Chapter Text
Lunch time at Studio Sope usually saw three of the youngest employees crowded around one of their few too-small tables at the “cafeteria.” This was basically just a sectioned-off corner on the same floor where they worked, but the label was small, and their bosses, a Min Yoongi and Jung Hoseok (producer/rapper, hot, married), heavily emphasized on team-bonding and the presence of a chill zone.
Hence Taehyung, (part sunshine, part RBF queen, one of the aforementioned youngsters), had gotten a bunch of chequered tablecloths to cover the ugly metallic surfaces, put in a weekly order for flowers, and procured cutlery with Disney characters on them. It wasn’t much, but it felt like a place where people could take a break from constant deadlines and hour-long phone conversations with clients (Jeongguk, baby, another part of the trio, had yet to field one of those).
It was a Tuesday when Taehyung was excitedly flipping through his phone’s gallery at the table, “....and I basically have to get this gorgeous beige sweater...wait where is it….it has this dual-coloured collar...wait I SWEAR I’d screenshotted it…”
His tongue stuck out slightly as he concentrated, much to the amusement of the other two. “Aha!” he exclaimed, shoving the slightly cracked phone beneath their noses, “look at this beauty!!!!”
“Oh but that’s so cute Tae,” Jimin (both the angel and the devil on your shoulder, oldest of the trio) cooed, craning his neck to look at the picture his best friend was showing. A snort roused them from the bubble they were in, and they glanced up to see Jeongguk quickly stuffing the last slice of pizza into his mouth.
“Hey!” Jimin cried out loudly. “That was supposed to be mine.”
“You snooze you lose hyung,” Jeongguk said cheekily, “besides, aren’t the price tags on those sweaters enough for your appetite to vanish? What will it be this time? No dinner for a week?” he taunted, dodging out of the way of the hands thrown at him with a high pitched giggle.
He was the little one of the whole company of 24 people, and they consequently let him get away with a lot of shit. Jeongguk usually didn’t have a lot to say about fashion, content with sticking to all-black ensembles and the odd pop of colour. However, he never missed a chance to make fun of the ridiculous price tags his hyungs’ favoured brands sported.
(“$300 for sunglasses Hobi-hyung, does it possibly come with X-ray vis— stop don’t hurt me” )
Sitting back down he continued cheerfully. “I don’t see what’s the fuss about that sweater anyway, you’d much rather buy something with pinstripes anyway if you really wanted to look good.”
Intrigued at an actual commentary on fashion choices by him, Taehyung raised an eyebrow in askance. “Not to shoot down what could finally be you stepping away from oversized hoodies, but what’s with the sudden love for pinstripes?”
Before Jeongguk could defend his newfound admiration, he was rudely interrupted by a gagging sound.
“He’s been salivating over Namjoon hyung’s butt in his grey pinstriped trousers all day Taetae,” Jimin said blithely, ignoring the offended gasp that rang out.
Jeongguk wanted to protest against this totally unwarranted attack but he was a little too self-aware to do that. It wasn’t his fault though. Kim Namjoon, his boyfriend of almost 5 years, deserved to be salivated over. Literally and metaphorically, but they weren’t into exhibitionism, so you probably wouldn’t catch Jeongguk doing the former.
He settled for a prim retort. “I hope you’re aware that we are a creative organization here, I was merely admiring the only piece of real art it houses.”
His hyungs groaned at that, having listened to a variation of the sentence far too many times.
Moving the conversation to topics that didn’t involve a detailed description of anyone’s assets, the rest of their lunch was spent exchanging gossip on drama inevitable between co-workers. This week it was Yugyeom who’d gotten into CEO Min’s bad books by forgetting to not b-boy in the narrow corridor between cubicles, as a result of which he’d spilled piles and piles of neatly organized papers on Chaeyoung’s desk, making her screech at him loudly.
For all the chaos that they seemed to get up to, the company was actually doing pretty well for itself. Studio Sope was the lovechild of uni sweethearts, who’d run away from their respective homes to pursue a career that didn’t involve a desk job.
