hotel_omelas | (no subject)

He's pretty sure everyone is busy tonight. Namjoon has another one of his long shifts; Hoseok and Jimin have practice. Yoongi may not be doing anything but he comes and goes as he wants and who even knows what Tae and Jungkook are up to. Sometimes he'd say it's better not to know except that that is part of his lot in life, isn't it? But he doesn't have that soul-deep sense of dread that he's gotten used to over the past couple of years, so it can't really be all that bad.

It also means he has no business cooking as much as he does. Making dinner for one is hard when you're used to making dinner for a family and by the time he's done chopping, he's got mountains of ingredients in each bowl, ready to go into the stew.

Ah well.

He supposes he could freeze it all but that seems like more trouble than cooking it, so he goes through with the whole thing after all. When he's finished, he tweets a picture of it and pretends like he's not dearly hoping at least one of them will be free to help him eat it.

[[Gathering style works best I think?]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"You're lucky you're adorable," Seokjin says. He waits for Jungkook to finish his bite before patting his cheek and then giving the hug that his body language practically screams out for. Sometimes, he thinks it should overwhelm him, just how much he'd be willing to do for each of these boys. But at the end of the day, he feels as if he could give them everything and it still wouldn't be enough to repay how happy they make him.

"Well I have lots of reasons to practice. Six reasons, specifically." He ruffles Jungkook's hair again before going back into his own bowl. "We could cook together sometime, if you want to learn."

"I'm the lucky one because I have such a great hyung," Jungkook counters, laughing as he returns the hug in kind. The difference in height between the two of them isn't as vast as it used to be, but Jungkook likes to think that he still fits perfectly well in the shield of his hyung's arms, his smile and laughter pressed against Jin's neck as Jungkook manages to launch himself over the mere couple of inches that separate them. Just to deepen that hug a little more.

"Five boys and a bottomless void," Jungkook confirms, looking up with a cheesy smile before turning back to his bowl as well, shoveling a large spoon of rice and tofu into his mouth for emphasis. "But really, you'd let me in the kitchen? Ah hyung, I definitely want to learn! I can chop everything up for you. I'm good at washing vegetables, too."

And he's lucky to have the six of them, Seokjin thinks. He's the luckiest person in the room and, unlike every other privilege that he's just been handed, Seokjin has worked his hardest to deserve their friendship. He loves them all so fiercely that he'd do anything for them.

"It's going to be horribly cold soon. Good weather for more jjigae. Or maybe Jjim dalk. What do you think?" Those are dishes that are fun to make with people, good for learning.

"I want to make hotteok sometime too," he says, a little dreamily. "We could make lots of batter and fillings and then everyone could take turns on a grill. When it gets really cold."

"Ahhh, jjim dalk, that sounds so good," Jungkook whines, even with jjigae right in front of him. Back home, there are times when Jungkook feels like he has to curb his appetite somewhat, not wanting to appear gluttonous or to look greedy in front of his father — but Jin hyung seems to enjoy the sight of Jungkook eating his fill, a fact that makes their meals all the more enjoyable.

He stuffs his cheeks with more rice, slurping the soup with relish. There's just something different about a home-cooked stew that no amount of ramyeon can match — the faint taste of spring onion and anchovy stock.

"Hotteok would be even better," he adds, careful to swallow his mouthful. "What kind of fillings would we get? I like the honey ones."

"Well I guess if that sounds better, does that mean you've already had your fill of kimchi jjigae?" Seokjin teases, even as he finds a particularly nice-looking chunk of pork and holds it up for Jungkook to eat from his chopsticks if he so desires. It makes him happy, seeing the others enjoy his food. It makes him feel worth something.

"Brown sugar. I like the traditional style," he admits. "And then sweet bean paste. Or condensed milk poured on top. But that's so messy."

"I didn't say it sounded better," Jungkook retorts, his expression taking on a dreamy look as he leans forward and tugs the pork from Seokjin's chopsticks, chewing it slowly and appreciatively. "I can enjoy hyung's food and also dream about how great hyung's future cooking is going to be at the same time." With anyone else, Jungkook might be concerned about displaying such greediness, but with Seokjin, showing greediness is almost its own form of affection.

No walls raised around his eldest hyung.

"Mm, brown sugar is good too," he nods, leaning forward with a soft smile, his chin dropping heavily against his palm. "Especially with condensed milk. It's okay to be messy, right? That's part of the fun. And I can stay back and help you clean after."

"I should stop feeding you," Seokjin says with a disappointed shake of his head. "The rate you're growing, you're going to get taller than all of your hyungs and that's just not acceptable." It'll never happen. Jungkook would be right if he ever vocalized his thoughts; Seokjin finds real pleasure in the things he makes being wanted, feeling like he's made a contribution.

When Jungkook finishes his bite, Seokjin makes a point of patting his cheek, just to remind him who's the elder here.

"And I'm holding you to that promise to stay and clean up. No shirking!" Not that there'd actually been much to clean up before the others got here. Seokjin had made a point of cleaning up as much as possible while the food simmered and while he waited for the others to arrive.

"Mm, would that be so bad?" Jungkook hums, bouncing his feet a little bit at the thought. It hasn't escaped his notice that he's been gradually climbing up their ranks in height — when they first met, he was more or less on par with Jimin, and now only Seokjin and Namjoon are meaningfully taller. In Jungkook's mind, he doesn't really expect to outstrip both of them.

But sometimes, he can't help but think that maybe with a bit more of a physical presence, he'd be more capable of helping with some of the challenges his hyungs face. Maybe growing into that body will make him braver. Stronger.

And then he receives a pat to the cheek.

"Ah, hyung, I'll help," Jungkook promises with a pout. Even though he may not be the best at remembering his duties, Jungkook isn't the type to try and escape them when they've been pointed out. "It's the least I can do after I basically begged you to let me come over."

If he ever found out Jungkook's thoughts, Seokjin would protest. He'd say that as the youngest, it's their responsibility to protect Jungkook rather than burden him with problems that his hyungs–especially the eldest–should be handling on their own. It's hard to convey that through a pat on the cheek.

"I know you will," Seokjin says. "I didn't actually expect anyone to do my dishes for me, you know." He nods toward the mostly-tidy kitchen and smiles, giving up the ruse of a disgruntled elder without respect.

"You didn't really beg. And I wanted people here."

Jungkook follows the direction of Seokjin's nod, towards the nearly spotless kitchen in the background. There's too much food for the preparation itself not to have made a mess. Seokjin's already cleaned up — just one more example of his thoughtfulness, of the responsible habits that come with age. Jungkook feels the back of his neck warm just a little bit, wondering if this is yet another example of how he needs to be better at stepping up.

It's so selfish to let his hyung watch out for him like this.

"Ah, but I would have done them all," Jungkook sighs, then wraps his arms around Seokjin, giving him a squeeze. "You're too good for us, hyung. I wish I could just move in here with you."