Archive of Our Own

If you ask Jeongguk, there are only two good things about working sixty hours during the summer.

The first good thing is that, because Jeongguk is essentially working a full-time job with overtime for three months, he doesn’t have to work at all during the school year.

He had discovered what a good system this was during the summer of his freshman year--where he spent both semesters working at a student dining hall which sucked some major dick, actually--and was determined to do it again now that he was a junior.

The second good thing--which Jimin says is not actually a good thing, Jeonggukie, there is nothing good about what you’re doing to yourself, which is advice that Jeongguk, as he usually does with any advice given to him by Jimin, promptly ignores--is that Jeongguk has really good bosses.

Or, well. They’re not his bosses bosses, technically. They’re just the managers. So this doesn’t make it a skeevy office romance (which is featured primarily in Jeongguk’s head, regardless) or anything. Managers are just like...helpful suggestors.

(Wrong, Jimin says in Jeongguk’s head. Jeongguk tells Jimin to shut up. Let him have a crush on his managers from both of his jobs in peace.)

Seokjin is awesome, to put it lightly. None of the other managers let the cashiers play their music out loud while they clean up. He’s also always the first one to deal with a mess, which is awesome, even though he’s also always the first one to point out mistakes.

But he’s never nasty about it, and somehow Jeongguk always ends up laughing at himself and his mistake, even while he fixes it.

And, oh yeah, Seokjin is also the funniest person that Jeongguk has ever met. He does a really good impression of their boss boss, and never fails to give such subtle snark to difficult customers that Jeongguk is always forced to turn around and face the wall, so that no one sees him laughing.

The cherry on top of this cake was that Seokjin was one of the most handsome people that Jeongguk has ever met. Seriously, like, top five. Top two, even. And that’s including actual models and idols and actors and everyone else that Jeongguk has also seen with his eyeballs.

Jeongguk was absolutely dreading his job at Beanie Babie, but Seokjin? Seokjin actually makes food service not as bad as Jeongguk usually finds it to be. And that’s a complete and total miracle. Of course Jeongguk has a (small, no really, stop laughing, Jimin) crush on someone like that.

Jeongguk’s other job, which is at a computer repair shop, is better. Jeongguk has worked here before, and he knows what it’s like, and what’s expected of him. More than that, he’s pretty good at helping fix most people’s computer programs too.

But Namjoon, Jeongguk’s manager at Parts ‘R Us, is new. And sometimes he can be a little clumsy, or not now how to do things with customers. Sometimes, when it comes to these things, Jeongguk wonders how Namjoon got the job.

But he’s great with other employees and he’s smooth with customers, so watching that, Jeongguk is sure that’s how.

More to the point, it’s an unfortunate asterisk in the report of Jeongguk’s life that Namjoon is pretty much exactly Jeongguk’s type.

Namjoon is tall, with legs that are probably ten feet long, cute, and with dimples attached to a smile that makes all of Jeongguk’s internal organs turn into mush. Once, Namjoon wore shorts to work and Jeongguk was sure that he had a conniption fit and had to go back into the storage closet so no one would notice that he was hyperventilating.

If Namjoon was all of these things, and a plain, normal person, Jeongguk would have it bad. As it was, Namjoon was not a normal person. He was awkward, yes, but he was also very, very smart, and had a voice that made Jeongguk want to listen to him talk forever. Sometimes Namjoon would mention a book and Jeongguk would run immediately to the local library to check it out, and read it in one sitting, just to be able to tell Namjoon that he’d read it so they could discuss it.

Jeongguk didn’t even like to read. And did he mention that sometimes, he also worked thirty hours a week at another job? Yeah.

He still read the book.

To say that Jeongguk is screwed is an understatement but you know what they say. When life gives you two smoking hot managers you make some gay lemonade.

✩

Seokjin likes to think that he’s a good manager, most of the time. Or at least, that he makes his job at Beanie Babie seem like something other than the soul sucking, customer-slash-food service job that it actually is, at least part of the time. (He knows, unfortunately, that it can’t be all of the time. And that sucks but, whatever, that’s life and the food service industry.)

He knows for a fact that he’s invested too many hours of his life that he’ll never get back at this job, but he finally became manager with it which meant more money, and it also meant bossing people around. Which were two things that Seokjin really liked.

