ɪꜰ ᴄʟᴀʏ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ʀᴇᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀ | jjk
twoshot ⋆˚꩜｡
pairing: idol Jungkook x reader
Genre: Romance, Fluff, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers, Slice of Life, Comfort, BTS, Jungkook, Idol AU, Two Shot, Feel-Good, Young Adult.
── ⋆⋅𖤓⋅⋆ ──
Graduation.
The word had once felt impossibly far away.
Four years of assignments, sleepless nights, presentations, deadlines, friendships, heartbreaks, and memories later…
I was finally standing there in my graduation gown, degree in hand.
Everyone around me was busy celebrating with their families, taking pictures, laughing, and talking about what came next.
I did all of that too.
But somewhere between the congratulations and endless photographs, I realized I wanted to do something just for myself.
Something I'd remember years from now.
So, instead of diving straight into job applications and interviews, I booked a two-week solo trip to Gapyeong-gun, South Korea.
I'd always wanted to travel alone at least once.
No schedules.
No expectations.
Just me.
For the first few days, I wandered through quiet streets, cozy cafés tucked between old buildings, little bookstores, lakeside paths, and local markets filled with handmade crafts.
Every day, I promised myself one thing.
Try something new.
On the fourth morning of my trip, while strolling through one of Gapyeong's quieter streets, a wooden sign caught my attention.
"Clay & Soul Pottery Workshop."
A small chalkboard outside read:
Beginner-Friendly Workshop 3 Hours Take Home Your Own Pottery
I'd never touched a pottery wheel in my life.
It was five in the evening
The open-air pottery workshop glowed under the warm golden sunlight as a cool breeze carried the earthy scent of clay through the space. Rows of pottery wheels sat beneath shaded canopies, while wooden shelves displayed handmade mugs, bowls, vases, and tiny ceramic figurines. Soft instrumental music played in the background, making the place feel calm and inviting.
A man who looked to be in his late forties greeted me with a friendly smile.
"First time?"
I laughed sheepishly.
"Is it that obvious?"
He chuckled.
"It gets easier, trust me."
After I registered, he handed me a small wooden token with the letter S carved into it.
"Take a seat for now," he said. "I'll assign partners once everyone arrives."
I nodded and looked around the place as more people slowly trickled in.
A few minutes later, the instructor clapped his hands, catching everyone's attention.
"Alright, everyone. We'll be working in pairs today."
He held up a basket filled with wooden tokens.
"I'll be calling out the letters. If your token matches, you'll be partners."
"S."
I glanced down at the wooden token in my hand.
Across the room, another person looked down at theirs before quietly standing up.
The letter on our tokens matched.
S.
And that was what got us seated beside each other.
He was wearing a black hoodie, paired with grey joggers, his face was hidden with a mask, you could still see his ear piercings.
He felt familiar, someone who you see almost daily.
he came to you, and bowed, and you bowed back with respect.
You both sat Infront of each other, distanced by the pottery wheels.
It took 5 minutes for every one to settle down.
you brain went blank, you weren't thinking of anything, just staring at the ground.
"So, i think we are good to go" , the trainer said that's when i came back to my senses.
i looked Infront , he was reading the pamphlet that had the basics of pottery.
I suddenly felt embarrassed, for not talking to him, and staring right at the floor as if i were depressed.
I should've at least introduced myself.
Before I could say anything, the instructor clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.
"This is going to be a three-hour workshop," he announced. "I'd like everyone to read the pamphlet first. Go through the basics and then try to make aything basic of your choice"
A wave of confused glances spread across everyone. Everyone, including me, stared at him with the same expression. Every face seemed to ask the same question.
He chuckled softly, already knowing what was going through our minds.
"I know, I know. It's completely new to you guys, and I'm here to teach you,that's the whole point." He smiled before continuing. "But I believe that when you create something with your own hands, it should begin with your own effort. Learning, trying, failing, trying again… that's how all of us started."
He gestured around the room.
"I'll be here to guide you. I just want each of you to make something before the break, which is in an hour and a half. It doesn't have to be perfect. And if you don't manage to make anything at all, that's completely okay too. I simply want you to experience the process of learning."
He paused for a moment before adding with an encouraging smile,
"After the break, my staff and I will help you individually and make sure each of you leaves with something you're proud of."
