Archive of Our Own

"Hyung, this is desperate even for you." Hoseok shook his head as Jin dragged him along, weaving through the crowd of people who were loitering near the entrance of the mall. Once they made it past the group of what seemed to be mostly teenagers, Jin let go of Hoseok's hand and continued marching forward.

"You say that like I don't know how desperate I am already. I'm aware. I just don't have any shame about it."

"You could've just asked him for his number. You could've asked him for his name, even. Hell, that would've been a start—"

"Should've, could've, would've, but I didn't."

"This is a terrible idea, hyung. You're spending your first Saturday off in literal months sneaking into a cooking class that you didn't even sign up for—nor pay for—just to spend time with some guy you don't even know just because you thought he was cute while he was picking out his sex toys. Do you realize how sad this is? This is sad and pathetic."

"I appreciate your honesty, but need I remind you that your boyfriend is only your boyfriend right now because you pretended to be interested in motorcycles for three years before telling him that you weren't?"

"Well—But that's—That's different."

"Why?"

"Because...Because Jungkook is...A-And I...Oh, let's just get to the stupid cooking class." Hoseok grumbled, at a loss for words.

Three years ago, Hoseok had stumbled into a bike shop because his car had a flat tire. Jungkook had been the only person working in the shop at the moment, and it had been a pretty boring day with little to no customers, so he was ecstatic when Hoseok came in.

He'd immediately begun talking, asking Hoseok what he was doing there. Was he buying a new bike? Was he looking for parts for one that he already owned? Was he trying to get an old bike remodeled?

Hoseok stumbled over his words for a while before nodding and muttering a 'Yes'. And then he realized that he needed to be more specific and settled for telling Jungkook that he was just browsing.

He didn't know a single thing about motorcycles so he couldn't even pretend that he was looking for a new one. He simply told Jungkook that he thought they were cool and wanted to look into buying one in case one day he decided to learn how to ride.

Jungkook had laughed and told him that maybe he should hold out on buying one, especially if all he wanted was to learn how to ride. "If you wanna learn how to ride, I can teach you." Jungkook had thought the man was cute so he shot his shot.

"God, yes, please!" Hoseok had nodded eagerly.

However, he was a lot less eager when he realized that Jungkook had actually been talking about teaching him how to ride a motorcycle and not his dick.

Hoseok had to get through six months worth of motorcycle riding lessons before he got anywhere close to taking the riding lessons that he really wanted.

Anyways, he hadn't told Jungkook the truth about him not giving a flying fuck about motorcycles until three years into their relationship. Not that Jungkook hadn't already long figured it out by then.

Jin thought it was a cute story. He never thought he'd find himself in the same situation or one even remotely close to it, but here he was.

On Monday morning, he'd gone to a sex shop at 10am to return a sex machine that he'd purchased two nights before. It was odd walking into a sex shop so early in the morning—It was odd that the sex shop was even open at that time in the first place—and he would've waited until later in the evening or maybe even until the weekend to come back and return the stupid machine had he not been so pissed off.

"You sold me a possessed sex machine!" He shouted as he carried the heavy box back into the shop as soon as it opened.

"Sorry, sir, you've got the wrong store. We don't sell possessed sex machines here. Try the store around the corner—"

"Very funny, asshole," Jin huffed. He'd been in here enough times over the past few months that he knew all the workers—Sad times, he knows—and this one in particular always worked his last nerve. "I spent hours putting this thing together! I put everything together perfectly, then I laid down on the bench and allowed the dildo to penetrate my fucking ass—"

"As people often do after buying a sex machine, yes."

"—And everything was going fine for...Oh, I don't know, about ten minutes before the stupid machine went absolutely berzerk! I thought I wouldn't make it out of there alive!"

"Oh, but goody, you did." The employee sighed.

Jin narrowed his eyes at him. "I kept pushing the button to turn it off and it wouldn't stop!"

"Did you put batteries into the remote before pushing the stop button?"

"Yes, I did." Jin said, voice sickly sweet.

The employee sighed again. "Are you sure you were pushing the off button?"

"Do you want to die?"