Something else that the managing job brought with it, though, was a sense of responsibility. Like, he had to make sure that the employees that were underneath him were having an okay time.

Of course, there were some things that couldn’t be helped. Someone having a bad day or something, Seokjin couldn’t do much more than that but try to make them laugh, and tell them to do their job right, because unfortunately, that was what they all had to do.

But finding Jeon Jeongguk nearly falling asleep in the back room where all the coffee flavors were help, that was something he could help.

“Jeongguk-” Seokjin calls, which caused Jeongguk to stand straight up. His panic causes the bag of beans he was holding to fall, but at the last second Jeongguk manages to keep it from falling to the ground, which is as annoying as it is impressive. Even though Seokjin likes Jeongguk, and thought he was a really cute kid. (Which was also annoying. Seokjin tried not to get attached to employees since turnover was so high, but with Jeongguk it was like he couldn’t help it.)

“Hyung!” Jeongguk yells, and then as he realizes that he had yelled, his face turns all bashful.

"Were you asleep?" Seokjin asks, arching an eyebrow. Jeongguk has looked really tired lately, but the fact of the matter is, a lot of people look tired at this job. It's tiring.

"No, no..." Jeongguk says. "I would never be tired at work, hyung. For the record, I don’t sleep."

“I just saw you sleeping.”

“I was resting my eyes.”

“You were not! You were snoring.”

“Hyung, I do not snore.”

“You do, I just saw you.”

Throughout their entire conversation, Jeongguk smiles, and it's so cute that Seokjin feels like he wants to scream. It's way too much. Seokjin is his manager, for God's sake.

"But really, do you want to take your fifteen?" Seokjin asks, instead of focusing on this.

Jeongguk's head shakes so forcefully that Seokjin is almost afraid that it's going to fly off his shoulders.

"No, I'm fine, hyung! Really!"

"You were literally just asleep. In the storage closet. On a Tuesday, at two in the afternoon."

"I like it back here," Jeongguk says. "It's nice!"

"It's a dark closet full of coffee." Seokjin's voice is dry, but he can't help the way amusement creeps in there too.

"I love the smell of coffee. It's why I applied for this job."

"Oh? And do you still like it?"

"Not as much as I did," Jeongguk admits, and Seokjin laughs. He couldn't help but notice that Jeongguk smiles wider, too, the way he often did when Seokjin told a joke. Seokjin likes that in a man. It shows that they have good taste.

“Okay, well, get more dark roast like I asked you to, because you know the after work rush is going to start soon and we’re going to need it. And the next time that you fall asleep standing up, you’re definitely taking your fifteen.”

“Yes, hyung,” Jeongguk says, and nods once, gathering up more coffee into his arms.

Jeongguk does do better, that much is true. Or at least, he doesn’t fall asleep where he’s standing, and he deals okay with the customers, and it’s a pretty regular day, for the most part.

There are things that Seokjin likes about this job, and during workdays in the long, slow afternoon hours, he tends to like those more than other times. Since it is a coffee place, though, the most regular hours are the ones in the early morning, and the ones right before and right after the end if the work day.

This is, of course, when a hell customer comes in.

Seokjin has been working this job long enough to spot her when she comes through the door, looking more irritated than necessary, with impeccable clothing and shoes. Sometimes, people that look like this are surprising and mostly fine, but Seokjin can tell by the angle of this lady’s frown that this isn’t the case.

It goes about normally, for the most part. Seokjin goes back to pouring the mocha and making the most complicated drinks--his memory is good enough at this point that he can remember two shots of whatever and five shots of espresso, or whatever it is people really want--without having to put in much brain power. It’s just pure monotony at this point.

He’s so focused on his job, that he almost misses the way a woman’s voice rises.

“Do you think this is okay?” the woman--the one that Seokjin had pegged from the start as a troublemaker--asks, her voice becoming higher and more hysterical with every word.

“I’m sorry,” Jeongguk is sputtering, “but-”

“What appears to be the problem?” Seokjin asks, in his most neutral Customer Service voice. He even has a smile to go along with it, and generally it seems to at least placate people.

Not this lady. She seems to get even more agitated by Seokjin’s existence.