Everyone agreed to what instructor without any fuss and started , reading the pamphlets, when I look to the , small wooden stool beside, I didn't find one, every table has two pamphlets, while I didn't find any.
just then his hand stretched towards me , giving me the pamphlet.
"Ah, its okay", i'll just ask the staff, I said refused taking it.
"Its okay ,I am done reading it already", he said beneath his mask.
This voice, no i cant shrugg these thoughts now, i know this voice, i know this build, it is familiar.
It is familia-…JUNGKOOK???!< JEON JUNGKOOK???!!!
Is he???
My eyes widened,
I was about to scream his name with excitement but i stopped myself, i silently took the pamphlet.
"Thank you, I'll be quick" i muttered,unsure of what just happened.
while reading the pamphlet, i glanced at him secretly evry time possible, making sure i wont get caught.
Those eyes, those piercings, Its HIM.
It's HIM
i was screaming internally.
What in the world is happenening,JEON JUNGKOOK IS SITTING INFRONT OF ME????
This cant be true.
I secretly pinched the back of my hand behind the pamphlet.
Shit… it's real.
God.
You are an ARMY.
A die-hard BTS fan for four years. Their songs had been the soundtrack to your worst days. Their words had comforted you when nothing else could. They made you laugh when you wanted to cry, gave you strength when you felt like giving up, and somehow became a safe place without even knowing you existed.
And now…
You couldn't fucking believe it.
Jeon Jungkook was sitting right across from you.
The same Jeon Jungkook whose performances you'd watched a thousand times.
The same Jeon Jungkook whose voice had echoed through your headphones on sleepless nights.
The same Jeon Jungkook…
Had handed you a pamphlet just a few moments ago.
In person.
Like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Meanwhile, your heart was seconds away from beating straight out of your chest.
You wanted to, thank him, thank him for representing korea, thank him for how he contributed in making people feel home while dealing with his own personal things, you wanted to appreciate him.
But you held all your words back.
You didnt want to make a scene, recognizing him.
Making people around go crazy, if theres any army in here.
The fact that he wore mask, and sits silently says it all.
He is a human too.
Maybe he just wanted, he might just simply wanted to learn pottery and make something to take home just like anyone else here.
I snapped out of thoughts when i felt his eyes on me.
I looked at him.
As soon as he saw that i noticed him looking at me, he moved his eyes away.
He cleared his throat, "Are u done with it"?
"ah,oh, yeahh, yeah", i said while laughing nervously while putting the pamphlet away.
"So," he asked, leaning back slightly, "what do you wanna make?"
I frowned in thought, trying to remember the pictures from the pamphlet we'd set aside.
The tiny bowl…
The ring dish…
The little mug…
Then it hit me.
"The tea-light holder!"
The words left my mouth in an uncontrollable squeal.
The second I realized how loud I'd been, my eyes went wide.
Oh God.
I cleared my throat, forcing out a tiny, awkward laugh.
"Uh… haha…" I rubbed the back of my neck, avoiding his eyes. "I—I love tea, so I got a little excited."
I quickly shook my head.
"But it's probably too difficult for beginners. We can just make the ring dish instead."
I finally looked up.
His eyes had widened for a brief second at my sudden outburst before a soft chuckle escaped him.
"No," he said with a smile. "It's okay."
He tilted his head slightly.
"We'll make the tea-light holder."
I blinked.
"It doesn't have to be perfect anyway."
He said, while I just nodded at him in agreement.
He said it so casually that all I could do was nod.
Soon enough, we got to work.
Every now and then, we'd glance back at the pamphlet to make sure we weren't completely ruining the process. The clay collapsed more times than I could count mostly because of my own clumsiness.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry."
"I messed it up again."
"I swear I'm not usually this bad…"
Each apology earned me the same response.
A soft chuckle.
"It's okay."
And somehow, after hearing it enough times, I stopped apologizing.
Somewhere along the way…
I forgot.
I forgot who was sitting across from me.
I forgot he was Jeon Jungkook.
I forgot he was the person whose concerts I'd watched through a screen, whose songs had carried me through some of the hardest days of my life.
Right now, he was just…
My pottery partner.
Deep down, I wanted it to stay that way. I wanted this to feel normal instead of constantly drowning in the intensity of sitting in front of my idol.
We failed.
A lot.
The walls would cave in.
The clay would wobble.
One accidental poke, and everything we'd spent ten minutes shaping would collapse into a sad lump.
