly, Namjoon became extremely distracted by a nonexistent blemish on Jimin’s office table. “It’s not important,” he said quickly.
Jimin raised an eyebrow, studying the older for a moment. “No. Don’t tell me.”
“I said it’s not important. Don’t worry about it. He’s hired. It’s done.”
“Hyung…” Jimin said slowly. “It was Seokjin hyung, wasn’t it?”
Blood rushed up to Namjoon’s face, coloring his cheeks and neck pink. “Mind your business,” he muttered. Jimin just sat in his chair opening and closing his mouth in stunned silence.
“Wow,” he whispered, “I fucking hate you so much.”
Sensing danger, Namjoon began scrambling to get up out of his chair, already flinching at the outburst he knew was on the way.
“Don’t you dare walk out of here, Kim Namjoon,” Jimin warned, his voice steadily increasing in volume. “Do you mean to tell me. That you sat in interviews with your college crush and you hired a fresh grad that you knew I would have to train but don’t have any time to train? And all because your college crush liked the candidate? Is that what you’re telling me?” Jimin’s voice had reached a shout by now. Without breaking the intensely enraged stare at Namjoon, he stood up to feel blindly around his desk in search of something, anything to throw at the man in front of him.
“Don’t hurt me,” Namjoon whimpered, crouching down behind the table and covering his head with his arms.
“Oh, you better believe you’re not leaving here until you’re hurt!” Jimin screamed, throwing several stress balls, a notebook, and a plastic picture frame in the general direction of Namjoon. All of them missed narrowly. “Explain yourself, you useless, pathetic fool! Explain this garbage!” he bellowed.
Namjoon had given up on the shelter of his bare arms and instead had crawled under the table in the middle of Jimin’s office, hugging his knees tightly and curling up into a ball on the floor. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.
Jimin walked across the room again and squatted down so he could see Namjoon. He sighed, looking at Namjoon, a grown, almost 6-foot tall man, holed up under his office table, his gray hair mussed from brushing against the bottom of the table top. Giving up, Jimin sat down on the floor in front of his best friend and shrugged his shoulders. “Just—just explain this, hyung. Give me an explanation. Anything. Help me understand how someone this unbelievably smart can make decisions that are this unbelievably dumb.”
Namjoon looked up at Jimin hesitantly. “I just—I like him so much, Jimin. I don’t know what to do. And he’s so beautiful and he’ll just be sitting there suggesting things, and—and it’s just—it’s a lot for me. You know?”
If Jimin hadn’t been absolutely furious at Namjoon for hiring someone for his team, he would have cooed at how cute his friend was.
“Hyung…” he sighed.
“I know—I know it has to stop. I know. We’ve had this conversation hundreds of times.”
“I’m tired, hyung. I don’t want to have this conversation anymore. I just—I want you to just do it. I want you to just stop. Or ask him out. Pick one, and then go with it. I don’t care if he’s on my team, I really don’t. I need you to just fucking get this out of your system.”
“Kim Seokjin isn’t someone you can just get out of your system, Jimin,” Namjoon said, offended.
“Well, as the CEO of this company, you’re gonna have to fucking figure out how to get him out of your system. I’ve seen you move heaven and earth to get shit done for this company. Why? Why is this man the only thing you can’t handle?”
Namjoon hung his head sadly. “I don’t know…”
“God, hyung, I don’t even—I don’t even know what to say.”
Namjoon looked up. “It’s okay, Jimin. I figured it all out, I’m pretty sure. I thought it would all fit, I had a plan. You were the last part of the scheme.”
Jimin rolled his eyes. “Of course I was. The one person you needed to be on board was the last person you looped in. Super logical, hyung.”
“No—no, I worked it all out with Seokjin hyung,” Namjoon began.
“Oh, yeah? You had a productive conversation with him? Tell me more,” Jimin said, folding his hands in his lap and blinking innocently.
Namjoon sighed exasperatedly. “Shut up. I can have a coherent conversation with him. It was just that one time when I got tripped up on my words and it was because I was tired.”
Jimin snorted. “Okay, whatever. Go on.”
Namjoon chose to ignore Jimin and pushed forward. “He connected really well with Jungkook—that’s the—the guy we hired—and he committed to mentoring him in all of the software stuff. So you won’t have to train him for at least the first couple of weeks because he’ll be learning from hyung. And then he suggested that you, him, and Jungkook meet every few days or so to make sure Jungkook is on track. That way it won’t be as much for you. And it seemed like he was excited about training him, seemed like they played the same video games or something so they connected right away,” Namjoon explained, shrugging.
“You let him talk about video games in an interview?” Jimin asked incredulously.
“It wasn’t during the interview, it was during the dinner we had with him. We had to fly him in from New York because he hasn’t graduated yet.”
Jimin closed his eyes, unable to take any more new information. He exhaled. “Okay. Okay, whatever. Well, that’s great of Seokjin hyung, but that means he’s gonna be compromising on some of the things that he’s supposed to be working on for me this month.”
“He said he was done with most of the things you had given him.”
Jimin raised his eyebrows. “Oh, really.”
Namjoon nodded, the energy returning to his eyes. “Yeah, isn’t it amazing? He set up an entire new section of the website plus he started embedding that reinforcement learning algorithm into the advertising section of the page. He showed me a little bit and—oh wait you already know what he did. You’re his manager.”
