Chapter Text
Taehyung is sleeping soundly when he realizes the sleep he is getting is a bit too relaxing and too much.
Wait, did I miss my alarm? He thinks while he is still half asleep.
"Taehyung!! You're gonna be late. " he hears his flatmate, Jimin scream at him, and he jolts awake. He quickly checks his phone, and it shows the time 9:20 am
Shit he curses himself. He should have woken up by 8:30. He is so late. He instantly gets up and rushes to the bathroom.
He remembers last night, watching youtube till 3 am and regrets sleeping late. His sleep schedule gets really messed up during the weekends, but he can't help it. He's always been a nightowl. This early morning routine was clearly not made for him, and yet he has to wake up at 8:30 for office, five days a week!!
He looks in the mirror and sees huge dark circles under his eyes and groans. He has no time to conceal them with make up and so he gets his bag and leaves.
He reaches the station on record time, probably his fastest ever. When the train arrives and the doors open, Taehyung half expects to see Jungkook, but then he realizes he's way too late. Jungkook would already be in office right now.
It has been 3 weeks since he joined the new company and usually when he wakes up early and on time, he finds Jungkook at the far end of the train, his bag on the side to save a seat for him. Taehyung finds it cute, especially when Jungkook dozes off with his mouth open. He then gently wakes the other when their station arrives. Today, however, he doesn't find a seat.
When he finally makes it to the office, he rushes to his desk. There are gazes on him, and a few people also come up to his desk to actually ask him if everything's fine. He assures them all by saying he just slept a little too late, jokes about it a little, and everyone goes back their way.
He doesn't mind the attention. In fact, he's used to it. In college, He and his best friend Jimin used to rule the dating scene by being the best, and not just in looks but also in their grades. Everyone used to call them the brain with beauty duo. So yeah, he knows how to handle people.
What he isn't used to is Jungkook and the fact that he never really initiates any conversation with him. He turns a little in his seat to look over at the man, who is clearly focused on his work.
He knows Jungkook is a bit shy and an introvert, but he thought by now he would open up to him, at least a little. Even on the train, they mostly sit in silence. A comfortable silence that Taehyung really appreciates after a long day. They're acquaintances at best, Jungkook and him, and he doesn't want to dwell on it too much, but he would really like to be friends with him. He just doesn't know how to do that, like the guy simply disappears during lunch, and he doesn't want to break their silence on the train either. That would make him even more uncomfortable.
He's caught off guard when Jungkook turns to look back at him, and before he can think about what to say, he blurts out:
"I couldn't find a seat today, on the train..."
Jungkook seems a bit taken back by Taehyung's sudden start of a conversation, but he still replies
"Oh right, it must be crowded,"
"Yeah, it was." Taehyung nods and then quietly turns back to face his laptop
What even was that? Taehyung facepalms himself mentally
Before he can overthink what just happened, he sees a message from Jin on his laptop:
"Hey, Taehyung!
Let's have a one on one discussion at, say, 6?"
Taehyung immediately checks his calendar and replies 'Yes sure!' but internally, he is panicking,
Is it because I'm late? Did I do something wrong?
Before he can spiral, he sees another message from Jin pop up on his screen:
"Great! See you then
And don't worry, it's nothing bad. "
Taehyung calms down after seeing that. He really appreciates Jin when it comes to his communication skills. Even though it's nothing bad, Taehyung's still wonders what the meeting could be about.
----------------------------------
2 hours go by so quickly that Taehyung doesn't even realize it's time for lunch until he hears a faint grumbling sound coming from his own stomach.
He gets up to see a lot of his colleagues going, so he tags along with them. He takes one look at Jungkook's desk before leaving, and as usual, he's not there.
The cafeteria is on the lower ground floor of the building, and judging by its size, it's no small place. There are various foods to try, from western to Indian cuisine. And the best thing, all of it's totally free
When Taehyung first heard that during his induction, he realized that he finally made it into one of his dream companies.There's a special buffet being served today, and Taehyung can't wait to try it. He smells the delicious food even from far away as he gets in line.
While he's waiting, he hears a familiar voice, someone laughing a few tables away from him. He turns around to look at the source and finds Jungkook trying to hide his face from laughing too much. And he's not alone. There are two other people which Taehyung has never seen, laughing along with him, one with dimples and the other with his hair blonde.
Taehyung can't help but stare at Jungkook, who is the happiest he has ever seen him. There's just something about his laugh, his high-pitched giggles that are making him feel all weird on the inside. He can't help but smile a little, hearing his contagious laughter.