“He spelled my name wrong!” she says, and shows Seokjin her cup. As Seokjin doesn’t know her name, he doesn’t see the problem, but as it is Jeongguk probably just added an extra stroke to one of the characters of her name.

AKA, not the end of the world.

“I’m sure it was just-”

“No, no. I don’t want to hear it. You can’t have something this stupid working here.”

At this, Seokjin can see Jeongguk’s jaw drop and his face redden with embarrassment.

This has completely gone over the line, took a sharp turn from ‘unacceptable’ to ‘hell customer’ with one stroke of a sharpie marker.

“I demand to speak to a manager,” the woman says, and that does it.

Seokjin stands up straighter, to his full height. He has to admit he loves this part of his job--as often as it doesn’t come, every time it does hits a level of satisfaction that no meal or orgasam or other life event can accomplish.

“I Am The Manager,” Seokjin says, and smiles again. This time it’s not customer service regulated. “Now, what’s the problem?”

Seokjin and Jeongguk get off at the same time. Seokjin gladly hands over the managerial duties to Jaehwan, who’s been working here even longer than he has, and goes to the break room to make sure that Jeongguk hasn’t left yet.

Jeongguk had been pretty quiet for the rest of the shift, not even reacting when, once things slowed down, and Seokjin tried to joke around. He hadn’t even reacted to Seokjin’s usual baiting for arguments, so something is really up.

He manages to come in the room at the exact moment that Jeongguk is walking out of it.

“Hey, wait,” Seokjin calls. He quickly shoves his phone and his keys into his pocket. “So, everything was bad today, huh?”

Jeongguk shrugs. He seems more interested in staring at the tops of his shoes than looking at Seokjin.

Okay then.

“I mean, most of it wasn’t your fault. Except for falling asleep, which you really shouldn’t do.”

“I know. Sorry,” Jeongguk says, and kicks something invisible. He doesn’t even try to argue this time, like he did before.

“You’re not stupid, you know that right?”

“Yeah, I know. And I know that food jobs are going to be like this, it’s just like. That lady sucked, and this whole week sucked.” He rubs his hand over his eye. “Sorry, hyung, you don’t care.”

Seokjin wants to hug him, really badly. He’s only known Jeongguk for about a month--and has spent at least half of that time bickering with him--but something about how crestfallen his face is makes Seokjin want to fix it.

“Why don’t you come out to dinner with me?” Seokjin asks suddenly. Jeongguk looks up at him so fast that it’s almost comical, really. His eyes get about the size of dinner plates, and he looks like he’s about to say something, but before he can Seokjin barrels forward, trying to save himself. “My boyfriend will come out too, maybe one of his coworkers. It can just be really nice, a good time off work-”

“I’ll have to see if I’m working at my other job,” Jeongguk says finally, seeming a little less eager now but his eyes are still taking up half his face, “but yeah. Yeah, I’d like to.”

“Great,” Seokjin says, and almost like he can’t help himself, especially from the way that Jeongguk seems to be less enthused than he was before, he adds, “Then it’s a date.”

✩

Namjoon knows that Seokjin had a really good day of work from the way that he throws himself on the couch and sighs dramatically.

If it was really bad, Namjoon knows, he’d be quiet and float into their bedroom. So this was definitely a good day.

“Pay attention to me,” comes Seokjin’s voice, so Namjoon looks up from his book and finds Seokjin’s head in his lap.

Namjoon runs his fingers through Seokjin’s hair, watching as his eyes flutter shut.

“What happened?” Namjoon asks.

“I asked Jeongguk out for dinner. He had a really bad day today--he fell asleep and then this horrible customer came in and called him stupid and I just wanted to help make him feel better. So I thought, that would be fun, right?”

“Did you ask him out tonight?” Namjoon, who is wearing pajama pants and has already planned to not leave the apartment for the rest of the night.

“No, no. I wouldn’t do that that to you. I asked him two days ahead of time, so you can mentally prepare.”

“Mhmm. Love you,” Namjoon replies, and bends down to kiss Seokjin’s forehead.

“You should probably also invite your Jeongguk, the less cute Jeongguk, out too. I told him you might come with a coworker.”

