#firstencounters

We just met not too long ago,

And you have yet to see me for who I am

All of my flaws and mistakes

When we are talking

Little do you know

All the scars that cover me

Both emotionally and physically

As we continue our conversation

Will you stick around long enough to hear my story

And hear how life tried to beat me down,

But throughout our conversations shall you see me for who I am

Though I ask of you—

After this first encounter ends

Please remember not to leave me without saying goodbye ,

We just met not too long ago

Sigh

It was nearly autumn, leaves turning that distinct reddish orange color around the edges that Jungkook always has associated with the season. The air was crisp, not too hot but not too cold yet either. The sky was an azure ocean, its counterpart on land Jungkook bet was just as vibrant in shade but he hasn’t seen the actual beach in so long so he can only guess. In short, it was a perfect day. A perfect day for what, he didn’t know. He didn’t actually believe there was a thing called a perfect day, close to a perfect day maybe; this day could be the perfect day if he didn’t have to do what he was supposed to do today but that’s beside the point. Today was a day he should be spending out, sitting by the park maybe, sketching that scenery he was working on (he was trying to improve his colouring techniques, studying the different shades of grass), or maybe just hanging out with his friends. He was not supposed to be here.

Here entails being trapped inside primary school, him being the designated nanny/guardian/babysitter/ for his cousin who was in the first grade. Seowoo was definitely cute, she was a little ball of energy and Jungkook found himself out of breath at times he was asked by his aunt to watch over her while she ran around as he tried and failed to catch up with her, and Jungkook was in shape but apparently your almost perfect BMI was no match for ever energetic toddlers. Seowoo was a delight to be with, a gifted child, she sang pretty well and was a wonderful dancer, already establishing her moves and can copy Blackpink’s Boombayah so well her parents uploaded a video of her dancing to it on youtube and now she was mini superstar.

Jungkook didn’t actually mind looking out for Seowoo, it was the waiting and the constant stares from the moms with him that was the problem. They were staring at him like he was a piece of meat and a shudder passed through his whole body when he saw some of them preen, sticking out their chests, flicking their hairs back and forth, exposing their necks, like a bunch of proud peacocks. He didn’t have a choice but to respond to their advances politely, choosing to sit a few meters away from them, on a bench under a massive tree, plugging in his earbuds and staring intently over his phone back hunched, the universal movement that hopefully was enough to convey that he was not interested.

Jungkook knew that was attractive. He stood at almost 6 feet, dark hair falling attractively over his large doe eyes, thick eyebrows framing them nicely, nose slightly too large for his face but Jimin told him it compliments everything so he need not worry, and full pink lips girls always seemed to stare at the most. He worked out regularly and even he appreciated the way the muscles rippled on his arms and torso whenever he looked at the mirror as he put on clothes everyday. But he didn’t use his physical appearance to his full advantage, Jimin sadly pointed out sometime. His blonde friend was a bombshell and he knew how to use his body to get whatever he wanted and to get out of situations. He told Jungkook that with a face like his and a body and brains to boot, he could be really popular and famous, but Jungkook didn’t want that kind of recognition because firstly, he was shy. He almost didn’t want the attention on him (except when he was dancing, he wanted everybody’s eyes on him while he set fire to the stage, figuratively of course), preferring to just be in the background, observing and analyzing everything down the minute level and formulating ideas in his head, extracting inspiration from everything.

So that was how Jungkook noticed him.

The moms finally left him alone so he could now breathe a sigh of relief. A groovy, psychedelic song Taehyung recommended to him was playing through his earbuds and with fingers tapping on his ripped jeans clad knee, he started to look around his surroundings. The school wasn’t that big but it was nice and quaint. Jungkook could see everything around, including the grade one classroom where at one point he saw Seowoo peek through the window and waved at him. Waving back, his attention was caught by someone by the other side of the building.

Jungkook assumed he was some kind of handyman. The first thing that caught his attention was the man’s startlingly bleached hair it was almost white. Next was his pale complexion, which Jungkook thought was unnatural since the man was definitely under the sun, watering the plants with only a white wife beater covering his upper torso while what was supposed to be navy blue overalls but the upper body part was undone and the sleeves were wrapped around his waist covered him from the waist down. Jungkook couldn’t make out his facial features that much because of the distance but he leaned back on the trunk of the tree behind him and watched the man for a little bit more. He watched him water all of the plants, watched him as he stood at the pavement and proceeded to spray water over the grass watering them too, watched him disappear for a bit and returning with a rake in hand and proceeded to gather the stray leaves that has fallen over the lawn. Jungkook watched him as the man raised up an arm to wipe the sweat off his forehead before ultimately lifting the collar of his wife beater to wipe his whole face, and Jungkook willed himself not to blush as the man’s pale torso came into view as well.

This was the second reason why didn’t want attention on him. He was also extremely gay. He found out middle school, when the older boys at school gathered all of them younger lads in a sort of initiation, nothing brutal of course, just a way for the older kids to get to know and befriend the younger ones. It was a neat move that Jungkook appreciated, he was terribly shy but the older kids didn’t laugh or teased him about it. But that hanging out lead to talks, talks that Jungkook wanted to avoid. Sure these talks started out innocently, questions like who’s your fave superhero turned to who’s the person you like and everybody was required to give an answer. When it was 13 year old Jungkook’s turn, he froze up. All the other boys gave out girl’s names but the name that was on the tip of his tongue was Taehyung’s, his childhood friend he had a massive crush on until he decides to stop pining for him when they entered high school and Taehyung fell for Jimin. Jungkook couldn’t very well say he liked Taehyung in front of these boys so he quickly blurted out a made up girl’s name and blushed furiously which earned him hoots and whistles from his mates. And that was only the beginning of his pretend straightness. Jungkook was as curved as they went, maybe even more so.