“Yeah. I’m kind of the one who told him to do those things,” Jimin said, unamused.
Namjoon’s smile faltered slightly. “Well, he’s doing a great job. So, I figured he could handle more. And if this goes well, then maybe we can give him more training responsibilities in the future. Take more work off your plate.”
Resigned, Jimin shrugged slightly. “Yeah. Okay. Whatever. Let’s see how it goes. I mean, Seokjin hyung is a smart guy, so I’m sure he’ll be able to handle it.”
Namjoon’s expression brightened. “Yeah. Right? Yeah, exactly. Everything is gonna be fine, Jimin.”
“You have successfully diverted my attention from the fact that you still haven’t asked him out yet. Congrats.”
Namjoon frowned, hugging his knees close again as if to protect himself. “I need help.”
“You need help? Asking your college crush out? The same guy you’ve been pining over for the last six years? I’m shocked,” Jimin retorted sarcastically.
Namjoon groaned. “I really do need help, Jimin, what do I do? He’s so beautiful all of the time… it hurts me. It physically hurts me.”
“I assume imagining me murdering you in your sleep if you don’t ask him out doesn’t help.”
“Nope. I’ve tried that. Takes the romance out of it.”
Jimin giggled quietly and then sighed, scooting forward so he could sit under the table with Namjoon, leaning his shoulder against the older’s arms. “Hyung, you know I love you, right?”
Namjoon chuckled, relaxing considerably at the sudden shift in Jimin's demeanor. “Yeah. I do.”
“I think you can do this. You’re so confident around the office. All you have to do is say something. Ask him to grab coffee this afternoon. Anything. It doesn’t have to be big, hyung.”
Namjoon exhaled dramatically. “Do you think he likes me?” he asked, his voice small and hesitant.
“I think he’s probably daydreaming about you right now at his cubicle.”
“Really?” Namjoon asked, straightening up in hopeful eagerness.
Jimin rolled his eyes. “No, hyung, I have no idea. You have to figure that out. I don’t know what Seokjin hyung is thinking. But I also think that you are a catch, and he would be crazy to not at least give you a chance.” He looked up at Namjoon, who was staring down at him, a small frown on his mouth. “You really have nothing to lose at this point, hyung. Just go for it.”
“You know, I always thought you would make a good life coach.”
Jimin laughed, shaking his head. He crawled out from under the table and squatted down, holding his hand out to pull Namjoon out from under the table. “I think that’s my cue to kick you out of here so we can both get back to work, like a good life coach.”
Namjoon and Jimin had been best friends for six years, but two years ago, if Namjoon had come to Jimin asking for help in asking his crush out, Jimin would have laughed. Or, more accurately, he wouldn’t have had time to laugh. He wouldn’t have been emotionally or even physically available enough to help his own best friend out.
When Namjoon had promoted Jimin to software manager of the company, which, for a start-up as small as theirs, meant that Jimin would only be a level below the CEO, everything had started coming into focus—his life, his friends, and especially the way he had treated said friends.
For so long, Jimin had strongly believed that success would bring him all of the answers, all of the solutions to his problems. But this? This feeling of having missed out on everything, including his best friend’s life? This really sucked. That was when a new question had begun floating to the surface of his mind: was success really worth all of this? Was it really worth missing out on the people he cared about?
As he watched Namjoon gather his things from the table, give a small smile, and saunter out of his office, Jimin sighed again, rolling his shoulders backwards in an attempt to relax. Honestly, sometimes absolutely nothing made sense anymore. Was this what being an adult felt like?
Now all he wanted to do was help—help improve the company, help Namjoon succeed, just help. He wanted to be there to see it all and he was done missing out. He just hoped that, for the next few months, this kid—whoever he was—would be worth putting these new goals on hold and working day and night for just a couple of months more.
+++
“Okay, great. If there isn’t anything else on anyone’s mind, then I think we can get started? I’m gonna go over some housekeeping, then Namjoon hyung has prepared a quick debrief on expansion and growth today and then we’ll have Seokjin hyung talk about his new advertisement strategy.” Jimin looked down at his laptop. “And that’s our agenda for this morning.”
He looked around at the rest of the employees sitting around the conference table. All four members of marketing sat on one side of the table, spines straight, eyes wide and alert, laptops open and at the ready. Jimin wondered for a split second how many shots of espresso they each had on a daily basis to look like that at 8am on a Monday morning or if there were other drugs involved. Probably the latter.
On the other side of the table Dahyun, Hoseok, and Nayeon sat furthest from Jimin, all three of them with large cups of coffee in front of them, eyes fluttering closed every few seconds before one jerked awake and jabbed the other two. Closer to the front where Jimin sat, Seokjin zoned out completely as he stared blankly at the screen projector even though there was absolutely nothing on display yet. Namjoon, sitting closest to Jimin, smiled warmly as he sipped his tea out of a travel mug and nodded along to Jimin’s words. At least someone at this company was vaguely normal.