On realizing that they needed an administrative side if they were to market themselves, they’d teamed up with Namjoon, who had been a classmate of theirs. He fit right into their dynamic and Yoongi and Hoseok would frequently go on and on about his incredible business acumen and genius in lyricism. Jeongguk used to fervently claim, in the initial days of their relationship, that Namjoon’s pert ass also played a role in them wanting to be friends with him, but both bosses denied that pretty vociferously. A little too vociferously, if you asked him, but nobody asked you Jeongguk for the last time please shut up, Jimin had piped up tiredly at their last monthly after dinner-drinks.
Taehyung and Jimin were both 26 and while mainly vocalists, also modeled on the side for extra money.
Jeongguk, 24, to
everyone’s
surprise, had chosen to major in cinematography with a minor in advertising instead of music/dance. He also lent his voice to the tracks whenever required, or when his boyfriend requested, but he was primarily in charge of the music videos, shorts, and images for ad campaigns they released.
The rest of the team was mostly people they knew from their courses, like Yugyeom, Chaeyoung, and Jae were Jeongguk’s friends and Yoongi had taken them on as interns after brief interviews. There were some people from other places Hoseok, Namjoon, or Yoongi had worked at — PDogg and DOCSKIM were both producers the latter had known of and pretty much poached. For an odd retinue of people put together, they all seemed to work like a well-oiled machine.
That wasn’t to say that there were no arguments, but even those were tempered by apologetic eyes after a particularly harsh comment, or a quick touch to the elbow after a contradictory opinion. The core team, of Yoongi, Hoseok, Namjoon, Taehyung, Jimin, and Jeongguk, had been friends for years before deciding this is where their future lay.
It hadn’t been the easiest thing to do, convincing all the families that joining a start-up label would bring enough monetary gain to be independent, and moreso, respectable, but they somehow managed.
And if they were still struggling in that respect, luckily for them, found families were often more loving, more supportive than real ones.
It was a common misconception that a lion’s share of the work on an album got over once the tracks were recorded. In reality, things got tougher after that because making music and recording it was the fun part. It was when a person could really reach within, and pick and choose what parts of themselves they wanted to show to the world. It was about brainstorming which ad-lib was the best, which key should the song be sung at, and marveling at the sheer joy of being able to write an entire bridge in just about fifteen minutes.
But once that was out of the way, the team was still left with a massive amount of post-production work, most of it extremely tedious. Trying to edit a song they’d put their hearts into always felt like letting go of a limb. Yoongi was often found in the studio with their sound engineers, listening to a version of the track labeled “finalfinal15.” Jeongguk’s wide, beautiful eyes would become redder and redder the more he stared unflinchingly at a screen. Colour correcting every frame, smoothening the transitions, picking which candid looked the most candid. Jimin would be on his fifth glass of honey water but would still show up to record more harmonizations.
And Namjoon would be there to look into a gazillion details. Aside from overseeing the logistics of things, his main profile was to support the label artists through the process of creation and also help market them to tours, ventures, and brands. His ability to converse in English, which wasn’t the first language for most of them, was a huge help. But what was even more admirable was his ability to traverse the need for any language and manage to convey a sense of reliability and dependability by just being the person he was.
The same Tuesday witnessed him walk into the copy room to print out some schedules Namjoon had just drawn out with Hoseok. He had a towering pile of files in his hand and he could barely see two steps ahead because of it. Namjoon was just hoping he hadn’t missed anything because he didn’t want to go all the way to Hoseok’s studio, which was on the other end of the floor. He’d been at work since 8 am and he hadn't gotten to hug and kiss his boyfriend in the morning, the younger one still deeply asleep after his fourth consecutive late night.
This was another reason why the post-production months hit the team hard. They all had wildly varying schedules and tended to only catch each other momentarily in the corridors, or coming and going to and fro the building. Shared lunches were mostly a joke unless your work overlapped, which is why Jeongguk spent a lot of time with Taehyung and Jimin; whereas Namjoon was stuck with two of their managers, Yoongi and Hoseok. He missed his bun goddamnit and he was one printer malfunction away from just kicking the machine to the floor and going to get some cuddles.
