Unstable Network
⇻ pairing: Jungkook x FemaleReader. LongDistance!AU
⇻ synopsis: Relationships and romance are hard to maintain, more so when they're long distance and have no clear indication of when you'll finally see each other again. You think of all the perfect scenarios, of them finally showing up at the door. But that's just all in your head. Fuck love.
⇻ tags: angst. relationship hardships.
⇻ words: 1.8k.
⇻ links: ao3.
⇻ a/n: short Drabble I wrote up a few weeks ago, thinking of jimin for my next project (maybe) or I’ll reupload a few of my stories to see how interactions goes on again here.
Your cell signal was fucked, the thundering winds crashed against your windows as you sat refreshing again and again.
“Fuck this shit”, you locked your screen, throwing the phone and placing it facedown on your sofa. Trying to rid yourself of the temptation of constantly checking it. But still, it was too hard right now.
The chilly weather was finally arriving, and with it, the lonely nights. But you were used to them, enjoyed and relished them even. You were constantly outside your own home, working, going off to stay up to date with your studies, and sometimes doing the time consuming adult tasks of grocery shopping and bank errands. This last one you hated, but had to be responsible for lest something really hideous happened. But right now that wasn’t at all your concern, afterall, it was nearing halloween, and with it came mountains of candy, spiced warm drinks, and the lovely look of the turning leaves across your neighborhood.
This thunderstorm, sadly, was running the cozy vibes.
Lighting flashes, the booming thunder like two boulders colliding. And now, no signal whatsoever. This wasn’t your week… Scratch that, this wasn’t your fucking month.
“No pizza, no instant ramen, and not a wisp of wifi signal to watch a movie. I know, I know,” you said to no one in particular, glancing at your phone, “I could do a puzzle, read a book, fucking knit-”
Someone knocked on the door.
You stopped your rambling mid sentence, glancing behind you and at your front door. A shiver ran down your spine, the air around you feeling suddenly heavy as you got up and cautiously picked up your phone.
You checked it once again, nothing new, if anything the glaring no bars just annoyed you more. Still you went, side stepping your boots and opening the door wide.
“No…”
“Y/N? What are you staring at so lovingly?” Seokjin teased, bumping his shoulder against you making you jump right out of your skin, almost dropping your phone in the process. “Ohhhh, I know, it’s Prince Charming again isn’t it? What is he lying to you about now?”
You could feel your ears turning red, shoving your phone back in your pocket before shoving Seokjin right back, “he is not lying, why are you and everyone else around here saying that?”
“Because you’re e-fucking a stranger on the internet”, offered Taehyung coldly, leaning back on the couch whilst you two were still on your break.
“I am not!” you snapped back.
Seokjin, still, just laughed, loud windshield laugh and slapping his knee kind of laugh.
“You gotta admit Y/N, it’s kinda weird you find the perfect boyfriend just like that, with no fights or issues or… anything for that matter, it’s weird, he’s hiding something.”
“He is not hiding anything, we’ve been dating for over a year already. How many times do I gotta reassure you two that I’m not like, making this all up?”
Seokjin scoffed, “he’s cute, smart, you say he’s tall, has a job, you say he doesn’t live with his parents, he’s faithful to you even if that means man hasn’t fucked in over a year, and also happens to be successful enough to do well but not enough to pay for a ticket and visit you?”
“I told you it isn’t that easy.”
“If he wanted to he would”, Taehyung chimed in.
“Maybe he’s actually 87 and catfishing you.”
“Jesus fucking christ, we’ve FaceTimed, and I’ve seen him get pimples and shit during this past year so it’s not a jacked up computer program!”
“Don’t buy it,” Taehyung continued, glancing back at Seokjin who nodded, “no man is actually like that.”
You rolled your eyes, shaking your head as you headed back to the store to resume with your shift but stopping short as you felt something in your pocket. Fishing your phone out you saw it was your boyfriend, Jungkook, spamming you once more with more and more TikToks. He would get lost in the app and in the meantime send you a bunch of videos that were either reddit stories, anime edits to his husband Nanami, or his marvel spiderman ones.
Taehyung was right, no man was perfect, you didn’t expect a Mr. Darcy to walk and bump into you in the street. But you didn’t want perfect, you didn’t need a broody but caring Mr. Darcy in your love life, you only wanted the nerd that had drank a whole bottle of wine whilst you two had a facetime date for your weekly Friday call.
It sucked that you had met each other whilst so far away. You never really thought twice of what was happening in South Korea, in Busan of all places, but now you found yourself checking the weather there, seeing if there were holidays, or simply checking the time. Long distance was hard. Long distance whilst just knowing each other through a screen was harder.