"That's a bit of a personal question, but like, kinda?"

"Taehyung!"

"I'm kidding, hyung, I don't actually want to die."

"Taehyung," Jin growled. "Just give me a refund."

"No can do, hyung. You know we have a no refund, no return policy. You can purchase another machine if you'd like, half off."

"Why, so I can get assaulted by an electronic device yet again?" Jin huffed. "I want my money back! I'm pretty sure I could sue this place! I could've died!"

"From getting fucked in the ass by a plastic dildo too much?"

"I'm sure it's possible."

Taehyung sighed again. "How long were you...Being assaulted by the machine?"

"I don't know, like, five whole minutes?"

"And you didn't think to just move so it could slip out of your ass?"

"Nobody thinks logically while they're being assaulted by a sex machine." Jin pouted.

"I don't know what you want me to do, hyung, I can't give you a refund and I can't let you return it because you've already got your ass juices all over it. I'm sorry the machine gave you trauma, but there's really nothing I can do about it. Do you wanna talk to Jimin?"

Jimin was Taehyung's superior, and his boyfriend. He was much more pleasant than Taehyung, but always way too cheery in the mornings, so no, Jin absolutely did not want to talk to him right now.

He pouted and leaned against the counter, hand trailing through his hair in frustration. "No, thanks." He muttered.

He was pissed. He spent upward of five hundred bucks on the stupid machine and now he was too terrified to use it or even be near it. He kinda just wanted to return it to get it back out of his house. He really was convinced that it was possessed.

"Your sex life is still pretty pathetic, huh?" Taehyung made conversation as he leaned against the other side of the counter, arms crossed as they rested on it. "It's good for business, but I gotta admit, I feel sorry for you. You've tried almost every toy in this shop and I see you in here more than some of the employees...You should try tinder."

"Get off my dick, annoying nuisance."

"You haven't given him the time to hop on it yet," Jimin's cheery voice cut into the conversation and Jin groaned. "We keep telling you we'd be happy to have a threesome with you."

"Thanks, but I don't need charity dick."

"At this point, I think you do." Taehyung mumbled before wincing as Jimin elbowed him in the side.

"Hyung, you'll find someone soon, don't worry!" Jimin smiled.

Jin wasn't exactly trying to find anybody, though. Maybe he should've been, considering the fact that he was miserable and lonely, and he'd been single for almost an entire year now—This Saturday marks the one year anniversary of he and his ex-boyfriend's split.

It's why he's been so damn grumpy lately. That and the lack of dick.

It's not that he misses Yoongi. Their breakup was for the best and it was a mutual decision that was beneficial to them both, but still, it sucked. Jin liked being in a relationship and he didn't enjoy the single life at all. He missed having someone to cuddle with who wasn't Hoseok. He missed having someone to hold and kiss and tell stupid jokes to and make love to.

He was sick of sex machines. He wanted real, human dick.

Enter Namjoon.

He came creeping into the shop expecting it to be empty as it usually was in the early hours of the morning, but once he saw that there was someone else there, he immediately went to turn around and scurry out of the shop again.

Jimin caught sight of him and practically knocked Taehyung over in an effort to get off from behind the counter and catch the man before he could leave. "Hey! Hyung, hey!" He called.

Usually, he wouldn't put Namjoon on the spot like this.

Namjoon was shy, especially when it came to the whole sex toy thing. He liked to go in person to buy them but he felt so awkward being around strangers while he was shopping for something so intimate.

Jimin understood that and usually wouldn't call the man who he considered to be a friend out. In fact, in the past, he'd even gone as far as to allow Namjoon to hide behind the counter if a customer came in before he was finished shopping, but today was different.

"What are you looking for today, hyung?" He asked as he pulled a glaring Namjoon back into the shop. "A fleshlight? Because you're a top right?" He spoke loudly, glancing over at Kim 'bottom' Seokjin for a moment before looking at Namjoon again.

"What's wrong with you?" Namjoon whispered. "Why are you announcing my preferred role during sex?" He deadpanned.