Deciding to kill time by checking his Kakao, he was thrilled to see that Jeongguk had just texted him. His boyfriend was notorious for not replying, forget initiating a conversation, but Namjoon gleefully thought of how he’d never had to complain about that. For two Virgos in a relationship, he was eternally grateful that Jeongguk frequently put his shyness and his unwillingness to be embarrassed to show up for Namjoon and support him as vocally as possible.
Namjoon was just overthinking the perfect sticker to send in reply when the door opened to reveal one bright-eyed, bushy tailed boyfriend. He couldn’t muffle his laugh in time as he watched Jeongguk furtively gaze around the tiny, dingy room before entering it, as if it would have nosy coworkers hidden among the shadows.
That earned him a severe look, before Jeongguk turned back to the door and turned the knob slightly to the left, simultaneously pushing it further into the frame, jamming it temporarily.
Not many knew about the glitch, but then not many people in the office had a cute partner they couldn’t wait 7 hours (or more) to kiss. Hoseok and Yoongi had their well-lit, spacious offices, which made sense, so Namjoon didn’t complain about that...and the others were either dating someone outside work or single. They’d discovered this neat trick on accident, when he’d clumsily pushed Jeongguk against the door in a fit of passion, and his hand on the knob had slipped. It had caused a lot of panic at the time, and effectively disenchanted them of the notion of quickies in the office.
But human beings were nothing if not resilient, and a few weeks and some rationalization later, Jeongguk had been incredibly horny at Namjoon being stern on-call with one of their clients. And once Jeongguk had figured out that the only way one could open the door, when jammed, was from inside...well it was not for nothing that the part of his trousers covering his knees were slightly dusty more often than not.
Namjoon was aware of a slight tightening in his pants as he watched Jeongguk walk towards him, hips swaying more than usual. His gaze was drawn to where the younger’s black t-shirt was slightly crinkled, a result of the barbell piercing Jeongguk had chosen to wear to work that day.
The same piercing Namjoon loved to tug on relentlessly as he pounded Jeongguk into their bed, hands gripping a waist small enough that it never felt real enough. No matter how many times he kissed the soft skin there, left purpling bruises as a reminder of his admiration, his wanton need to mark the other as his.
Drawing Jeongguk into his arms, Namjoon revelled in the soft giggles the other let out. “Hi Joonie hyung,” the boy whispered. Leaning in for a kiss before anything else was said.
“Missed you.”
“I missed you too baby,” he mumbled against pink, slightly chapped lips. He licked them unhurriedly, swallowing a gasp that would have disturbed their bubble.
Jeongguk let his hands graze Namjoon’s shoulders, pressing further into the taller man. He moved to his chest, his biceps, rested there for a bit while he leaned in for more kisses. Moved again. Jeongguk slithered his palms down to the other’s waist, the slight swell of his hips, and even as he bit back his own hiss at a particularly passionate nip, he finally gave the other’s ass a good grope. Namjoon snorted at the salacious wink Jeongguk gave, the eagerness with which he roved over every inch of his body.
Jeongguk was in love with Namjoon’s curves. He loved how professional the formals made him seem. Showing just a hint of the muscles the younger adored grazing with his blunt nails, hiding his well-shaped pecs and the bulk of his arm muscles, but emphasizing the shape of his gigantic thighs and shapely butt. The pilates had done wonders for his figure, and the pinstripes caressing Namjoon’s derriere like second skin made Jeongguk lose his goddamned mind.
“I want to eat you out,” he murmured. “Wanna kneel for you Joonie...bury my face between those cheeks.”
The man in question groaned hoarsely, pants so tight now it was hurting him. He pressed quick kisses to Jeongguk’s open mouth before jerking his head back by tugging his hair, twirling the soft curls around his long fingers for a better grip. Namjoon licked a fat stripe along Jeongguk’s neck,who immediately extended his neck even further, giving more, begging for more silently. He mouthed at the edge of his t-shirt, tugging it down to drop wet kisses on the taut skin revealed.
Jeongguk ground his hips against the others’, searching desperately for friction, for some sense of relief. They wouldn’t have time to actually cum, not with a meeting to attend in less than 30 minutes, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t play a bit.