And now looking at this man who was slowly walking towards him, a slow trickle of desire was building up at the base of his spine.

Wait what?

Jungkook jerked up straight in his seat when he realized that fuck the man certainly was walking towards him, growing nearer and nearer and shit, shit, shit he was attractive. He didn’t see before but he could definitely see now that he was. Calling the man hot was an understatement. He walked towards Jungkook’s general direction in a way that predators stalked their prey.

Dangerous, Jungkook thought as he licked his lips, throat suddenly dry when the man’s fox-like gaze settled on him, dark and unnerving. Suddenly he was feeling very exposed, exposed under this man’s scrutiny and if he wasn’t sitting already he was sure his knees would wobble and he’d fall to the ground, so he dropped his gaze as the man drew nearer and nearer. He held his breath as the man came so close as he passed by him, smelling faintly of freshly cut grass and something else, musky and earthy, and Jungkook couldn’t get enough of it, wanted the man to turn back so he can smell it again and again, and maybe it was the autumn heat but Jungkook was sure he imagined it when the man cleared his throat as if to say something but Jungkook’s gaze was still down and the man passed by him with no incident, disappearing around a building for Jungkook to not see him again throughout the day.

He tried not to feel a tad disappointed when the bell rang signalling that class has ended and Seowoo came tumbling out of her classroom, trolley bag rolling as she pulled it behind her, ramming her body straight to Jungkook’s crotch and he winced a bit, but didn’t let it show. Taking her hand, the two of them walked towards the school gate, the child yammering incessantly about the art activity they did, “Kookie, we draw and painted a butterfly!” And Jungkook heard something about an upcoming school trip to the aquarium but his attention was already on something else, rather someone else.

There by the gate, sweeping fallen leaves again, was the same man. He was still dressed the same like this morning but now instead of coveralls, he was wearing black skinny jeans Jungkook thought was definitely illegal by the way it encased is long legs so well. They were getting near him and Jungkook’s heart was beating a mile a minute and then everything was better and worse all at the same time because Seowoo finally stopped talking but her attention was caught by the sweeping man and she screamed “Yoongi!” and ran the few distance between them, also ramming her body towards the man, and Yoongi, fuck Jungkook was whipped, gave Seowoo a gummy smile that made his eyes disappear into crescents and hugged her close.

Jungkook stopped a few feet behind the two and couldn’t help but take in the man’s appearance once again. He was still pale but the light sheen of sweat decorating his skin was being highlighted so beautifully by the setting sun, encasing him in an almost ethereal glow. The mop of bleached white hair was still a halo around his head but this time, Jungkook also noticed, standing this close to tue guy, that he was atleast a few inches shorter than Jungkook, which he thought was adorable. Seowoo was jumping around, the broom was lying on the ground, as she relayed her day to the still smiling Yoongi, gaze fond as he held Seowoo’s little hand but then he looked at Jungkook, fondness still lingering in his eyes before replaced by what seemed to be curiosity.

“Oh! I forgot to introduce you Yoongi,” Seowoo ran back to Jungkook, taking his hand as well and pulling him even closer to Yoongi and spoke again. “This is Kookie, my big brother cousin. He watched me at school today and brought me snacks in the classroom because mama had to go to Grandma’s. Kookie’s very nice. He gives me piggyback rides when we go to the park and he draws very good pictures, he even drew me once! That drawing is hanging now on the refrigerator.” Seowoo was beaming as she looked up between the two older men staring at each other and Jungkook tried not to blush, letting out a nervous chuckle while he mumbled a “Nice to meet you,” greeting while averting his eyes again from Yoongi’s intense gaze.

“Likewise.” Jungkook’s head shot up to look at the man’s gaze, it was unreadable but then a smirk curled up on the edges of his lips and his eyes glinted mischievously before breaking up the eye contact between them to look down at Seowoo again. His voice was deep and melodious, a bit of a drawl present and Jungkook wanted to squirm.

“You should be on your way, little bird. It’ll be dark soon and we wouldn’t you going home too late,” he spoke as he patted Seowoo’s hair.

“Yes sir! Will be going now but Kookie will keep me safe, he’s strong like a muscle pig!”

Jungkook was definitely blushing now, especially when Yoongi’s gaze raked his body from head to toe, smirk growing on his lips and eyes getting even darker.

“Is he now,” he licked his lips, pink tongue flicking in view for a second before disappearing again, gaze flicking down to an area Jungkook felt was starting to tighten and he gulped. He could feel the tension in the air, growing palpable by the second and he needed to get out of this dangerous man’s vicinity before something very, very bad and very, very embarrassing could happen. Tugging Seowoo forward, he started to walk again, muttering a quick goodbye before picking up pace. Seowoo was walking but most of her body was still turned backwards to Yoongi, yelling that she’ll see him again tomorrow and goodbye.

“He’s nice,” the kid said. Jungkook raised one brow in query and looked down at her. She was staring straight ahead and was holding his hand in hers. “He waters the plants everyday and makes them bloom so prettily. He gave me a bunch of daisies last time and they were so pretty. His smile is the best too.”