"Just trying to help my favorite customer out. My favorite customer who likes to top, I mean. He's my favorite customer who likes to bottom," He pointed at Jin and then looked at Namjoon again, smiling and fluttering his lashes. "Go on then, shop around, search for whatever it is you're looking for. Hyung, find a replacement for the sex bench, it's on the house!" Jimin saw Jin beginning to look overly excited so he quickly added, "Ugh—a replacement that's twenty dollars or less, please." Jin huffed and kicked at invisible dust on the floor before stalking off.

Namjoon lingered, eyeing Jimin for a few moments before walking in the opposite direction. If he was going to have to shop for a sex toy while someone else was in the store as well, he at least wanted to be on the opposite side of the shop.

"What are you doing?" Taehyung sighed as soon as the two men had walked away.

"I've connected the dots."

"You didn't connect shit."

"I've connected them."

"Jimin—"

"They're both single," Jimin spoke quietly as he sent Taehyung a look. "Joonie hyung has virtually no taste in men—He's willing to give anyone a shot—and Jin hyung is a desperate slut! He'll lay down with practically anyone who's willing to give him a shot, so long as they have a big dick, and I know Joonie hyung does. I just know it. This is a match made in heaven! Like the last two pieces of a 50,000 piece puzzle!"

"So, what's your plan?" Taehyung raised his brows, thoroughly amused. "Gonna lock them in the bathroom and refuse to let them out until they bump uglies? Gonna give them the keys to the sex shop, tell them to go wild and ask them to lock up after they're through?"

Jimin rolled his eyes and slapped Taehyung's arm. "Don't be silly. I've already done what I'm gonna do. Namjoon hyung now knows that Jin hyung is a bottom. Jin hyung now knows that Namjoon hyung is a top. My work is done, and the stars will align as they will."

"So...Your plan is basically just to hope for the best now?"

"Yes, exactly."

"That's never gonna work."

Oh, but it did.

Namjoon and Jin were on opposite sides of the store, yet living in each other's heads rent-free.

'He was cute. Tall. Broad shoulders. Kinda looked like a vampire. I'd totally lick the sweat off him. Wait, but vampires don't sweat..." Namjoon zoned out, staring at a knotted dildo—or should I say past it—as he did. 'I'd give him my blood. I'd totally give him my blood.' He decided after much thinking.

On the other side of the store, Jin was practically breaking out into a cold sweat.

'Why was he so attractive? Why the fuck was he so attractive? What the fuck is wrong with him? Why does he just look like that? Were those dimples that I saw in his cheeks? Not one, but two. Twins. Twin dimples. Twimples. Holy shit.' He was pacing the butt plug aisle, chewing on his thumb as he thought.

'He was so large. A very large man. His arms...Muscles bulging. He could've picked me up and thrown me out the window if he'd wanted to. But he didn't. How sweet. How thoughtful. God, I love a thoughtful man. He looked thoughtful.' The pace of his pacing increased as the wheels in his head turned quickly.

'His chest...It was such a large chest, I feel blessed to have seen it. I could see his nipples through his shirt...What had he been wearing? It was...Oh. A white turtleneck. I could practically see through it. Holy shit, his stomach was so toned. I wonder if he has abs? Who cares, he has thighs. Large thighs. Those were some attractively large thighs.'

'Everything on him was so big...There's only one thing I didn't get to see properly, yet I have a sneaking suspicion...I know his dick is big. I know it. I just know it.'

Over by the tentacle dildos, Namjoon was biting his lip.

'His lips were big and plump. His ass was the same—stop it Namjoon, don't think about his ass. That's rude and disrespectful...But so was that ass. NO! Stop it. Don't think about him like that, you don't even know him! Don't objectify a stranger! But what if he likes that? Holy shit. He looked like a freak. I know a freak when I see one and he was a freak freak. Holy shit...Fuck, am I hard? Shit.'

Jin had paced a few aisles down and now he was face to face with the nipple clamps, dick hard as he thought about the sexy man. He felt bad. He felt as if he should apologize to the man for having such sinful thoughts about him, but really, if anyone was owed an apology, it was Jin. He hadn't asked to be attacked by an overwhelmingly attractive man in a sex shop at 10 o'clock on a Monday morning. Yet, he was.