Panting against each other, Namjoon let Jeongguk stick his hands inside his trousers, gripping the soft flesh there lewdly, treating his boyfriend like a cheap whore to get as close to a high as possible. He keened at a tight push of Jeongguk’s clothed dick on his, moving his own hips in sharp, powerful thrusts, grinding firmly. They licked into each other’s mouths, not quite having the energy to kiss properly as they rubbed their bodies together.
Namjoon dipped Jeongguk a bit and captured his lips in a kiss again, nipping his full lower lip, sucking on his tongue gently. They kissed long and deep for a while, moving expertly with the knowledge of two people who knew each other inside and out — were familiar all of the other’s ticks — what made them lose their mind in an instant — what lit the slow curl of arousal in their bellies, suddenly feeling as if the ground itself would shake with the strength of their passion.
Slowly, gradually, as they came down from the haze of lust and affection and love and more lust, the kisses tapered off into something briefer, less filthy, just as toe-curling.
Namjoon didn’t think his toes would ever not curl on kissing one Jeon Jeongguk, and he didn’t intend to find it out either. For as far as he was concerned, the man in his arms was it for him.
Jeongguk shifted onto his toes to peck Namjoon’s temples, left a brief touch of his lips to his forehead, his nose, his chin, before rocking back on the balls of his feet, as pleased as a cat that got the cream.
“Love you.”
“And I love you.” Namjoon smiled warmly. He inhaled loudly, as if expanding his lungs would help him make more space for the affection his heart couldn’t contain. Jeongguk stepped back with a sigh, giving him a once-over to make sure he didn’t look too rumpled. They doubted their colleagues had no clue what they were up to, but as long as their work never suffered and they never made anyone else uncomfortable with overt displays of affection, Yoongi and Hoseok very easily turned the other way.
As for the others, it was scary to think how many of them kept dropping hints that should they find themselves in the printer room at the same time, and should the door jam accidentally, then they hoped Namjoon and Jeongguk would still be free with their...affection.
Shaking his head to dispel the memory, Namjoon stepped forward and opened the door, smacking Jeonffuk’s butt lightly as he walked past. The other jerked a bit but gave no other reaction as they both continued their way down the corridor to where their sole conference room was housed.
Jeongguk was eager to get there before Jimin and Taehyung, he didn’t want to deal with the wagging eyebrows and razor-sharp gazes just yet, not while his skinny jeans chafed his still-sensitive thighs. Not ever hopefully, but he’d never been too much of an optimist anyway.
Taking their seats around the table, Namjoon left him for a minute after gently squeezing his shoulders. Jeongguk often got extremely tactile after any shared intimacy, fresh proof of being desired so strongly letting him lower his inhibitions for a while longer. He’d once burst into tears on their bed while Namjoon had gone to fetch chocolates from the fridge after they’d had sex and had taken too long to decide which one would his boyfriend prefer. For all his careful consideration, Namjoon had dropped the bars to the ground immediately once Jeongguk’s tearful whines reached his ears and he’d hurried to soothe his love. From then on, the older one made sure to keep touching Jeongguk in some capacity for however long it took for him to come out of the soft, needy headspace he’d get into.
The world never stopped for anyone of course, but it just stopped mattering to Namjoon when his little one needed him close.
It hadn’t been such smooth sailing always, Namjoon chuckled to himself as he let himself back into the now noticeably-fuller conference room. He handed a bottle of water to Jeongguk before taking his place on a chair on the other side of the table. They were both Virgos, and he hadn’t believed in the whole star sign bullshit till he saw how long it would take for him or Jeongguk to approach the other with anything. They were both quick to assume, take a point and run away with the conclusion, but they also had seemingly endless patience when truly called upon. They hated constantly touching, but with every day that the sun’s rays hit the apple of Jeongguk’s cheeks through their kitchen window, Namjoon didn’t know how to stay away from him for a second longer than absolutely necessary.
It was only when Hoseok had sat them down and forced them to actually discuss what was troubling them did they realize that the vast majority of their problems lay in a severe lack of communication. That conversation had ended with tears on both ends, a confession that was years in the making, and one blown-up group chat.