"…That looked better in my head."
Jungkook laughed.
"It had potential."
"It betrayed us."
"It definitely did."
Another time, the rim folded over for absolutely no reason.
"I think it's trying to become abstract art."
He laughed so hard he had to put his tools down.
"Don't insult abstract art."
"Oh, you're defending it now?"
"I am."
"Traitor."
Our quiet little corner slowly filled with laughter.
We teased each other, argued over whose fault it was when the clay gave up on life, and celebrated every tiny bit of progress as if we'd just sculpted a masterpiece.
After what felt like forever…
We finally made it.
Calling it a tea-light holder was… generous.
It leaned slightly to one side, the edges weren't even, and it looked exactly like something two complete beginners would make.
But to us…
It was perfect.
We looked at it for a second before our faces broke into identical grins.
"We actually did it!"
Without thinking, we threw our hands up for a high-five.
Smack.
The sound echoed through the studio.
We froze.
Our palms were completely coated in wet clay.
I stared at the muddy handprint now decorating his palm before looking at my own.
For one second, there was complete silence.
Then we burst into laughter.
We were still laughing at the muddy handprints on our palms when the instructor's voice echoed through the studio.
"Alright, everyone! That's an hour and a half. Time for a short break."
Jungkook and I looked up at the same time before glancing at each other.
"…Wait," I frowned. "It's already been an hour and a half?"
He looked around the room before nodding, a small smile tugging at his lips.
"I guess it is."
I blinked.
There was no way we'd spent ninety minutes making one slightly lopsided tea-light holder.
It had felt like twenty.
The instructor continued, "Leave your pieces on your tables. My staff and I will collect them, let them dry, and send them for firing. After the break, we'll continue with the next session."
An assistant stopped by our table and carefully picked up our tea-light holder.
I watched it disappear onto a tray alongside everyone else's creations.
For something that leaned slightly to one side and looked nothing like the picture in the pamphlet…
I couldn't stop smiling.
Neither could he.
After washing the clay off our hands, we wandered out from the place where we all sat till now creating so masterpieces
The fading daylight wrapped the venue in a softer glow. The evening breeze had grown cooler, and the quiet chatter of everyone returning blended with the gentle sounds of nature.
We stopped by the refreshment stall.
I grabbed a cup of lemonade.
Jungkook picked up a strawberry soda.
Without saying where we were going, we simply… walked.
No destination.
Just side by side, sipping our drinks in comfortable silence.
After a few moments, he spoke.
"Thanks."
I turned to him.
"Thanks?" I asked, genuinely confused. "For what?"
Unlike an hour and a half ago, the words came out effortlessly.
He slowed his steps and looked at me.
Really looked at me.
His eyes locked with mine.
"For not making a scene," he said quietly. "Despite knowing who I am."
My steps faltered.
For a second, I forgot how to walk.
"W-What?" I let out a nervous laugh. "I… I don't get what you mean."
He stared at me for another second.
"Bad actor."
"Huh?"
"You should've hidden the Tata Mic keychain hanging from your tote bag before trying to lie."
My eyes snapped down to my bag.
The tiny purple Tata Mic keychain swung innocently from the strap.
…Shit.
I completely forgot about that.
Aish… he's way too observant.
An embarrassed laugh escaped me as I rubbed the back of my neck.
"Okay…" I admitted, unable to hold the act any longer.
He chuckled, waiting for me to continue.
"I just…" I looked ahead instead of at him. "I didn't want to ruin your day."
He stayed quiet.
"I figured you chose this place and this workshop because you wanted to be yourself for a while… not 'Jeon Jungkook from BTS.'"
I smiled softly.
"I didn't want to invade that."
The breeze stirred the loose strands of my hair as I tightened my grip around the lemonade cup.
"So… I thought I'd just treat you like any other person."
I finally looked at him again.
"I'm just… really happy I got to share this time with you."
For a moment, neither of us said anything.
He simply looked at me.
Then, a small, genuine smile appeared on his face one that reached his eyes.
"Thank you," he said again, this time so softly it was almost carried away by the evening breeze.
After the break, we returned to the workshop.
This time, instead of sitting across from each other, we pulled our stools together and sat side by side.
A fresh block of clay waited at each station.
"Alright," one of the instructors said with a smile. "This time we'll be making a vase."