Namjoon had thoughtlessly drifted a few aisles down and found himself face to face with the nipple pumps. He was just thinking about Jin's lips once again when he saw something out of the corner of his eye and nearly jumped out of his skin.

Jin did the same.

They'd met in the middle of the store without even meaning to.

"O-Oh," Jin murmured, cheeks heating up. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

Namjoon was talking at the same time. "Sorry, I was just gonna—"

They were both trying to find some type of excuse for why they were standing like a bunch of idiots near the nipple play items. They both reached out for a random toy at the same time, hands resting on top of each other for all of two seconds before they both jolted away from one another murmuring apologies.

In the backroom of the store, Jimin was swiveling around in his chair in quick circles, clapping his hands excitedly as he threw his head back, a large smile on his face.

"They both reached for the nipple pumps at the same time! How romantic!" He giggled wildly.

"Yeah, it's a great story to tell the grandkids a few decades down the line," Taehyung bit into his burger and shook his head at Jimin. "You know watching them on the cameras is a little...Morally wrong. They're clearly not stealing anything—"

"Except each other's hearts!"

"—And even if they were, we don't get paid enough to care, so we shouldn't be spying."

"Don't be such a negative nuisance!" Jimin pouted.

"Yes, honey." Taehyung muttered before leaning down to give the boy a kiss. He looked at the screen afterward, watching as Jin and Namjoon seemingly unknowingly drifted closer to each other as they spoke, Namjoon rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly and Jin doing the same to his arm. Taehyung kinda wished they could hear what the two of them were saying. Whatever it was, it was probably embarrassing, and Taehyung could use a good laugh.

"Do you think they'll have their first kiss near the super strokers or the whips?"

"At this rate, they'll have their first kiss at their wedding," Jimin sighed as he watched the two awkward men seem to realize that they were standing too close and quickly back away from each other. "At least they're talking, I guess, but I kinda thought they'd have begun taking clothes off by now."

"You really are rooting for them to fuck in the store, aren't you? Cause you wouldn't have to be the one to clean up their mess afterward." Taehyung rolled his eyes.

"I cleaned up the last couple's mess." Jimin defended.

"The last couple was us. Of course you had no problem cleaning up after us."

"Shh, shh, shh!" Jimin hurriedly shushed Taehyung, scooting closer to the screen to get a closer look.

"We can't even hear them—"

"SHH!" Jimin was trying to read their lips and he needed complete silence to do so. "Oh my God..." Jimin whisper-yelled. "I think Namjoon hyung just asked him out on a date!"

"He'd literally never do that, he's too shy."

"No, I mean—" Jimin fumbled with his words in his hurry to explain. "I saw him say the words 'chef' and 'class'! He's taking a cooking class at the mall on Saturday and I'm sure that him mentioning it is his way of passively-aggressively asking Jin hyung out! He'll pray that Jin hyung shows up and decide that it wasn't meant to be if he doesn't." Jimin rolled his eyes.

"Well, that sucks. Why would Jin hyung show up to a cooking class when he's a professional chef?"

"Don't be dense, Taehyung. Seokjin hyung has gone through nearly every toy in this store and he's only getting more desperate as the sex toys go by. His right arm is starting to get bigger than his left one. His patience is wearing thin—his patience has been thin. Namjoon hyung could've said he was going on a one year cruise and Jin hyung would've booked a ticket for it as well. Mark my words, Jin hyung will be showing up to that class."

"Well, if you're so sure then I wanna go too," Taehyung said. "We both have Saturday off. I was thinking we could stay in and watch reality tv until we have no brain cells left but why do that when we could watch some real-life drama instead? We should bring cameras..."

"I wanna see how it goes too," Jimin was happily spinning in his chair again, hands clasped together as he stared up at the ceiling, daydreaming. "I can already see the suit I'm gonna wear to their wedding."

"You're pretty confident about this...Why don't we make a bet? Since you're so sure that Jin hyung will show up to the cooking class and all."