“We’ve been having some issues with the coffee maker lately,” Jimin began sternly, his figurative manager hat jammed on his head bluntly and unapologetically. “I just wanted to make sure that everyone knows that if you’re the last one to use the—”
Jimin was interrupted by a soft knock on the conference room door. He spun around in his chair to glare toward the interruption, only to find a man standing in the open doorway. When Jimin’s gaze landed on the man’s face, fully taking in his features, he felt helpless, all of a sudden. A strange feeling of warmth fell to the bottom of his stomach and wound into a knot around his heart. Cute, was all he could manage to think. He’s adorable.
Jimin just stared at the man, taking in the way he chewed on his lip continuously, wrung his hands nervously, and kept shifting his weight back and forth between his feet. He completely ignored the aggressively meaningful look Namjoon was now shooting in his direction.
“Hi, uh—am I in the right place? I’m looking for the RKive staff meeting—I might—I might have gotten off at the wrong floor—”
“You’re in the right place!” Namjoon exclaimed, finally giving up on Jimin unfreezing himself anytime soon and standing up to walk toward the doorway. As he walked by Jimin, he widened his eyes urgently and mouthed fix your fucking face before turning toward the man in the doorway. Jimin pulled his head back and frowned. His face? What was wrong with his face?
“You must be Jungkook! Jeon Jungkook, right? Everyone, let’s all give Jungkook-ssi a warm RKive welcome this morning, shall we?” He gestured graciously for everyone to clap and there was a smattering of applause that ensued for only a few seconds before dying out. He then reached out to grasp Jungkook’s hand and shake it energetically, pulling him into a one-armed hug. “So glad you could make it this morning, Jungkook, why don’t you come in and introduce yourself?” he suggested, turning slightly to face Jimin, who was still frowning, offended by his previous silently mouthed comment. Be nice, he mouthed this time. Jimin’s frown only deepened.
“This is Park Jimin, our software engineering manager. He was just about to kick off our first staff meeting of the quarter this morning, but we can do a quick new employee introduction, right, Jimin?”
Before Jimin even had the chance to respond, Jungkook strode forward, a quiet confidence about the way he walked, and held his hand out to shake Jimin’s. It was very warm and soft and Jimin hated himself for even thinking that it was.
“Hi, I’m Jungkook.” He smiled a smile that was so bright, Jimin felt blinded and transfixed at the same time. The man emanated cheery optimism. It was disgusting.
“You’re late. We start staff meeting at 8am sharp.” Jimin leaned back in his chair, allowing his gaze to drag up Jungkook’s full body, the sleek, dark blue suit that hugged his muscular thighs and biceps obnoxiously well and pulled just tightly enough across his chest to let on hints of strong, prominent pecs.
“I—uh… I’m so sorry, Manager Jimin. I will definitely be on time next week.” He bowed slightly and then gave another deafeningly positive smile. How a smile could be deafening, Jimin had no fucking idea. This one was, though. He swore it was.
From somewhere behind Jungkook, Namjoon beamed at this polite, somehow rather delightful response to Jimin’s crude behavior. So Jimin wasn’t the only one who thought that he was cute, right? It was just factual… right? Was that how it worked?
“Alright, why don’t you go ahead and introduce yourself to the rest of us. And then we can get on with this meeting,” Jimin said coldly, his arms crossed.
Jungkook’s smile faltered at Jimin’s demeanor, but he turned to the rest of the conference room anyway and bowed deeply. Jimin tilted his head. 90 perfect degrees. Jesus Christ.
“Hi, everyone, my name is Jeon Jungkook, I just graduated from undergrad in America with a degree in computer science, and I’m super excited to be on board with you all at RKive!” he squeaked enthusiastically. His voice was soft and hesitant, but still filled with energy and cheer. “I really hope that you all can take care of me and I will make sure to work hard and not let any of you down.”
Jungkook then walked to the back of the room and sat down in an empty chair next to the rest of marketing, his back straight, an infuriatingly bright smile still spread across his face, his ankles neatly crossed, his hands folded properly in his lap. Jimin couldn’t help but stare at the way his ankles tangled with each other under his chair. It was just—it was so cute, it was annoying. Jimin frowned to himself again, tearing his gaze from Jungkook’s legs and tightening his folded arms across his chest as he focused on the notes on his laptop.
“Right. So. Thanks, Jungkook, for gracing us with your presence.”
“Jimin,” Namjoon hissed from his chair, his eyes bright with anger.
“Really looking forward to working on you—I mean, working with. You,” Jimin said, backpedaling slightly, a fake smile plastered onto his face. His eye twitched. He then resumed lecturing the staff on cleaning out the coffeemaker.
+++
“Manager—Manager Jimin! Manager—” Jungkook called after Jimin as he ran after the older, his bag falling off his shoulder in his rush. The company-wide meeting had come to a close fairly smoothly, to everyone’s relief, and Jimin had packed up at top speed in order to get back to his office and start the week’s work as soon as possible.
Reluctantly, he slowed to a stop upon hearing Jungkook’s desperate shouts, his eyebrows raised expectantly. “Jungkook-ssi,” he said in cold acknowledgement. Jungkook hurriedly pulled his bag up over his shoulder and caught his breath, his sparkling eyes meeting Jimin’s.
“Manager Jimin, I just—I was just—uh—I was hoping you could help me? Today? And get me oriented with everything? Namjoon hyung told me that you would be training me.” Oh, so he was already on hyung basis with Namjoon hyung.
