Chapter Text
The day had started particularly mundane, with Seokjin getting a call from Jungkook reminding him of his promise (as if he had ever forgotten one in the past three years of their college) and cleaning his bicycle to a satisfying shine before riding it down the familiar streets.
He was on time, with his stomach full and skin vibrating with the promise of that evening when the crash had happened. It had injured both him and the other person and it had taken them a help of few people to be escorted to the nearest hospital.
“I’m really sorry!” Seokjin wasn’t sure what he was apologizing for when he hadn’t seen anything more than a flash of person running out of the alley and thus could not be blamed. The other person, a young woman his age, shared his thoughts.
“It wasn’t your fault”, she smiled, sheepish and apologetic, “I was in too much of a hurry.”
Seokjin’s guilt had decreased considerably thanks to her gentle words and eyes, though he still felt bad when the doctor came to inform that she would need plaster cast for her arm and had to rest her ankles for at least ten days.
His morning that had already curved low on today’s graph just continued to plunge down when the new stranger arrived.
“Where is she?” Seokjin looked up at the strained, deep voice, gulping when the heated look came to stop on his face. The man, seemingly younger than him but downing more expensive clothes, seemed to freeze as he looked at Seokjin.
“She needs rest”, the doctor informed the man of her injuries and medical needs though it seemed the stranger was lost to words. Suddenly, he blinked, and Seokjin felt himself cower under the gaze.
“You crashed into her?” the tone was strained, and if Seokjin wasn’t already feeling guilty, he would have noticed the nervousness licking the edges of that deep voice.
“I will pay for the medical expenses.”
The stranger came to stand in front of him, an inch shorter though with his poker face and dark eyes, Seokjin felt like he was being stared down, “The loss you have given me by getting her out of commission for a few weeks is twenty times the hospital bill. Not to mention how much my future work depended on her.”
And, wow, okay. Seokjin hadn’t felt this bad since he puked right after tasting Jungkook’s apple pies. The boy was a good cook but wasn’t ready for anything other than Korean snacks.
“Oh God, why now out of all days”, and the man started walking past him, hand brushing through his messy hair until they fell down to curtain his eyes, wavy and soft.
Seokjin blinked, confused why he was noticing such things, “Hey- Listen, can I fill in her space somehow? I’m sorry that this happened but you have to know that I didn’t-”
“You can’t fill in her space unless you’re a model”, the man turned, looking Seokjin up and down with the same heated gaze, “or at least have a little knowledge of what to do in front of the camera.”
There was something in his voice that didn’t sit right with Seokjin but the man was overwhelmed with both guilt and concern to notice it. He looked the man in the eye when the gaze finally stopped at his face, fingers pulling at the loose thread of the hoodie he wore. Seokjin breathed in slowly and hoped he wasn’t making the wrong decision.
~
“But hyung!”
The reaction was expected and Seokjin smiled in apology as he removed the warm hoodie. His undershirt rucked up as he stretched his arms, exposing the sliver of his waist to cool air and desiring eyes.
“Kookie”, the eyes snapped up to the elder’s face at once, looking at the rucked up hair that made his hyung look younger and soft. Seokjin threw the hoodie in Jungkook’s face with a chuckle, unaware of the boy’s heated cheeks and thoughts, “We can reschedule it any other time, promise. You know I wouldn’t skip our sessions if I could.”
“What if you’re getting bored of me?”
The two sat down on the table opposite each other, Seokjin shaking his head in both amusement and exasperation, “If I wanted to turn you down, I wouldn’t go to such lengths to create intricate scenarios. I don’t have that much free time.”
“Rude”, though Jungkook grinned carelessly, the boy blushed when Seokjin reached over to ruffle his curls, “So, this guy, you trust him? What if he’s one of those serial killers who lure pretty men into his house and then kill them brutally?”
Seokjin gave Jungkook an amused look before looking down at his phone, “Kim Taehyung, photographer and painter at twenty-two, is apparently a big name in the industry.”
“Never heard of him”, Jungkook spoke around his salad and earned a disapproving narrowing of eyes.
“He’s a good photographer-”
“I am a good photographer”, Jungkook winced when the comment earned him a bean thrown at his forehead.
“A professional photographer”, Seokjin then sighed, looking somber and guilty, “and he’ll lose an important contract with some magazine because I injured his model. I don’t have any place to turn him down, and he’s even going to pay me for my time. I’m really sorry, Kookie.”
It was the younger one’s turn to reach over and knock at Seokjin’s forehead. His hyung rubbed at his forehead and pouted cutely when Jungkook fixed him with a mock glare, “You call me Kookie but then say sorry? Now that’s not done.”
Seokjin huffed out a laugh and looked down with warm cheeks and warmer ears. They ate lunch in silence, letting the matter settle in the distant murmurs of the college.
“Kim Taehyung”, Jungkook whispered to himself, picking at his food with a frown, “why does it sound familiar?”
“Hmm?” when Seokjin looked up with questions and worry in his eyes, Jungkook smiled and shot his thoughts down.
He could live without photographing his hyung for a few weeks if it meant Seokjin would stopping looking so burdened with guilt. Though Jungkook still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was weirdly nostalgic about this new man.
~
“You’ve dressed up.”