Hoseok still held it over their heads.
The others filed in amidst muted chatter and one questionable yelp, but Namjoon paid them no mind, eyes on his better half as usual. Jeongguk was doodling onto a piece of paper he’d torn from the pad on the table and from his seat he could see how his tongue stuck out just a little bit as he concentrated and he’d just spent close to thirty minutes kissing that mouth, but it still held more temptation for him than the apple in the Garden of Eden.
A sharp rap to his left forced him to look up. Namjoon saw Yoongi taking his seat at the head of the table, which automatically made him breathe easier. Because a Yoongi taking his seat meant there was no bad news or torrent of well-worded criticism to be unleashed.
The carpet in their dorm probably still bore the signs of the endless strain the rapper had put it through, pacing nonstop when a hook eluded his brain or that one month when Hoseok’s hair was blonde.
Years together meant you recognized a person’s tells, and the relaxed manner in which Yoongi took a sip of his coffee and surveyed the room told Namjoon that what was coming would be good.
The man started off by summing up the work that had been done in the month so far. They’d signed on a new artist recently, which meant a lot of paperwork for the legal team, and extra work for Hoseok, who usually took the lead in helping the signees figure out what their immediate next step with the label was. The company was slowly growing, taking on more staff, gaining a name for itself, and Namjoon could see smiles all around as Yoongi gently praised them for doing a great job and meeting all deadlines.
The CEO was not the oldest in the team by a long shot, he had just two years on Namjoon himself, but he carried himself with a sense of quiet authority and responsibility that made people want to not just listen, but trust him with their selves and their secrets. It was why Namjoon and Hoseok both hadn’t let him stay behind the scenes only but made him talk to the media occasionally and give interviews himself.
As he went over their numbers briefly, Yoongi spoke about how their current team needed someone to be able to oversee new undertakings, before moving on to another department. The meeting didn’t have all their staff, but just one or two members from each department. Choi from Marketing addressed the room for a while in answer to one of Yoongi’s questions, and Namjoon took the minute to glance at Jeongguk, who seemed to be putting the finishing touches to his art while also paying attention.
His multitasking baby, he thought fondly.
As if he heard him, Jeongguk raised his eyes and promptly coloured gently at finding Namjoon already staring at him. He scrunched his nose cutely before going back to listen to what was being said.
Namjoon tuned in to the meeting again, catching the tail end of Yoongi’s words, “.....and with that being said, Hoseok and I felt it was imperative to hire someone who didn’t just have experience in this field but was willing to learn about all the new tactics in this industry. We’re saturated already, and it is up to us to grab the spotlight whenever we can by whatever means necessary, which means extremely competitive, possibly pushy marketing tactics. We were lucky enough to come across an individual who fit the bill perfectly, and I’m announcing the new joinee in advance because his entrance also signifies certain changes in the way we work.”
Yoongi paused for breath and also scrolled on his phone for a bit, as if he’d written down the next part in his Notes app.
Taking a much larger swig of his coffee, his gaze narrowed on the individual sitting three seats away.
“Jeongguk.”
“Yes Yoongi?” the boy met his discerning stare head-on, straightening his back slightly to not look intimidated at all for being called out suddenly. By the soft quirk of Yoongi’s lips he’d failed, but it was the thought that counted, he mused later, ruefully.
“You work mostly with Suyeon and Jeonhwa from marketing right? Where they explain the ad campaigns to you and you deliver the creatives for social media and other platforms?”
Jeongguk nodded his head timidly, unsure where this was going. Yoongi knew all of this already, and he also knew that the current channel of communication was insufficient; Jeongguk was practically part of the marketing team himself with how many times he had to spearhead the direction of a particular ad. With four artists under the label now, he was also being spread too thin on the job, and he hoped Yoongi and Hoseok were looking into hiring someone to work with him too.
Jeongguk wasn’t sure he could head the department by himself if they hired more interns, so he covertly crossed his fingers beneath the table, hoping that’s not what Yoongi was getting to.
Luckily, the next few minutes revealed that it was definitely not what he was going to say.