“My Jeongguk is not less cute,” Namjoon says, for the millionth time. Because really, he’s not. The Jeongguk that works with Namjoon at Parts ‘R Us is, quite possibly, the cutest guy that Namjoon has ever seen. He’s really hot too. He and Seokjin have discussed this before, though, and have even gone as far as to come into each other’s jobs to see if they can see each other’s Jeongguks, but there hasn’t been much luck yet. They’ve been busy. “And anyway, yeah, sure, I’ll ask him.”

“I think...” Seokjin starts, and then stops again. He sits up now. “I think I really like him. My Jeongguk, I mean.”

“Do you?” Namjoon asks, because it’s been a long time since Seokjin liked someone. Especially since the last time he had, it hadn’t worked out. They hadn’t been interested in Namjoon too, which had been a dealbreaker.

It had always been Seokjin and Namjoon. It would always be Seokjin and Namjoon. That was how this worked, and so far, Seokjin had yet to break any of their promises, and Namjoon knew that he never would.

“You’ll understand when you see him,” Seokjin says. “I promise. He’s way cuter than your Jeongguk-”

“You shouldn’t say that when you haven’t seen him-” Namjoon tries, but he’s promptly ignored by Seokjin, who moves off the couch instead of listening.

“Anyway, I’m ordering take out now! And it’s your turn to decide.”

Namjoon sighs. Seokjin will see when Namjoon introduces him to ‘his’ Jeongguk. “I feel like chicken,” he answers finally.

Seokjin smiles. “Good choice.”

✩

Namjoon is already at Parts ‘R Us when Jeongguk walked in. He smiled at Jeongguk--his real one, the one with dimples and teeth and no trace of politeness--and it makes all sorts of butterflies flap around as if he had just swallowed them.

It was ridiculous, really, how gone Jeongguk was. But he was definitely stuck here, and as long as he worked with Namjoon regularly, he wasn’t sure how to get out of this pit of quicksand.

“Hey, Jeongguk,” Namjoon says. He’s currently on his laptop, probably working on his thesis. He had explained to Jeongguk what it was--because they were free to work on their electronic devices during slow hours since they worked in a computer store, it looked good, or so their boss boss said--but Jeongguk had to be honest, his eyes had glazed over halfway through Namjoon’s explanation.

Which is fine, really, because Jeongguk had found out from that conversation that Namjoon is smart and passionate and way out of any kind of league that Jeongguk could have.

“Hey, hyung,” Jeongguk replies. “How are things so far today?”

“Pretty slow. I had to fix someone’s shattered screen, and someone dropped their laptop in a pool and wanted to know if I could do anything about that, but otherwise it hasn’t been too interesting.”

“A pool? What were they doing with a laptop by a pool?”

“I don’t know, don’t ask me. That’s just what they told me, and I decided I didn’t want to know anything else.”

“Well, good. I’m glad it’s been okay for you, hyung.”

“Speaking of slow days, are you doing anything tomorrow?”

The butterflies have suddenly turned into grasshoppers, just hopping around down there in Jeongguk’s intestines. His mind goes blank.

“I don’t think so,” Jeongguk replies, trying to be coy. It had crushed him when Seokjin had said that he had a boyfriend--though, at the same time it had been like, of course someone like Seokjin had a boyfriend, and Jeongguk hadn’t been that surprised--but there had been nothing like that from Namjoon.

With who he could have a chance to kiss, possibly date, or hold hands with forever.

Maybe.

Kind of.

Jeongguk is going to hold onto hope, like Jimin said, even though he’d gotten that from some hokey movie. Because to learn that both his crushes were taken, that might crush him a little too much. He didn’t need the crush thing to be too literal.

“Probably not.”

“Well, that’s cool. If you’re free, do you want to go to dinner tomorrow night? Just, super casually.”

Kill Bill sirens? Activated.

“Yeah, no, hyung, I’d love to. When and where and at what time?”

Namjoon tells him the time and place, and Jeongguk answers immediately in the affirmative. He was going to go to dinner with Namjoon. This was totally the stuff that fairy tales were made of. If they were written in the twenty-first century instead of hundreds of years ago by people who were dying of dysentery, or whatever.

It’s only at the end of his shift, once he’s walked out the door, and watched Namjoon start walking towards the train, that Jeongguk realizes that he agreed to going out to dinner with Seokjin tomorrow too.

Fuck.

Fuck.

