seven dates to valentine's .ᐟ
prologue - minus one

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THE UNIVERSE hates Jungkook.

Jeon Jungkook had survived many things in his 20 years of life-group projects where he did all the work, professors who treated syllabus like a foreign concept, and once, a 30-minute conversation with his aunt about why he was still single.

But nothing, nothing could have prepared him for this moment.

"Kim Taehyung," Jimin read aloud from the slip of paper, his face scrunching like he'd just licked a lemon. "Well. Damn."

Jungkook's stomach plummeted. Somewhere in the distance, a very dramatic violin solo played in his mind.

"No," he croaked, snatching the paper from Jimin's hand. "No, no, no."

But the ink did not change. His fate was sealed. The universe, as always, had chosen violence.

Namjoon leaned over, peering at the name before sucking in a sharp breath. "Ohhh. I think you just pulled a death wish."

Jungkook could only nod.

Kim Taehyung wasn't just any jock-he was the jock™.

The kind that walked around campus with the confidence of a medieval warlord, five feet something of broad-shouldered, stone-faced intimidation. The star athlete, the chaebol heir, the guy who looked like he belonged on the cover of Forbes rather than in a university classroom. The man had never looked stressed about an exam in his entire life.

And Jungkook? To his absolute horror, he was now required-contractually obligated-to go on seven dates with him. Seven.

Jimin winced, patting his back. "Tough break, buddy."

Jungkook groaned, dropping his forehead onto the table. "What did I do to deserve this?"

Jimin hummed. "Well, there was that time you accidentally called Professor Cha 'dad' in the middle of a lecture."

"That was one time," Jungkook mumbled into the wood.

"And last week, when you tried to carry ten iced Americanos at once and ended up drenched in front of the basketball team."

Jungkook flinched. "Oh my god."

Namjoon, ever the optimist, tried to soften the blow. "Maybe it won't be that bad?"

But Jungkook knew better.

Because Jungkook had history with jocks. Bad history.

Two years ago, he'd dated one. A tall, cocky, walking protein shake of a man who had scoffed at Jungkook and told him, "You're all looks, no game. Me? I'm good at everything."

Everything.

Football, basketball, weightlifting, probably even extreme ironing (note the use of intended sarcasm).

Jungkook had dumped his ass right then and there.

Since then, he'd made it a strict policy to avoid jocks at all costs. And yet-

His eyes flicked across the room.

Kim Taehyung was standing there, leaning against a table like he was about to sell someone an overpriced Rolex. Arms crossed, face blank, radiating unbothered rich man energy.

The entire student body had gone silent when he pulled Jungkook's name, everyone collectively holding their breath as if they had just witnessed some kind of rare celestial event.

Taehyung's expression was unreadable. He stared at Jungkook like he was trying to solve a mildly interesting puzzle. Or maybe like he was examining a bug under a microscope. Hard to say.

Jungkook groaned, shoving his head into his hands. "Nope. Nope. This is it. This is my villain origin story."

Jimin wheezed.

Kim Taehyung, meanwhile, was having an existential crisis.

He had spent years perfecting the art of watching Jungkook from afar without making it obvious.

(Or so he thought. The people around him would argue that staring at someone like they personally held the secret to the universe wasn't exactly subtle, but Taehyung would disagree.)

Jungkook was bright. The kind of person who laughed with his whole chest, who made people feel important just by looking at them. He was warm, golden, the type of person you wanted to stand next to just to steal a little bit of his sunshine.

And Taehyung.

Well. Taehyung was good at exactly two (actually more than just two, Taehyung was but a modest man) things:

1. Running really fast.

2. Looking like he might kill someone at any given moment.

Not exactly boyfriend material (in narrator's voice: he actually was).

Which was a problem, because he had been in love with Jungkook for years.

Not that Jungkook knew that. Taehyung had been... less than obvious. In the same way a brick wall was less than obvious about its emotions.

But now-now, the gods had blessed him.

Seoul National University had decided to host a Seven Dates to Love event this Valentine's season, a noble attempt to encourage student relationships (and, more importantly, to prevent the annual Singles' Revolt-last year, some guy had taken out his rage on the Valentine's decorations, and the student union had declared war).

Participation was mandatory.

And somehow-somehow-Taehyung had pulled Jungkook's name.

Seven dates. Seven chances to prove that he wasn't just some cold, emotionless jock.

All he had to do was act normal.

Simple.

Except-

Jungkook was staring at him like he had just been sentenced to seven years in Azkaban with the death eaters.

Taehyung clenched his jaw. Right. This might be harder than he thought.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

not much to say besides happy valentine's eve !! this fic will be super short and will probably end in a few weeks time, i was supposed to post it 7 days prior to valentine's but i procrastinated until now lmao

thank you for reading 🍒