"Okay, I'm in."

"If he actually shows up, I'll let you top for once."

Taehyung was almost sure that Jin would show up to that class too. He trusted Jimin's intuition and he knew how desperate Jin was.

Jimin smirked but didn't say anything about how not slick Taehyung was. "Sure thing. And if he doesn't?"

"You owe me a full-body hot oil massage."

It was a win-win for Taehyung.

And wouldn't you know it, the prize he won was being topped.

Jin stepped into the cooking class dragging Hoseok along and searching almost frantically for Namjoon, who he found near the back of the class already studying the recipe they were going to be making today. Jin let out a breath of relief, happy to see him, but nervous too.

He and Namjoon had talked for all of five minutes in the sex shop and Jin had spent every second of every day thinking about him ever since.

He was sexy but he was cute too. He was goofy but he seemed really intelligent. He was shy but he was funny, and he talked a mile a minute when he was excited about something—Like when he'd randomly mentioned that he was taking a cooking class.

When Jin had asked about it, he'd filled him in on every detail, from where and when it was to why he was taking it in the first place. He babbled adorably about how he'd never been able to cook in his whole life, and when he realized that he was babbling, he blushed and apologized. It was so cute, Jin nearly combusted on the spot.

Jin hadn't stopped to think about whether Namjoon would find it creepy that he randomly showed up to a cooking class that he quite obviously knew Namjoon was coming to until now.

"What if he thinks I'm like Joe from 'You'?" He whispered to Hoseok. "Shit, I didn't think about that until now. How could I just show up to his cooking class without a valid excuse?!"

"You could never be Joe from you, you don't have the hat. And anyway, you do have a valid excuse. You wanna get fucked."

"I can't just tell him that!"

"Why not?" Hoseok raised a brow. "You could stand to have a little transparency with him. You're already pretending you don't know how to cook just to spend time with him. You could at least be honest about why you're doing that."

Jin thought that Hoseok and Taehyung would make great friends. He wouldn't have thought about it if he hadn't seen Taehyung smirking and waving at him from the counter right next to Namjoon's.

Jin narrowed his eyes. What were he and Jimin doing here? Since when did they want to learn to cook?

"Come on, hyung, we can't just stand here in the entrance all day. You go join hot dimple dude and I'll just sit in the corner and complain to Jungkook about how much I hate you for dragging me to this class the whole time." He said, whipping out his phone in order to text his boyfriend.

Jin huffed as Hoseok pushed him over to Namjoon's table before he could even argue. When the man caught sight of him, he smiled so largely that Jin swore his dimples were big enough to live in.

"H-Hi!" He mumbled.

"Hi!" Namjoon greeted. "You came! I mean—N-Not that I thought you would. I just..." Hoped that he would. But he wasn't gonna say that out loud, not wanting to seem desperate. "Hi..." He settled for saying again.

"Hi." Jin blushed. It was awkwardly silent between the two of them for about twenty seconds after that.

"Well, this is off to a great start." Taehyung said.

Jimin elbowed him in the side and smiled. "It's great that you're both here! You can be partners! 'Til death do you part.'" He mumbled the last part under his breath.

"Yeah! If—If you don't mind...?" Namjoon realized that he didn't even know the man's name. He'd passive-aggressively asked him on a date to a cooking class while they were in a sex shop and he didn't even know the guy's name.

"Kim Seokjin!" He introduced himself.

"Kim Namjoon." Namjoon smiled, rubbing the back of his neck the way he often seemed to do when he was nervous.

"Oh, isn't that nice?" Jimin turned to whisper to Taehyung. "They even already have the same last name!"

"So does about twenty percent of South Korea."

"Be quiet, Kim Taehyung!"

"See? My name is Kim too. Am I destined to be with them as well?"

"Don't be such a Debby depressant!"

"That's not how the saying goes--"

"Alright, I think everyone's here now so please pick your partners quickly, and let's begin!"

Jin heard a very familiar voice and stood still as a pole, eyes wide as he did. His back was turned away from the front of the class as he looked at Namjoon, but he didn't need to be looking in order to know whose voice that was.