By some kind of divine intervention, Jeongguk realizes that Seokjin and Namjoon asked him for dinner at the same time, and the same place.

It’s a little strange, but, Jeongguk isn’t going to complain. This must makes it easier for him to make sure that he sees both of them. He somehow has to manage to eat dinner with both of them, at the same time, but. He can do that.

Jeongguk is great at making plans. It’s how he ended up in this situation, obviously.

Jeongguk would never admit this to anyone but Jimin, and even then only under the point of death, but he spends an hour getting ready. A whole, entire, hour. Jeongguk thought that was something that only happened in movies or dramas where the girl tries on several outfits at once for a date that you know is going to end in disaster--because, of course, nothing good can happen in the early stages of courtship, according to drama--but here he is.

Taking an hour to get ready.

Eventually, though, he finally decides that his hair is about as good as it’s going to get, and heads out the door.

The restaurant is one of those hole in the wall places that college students--and their wallets--love. Jeongguk is thankful for that, at least, because if he has to buy two dinners he really doesn’t want it to weigh him down.

He’s so busy thinking about food that his heart falls out of his ass the moment that he realizes that not only are Seokjin and Namjoon both here, but they’re also together. They’re holding hands on top of the table, and when they both look up and realize that it’s Jeongguk they both use their free hands to wave.

Then they look at each other.

“This is my Jeongguk,” Seokjin says, which does something funny to Jeongguk’s insides. He does not want to explore this further, thank you very much.

“No, this is my Jeongguk,” Namjoon replies, which makes Jeongguk’s guts situation even worse.

“Um,” Jeongguk says. Namjoon and Seokjin are both frowning at each other now, and Jeongguk isn’t sure how this situation is going, but he hopes it’s fine. Really. “Surprise?”

Seokjin orders them all a round of beer as Jeongguk explains that he has two jobs, and how he knows both of them.

Jeongguk learns, in turn, that Seokjin and Namjoon both thought this entire time that they both had a coworker named Jeongguk, and that they both think that he’s cute.

And that they’re dating each other, to the point where they’re real life live in boyfriends.

(Jeongguk’s insides are just squirming now, like they’re made of worms. He has no idea how or why this is happening to him, he’s a good person, mostly. Sometimes. Please let him live, universe.)

“Well,” Seokjin begins, once they all fully understand what’s happening. He and Namjoon are smiling at each other, in a way that screams that they’re sharing some kind of joke, “I guess you’re our Jeongguk, aren’t you?”

And at that, Jeongguk?

He explodes.

✩

“You didn’t tell me your Jeongguk was so cute,” Seokjin says, once he and Namjoon are both in the car. He hasn’t even started said car, yet, because he wants to yell at Namjoon for a little while.

“I did, actually. All the time.”

“Still...I can’t believe he was the same person.”

“Well, maybe because the way we got together sucked, we deserve to have a romantic comedy now.”

Seokjin sits and chews on that. While it’s true that the way Namjoon and Seokjin had gotten together--when they were both still in high school, and still really unsure of their feelings, and right after Seokjin’s dad had told him that he couldn’t “live a gay lifestyle” and expect to go to college--had sucked, he wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. Not the whole world. He wouldn’t trade Namjoon for anything in the world either.

“Still,” Seokjin says finally. “I should have known.”

“Known what? That our Jeongguk was the same person? How could you have known that.”

“Aren’t couples that have been together a really long time supposed to have telepathy, or something? Why doesn’t ours work, Namjoon-ah? There must be something wrong with your brain. It’s too sexy, clearly, to connect to mine, which is even more attractive.”

Namjoon’s got this look on his face that’s part fondness, part amusement, and part exasperation. Seokjin has seen that expression for a long time now, and it never fails to make his chest all tight with the knowledge that Namjoon loves him.

Gross? Yes. But true.

“No, I think you just didn’t realize it because it’s just a really weird coincidence. Too weird, really. Like fate, or something.”

“Fate....or coincidence.”

“Hyung! Let me have this one.”

“Fine,” Seokjin says, and leans over to press a kiss to Namjoon’s cheek. He’s so cute when he starts talking about fate, and like, the universe and black holes and nebulas and whatever else about space that he likes so much. “You can have this one.”