Jimin stared piercingly at Jungkook, who almost took a step back, as though that gaze had the power to physically push people with its sheer intensity. “Yeah, I am. I don’t have much time this week, though, unfortunately.” There was absolutely no remorse in his voice.
Jimin shoved one of the file folders in his arms against Jungkook’s chest, giving the younger no choice but to clutch it, looking down at the messy stack of papers quizzically. “Here. Read this data and write up a report. It’s our latest marketing statistics. That’ll help you eventually when you get started with helping Seokjin hyung with development. If you have any questions, Seokjin hyung can help you.”
Jimin then turned on his heel and marched into his office, leaving Jungkook standing in the middle of the office, bewildered.
“Let me help you with that,” a soft voice behind Jungkook offered. Seokjin’s friendly face smiled back at Jungkook when he turned around, and the older man graciously took the folder from Jungkook’s arms, leading him to his new cubicle.
Jungkook took a deep breath and followed Seokjin, convincing himself that this was just the first day. It was Monday, the first day of the quarter; people were stressed, especially the company’s software manager. That was how start-ups worked, right? It would get better. There was no way his boss already hated him mere seconds after meeting him.
+++
“He hates me,” Jungkook stated matter-of-factly as he sat down at Seokjin’s desk, dropping his lunch on the table dejectedly. It had been a matter of weeks since he had started at the company and, oh boy, had he been wrong. It really was possible for his boss to hate him before even meeting him. And it really was possible for said boss to continue to hate him. For weeks.
“Who? Jimin?” Seokjin asked. He had already opened his lunch and was munching away at the food he had diligently prepared for himself.
Jungkook nodded somberly. “Every time he looks at me it looks like he’s shooting icicles at me with his eyes. It’s fucking terrifying,” he sighed. “Is he like that with everyone? Or is it just me?”
Seokin shook his head, chewing his food and swallowing before opening his mouth to speak. “He’s like that with everyone. You just gotta earn his trust,” he explained.
“He doesn’t look like he wants to murder you when he speaks to you,” Jungkook pointed out.
“Mm. He did when I first started working here. And that was worse; he wasn’t the manager yet, so he was out to get anyone who even vaguely threatened his promotion,” Seokjin said casually, as though this was a perfectly normal way to behave.
Jungkook’s face contorted in disgust. “That’s so fucked up. Who would want to lead a life like that?”
“Park Jimin.”
Jungkook made a retching sound, mimicking vomiting before he began opening up the sandwich he had ordered from the deli next door. Seokjin grimaced at the sandwich as the younger took a large bite out of it and chewed thoughtfully.
“This is disgusting,” Jungkook spat, dropping the sandwich down on the wrapping paper and looking at it as though it was a piece of trash, not his lunch. “Who the fuck eats this shit?” He looked up at Seokjin, who was already cackling knowingly.
“Do you want me to say it?”
“Do not say Park Jimin again.”
Seokjin raised his eyebrows and looked down at his own food, bringing a spoonful up to his mouth and smacking his lips gleefully as he ate his own delicious lunch. Jungkook rolled his eyes and groaned.
“He literally recommended this deli to me! What the fuck, hyung, how am I supposed to eat this?!” Jungkook demanded, staring down at the sandwich.
“This one’s on you, buddy. He probably actually likes that deli. Either that or he just really, really hates himself. Or you, I guess.”
“No fucking way. I refuse to believe that he purposely told me to go to a deli that sells garbage as food.”
“But you won’t believe that he actually likes it?” Seokjin laughed.
Jungkook glared at Seokjin, who pulled his head back, offended by the rude expression on the younger’s face. “I don’t know which one is worse,” Jungkook muttered.
“It was probably a mistake, dude. Maybe he meant another place when he sent you to this one.”
“So he’s just stupid.”
Seokjin lowered his chin and raised one eyebrow. “Park Jimin is a lot of things, but he is not stupid.”
“Yeah, he’s—he’s annoying and demanding and aggressively expressionless but somehow his eyebrows are perfect? Despite his lack of expression? And—and his hair is always perfectly wavy and his cheeks are—they’re obnoxiously round, it’s so annoying and he—he just—” Jungkook spluttered angrily, picking up the tasteless sandwich to sink his teeth into the bread and rip a piece off as though he was a wild carnivore biting into a dead animal.
This time both of Seokjin’s eyebrows raised up high on his forehead as he stared at Jungkook listing things about Jimin.
“I’m sorry, were you trying to insult him? Because it sounded like you just think he’s super hot.”
Jungkook frowned. “Why would you say that to me?” he asked, offended.
Seokjin held his hands up in surrender. “Perfect eyebrows? Obnoxiously round cheeks?”
“Well! It’s true!” Jungkook protested defensively.
“Not the issue. We all know that Park Jimin is literally the most beautiful man on the planet. The issue is that you find it annoying.” Seokjin paused, rethinking his assessment and then deciding on the appropriate correction. “No, you don’t find it annoying, you find it infuriating.”
Jungkook’s eyebrows furrowed further into a deep frown, only muttering something incoherent, but clearly angry, under his breath.
“Give him a chance, Jungkook. It’s only been a couple of weeks. Maybe it’ll get better?” Seokjin offered, in a last ditch attempt to make the younger feel better.