“The current marketing team is woefully lacking due to the absence of a proper leader, and while there are three teams that need new joinees, Hoseok and I were inclined to giving this one priority. We have also found someone for the Finance team, and we’re looking into hiring graphic designers so Jeon here can focus more on his main profile, which is creating music videos and other media for whatever album.
If you are aware of anyone who might fit the job description and will be a good addition to the team please send the referral to Wooshik at HR. Now with that out of the way too, the new Head of Marketing will be arriving tomorrow, and Jeongguk I want you to be there once he has his initial meeting with the team he will be in charge of. You have been a critical non-member of it and will be working closely with him particularly till more people get hired.
You will get an email regarding the finer points of this later today, so we can discuss it in another meeting tomorrow, consisting of Me, Hoseok, Seokjin-ssi, and you. Any questions?”
He looked at all the faces gazing back at him, waiting a breath to make sure nobody wanted to add something.
“Jeongguk, are you clear?”
“Um..Er..Yes, yes Yoongi. I’m sure I’ll have questions later on, but for the present I’m good,” he said clearly, bobbing his head to reiterate his state of good-ness.
Namjoon visibly fought back a smile as Yoongi dismissed them all and walked out of the room with a curt nod and a smile of his own.
--------
A bunch of them were milling about the floor, the hour too early to get fully into the day’s zone. True to common perceptions, most creatives were not early birds and preferred to tackle their workload not a second before 11 am. There was no particular time at which the office shut either, since most of them firmly maintained that you’d never know when inspiration struck.
The comfortable mid-morning din was punctuated by the sharp clack of Hoseok’s dress shoes on the marble tiles. His employees heard his loud laughter much before they caught a glimpse of the sharp-featured man.
Jeonggul often wondered how the hell did so many good looking people land up working together. Their office photos often looked like a magazine spread, and he kept learning new ways to make the word disheveled sexy, but even in a crowd of superiorly-dressed individuals, Hoseok managed to stand out.
There was no particular style he preferred, and his outfits were an eclectic mix between classic and quirky. But the point, as Jeongguk had clearly deviated from, was that you couldn’t take your eyes off Jung Hoseok. It was impossible, and plain stupid to even try.
AND YET.
And yet, the man who walked in with Hoseok seemed to carry the ability to dim the sun itself. Not by casting a shadow over it, no, what was happening wasn’t underhanded or sneaky in any way. It was rather that he miraculously managed to draw from all the light in the room till he was the only luminescent being; the very moon herself, come to greet them in all her glory.
Long, long legs, leading up to a cinched waist, which then drew the gaze to shoulders so broad Jeongguk was strangely full of ideas but also completely blank at the same time. A glint of silver made him look further up, and he was met with a vision so beautiful , his fingers itched for the camera almost always by his side.
Jeongguk knew he was in a daze, but the mere knowledge of a thing very rarely amounted to any action being taken to change. He silently watched Hoseok say a bunch of words his ears refused to pick up — all senses focused only on the stranger beside him. Taehyung elbowed him from behind, trying to remind his friend to act like a competent human being.
“Stop staring like a creep you idiot, did you forget you have a boyfriend?” he whisper-shouted.
The mention of Namjoon made Jeongguk scrunch his eyebrows in confusion. He turned slightly to face the other, taking care to ensure he couldn’t be seen from the front of the room. “You’ve another thing coming if you believe Namjoon hyung would stop me from staring at a person half as beautiful as this Tae hyung, don’t be a limp sock. I’m fully in love with another and I would not leave Namjoon for anything but this man right here? Might just take a few steps towards him,” he mumbled back.
Taehyung facepalmed at his words before exhaling loudly. “I do see him Kook. I also see you making a fool out of yourself, but I’m guessing everyone’s used to that sight anyway.”
He twisted neatly out of the way before Jeongguk could return an elbow to his torso and pranced to where Hoseok and McDreamy stood, now joined by Yoongi and Namjoon too.