Hoseok's mouth was wide open as he stared between Yoongi and Jin, thumbs moving wildly on his phone without him even having to look at it.

Seconds later, Jin's phone buzzed.

Hobitch:

Holy shit, hyung, you're screwed! But at least the class will be fun for me to watch now? Holy shit!

***

Jin was simply praying that by the grace of God, by some miracle, Yoongi wouldn't notice him. Yoongi couldn't notice him. He couldn't notice his ex of exactly one year today attending his cooking class. He couldn't notice his professional chef of an ex-boyfriend—who he'd literally attended culinary school with—taking his cooking class.

How would he explain that? He's pretty sure that Yoongi would assume that this was Jin's sad way of 'checking up' on him or something—stalking him, figuring out that he was teaching a cooking class in the mall and showing up to it for whatever reason.

Would Jin let the man think that was what's going on or would he explain the situation at hand? 'I'm not stalking you, I promise. I simply showed up to the same class that the guy I want to fuck told me he was attending because I wanted to get closer to him and couldn't behave like a normal person and simply ask for his number when I had the chance. The class just so happened to be yours!'

Jin wasn't sure which was worse. Either way, he was hoping that Yoongi would somehow not notice him. This would be fine. They were at the very back of the class and Yoongi was only going around to help the people who needed it, and since they were only making a simple stew, nobody needed it.

Besides, Jin was a chef. Any questions that Namjoon may have, any problems he may run into, Jin could help him out. He'd have to do it while pretending he also knew nothing about cooking, but he could do it. This would be fine.

"This is so easy!" Namjoon had smiled happily. The words that kickstarted the chaos.

All was going well. Things were easy enough, since this was a beginners class. It was only a stew that they were making. All was going well.

"Okay, now we have to add the salt!" Jin had smiled softly, staring at Namjoon with heart eyes as he stared down at their stew with an excited facial expression.

It was looking good so far, and this was a huge accomplishment for Namjoon, who couldn't boil water without starting a fire!

He was really proud, especially because he wanted to impress Jin with his cooking skills. Sure, he didn't really have any, but successfully making a stew was a good start, right?

"Okay, hyung!" Namjoon blushed a little as the word slipped out. "I-I mean—"

"That's okay," Jin smiled, sighing happily as he leaned against the counter, staring at the cutest man in all of existence. "You can call me hyung."

"Oh—Okay..." Namjoon chuckled nervously, wanting to just lean forward and kiss Jin's beautiful, pink lips.

"Young love." Jimin held a hand over his heart.

"They're older than you."

"Be quiet and salt the stew, Taehyung."

"Sir, yes sir."

Namjoon grabbed the salt shaker from his own counter as well, smiling at Jin as he began to shake it over the stew. Jin's brow twitched as Namjoon added more salt than the recipe required. He was bad with measurements. He understood them but chose to ignore.

A pinch of salt to Namjoon meant to add about a fistful. He was convinced that nothing was coming out of the shaker because he couldn't see mountains of salt tumbling out of it unless he shook it profusely. Jin had stopped trying to argue with him about it earlier on in the class.

"Just a little more, promise!" Namjoon had chuckled, knowing what Jin was thinking as he watched him shake the salt shaker profusely. Unfortunately, a little more turned into a lot more when Namjoon accidentally hit the shaker against the pot, and somehow, the top came flying off and the salt went tumbling into the stew.

Namjoon's eyes widened and he let out a surprised squeak. "No, no, no, no, no!" He whisper-yelled. Things had been going so well up until now and he'd convinced himself that this would be the first dish he'd ever made that would turn out well! He didn't want that chance ruined because he'd accidentally knocked the top of a salt shaker off and added too much salt.

He tried to think of how to fix it in a split second and went with the first idea he had. He stuck his whole hand into the boiling hot stew to try to dig the salt out. It was only a second later when he thought of one of the many reasons why that was a bad idea.

"Ah!" He yelled, yanking his hand back out. By now, a few people were looking, mainly the people near them.