Unlike before, the instructors and their staff stayed close, guiding us through each step. Whenever one of us accidentally squished the neck of the vase or made the walls too thin, someone would gently fix it before encouraging us to try again.
Working side by side somehow made everything easier.
Sometimes our elbows bumped.
Sometimes our muddy hands brushed while reaching for the same tool.
Neither of us pulled away.
"My vase is leaning…" I sighed dramatically.
Jungkook tilted his head to inspect it.
"I think it's just… artistic."
"Oh, so we're lying now?"
"I'm encouraging."
I laughed, accidentally smearing a streak of clay across the back of his hand.
"Oh sorry!"
He simply chuckled and wiped a tiny bit of clay onto my wrist in return.
"There."
"…Did you just declare war?"
"I call it revenge."
I gasped dramatically.
"You started it!"
"I definitely didn't."
Between fixing our clay and teasing each other, time slipped away once again.
At one point, Jungkook stared at his vase before muttering under his breath,
"If my hyungs were here…"
I looked over.
"They'd never let me hear the end of this."
I laughed.
"What would they say?"
He smiled to himself.
"Jin-hyung would tell everyone his vase is better before he even touched the clay."
I giggled .
"And Taehyung?"
"He'd end up making something completely different and insist that's what the instructions meant."
"And Yoongi?"
Jungkook smiled.
"He'd look at it once… sigh… and quietly walk away."
We both burst into laughter.
With the instructors' help and a lot less collapsing than before, we finally finished our vases.
This time…
They were actually beautiful.
Smooth curves, neat rims, and just enough imperfections to remind us that we'd made them ourselves.
The staff carefully took both our tea-light holder and vase away to be fired and glazed.
A while later, they returned carrying the finished pieces.
The glaze shimmered softly under the warm evening light.
I held my little tea-light holder in one hand and the vase in the other.
Jungkook looked just as pleased with his.
Neither of us could stop smiling.
When it was finally time to leave, we stood facing each other for a moment, neither of us saying anything.
"Well…" I smiled. "I guess this is goodbye."
"Yeah…" he smiled back before suddenly scratching the back of his neck.
"Umm…"
I waited.
"Your name?"
My eyes widened.
Then I laughed.
We had just spent hours talking, laughing, making pottery together…
And we had never exchanged our names.
"I guess we skipped the introductions."
"I guess we did," he chuckled.
"I'm Y/N."
He repeated it softly, almost like he was trying it out.
"Y/N…"
Then he smiled.
"Beautiful."
For a second…
My breath hitched.
I quickly brushed the feeling away with a small smile, pretending it hadn't affected me.
"Can I ask you a favor?" he asked.
"Sure."
He hesitated for a brief moment before pointing toward the tea-light holder in my hands.
"Can I… have the tea-light holder?"
I blinked.
"I know," he laughed awkwardly. "It's a selfish thing to ask, especially when you told me you loved it."
His eyes met mine.
"But… maybe I could keep it as a memory."
He smiled softly.
"A memory of meeting an amazing ARMY."
"And…"
He glanced down at the little clay piece before laughing to himself.
"Of all the struggles we went through trying to make it."
A laugh escaped my lips.
Without saying a word, I held the tea-light holder out to him.
His eyes softened.
"Really?"
I nodded.
He accepted it carefully, almost as if it were fragile glass rather than clay.
Then he held the vase out toward me.
"Then you keep this."
Our fingers brushed for the last time as we exchanged the pottery.
Neither of us said anything.
We simply smiled.
Then…
We turned and began walking in opposite directions.
The smile on my face only grew wider.
Today had been…
Magical.
I met my idol.
We made pottery together.
We laughed until our stomachs hurt.
He thanked me.
He called my name beautiful.
And now…
He was taking our little tea-light holder home as a memory.
It all felt so unreal.
Like a dream I'd wake up from at any second.
I had been walking for almost ten minutes along the quiet tree-lined road leading away from the workshop, replaying every moment in my head.
Then—
"Y/N!"
The voice was faint.
I slowed my steps.
"Y/N!"
This time it was louder.
I turned around.
Someone was running toward me.
My eyes widened.
It was Jungkook.
Without a mask.
He finally stopped a few feet away, bending over with his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.
His chest rose and fell rapidly.
I could only stare at him, completely stunned.
After a few deep breaths, he finally straightened up, pushing his hair back from his forehead.
He looked at me…
And smiled.
A/n : what are your thoughts on this part?