“Thank you,” Namjoon tells him, and smiles so prettily that Seokjin has to lean over and kiss him again.

They’re in bed later that night when suddenly Namjoon turns over to look at him. Seokjin, who is mostly asleep by this point, does his best to wake up. Namjoon wants to Talk, Seokjin knows that for a fact now.

“What?” The word is mostly muffled by the pillow that Seokjin has pressed his face into, but he’s sure that Namjoon understands the gist of it.

“You know, Jeongguk has a crush on you,” Namjoon says quietly. “Or at least, he looks at you like he does.”

At this, Seokjin forces himself to wake up.

“I don’t know about that, but he definitely looks at you like like you hung the goddamn moon.”

“Well, for all he knows, maybe I did.”

“Namjoon.”

Namjoon shuts up.

“Maybe...” Seokjin starts, not wanting to hope. They’ve talked about this, about including another person, extensively--with how long they’ve been together, very few of their conversations haven’t been extensive. It’s been at least ten years now, and they’ve known each other for fifteen years. And even through all of this, Seokjin still learns new things about Namjoon, and they have yet to run out of things to talk about.

Still, the fact that he knows that this is okay comforts him. That Namjoon won’t leave him just because he wants Jeongguk, too, that he can possibly love Jeongguk one day, too.

“Maybe he likes both of us,” Seokjin says finally. And because he can’t be serious about anything, not about something that he cares about so much, for single a second, he adds, “Liking me is the obvious choice, of course, but if he liked you too, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Maybe he does,” Namjoon “That would be really cool, wouldn’t it. Almost like...it was fate.”

“Almost,” Seokjin says, and reaches out to hold Namjoon’s hand before he falls asleep.

The next time that Seokjin and Jeongguk work the same shift, Seokjin watches Jeongguk to see if Namjoon’s crush thing is really true. Seokjin is a pretty good judge of character, if he does say so himself, so it’s not hard.

Jeongguk is friendly with everybody, though the only people working with them are Sooyoung, who is a giant lesbian, currently dating Joohyun, who comes in every day to see her so they all know she’s taken, and Yuna who is dating another one of their coworkers, Seokmin.

Mostly, though, Jeongguk and Seokjin just bicker. Which is pretty much how it is on a normal day anyway.

“Hyung,” Jeongguk says suddenly, pouring milk. He does it so easily, with one hand, like the gallon just weighs nothing. Seokjin is a little in awe of that, but mostly just jealous. He’d been the same over how fast Jeongguk had managed to get the recipes down too, despite never having worked at a coffee place before.

“What?” Seokjin asks, and for good measure elbows Jeongguk in the side. Jeongguk attempts to elbow him back, but misses completely, which is a good thing. Probably. They’ve been known to attempt to retaliate for upwards of five minutes, once they get started.

“You keep looking at me funny. Why?”

It’s only because Seokjin is looking very, very closely that he realizes that Jeongguk is blushing. He decides to elbow Jeongguk again anyway.

“Maybe I want to look at you,” Seokjin says. He decides not to look at Jeongguk. “Have you ever thought of that?”

“No,” Jeongguk shoots back, as though it’s some killer insult.

“Maybe you should think about it then.”

That shuts up Jeongguk for good. His ears are definitely read. Seokjin can’t even bother to hide the smirk that brings to his face. Not even when Sooyoung looks at him and rolls her eyes, a little bit.

He’s still smirking when Namjoon walks in, scarf around his neck and round glasses on his nose like it isn’t the middle of summer.

“Oppa, you can have the cash register,” Sooyoung says. She’s been working here since the beginning of last year, so she knows Namjoon.

“Hello,” Seokjin greets Namjoon, who looks so cute. He’ll probably stick around for a while and “write.” There are definite air quotes, and real quotes, around that word because Seokjin knows for a fact that Namjoon writes the best at home, with little distraction. He mostly just surfs the web at coffee shops like this one, but he likes the aesthetic of being a writer at a coffee shop chain with his laptop and a word document open. “What can I get for you, sir?”

“Hmm...” Namjoon contemplates, looking up at the board as if contemplating what he wants like he doesn’t order the same thing every time he comes here, as if he hasn’t been her a million times already.

“Can I make a recommendation?” Seokjin asks.

“Yes, of course,” Namjoon replies.

“Jeongguk?”