Jungkook took one last bite out of the revolting sandwich before dropping it onto the wrapping and folding the entire thing up so he could chuck it into the nearest trash can. “Fuck it. I’m done with this shit. I’m going to the vending machine. Do you want anything?” he asked Seokjin, getting up from his chair and looking down at the older.
Seokjin shook his head, gesturing at all of the food he still had to eat that he had brought himself. “Nah, I’m good.”
Jungkook rolled his eyes, turned on his heel, and marched out of Seokjin’s cubicle toward the vending machine down the hall.
+++
“He hates me,” Jimin sighed before Namjoon had even taken his seat at the table in his office.
“Jimin, you promised you would try,” Namjoon said, frowning disappointedly.
“I did try. He hates me. I can’t do anything about that.” Jimin replied, shrugging. He looked down at his tupperware, unsnapping the lid and putting it aside before shoving a spoonful of food into his mouth.
Namjoon rolled his eyes. “Well. You can learn to like him.”
“You didn’t say that I would have to learn to like him. You said I would just like him a lot. You lied. I hate you.”
Namjoon raised an eyebrow. “Okay, you’re being dramatic. Can we calm down?” he said sitting down and opening his own tupperware to start eating. “And can you also slow down? I just got here and you’re already wolfing down your food. What are you rushing for?”
“I have like thirteen thousand things to do, hyung, you know that,” Jimin said, mouth still stuffed full of food even as he spoke. “It’s your fault,” he said, shrugging before swallowing emphatically. “Oh, also, remember that deli down the street? I think it’s called Good Earth or Great Planet or something like that. That was the one that you really liked, right?”
Namjoon frowned. “Are you talking about the one I tried last week? The one that just opened?”
Jimin nodded as he chewed.
“No, that place was gross. I complained to you about it for like an hour the day I got that sandwich, remember? I don’t understand how they’re gonna make money like that…”
Jimin froze, mid-bite, eyes wide with panic. “Oh. Oops.”
“Why?”
“I may have recommended it to Jungkook for lunch today.”
Namjoon raised his eyebrows and swallowed his bite. “You what ? Jimin! You’re supposed to give him the best of the best!” he scolded.
Jimin looked down at his food sheepishly. “Sorry. I thought I remembered you raving about that place.”
Namjoon let out a noise of frustration. “Well. What should I do? Should I go give him my food?”
Jimin gave Namjoon a look of judgement. “No. Why would you do that? He’s a grown man. He’ll figure food out himself. He hates me already anyway, so it’s not like it’ll change his opinion of me.”
“Jimin.”
“What? He does. You should have seen him talk to me. He’s so nonchalant and casual. Does this weird thing with his hair that’s so annoying. Probably thinks it’s so cool.”
Namjoon stared at Jimin. “ Is it cool?”
“What does it matter? It’s annoying,” Jimin replied coldly.
Namjoon considered for a moment. “Well, I mean… if he does something that’s cool and he knows it makes him look cool… then doesn’t that just make him… cool?” Namjoon asked, his voice innocently curious.
“No,” Jimin sneered. “It makes him annoying. One of those straight Ivy League guys who just knows everything —” he waved his hands in the air dramatically for effect “—and thinks he’s God’s gift to humanity.”
Namjoon just stared at Jimin as he ate. “I don’t think he’s one of those guys, Jimin. I think you should look closer.”
“I don’t need to to know.”
Resigned, Namjoon turned back to his food, before looking back up. “Okay… fine. You said he’s nonchalant and casual? Has he not been using honorifics in the office?”
Jimin shook his head, swallowing his food. “No, he has been. It’s annoying, the way he says it though. He calls me Manager Jimin and it’s just… it’s so cute ,” he spat, like it was a venomous insult. “Almost like he’s being sarcastic when he calls me that.”
Namjoon pulled his head back, confusion written all over his face. Suddenly, understanding filled his features, his shoulders falling down as he straightened up. He studied Jimin’s annoyed face closely for a second before opening his mouth to speak. “Oh my god.”
Jimin looked up, realizing that his boss was staring at him. “What?”
“You think he’s cute,” Namjoon stated, his mouth open with awe.
Jimin blinked for a second and then frowned, offended. “What? No, I don’t.” He looked down at his food, blush rising up his neck as he felt Namjoon’s gaze on him.
“You totally do. You just said so. You think that thing he does with his hair is adorable. You think the way he calls you Manager Jimin is cute. And you think the way he sits with his legs spread, all nonchalant and casual, is super hot. Wow, knowing you for six years really does pay off sometimes,” he added under his breath as he swelled up with pride for reading Jimin so well.
Jimin’s jaw fell open in shock. “Are you literally sitting in front of me accusing me of thinking my own employee is hot?”
“He’s my employee. I don’t know what he is to you ,” Namjoon replied, holding his hands up in surrender.
“Well, seeing as I’m the one who interacts with him on a daily basis, I’m gonna have to argue that he’s my employee first because he answers to me first,” Jimin said with an air of sass.
“Well, seeing as you just made it abundantly clear that you think he’s hot, I’m having a hard time believing that,” Namjoon countered.
“That’s—that’s just—” Jimin spluttered.