Jin was still hoping that Yoongi wouldn't come back here and notice them—though that was a little farther back in his mind as he blew on Namjoon's hand in an attempt to help him...Not receive second-degree burns? Neither of their first ideas were ever good ones—but all hope was lost when the towel that Namjoon had resting on his shoulder slipped and fell onto the stove.

As Jin pulled Namjoon over to the sink to rinse his hand with cold water—second idea's the charm—the towel caught fire and everyone who saw it let out loud gasps and began scrambling to get away.

Except Taehyung who was still bent over at the counter beside them, laughing his ass off.

"Everyone stay calm!" Yoongi kept calm as he quickly made his way back there. "It's fine, we all have extinguishers for a reason."

Jin's body was awkwardly contorted as he twisted his head nearly 90 degrees, trying to make it impossible for Yoongi to see his face while simultaneously helping Namjoon with his hand.

"I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!" Namjoon told Yoongi quickly.

"Of course you didn't," The man smiled and clapped him on the shoulder after putting the fire out. Everyone sighed with relief. "It's a cooking class. Accidents like these happen all the time. It's really no big deal."

"Thanks," Namjoon let out a sigh of relief when he realized the man wasn't mad at him, though he was still embarrassed, for obvious reasons. "I'm still sorry. Seokjin hyung and I worked hard on that soup!" He pouted.

Seokjin sighed deeply.

"Seokjin...Hyung?" Yoongi repeated. "Seokjin hyung?"

Jin turned to look at him and smiled. "Wow, Yoongi, it's—it's you! Wow, that's crazy! I didn't even know that you—but I mean, I had no idea that you—I mean...I mean...Can I speak to you outside, please?" He gave up on trying to play it off quickly.

"I think that's a good idea."

"They know each other?" Jin heard Namjoon asking as he and Yoongi walked away and out of the class for a few moments after Yoongi told the class that he'd be back.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you a professional chef? Didn't we go to culinary school and learn the proper way to cut up squid together or was that just a fever dream?"

Fever dream. That was a good explanation. A better one that any one that Jin could offer right now, anyway. He'd go with that.

"This is all an illusion," He drawled, waving his hands around slowly. "It's all in your mind! Close your eyes and count to ten and this will all go away! Ooh! Ooooh!" He made ghostly sounds.

He'd take off running when Yoongi closed his eyes and apologize to Namjoon for it later, if they ever got to see each other again.

"Hyung," Yoongi sighed. "Explain what's going on. Now, please."

Jin sighed. "The guy with dimples who nearly set the building on fire is really cute and I wanna ride his dick like a Harley—"

"Happy one-year breakup anniversary, by the way."

"Thanks. So anyways, Monday morning I was in a sex shop trying to return my possessed sex machine when suddenly, in walks the most gorgeous man I've ever seen—aside from you! Wait, is that weird? That's weird. We're over so I shouldn't say things like that. I just didn't want you to think I was calling you ugly—"

"I'm quite attractive and I already know that, but thanks for worrying."

"You're welcome. So anyways, then I guess we were both walking around the sex shop and somehow we ended up in the same spot, by the nipple play items—"

"There are a few details that I feel like you would be perfectly fine leaving out of this story."

"Right. Yeah—You're right. So basically, we ended up talking and he mentioned that he was coming to this class and since I didn't get his name or number in the sex shop I just...Decided to show up here to spend more time with him? Please don't tell him I'm a professional chef."

"I won't say anything, only because he seems really nice and I'd rather him find out that you're lying to him the right way rather than having a stranger tell him. But maybe tell him the truth soon? You can't start your relationship with him off on a lie."

"I don't know if we'll have a relationship or not, I just—"

"You don't sneak into a cooking class that you didn't sign up for or pay for—" Yoongi glared and Jin blushed and sent him an apologetic smile. "—Just to spend time with a guy that you don't see yourself having a relationship with in the future. Tell him the truth so you guys can start out on the right foot."

"I will," Jin nodded, sighing a little. "Thanks, Yoongi...How have you been lately?"

Yoongi shrugged. "Pretty good. I'm not working my dream job, obviously, but aside from that, everything is going pretty good...I met someone too..." He blushed a little.