Jeongguk straightens up from where he’s making a previous order, and when he sees Namjoon standing in front of Seokjin at the front counter, the can of whip cream that he’s using goes haywire and squirts all over him and the cup both.

Jeongguk seems more flustered than usual when he recovers, and somehow manages to make the drink still look presentable enough to give to the customer that’s waiting at the counter.

“Yes?” Jeongguk finally answers, managing to look mostly recovered.

“What do you recommend for this fine gentleman?”

“Uh...” Jeongguk’s eyes go wide, and he looks as though he’s just seen a ghost behind Namjoon’s shoulder. “An...Americano?”

“That’s my usual drink,” Namjoon tells him, which brings Jeongguk’s expression from something alarmed into a smile.

“You guessed right,” Seokjin says, if only to see the stars in Jeongguk’s eyes transfer over to him for just a second.

They do.

Maybe Namjoon was right about the whole crush thing.

“Jeongguk, go make Namjoon his Americano,” Seokjin says, just to be bossy.

Jeongguk does as he says, and Namjoon raises an eyebrow at Seokjin when Seokjin turns back to him. Seokjin raises an eyebrow back.

“One Americano,” Jeongguk says, once he’s done. Seokjin watches with a sense of amazement as Jeongguk practically blooms under the weight of Namjoon’s smile.

Seokjin’s sorry to say it, but he understands.

“Is there anything else we can get you?” Jeongguk asks.

“Speaking of getting me something,” Namjoon says, and then Seokjin knows what he is doing. This will either be the beginning, or the end, for them and Jeongguk, “what are you doing after work? Hyung and I were going to go out for dinner again. We’d love if you came too.”

“Really?” Jeongguk breathes, almost as if it was a reflex. He turns to Seokjin.

Seokjin nods.

“Really,” Seokjin tells him, and watches as Jeongguk’s eyes contain galaxies.

✩

Dating Jeongguk is unlike anything else, even dating Seokjin.

Namjoon thought that he had the boyfriend thing pretty down pat, and for the most part he does. But he forgot what it was like to let someone else in, for Seokjin and Namjoon to have another person into them.

But Namjoon is glad, that if it has to be anyone, that it’s Jeongguk. If only because Jeongguk is just that cute.

Well, Namjoon figures that it’s dating, anyway. They take Jeongguk on dates, and sometimes hold his hand. That’s pretty datelike behavior in Namjoon’s opinion, and in Seokjin’s opinion too, he knows.

They don’t talk about it explicitly, but Namjoon figures that maybe, with this, they don’t need to. That maybe they can all just soak up each other’s affection in mutual understanding.

They even talk about work, and what it means that Seokjin and Namjoon are technically Jeongguk’s bosses. Considering the fact that Jeongguk is going to quit in two weeks anyway, they decide that it doesn’t matter if they hang out this much outside of work, but still. They definitely talked about that more than they ever did about feelings.

Namjoon should have known that it wasn’t going to be that easy, though. Nothing ever is.

It’s only one night, the first night that Jeongguk comes over to Namjoon and Seokjin’s apartment, does the truth come out in all of its naked, ugly glory.

“Are we, uh. I mean,” Jeongguk begins, clutching the glass of water that Namjoon gave him earlier as if it was the only thing tethering him to this earth. And maybe it was, because Namjoon could swear that he was sweating. “Are we...dating? I mean, I know you and Seokjin hyung are, but! I just...needed to know I guess. Because sometimes...it feels like we are.”

Namjoon and Seokjin exchange a look. They don’t mean to leave Jeongguk out of it, it’s just instinct at this point. Jeongguk evidently notices this, because he starts waving his hands, water sloshing around dangerously.

“I mean, if we aren’t, it’s fine! I just, you know, wanted...to uh...know.” He finishes lamely.

“What makes you think that we aren’t dating?” Seokjin asks, and there’s a tremulous lilt to his voice. It’s pretty undetectable if you don’t know Seokjin, but Namjoon knows him, and apparently Jeongguk does too, because he sits up as if realizing his mistake.

“Well, I just mean...you and Namjoon are both so...solid, I guess. Together. Like a huge rock. Or...a fossil...”

“Is that another old joke, Jeon Jeongguk-” Seokjin begins, and Jeongguk shakes his head really, really fast.

