namkook au where namjoon is a figure skater and jungkook is a part-timer at the stadium where namjoon is competing. jungkook’s shocked when the clumsy guy that broke a table backstage is the person that glides along the ice so perfectly and gracefully

if jungkook is honest, it completely slipped his mind that the arena were hosting the ice skating championships this week, he only works a couple of days of the week as he juggles the workload of his masters degree in creative writing.

so when he gets into work, he’s surrounded by more people milling about the hallways than there usually is, and then he remembers.

there’s an ice rink set up in the arena and the dressing rooms are full of many different competitors and getting their hair and makeup done.

he walks through the halls and tries to stay out of the way as he noses in and tries to have a look at what’s going on, feeling completely out of his depths as he’s never watched ice skating before, but extremely interested,

wishing he’d been put on an earlier shift so he had the opportunity to see more into how these things are set up and run.

he was only scheduled on the bar shift tonight, so arrived only a couple of hours before doors opened.

he walks past a room and sees a commotion going on and lots of chattering. he peeks in and notices there aren’t any members of staff with them; and the people in the room look relieved when they see him in his uniform.

“i’m so sorry.” a tall man in sweatpants deadpans, and jungkook needs to stop eyeing him up to realise what’s actually going on.

the coffee table in the room is broken, and everything that was on it, drinks, food and makeup is now spilled and broken all over the floor.

jungkook smiles, looking around at everyone in the room that has terror in their eyes as they look at him, “don’t worry guys. i’ll get this cleaned up - you’re not the first people to break stuff. this is pretty tame.” he chuckles, leaning down to begin clearing the mess.

the beautiful guy in sweatpants kneels down next to him, profusely apologising and picking up the mess too.

he smells So good, and as much as jungkook should tell him that it’s fine, that it’s jungkook’s job to clear this, he enjoys his presence far too much.

jungkook gathers up the mess and bags it up, promising to return to remove the broken table before taking it out to the industrial bins.

when he returns, the commotion in the room has died down, and the tall guy has disappeared. jungkook’s heart sinks a little.

“thank you for your help.” a female member of staff for the contestant says with a smile.

jungkook smiles and shrugs, “no worries, it’s what i’m paid to do. did you need anything else before i go?”

“no, you’re good. kim namjoon has been moved to a different room.”

and jungkook has no idea who kim namjoon is, but he pretends like he does and smiles as he carries out the last of the broken table, taking it to a store room and leaving a note as it’s definitely fixable.

if not, they can just throw it out.

jungkook can’t get stop thinking about the guy as he prepares the bar for when doors open, losing himself in the memory of him being stood next to the clumsy guy that had obviously broken the table, as he looked the most guilty and was desperate to help.

things go pretty fast from that point on, jungkook going into autopilot as people start filling the arena, the bar being packed until the championships begin.

jungkook likes the bar shift the most, as usually, he gets to sit and watch the events as the bar has a great view.

and he truly cannot believe his eyes when the “kim namjoon” he was told about glides onto the ice, cheers erupting in the arena louder for him than for any previous skater that night.

/this/, is kim namjoon? the guy that broke a table? he was told throughout his shift by his coworkers that he’d apparently broken it by walking backwards with such force, he tripped and crashed right into it, causing two of the legs to snap.

the kim namjoon, that would drop things from his grip as he picked others up when he was trying to help jungkook clean up?

he moved so gracefully across the ice. jungkook didn’t know a thing about ice skating, but he knew that kim namjoon was mesmerising.

the entire night, jungkook couldn’t stop thinking about namjoon’s performance, eager to go home and watch videos about him.

although it’s a little creepy, jungkook didn’t really care - it’s not like he’d ever run into namjoon again.

and that’s what he did, after closing the bar down and almost running home, the first thing he does when he boots up his PC is to google kim namjoon.

he watches videos of him performing and then moves on to videos of him goofing off backstage on his official youtube channel.

jungkook looks at the time and realises that it’s now 5am, and he has to get up for a meeting with his professor in three hours. he hates himself.

but goes to sleep with a smile on his face, because god damn it, kim namjoon is super endearing.

he feels like death when he forces himself up, going straight to work after spending a couple of hours at the library from his meeting.

he doesn’t know if namjoon will perform tonight, but he stops himself from walking through the hallways, knowing that it’s far too weird.

jungkook knows that yesterday was purely innocent, he was just curious. however tonight, he’d be walking through the hallways with intent, and he doesn’t like that.

he potters about the bar and tries to busy himself until opening before his radio buzzes.

“jungkook?”

“yep, what’s up?” jungkook answers, bringing the radio to his mouth.