But that wasn’t going to be a forever thing. Neither one of you would allow each other to go so long without meeting. And, as a matter of fact, you two were planning his visit. It was just hard to figure out a time, to have enough savings, and to simply organize that mess. But you and Jungkook were saving up. Both of you were just waiting for this semester to stop, for no holiday and family obligations to interrupt such a magical timing, and to bag the cheap flight tickets.
JAYKAY<3
[09:04]
I have a 7am lecture tmr.
kms
When is your shift ending??
[09:06] me
I still have five hours, are you going to head to bed early???
Hey.
Don’t ignore me.
[09:14]
Tiktok, you know I’d like to marry Tengen too
[09:15] me
Have you finally moved on from Nanami??
[09:15]
lmfao you wish
[09:16] me
Nerd
[09:17]
Yeah, YOUR nerd.
But yea im going 2 bed
If i keep slouching over my monitor we’ll have to buy an extra big mattress
[09:18] me
Okay baby, sleep well!
[09:21]
I love you
[09:21] me
I love you too
He stood there, dripping wet. His hoodie was obviously drenched and hair all over the place. Around his neck was a cushion, whilst he gripped on two suitcases, grinning widely at you.
“You came.”
“You called.”
He stumbled back, surprised and letting out a loud laugh as you ran and tackled him. Both of you falling over whilst you buried your face against his chest, overwhelmed by the smell of fresh laundry and rain. His hands letting go of his suitcase and just enveloping you completely.
He tilted his head down, burying his face against your neck and breathing in your scent, leaving goosebumps from the ghost of his breath.
“Y/N, look at this.”
You glanced away from your pan, lowering the heat of the ground beef you were cooking for your pasta and looked back at your boyfriend as he pulled the ugliest face you had ever seen. You laughed, earning another laugh from him as well.
“God you’re dumb.”
“And you love me that way, so who’s really the dumb one?”
“Me, I guess,” you smiled back at him. He was as cute as ever, big nose, cute doe eyes, and that enticing lip ring of his. “How did your week go?”
“Oh, just the usual,” Jungkook continued, his eyes leaving his phone and instead focusing on his own task at hand, which was the kimchi stew he was currently doing for dinner while you prepared your lunch. “Mom called, she wants me to visit and help out with her move next week, my grandma is fine, and I’ve handed in all my character designs for this month as well.”
“What about your Bam, is he alright?”
“Your dear son is alright,” Jungkook turned his head, making you grin at the sight of his neck and the swirls of ink that inched up from his sleeve and to his collarbone, “he’s sleeping on the couch! Bam! Get down from there!”
You laughed, hearing the faint sound of paws on tile, and returned to your task. “He’s spoiled.”
“Yeah, and he’s gonna be even more spoiled once you move here”, Jungkook replied, testing the waters with such a statement, and earning nothing but a pregnant silence in return.
“Y/N?”, he called you again, making you blink away from your food and just go pilot mode. You grabbed the jar of bolognese sauce, dumping it over the cooked beef and vegetables, just mixing everything together.
“Sorry,” you continued, “but it’s complicated.”
“Aren’t you graduating soon?”
“Yes…” you answered honestly.
“Then what is it? You said you’d move here after graduation and all.”
“I know but-”
“Fuck.” Jungkook cursed, his mood now sour and turning off his own stove.
“You don’t have to react that way.”
“How else am I supposed to react?”
“Just… listen, please?”
Jungkook sighed, grabbing his phone and leaving his kitchen, letting you see hints of the apartment that work as the background for most of your calls. And then you were in his small office space, he’d propped up the phone the way he always did when you guys called and he played Valorant.
“Shoot.”
“I got offered a job in the publishing house.”
“You already have a job there.”
“But as a seller, I got offered a spot as an editor.”
“Oh…” he took a second, “that’s, that’s great baby.”
“I know.”
That was all you could really say. You were basically throwing a curveball to the life you had both been talking about for the past two years.
“And…”, Jungkook sighed out loud, eyebrows creasing as he rubbed a kink in his neck, eyes betraying how lost he felt now, “and when do they want you to start?”
“My contract ends in June, they want me to start in July.”
“My love, we’re meeting in July.”
“I… I know.”
Another silence, your stove now off, and instead, you had taken your phone and slid down against your counter, sitting comfortably on the floor and holding onto your phone tightly. Holding onto that invisible thread of connection as if that way you could hold him. Reassure him that you weren’t going anywhere, reassure yourself of the same.
“I can’t do this,” Jungkook said, finally breaking the silence.
“What?” you whispered, eyes starting to sting.
“I can’t fucking do this anymore,” and hung up.
You gaped, lost, at the way your breath condensed and flew up into the air before completely dissolving. Looking back around you and just saw the usual empty hall of your apartment. Looking then once more down at your phone, seeing that the signal was actually better outside to see you getting some cell service.
You refreshed your phone.
No new notifications.