“No, no! I just meant, like. You two are so close together. I didn’t think there would be room for anyone else, I guess-”

“Did you know that Seokjin hyung and I have broken up. Twice, in fact?”

Jeongguk’s jaw practically hits the floor. “What?”

Namjoon nods. He comes to sit on Jeongguk’s right side on the couch, and Seokjin follows him to sit on the other side. He holds Jeongguk’s hand in his own, just to make sure to drive this home. “We broke up because, first, we wanted to make sure that our relationship was what we really wanted. Then we broke up, the second time, because Seokjin wanted to date someone else. Just to see what it was like.”

“It wasn’t a break up! It was a break!” Seokjin interjects, the way that Namjoon knew that he would. “Nothing broke. It was just a rest. Our relationship was just napping. We woke up eventually.”

Namjoon just looks at Jeongguk. “It was a break up, don’t listen to hyung,” Namjoon stage whispers.

“I never do,” Jeongguk stage whispers back, which causes Seokjin to start yelling about you brats. Seokjin threads his fingers through Jeongguk through all of this anyway.

Once he calms down, though, Namjoon continues. “We discovered that we’re better together, than apart. But also that if our relationship was to change in any way, we wouldn’t hate that either. Because we’d rather be together, and now, we want to be together with you. So. It’s your choice.”

Namjoon takes a deep breath.

“Would you officially, formally, like to become a part of this?”

“Yes,” Jeongguk replies, like this is the happiest day of his life.

When Namjoon and Seokjin lean in to kiss his cheeks at the same time, Jeongguk laughs and laughs.

✪

The beginning of the school year is completely hectic, the way it always is. Between moving into Yoongi’s apartment, and getting used to the course load that his senior year is forcing on him, Jimin doesn’t have time to meet up with Jeongguk until two weeks in.

Jeongguk said to meet him at a bar, so Jimin does just that.

Actually, Jeongguk told him that he was going to be introducing him to two people tonight too, which is pretty weird. Jeongguk is pretty weird, and has a hard time making friends. Which is why he’s so lucky to know Jimin in the first place, honestly.

“Do you think that these are people that we already know?” Jimin asks Taehyung as he’s getting ready to leave the library. “Is it actually you and Hoseok hyung and he just forgot, somehow, that I know you two?”

“I’m sure that’s not it,” Taehyung replies, “especially because Hoseok hyung and I are-”

“Nope, don’t want to hear it! Bye!” Jimin says, laughing as he runs out the door.

It’s pretty early in the night, but the bar is pretty packed. It takes a while for Jimin to find Jeongguk, and when he does, he’s practically sitting in the laps of two people that Jimin knows that he’s never seen before.

“Jimin, hyung, you’re here!” Jeongguk calls, once he realizes that Jimin is standing up right in front of him.

“I’m here...” Jimin says, because, yeah, Jeongguk sounds like he’s pretty much done. And it’s only nine at night. “And who are you with?” Jimin turns up the charm dial all the way up, because the least he can do as Jeongguk’s best friend is make a good first impression.

“These are my boyfriends,” Jeongguk informs him.

“Nice to meet you,” the one that Jeongguk is mostly not sitting on says. “I’m Namjoon, and this is Seokjin hyung, our other boyfriend. We wanted to meet Jeongguk’s friends, so it’s glad to finally meet you.”

“And you said I couldn't get two boyfriends," Jeongguk says, sounding drunk but also smug as hell.

"What? No one said that," Jimin tells him, because really, Jimin had no idea that Jeongguk even liked two guys. He's been in Busan and Daegu all summer. "Are you just making up reasons to fight me now?"

“Maybe,” Jeongguk says. “But maybe I just wanted you to meet my smoking hot boyfriends. Like, Seokjin hyung? Seriously!”

“Okay, time to cut you off,” Seokjin tells him, and he smiles at Jimin. “So, Jimin...tell us every single embarrassing thing that Jeongguk has ever done in his life.”

“NO!” Jeongguk says, sitting up now, but it’s too late. Jimin already has a thousand stories.

“So...” Jimin begins, and hopes that these two are in with Jeongguk for the long haul.

But considering how they look at him, as if he’s the cutest thing in the world, Jimin guesses that they are.