Jin smiled. "I'm glad...You know, we said we'd stay friends after our relationship ended and then never contacted each other again."

"To be fair, that is how most of my friendships go. It's not just you."

"Well, that's good to know, at least."

"Yeah."

"Yeah..." Jin sighed. "Yoongi, I miss you. I mean—Not in that way, but I miss our friendship. I think about you a lot. You used to be my best friend..."

"I—Yeah," Yoongi mumbled. "Yeah, I miss you too..."

"Maybe we could grab coffee sometime and catch each other up on things?"

"That actually sounds nice," Yoongi smiled. "Do you still have the same number?"

"Yeah."

"Cool..." Yoongi said before pursing his lips. They were awkwardly silent for a short time before Yoongi cleared his throat. "So—I know this is a personal question, but...When we were in a relationship the one thing you weren't into was nipple play. And now you're shopping for nipple play items with cute dimple dude?"

"I—We weren't shopping together and I still don't like having my nipples played with!" Jin stated defensively.

Yoongi held his hands up in surrender. "We should head back inside."

"Sounds good." Jin sighed before gesturing for Yoongi to lead the way.

When they got back inside, Yoongi went up to the front of the class and Jin made his way to a sheepish-looking Namjoon again. The man had a towel filled with ice wrapped around his hand.

"How is it?" Jin asked softly.

"I've done worse," Namjoon shrugged. "I can be a little clumsy sometimes...I'm sorry for ruining our stew. At least you know I'm the one to blame this time. Maybe next time you'll be the one to ruin the dish." He chuckled before stopping and gasping. "I-I mean, not that I'm assuming that there will be a next time. I MEAN—Not that I don't want there to be a next time. I mean—"

"I would love for there to be a next time," Jin admitted shyly. "Um...But maybe it doesn't have to be a cooking class next time? I mean, it can be because you obviously have much to learn," He snickered and Namjoon pouted. Jin played with his fingers as he mustered up the courage to say what he was gonna say.

"But...I don't really need to attend any more cooking classes because I...I already know how to cook...because I'm a chef."

"Like...Gordon Ramsay?" Was Namjoon's first question.

Jimin elbowed Taehyung to quiet his snickering down—and Hoseok, who'd come to join them, too.

"I-I guess? No? No. I'm not as great at Gordon Ramsay."

"That's okay, no one is," Namjoon comforted. "But I don't understand...If you already know how to cook then why did you come to this class?"

"Are you dense? He obviously was hoping for you to bend him over the table and fuck some dimples into his own cheeks. The ass ones, I mean." Taehyung scoffed.

Jimin settled for stomping on his foot to shut him up this time.

Hoseok was cackling at him, and Jin begrudgingly realized that he was right. Taehyung and Hoseok did get along well.

"I—What he said but...More PG." Jin admitted. Though he was kinda lying. He didn't mind if it was less than PG. "I just wanted to get to know you and...Maybe I should've just asked for your number or something but I just...Am stupid sometimes."

"Me too," Namjoon chuckled. "You don't have to apologize for showing up. I mentioned the class hoping that you would. That was my idea of asking you out. Even though I knew there was only a one in a million chance of you actually showing up...But you did. So I guess it's fate."

"Or maybe it's stupidity," Hoseok murmured. "Maybe you two both share the same stupid ass brain cell."

"You're not my boyfriend so I'm legally not allowed to hit you, but so help me God—" Jimin warned. Hoseok shrugged.

"Either way, I'm glad you came," Namjoon smiled. "Maybe we should save ourselves the trouble of going through this again and swap numbers?"

"Yeah, that sounds really good." Jin smiled brightly.

"Aw," Taehyung cooed. "I wonder if their first date will be to the hospital? Namjoon hyung really needs to go and see about his hand...I can almost still smell his flesh burning if I try hard enough."

"Isn't it romantic? He hasn't complained about the fact that he burned his own flesh off even once because he was too worried about Jin hyung!" Jimin sighed blissfully. "I'm going to get a degree in wedding planning so I'll be prepared for when they tie the knot."