“Just give it a chance, Jimin. It’ll get better. I’m sure he’ll grow on you.”
“I refuse to allow unfairly hot Ivy League frat boys to grow on me,” Jimin shot back poisonously.
Namjoon sighed tiredly. “Suit yourself.”
+++
There was a soft knock at Jimin’s door, to which he barely had to glance up to know that it was Namjoon. He checked the time on his computer screen. 5pm on the dot, not a minute late. Namjoon was many things, but inconsistent was never going to be one of them.
“Mm. I’m busy.”
“No, you’re not, Jimin.”
“Yes, I am, I’m literally trying to work, hyung.”
“Come on, Jimin, come get drinks with me. It’s Friday night. You need a break.”
“No, actually, what I need is for you to not make me do sixteen thousand things during the week so I can take a break on Friday nights,” Jimin replied without even looking up. He was met with silence, which caused him to glance up, only to make sure that Namjoon was still there. He was, and looking rather peeved.
“Take a break, Jimin, come on. As your boss, I am insisting that you come get drinks with me tonight.”
Jimin sighed heavily and glanced at the clock again. “Give me a half hour to wrap this up. I’ll step out for one hour to get one drink with you and then I’m coming right back to finish all of the things that I need to do for your precious new employee.”
Namjoon immediately brightened up. “Okay, see you at 5:30!” he chirped before turning around and heading back to his own office.
Forty-five minutes later, Jimin found himself beside Namjoon, waiting for the elevator to arrive at their floor and brainstorming ways to make sure Namjoon couldn’t somehow convince him to stay at the bar for the rest of the night. There had been a point in his life where he had been the one who was always 110% ready to go out and get shit-faced. That point was not now, though.
The elevator dinged and slid open so they could step forward. Namjoon reached for the ground floor button as soon as they got in and then stood back, facing the door silently.
“You’re quiet today,” Jimin pointed out, looking up at his best friend.
“I was hoping you would be the chatty one today.”
“Okay. Why were you so desperate to get drinks today?” he asked quietly, knowing that there was always something going on in that ridiculously intelligent head.
Namjoon sighed and looked down at his hands, balling up one of his hands nervously and punching his other palm repeatedly. “Listen, don’t be mad.”
Jimin looked down at Namjoon’s hands as they moved back and forth. “What did you do this time? Is it Seokjin hyung again?”
Namjoon tilted his head, squinting slightly. “Eh… it’s tangentially related?” he said after some hesitation, the pitch of his voice climbing several octaves.
Jimin exhaled, bracing himself. “Alright. Hit me.”
“I was… in our company-wide meeting a couple of days ago. Because, uh—you know, I—I run that meeting—”
“I am fully aware of that, hyung,” Jimin said, entertained by how quickly Namjoon transitioned from powerful CEO to incoherent, awkward 26-year old.
“Right. Of course. Yeah, you know that. But yeah I was—before the meeting I sort of couldn’t help overhearing a—a conversation that Seokjin hyung and Jungkook were having.”
Jimin hummed absentmindedly, walking out of the elevator as soon as the doors slid open again at the ground floor and holding the door open so Namjoon could exit as well. “Get to the point, hyung.”
“Well, they were—they were—uh, well, you see. Here’s, uh, let me just—just tell you what they were talking about,” Namjoon stuttered.
Jimin stared up at Namjoon. “Hyung, you’re literally saying words and none of the words are forming sentences. Yes, I would very much like to know what their conversation was about, now that we’re here and you seem to be strangely hung up about this conversation.”
Namjoon let out a sound of frustration that sounded more like a squeal. “Okay. Okay, they were—well, Jungkook was complaining to hyung about—uh, well, you know that he was in college in America and he just graduated, so he just moved to Seoul. And—he just—he, uh…”
“Hyung, will you just say what you’re trying to say?” Jimin prodded impatiently.
“He’s looking for a place to live, Jimin. He’s been staying in a monthly lease, and he needs a more long-term roommate.”
Jimin pushed the door to the lobby of their building open and was hit with a gust of summer wind the second he stepped outside. The sun was setting, painting the sidewalks a warm gold and lengthening the shadow of every person who walked by. Jimin walked ahead, knowing that there was a crowd of people on the sidewalk and that Namjoon would have to pause in the doorway before jogging to catch up with the younger.
When he finally heard Namjoon falling into step with him, Jimin slowed down slightly to glance up at the older. Namjoon was looking at him, a clear question in his eyes. “Well?”
“No,” Jimin said resolutely. “Absolutely not.”
“Jimin, come on. He’s just a kid and he just moved here from America, he doesn’t know anyone at the company or in Seoul in general, just think about how hard that must be,” Namjoon said quietly. Somehow, the sound of his velvety voice still carried to Jimin’s ears despite the clanging of the construction site across the street.
“I don’t care. I’m a person too. I don’t want to live with a straight, Ivy League frat boy.”
“You know, I’m really tired of hearing you refer to one of our employees as a frat boy.”
“I like to keep it real.”
Namjoon let out a low noise of frustration. “Jimin, just think about this. It makes perfect sense. You finally got Taemin off your back, you have an empty room, and you haven’t started interviewing for new roommates. This is perfect for you. You’ll be able to stick it to that asshole with low effort. You don’t have to do anything at all, hyung and I will help him move in, all you have to do is hand over half of your lease to him.”