“can you go to the stock room and distribute some more water bottles to the dressing rooms? we’re short staffed tonight.”

fuck.

well, it’s jungkook’s job, he supposes.

he still can’t help feeling like a creep after growing super fond over the guy he met yesterday overnight, feeling like it’s weird and unprofessional to be going to his dressing room now that he’s technically a fan.

however, namjoon’s face lights up as he walks into the room.

“ah! i didn’t manage to get your name last night before they moved me to another room. i felt really bad and wanted to thank you.” namjoon smiles, getting up from his seat.

and jungkook wants to lie on the floor and let his body seep into the tiles, because namjoon is dressed up in his suit already. there’s a section cut off that leads from his shoulder to his left hip, gold sparkles framing the cut, and trailing down his left leg.

he looks breathtaking and jungkook doesn’t know what to say.

“i’ve got water.” jungkook tries, his voice coming out a little squeakier than anticipated.

namjoon looks confused, but takes the water that jungkook’s handing him.

“thank you.” namjoon says slowly, “what’s your name?”

“oh. uh. jungkook. jeon jungkook.” jungkook babbles, bowing to namjoon and wondering why he can’t control his body.

namjoon chuckles, “what are you doing? i’m trying to thank you for yesterday!”

“sorry.” jungkook can feel his cheeks heat up, “like i said. it’s my job. thank you, good luck tonight. you did really well last night.” and he turns around, power walking out of the room and continuing to deliver water to the rest of the dressing rooms.

when he returns to the bar, he wonders how hard he’d have to hit his head against the wood to concuss him so he’d completely forget about what he just did.

he sits, trying to distract himself on his phone, counting down the minutes until doors open and he can forget.

“jungkook?” he hears an unfamiliar voice ask, and for some reason, kim namjoon is leaning over the bar in front of him.

“kim namjoon? what? doors will be open in a couple of minutes.” jungkook rushes, “you need to go backstage.”

“i know, i promise i’ll go in a second. i just wanted to check that you’re okay. you were acting weird earlier compared to yesterday.” namjoon says, and his face looks worried, and jungkook doesn’t know how to explain to him that he’s fallen in love with him overnight.

“oh. i’m fine, honestly. just a little stressed over my degree. please don’t worry about me.” jungkook lies, biting his lip. he needs namjoon to leave, because if his manager sees him being a distraction to a performer, jungkook will be ripped to shreds.

namjoon watches jungkook intently, copying jungkook and biting his own lip

“hmm, okay. i hope you’re okay, anyway. are you working tomorrow?” namjoon asks.

the question makes jungkook‘a heart flip in his chest, “y-yeah. i’m working every night of the event.”

namjoon smiles, “good. i’ll see you tomorrow?” and jungkook tries not to be desperate when he hears a little bit of hope in namjoon’s voice.

“i mean, maybe.” jungkook shrugs, “good luck tonight, i’ll be watching from here.” he smiles.

and it looks like namjoon wants to say something, but a member of namjoon’s staff has come to find him as doors are about to open.

jungkook doesn’t really know how to process what just happened, but doesn’t have time as the queue to the bar fills up almost instantly.

jungkook gets to watch namjoon perform again tonight, propping himself against the bar and watching namjoon in awe.

“didn’t know you liked figure skating?” taehyung asks, looking up from his phone from behind jungkook.

“oh, i mean. i worked last night and saw that it’s pretty cool. was watching videos on youtube almost all night.” jungkook shrugs, trying to play it cool.

taehyung stands and joins him, “so, absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the skater you’re watching is hot as fuck?”

jungkook blushes and punches taehyung in the arm, “shut up. i’ll hurt you.”

taehyung shrugs, “nothing wrong with admitting it. anyway, wasn’t he the guy that was asking everyone where you were earlier?”

jungkook tunes out until namjoon’s performance finishes, the crowd erupting for him.

it’s not until the next performer is on, and they’ve beaten the crowd that jungkook recalls what taehyung had said.

“wait, who looked for me?”

“that guy you watched. he was describing you to everyone and asking where you were so he could find you and talk to you. he came and found you didn’t he?”

and jungkook wants to get defensive and deny it, because the whole thing sounds weirder than it is.

“oh, yeah. he just wanted to thank me because he broke the table in the dressing room and i cleared it up.” jungkook shrugs.

taehyung raises his eyebrow, “and he couldn’t just put that in a good review?”

“dunno. he’s nice, i guess.”

“yeah, kook. he’s nice.” taehyung mocks, getting ready for the next wave of customers.

jungkook can’t focus though, keeps messing up orders as he recalls what taehyung’s implying - trying to figure out why namjoon bothered searching for him.

so after his shift, jungkook tries to avoid the situation.

as much as he wants to sit and carry on watching videos of namjoon all night, he puts on an ASMR video and forces himself to sleep.