Jeongguk faced forward intending to actually pay attention this time, but suddenly he had to blink his eyes extra hard. Out of the lineup of four gorgeous men, he couldn’t deny that he was the most drawn to the love of his life, the one man he’d move oceans for, break mountains, fight a minor god on a bad day.
But he was used to responding to the call of just one beacon — his lighthouse, his boyfriend he’d already pledged everything to. Everyone else always faded into oblivion.
And yet, getting in the way for what was probably the first time ever, was another beacon. One that didn’t necessarily take him away from the lighthouse but made him feel the early tendrils of an emotion he’d only ever felt around 6 years back, when he’d met the person who’d become his person.
Jeongguk thought with startling clarity that it made sense, that for all the safety and stability that lighthouses gave, there was a reason man left them for a siren’s call.
The youngest felt slightly ill when he broke out of his musings. Yoongi was speaking now, and he used the low voice to ground himself, but the foundations of his being seemed to have taken a hit suddenly. Despite the blase words said to Taehyung earlier, Jeongguk knew he didn’t want to stray one bit and he already had all he needed, could have ever wanted, in a partner.
He closed his eyes. Tried to conjure up one of his favourite images of Namjoon and himself. It sat in a frame on the chest of drawers in their bedroom, and the older man was smiling sheepishly clutching a wilting bouquet in one hand and Jeongguk was doubled down in laughter beside him, but nobody could miss the tight grip he’d had on Namjoon’s waist.
It was clear that whatever had happened, Jeongguk was still laughing with Namjoon, never at him.
And yet this time, the space to the man’s left wasn’t filled by a slightly shorter, slimmer figure featuring a buck toothed laugh and scrunched eyes, but instead had plush lips and hair the colour of caramel falling over his forehead as if just begging for someone to brush it back gently.
His eyes opened with a start. Shit. Shit. This was bad.
He didn’t even know this man and somehow his very stable relationship was falling apart after 20 minutes of being in his presence? Jeongguk furrowed his eyebrows and tried to dismiss it as boyish infatuation. He was probably just seeing a fresh face, fresh attractive face*, after a very long time, and these things were normal, and he was sure this couldn’t classify as cheating on one’s boyfriend pfft no.
Tuning back into what was happening around him, he heard the stranger speak for the first time. Jeongguk had apparently missed the whole introduction and some of McSlightlyDreamy’s sentences but that was okay, he could live with that…
His interior monologue got cut off by the sound of a throat being cleared.
With all eyes on him, the stranger’s ears looked like they were reddening every second, which, cute.
“Err, so as Hoseok and Yoongi have both introduced me with such kind words I won’t say much more, but as the new Head of Marketing, I would like to talk about one of the major changes I had in mind that we could employ as an organization to sell our brands better. I think it would really help if we all turned vegetarian…”
Everyone in the room held their breaths collectively, and Yoongi turned to the other man sharply, a question writ large on his face,
And Jeongguk couldn’t believe his ears but of course, this was the catch. It had looked too good to be true! But then the man, who he now knew was Seokjin, cleared his throat again and surveyed the room with a slightly hesitant expression.
“....Because only then can we have a lot of organic content.”
The already pin-drop silence in the room somehow got noticeably quieter. Some of them were exchanging glances of pure confusion, while Jeongguk could see Jimin trying to hold back a snort and Taehyung subtly groan into his collarbones. He went over the man’s words once again, and oh...OH; Jeongguk guffawed out loud, drawing all attention onto him instead.
He froze immediately, not knowing if it would be appropriate to just duck and roll away as he desperately wanted to all of a sudden. He gazed around the room wildly but before he could say anything, Hoseok, Yoongi, and Namjoon were cracking their own smiles, and the atmosphere in the room became a lot more relaxed as others even tittered belatedly.
Namjoon turned to the man and offered his hand with a laugh. “Well, this was you then I guess, welcome to the company Seokjin-ssi.” Barely coming out of his embarrassed state, Jeongguk nevertheless noticed how the man appeared to be a little less conscious after the pun, and as if he noticed his gaze, Seokjin turned his head away from Namjoon to look straight at Jeongguk. He dipped his head in acknowledgement, ears still a little red, soft smile playing around his lips in silent gratitude.
Shit.