As always, the logic was there. Jimin groaned. “Yeah, I just got my ex off my back so I shouldn’t have to deal with another asshole, hyung. Just—just let me find someone who will work for me,” he replied quietly.
“Please, Jimin. Just—please. He’s a good kid, you have to believe me. He’ll hold up as a good roommate and he won’t bother you at all. I heard him talking, he barely spends time at home, and when he does, he’s usually sleeping.”
“I barely spend time at home either,” Jimin replied, slowing to a stop as they approached their favorite bar.
“See? Exactly! It’s really not that serious! It’ll be great, this will be such a low-effort option for you! You have so much on your plate already, Jimin, I don’t want you to have to look for a whole entire roommate on top of everything.” Namjoon stepped forward to open the door for Jimin and then followed into the building quickly.
“I’ll think about it,” Jimin agreed reluctantly as he made his way across the restaurant to their normal table. The second they sat down, a waitress approached their table, setting down glasses of water near them. Jimin flashed the woman a smile, giving a small wave of thanks.
“Good enough for me,” Namjoon said, satisfied. “Oh, also, just a heads up, I kind of, uh—”
Before he could finish, an enthusiastic voice interrupted him. “Hey, Namjoon hyung!” Jungkook was standing over their table, smiling brightly, dressed in a plain white t-shirt and skinny jeans, rather than his normal loose dress pants and button-down. His blonde hair fell in waves around his face as he stared between Jimin and Namjoon excitedly.
“—invited Jungkook and Seokjin hyung to join us for drinks tonight,” Namjoon finished under his breath, just loud enough for only Jimin to hear him.
Jimin did not even acknowledge Jungkook. He turned to Namjoon angrily. “You what ? You said I was getting drinks with you , not half of the software team!” he whisper-shouted.
Namjoon raised his eyebrows expectantly. “Jimin, you’re being rude,” he warned quietly. “Say hi to Jungkook,” he commanded, jerking his head toward the younger man.
Jimin turned to Jungkook and smiled sarcastically. “Hi, Jungkook,” he spat before turning back to Namjoon and shooting him an angry look. Namjoon rolled his eyes before glancing up at Jungkook, who was still standing. He pulled out the third chair at their table and gestured for Jungkook to sit down.
“Sit, sit, Jungkook, I hope you found the place okay? This is a regular spot for us so we sometimes forget that it’s kind of a hole in the wall location…” he murmured.
“I like the vibe,” Jungkook quipped, looking around fascinatedly at the restaurant as he sat down in the chair. Jimin couldn’t help but notice that he looked like a curious puppy when he stared around like that, his head cocked to the side just enough to make him look painfully adorable. “You guys have good taste.”
Namjoon laughed. “Comes with the territory,” he said with a wink. Jimin rolled his eyes. He couldn’t believe Namjoon was actually joking around with this kid.
“I was just telling Jimin about your housing dilemma,” Namjoon offered in an attempt to incorporate Jimin into the conversation.
“Oh, yeah.” Jungkook looked toward Jimin, a look of gratitude passing over his face followed by relief. “Hyung told me about your empty room, Manager Jimin. Thank you so much for taking me in. I’ve been searching high and low for an apartment in my price range but it’s been really rough.”
Jimin, who had just taken a sip of water, choked slightly, almost spitting it out completely. Of course. Of fucking course Namjoon had already promised him Jimin’s empty room.
Jimin slowly turned his gaze to his best friend, shooting daggers at Namjoon with his eyes. Namjoon looked hurt just upon receiving the look from Jimin. “No problem, Jungkook,” Jimin replied through gritted teeth, his eyes still trained angrily on Namjoon, as if to say you are so dead after this. Namjoon did not require the ability to read minds to receive the message immediately and look away, smiling artificially at Jungkook to cover for Jimin’s rude behavior.
For the rest of the night, Jimin just sat silently in his chair fuming, not even bringing himself to be entertained when Seokjin finally arrived and Namjoon turned into a complete and total bumbling idiot. He knew he was being petty and maybe a little closed-minded. He also knew that he was missing out on prime blackmail information with every stutter or lame joke that came out of Namjoon’s mouth. He didn’t care, though. This kid was truly going to ruin his life, and, goddammit, Jimin was going to be angry about it, especially when the guy managed to look that good while doing it.
+++
“I’m going to end your life.”
Namjoon turned to Jimin, exhausted. Jungkook and Seokjin had just left, the younger supporting a drunk hyung as they hobbled out of the bar. Jungkook had graciously volunteered to drive Seokjin home since he had driven to the bar and was now clearly far too intoxicated to operate a vehicle. To Jimin’s judgemental surprise, not even a drop of alcohol had passed between Jungkook’s lips—lips that were far too pretty, if you asked Jimin.
“I tried to warn you, it just—well, I tried. Doesn’t that count for something?”
“It counts for absolutely nothing,” Jimin replied coldly.
Namjoon sighed. “Okay, I didn’t want to pull this card, but you’re really being extra difficult about this. As co-founder of this company, you have an obligation to do everything in your power to make sure your employees are given a productive and safe environment to operate in. Okay? And if you don’t give Jungkook your room, you will essentially be doing the exact opposite of that. So. I am decreeing it, by the power vested in my CEO ass that you give Jungkook your goddamn room. Are we clear?”