Then Taehyung hears the blonde guy call him "jungkookie."
and wonders how long they've known each other. There's a part of him that wants to make Jungkook laugh like this one day. But then there's this daunting feeling in his heart that if Jungkook wanted to open up to him, he would have.
He turns back to see that he's been holding the line up for too long, so he hurries up and eventually sits down with some of the people from the team.
He eats his food and chats with them, but all he can think about is Jungkook's laugh. He realizes that he never did see it from Jungkook's perspective. He just assumed that the other liked his company as well.
When he goes to his floor after lunch, he finds Jungkook already seated at his desk. Taehyung doesn't approach him this time. he just opens his laptop and gets to work.
----------------------------------
At 6, he goes up to Jin's cabin, where he greets him with a smile. They talk about the workload and other work related stuff, but mostly Jin wants to know if Taehyung's getting along with the team.
Jin assures Taehyung that if there's ever a problem, he can always contact him.
Towards the end of their discussion, Jin tells him about the upcoming design hackathon that is held in the company every year.
"Since it's only been 3 weeks for you here, you don't have to necessarily participate but I would encourage you to," Jin opens up a ppt on his laptop showing the past winners of the Competition and the last 3 years winners are all from their department only.
Taehyung is surprised as well as happy to see that.
"It's the most happening competition where you come up with different ideas and implement them. You also get to collaborate with other departments. If you end up winning, you get 1 week of paid vacation from the company. So what do you say?"
1 week paid vacation? There's no way Taehyung is gonna miss out on this opportunity.
"I'm definitely in sir," he says excitedly. "Is this an individual competition, or do we need to make teams?" Taehyung enquires
"Sadly all teams are usually fixed, no one wants to take a new joinee and explain them the whole process" Jin answers with disappointment "but you can ask Jungkook, he joined a few months ago so he probably isn't a part of a team, unless he wants to participate individually"
Taehyung thinks about it, and he's not sure if Jungkook would like to team up with him, but he'll ask anyway.
"Okay, I'll ask him," he replies with a determined nod,
"Good, let me know by Wednesday," Jin replies and then checks his watch. "You should get going. it's getting pretty late."
Taehyung checks his own phone and sees the time 7:15 and leaves Jin's office politely saying his goodbyes.
Usually, by this time, he's already halfway home. Jungkook must have left already, he thinks while he hurries to his desk. As soon as he reaches it, he sees Jungkook busy on his phone, with his bag around his shoulders ready to leave. When Jungkook notices him, he walks up to his desk as if he's waiting for Taehyung to pack up his things.
When Taehyung's done and starts to leave, Jungkook casually starts walking along with him. Taehyung is clearly surprised, so he decides to just ask him:
"Did you wait for me?"
"Yeah," Jungkook replies and looks at him like it was no big deal
"You didn't have to. It's really late," Taehyung says, but deep inside, he feels giddy
maybe he likes my company too. Taehyung thinks
"It's okay, I don't mind." Jungkook looks away, averting his eyes, and Taehyung wants to ask him more but decides to just walk quietly with the other as they leave the building
While they're waiting for the train, Taehyung decides to ask Jungkook about the hackathon:
"Hey, you know about the coming hackathon?" Jungkook nods
"Did you join a team?"
"Not really, no one asked me to," Jungkook answers with a blank expression. "What about you, which team did you join?"
"I haven't joined any team either, Jin told me about it today only,"
"I see, I'm pretty sure someone will ask you by tomorrow," Jungkook replies, giving him a small smile
Why don't you ask me, Taehyung thinks for a second before finally asking him the main question
"Maybe, but I was thinking, how about we team up?"
Jungkook looks at him finally, eyes a little wide
"Just the two of us?" Jungkook asks a bit hesitant
"Yeah, why not, we both just joined recently, imagine all their faces when we win the competition and get that 1 week vacation," Taehyung says as he gets lost in his own imagination
He's broken out of it by a small laugh, which he realizes is Jungkook's. He turns to look at him and can't help but feel triumphant that he unknowingly made the other laugh.
"Yah, are you making fun of me?" Taehyung teases him
"Your imagination is wild, Taehyung-ssi." Jungkook shakes his head laughing "but okay, let's team up."
"Great, and from now on, call me hyung,"
"Okay," Jungkook smiles but looks away as the train arrives
The rest of the ride home is spent in silence as usual, but Taehyung feels happier today. When he reaches home and gets in bed, he falls asleep to Jungkook's laugh echoing in his mind.