And wasn’t that enough for Seokjin to look down at his attire and feel his carefully put together confidence fall down like jenga? He wasn’t usually like this, sure of himself even in a Donald Duck costume he wore once because he lost a bet to Yoongi.
Maybe it was his first time in front of a professional photographer, or maybe he was still feeling guilty for both hurting the woman and turning Jungkook down. Or maybe, Seokjin gulped when Taehyung walked up to him with slow and deliberate steps, maybe he just wasn’t used to the way this man was looking at him.
“I can change-”
“No need”, Seokjin opened his mouth to protest when Taehyung’s lips quirked up, a cross between a smile and smirk, “you look pretty.”
Seokjin felt his ears heat up, throat feeling dry when warm fingers reached for him, gently holding his wrist and guiding him further inside the park. He felt his heartbeat quicken before frown marred his features because what the hell?
“We’ll first click some pictures of you standing near the trees”, Taehyung positioned him, light touches on his shoulders and waist before turning to stand by the camera setup. Seokjin closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to make himself understand that this was all only professional, “Seokjin?”
When had Taehyung walked up to him and why was he suddenly so close? Seokjin jerked and took a step back, feet slipping on the small rock and body losing its balance. Arms caught him before he could fall, his own hands reaching up to hold onto the man in front of him.
“Are you okay?” Seokjin nodded with ears burning and eyes darting all around the empty park. He managed to stand properly on his legs and chuckled awkwardly when Taehyung looked at him with concern.
“Um, sorry. I swear I’m not usually this clumsy and I know it’s hard to believe with how I crashed into your model and now slipped on literally nothing but-”
“Hey”, a hand gripped his upper arm over the thin wool, Taehyung’s face twisted in amusement, understanding and something else that Seokjin couldn’t yet understand, “It’s fine, I get it. First time in front of the camera, it happens a whole lot than you expect.”
Seokjin really doubted it happened a whole lot but he wasn’t going to argue when Taehyung had started moving his thumb in gentle circles over his cardigan.
Even with so many layers he felt the warm pressure on his skin.
“We can reschedule if you want.”
Seokjin almost thanked Taehyung before frowning, confusion clear in his eyes, “But don’t you have a deadline?”
The gentle circle of the thumb stopped all of a sudden, Taehyung’s face clean of any expression or feeling. Seokjin felt a weird feeling creeping up in his chest before the photographer smiled and patted his arm.
“Of course I do but I’d rather have you rest for a day instead of click pictures that surely won’t turn out good if you’re this tensed.”
The words were a little rushed, colored with a little bit of nervousness. Seokjin nodded at Taehyung’s explanation though the creases of his forehead did not smooth out.
“Or”, there was that gaze again, though now it looked more excited that heated, “can I teach you some things today so you can work better tomorrow?”
And the prospect of learning something new was enough to distract Seokjin from the strangeness of the current situation. He nodded with a wide smile and bright eyes, unaware of the effect it had on the other man.
~
Seokjin was beginning to regret his decision.
He was beginning to regret even waking up that morning.
“Yes, like that”, hands guided him from behind, breath falling warm and wet on his neck, “that looks much better and it’s more comfortable on your legs also, right?”
Seokjin didn’t really had the mind to think about his legs when the man behind him shifted, pressing the line of his body closer to his back. Seokjin didn’t have the mind to think of anything that wasn’t his body engulfed in heat, spooned by Taehyung even when he was the taller of the two.
“Y-yeah”, he tried to concentrate on his work, on the things Taehyung was teaching because he was teaching lessons even his teachers hadn’t mentioned, lessons you learn only from experience, “sorry you had to do all this, you wouldn’t be wasting so much of your time if your model was here.”
Breeze was calm but cool, managing to penetrate the wool as sun slowly set in the distance. On the frigid skin of his neck, the warm puff of air felt smoldering.
“If my model was here, you wouldn’t be”, Seokjin felt himself shiver, daring to turn his head towards the man. Taehyung looked deep in thought, eyes fixed on his face but not heated like before. Instead, he looked… pleased, grateful even, “And I wouldn’t get to teach you.”
Goosebumps broke out on his body when Taehyung stepped back and Seokjin realized how much warmth the man was giving him. He tried to smile back at the photographer, hoping he did not look as awkward as he felt.
“Hyung.”
Seokjin snapped his head to right, finding Jungkook standing a few feet away. The younger’s usually open face seemed closed off, only his eyes showing the anger he was feeling. It unsettled Seokjin, to have Jungkook so disturbed because of a man he had met not ten hours ago.
“Kookie, right on time”, he walked with a smile, held the younger’s hand with gentle care, “Taehyung taught me many things today, hopefully we can use that when we shoot together.”
Seokjin felt accomplished when his words seemed to bring the usual brightness of his Jungkook back, so lost in the brown eyes that he almost missed Taehyung coming to stand beside them.
“Enough for today, I guess.”
When Jungkook’s eyes turned to the photographer with the same rage, Seokjin was quick to silently nod and drag the man off.
“One more thing”, Seokjin turned to Taehyung with curious eyes, not noticing the look of jealousy Jungkook held, “You are never a waste of time, Seokjin.”
And if the sound of his name whispered by the deep, gentle voice made his heart skip a beat, that was only for him to know.