Jimin just stared at his best friend, astounded by the sheer gall of his so-called decree. “I cannot believe you are choosing to pull out the fact that I’m the co-founder of this company now ,” he muttered.
“You left me with no choice.”
“I didn’t want to be CTO. I didn’t want to hire this stupid frat boy. I didn’t want to be worked to death this year again. And I sure as hell didn’t want my best friend to blackmail me about all of this,” he spat, gesturing emphatically to further demonstrate his point.
“Well, I hope it’ll comfort you that, at the very least, you’ll be helping someone in the process.”
Jimin opened his mouth to speak but Namjoon cut him off. “Don’t—call him a frat boy again.”
Jimin scowled and closed his mouth reluctantly. “Fine. As co-fucking-founder, I will let your precious Jungkook live with me. Just for this year.”
Namjoon brightened up, flashing Jimin his signature dimpled smile. “Great. Glad we settled that. Now, your place or mine? You promised to watch The Good Place with me tonight.”
“Hyung, no I didn’t,” Jimin whined. “We said I was going back to the office, remember?”
Namjoon frowned. “I don’t recall agreeing to that.”
Jimin rolled his eyes. “Okay, we’re stopping by the office so I can grab my laptop, and then my place. I have the good popcorn.”
“Fine. Nerd.”
Jimin raised his eyebrows. “Really? You’re gonna call me a nerd? Now? Are we really gonna go there?”
Namjoon laughed out loud. “Okay, okay, sorry, sorry, I get it, you’re on edge. Let’s go back to the office…” he said quickly.
“Good,” Jimin said, his eyes still narrowed as they made their way out of the bar. “So are we gonna talk about it?”
Namjoon looked over his shoulder at Jimin. “Talk about what?”
“The number of lame jokes you cracked tonight.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I was on my comedy A game tonight.”
“You felt like you were on your A game because Seokjin hyung laughed at every single one of those garbage-ass jokes,” Jimin snickered, falling into step with the older.
Namjoon glanced at Jimin, frowning slightly. “No way. Are you joking?”
“I am not joking when I say they were really low quality jokes."
“Okay, you don’t need to spin it as an insult like that,” Namjoon muttered, looking forward again.
“I’m not really sure how else to spin it,” Jimin said, shrugging sassily.
“He really laughed at them? And they were really that bad?”
“Oh, they were bad. And yeah, he laughed. Sounds like a fucking windshield wiper when he laughs too. Have you ever noticed that?”
Namjoon’s eyes widened as he looked at Jimin again. “Yeah, I—yeah, of course, it’s—I have dreams about that laugh, Jimin, yeah, I’ve noticed his laugh,” he breathed, stunned. “Oh my god, he thinks I’m funny? Seokjin hyung thought my jokes were funny?”
Jimin raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, weren’t we just in the same room? Experiencing the same interactions? How did you not notice that he was laughing the whole time?”
“I—I don’t know, I just—I turn into this inept moron whenever he’s around, Jimin, it’s—it’s so horrible and I just forget how to do everything…”
“Yeah, I noticed that.”
“Oh, no,” Namjoon said, panicked. “Was it that obvious? Do you think he noticed that I was nervous?”
“Hyung, any dumbass who just glanced at our table in passing would have noticed that you’re nervous as fuck. Obviously your own employee was gonna notice too.”
“Oh, god,” Namjoon said, now anxiously wringing his hands, panic building in his voice. “Is it really bad? Should I hide? What should I do?”
“Whoa, relax, hyung. In case you didn’t notice, Seokjin hyung was sitting with us the whole time, so that means he knew you were nervous and he still wanted to spend time with you,” Jimin said soothingly.
“That’s—that’s a good thing, right? That’s what we want?”
Jimin raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, hyung. Yeah. That’s what we want.”
“Oh.”
“Hyung, he probably thinks it’s cute that you’re that nervous around him. He knows that you’re not an idiot, you started an entire fucking company. And, he’s probably just as nervous around you.”
“No way. He’s so smooth and charming and confident. There’s no way he’s just as nervous as I am.”
“Honestly, he’s probably having this exact conversation with Jungkook right now in his car.”
Namjoon fell silent for a few seconds, before speaking again. “I never considered that.”
“For someone as smart as you, there are a lot of things that you do not consider when it comes to Kim Seokjin.”
Namjoon smiled sheepishly and then nodded in agreement. “Yeah. That’s also true.”
Jimin just chuckled, walking forward as they approached their building and opening the door for Namjoon. They walked in silence across the lobby, and when Jimin looked up at Namjoon, the older was deep in thought, his eyebrows furrowed as he clearly entertained some sort of aggressive internal debate. As they stepped into the elevator, Namjoon spoke again, this time much more hesitantly.
“Do you—do you think he likes me?”
Jimin smiled. Namjoon tested his patience on a daily basis, but this ridiculously soft, thoughtful, and considerate human being was the person that he loved being around—the man that he would always have patience for, no matter how many Jungkooks he hired or extra standards he asked software to meet.
“I think there’s a very good chance that he likes you, yes.”