A new coworker was talking about his experiences at college and how he couldn't wait to graduate. He asked me if I had been to college, so I said a little yeah, never got any sort of degree, but if college was free I'd go for the rest of my life.
He seemed shocked. "Why would you do that to yourself, wouldn't you get sick of it?", he asked. I was shocked that he was sort of protesting it? He continued: wouldn't you get sick of doing the same thing over and over again. I tried to counter that by saying I'd be learning things I only wanted to learn, but in the end he was all "that's bizarre to want to college for forever." Idk maybe this is a bit of an age gap sort of deal?
Tl;dr this isn't a gotcha/would you rather with a penalty. It's free and you can take whatever classes you want.
If the college of your choosing was free and you can take any classes you could, would you go for the rest of your life?
pairing: college student!jungkook x college student!reader
synopsis: Y/N has no time for distractions—especially not charming art majors with paint-streaked smiles. Her life has been the same since high school, with a set routine that almost no one can hinder: eat, sleep, study, repeat. Until a fundraiser mishap pairs her up with campus heartthrob and chaos incarnate, Jeon Jungkook, she falls in a loop of endless splotches of paint that mark a different path in her life.
One art date turns into something messier—and sweeter—than she imagined, and somewhere between spilled paint and stolen glances, Y/N realizes some things are worth colouring outside the lines for.
𓍯𓂃𓏧♡
“You don’t have to have it all figured out. I’ll wait. I’ll wait as long as it takes, if it means it’s you.”
𓍯𓂃𓏧♡
genres: fake-dating ish?, angst (sorry 😞), romance, rom-com, dual pov for a bit, MAJOR yearning, coming of age, college!au, slow burn, opposites attract, academic fmc x artistic mmc, fluff, explicit content, flirty, tension, college!jk, slice of life, mature language, hopeless romantic
wc: 1.39k
warnings: implied smut eventually, reader is an idiot and terribly stuck up 🙄, mentions of self-hate
preview (current), pt1, pt2
preview
The library was nearly empty, and Y/N liked it that way.
The scratch of her pen against paper, the hum of her laptop, the faint creak of the old air vents—it was the kind of quiet that let her think. That made the world feel smaller, manageable.
But deadlines circled her like vultures.
Two essays. A midterm. A looming presentation. She tapped her pen against the table, flipping another page of her Civil Procedures textbook, her eyes already burning from too many hours of staring at tiny black print.
Focus, she told herself. Just a few more chapters. Just a few more hours.
And just as she was about to drown into her studies again, a shadow fell across her desk, followed by a very familiar, very exasperated sigh.
“Y/N,” Teddy, her best friend, plopped into the seat across from her. “You’re officially a hazard to yourself and others.”
“Hello to you too.” Y/N mumbled, not bothering to look up.
“You need human contact,” Teddy said dramatically. “Sunlight. An actual Friday evening.”
Y/N could practically sense Teddy’s ulterior motives just from the way she was talking. She knew what Teddy wanted, and there was only one answer she would get, “No.”
“You don’t even know what I’m asking,” Teddy whined.
Y/N raised a skeptical brow, finally peering up at Teddy over the screen of her laptop. “You’re smiling, that’s enough for me to know it’s bad.”
“It’s not bad per se…it’s character development!” Teddy beams with a bright smile.
She reaches over and pushes down the screen of Y/N’s laptop, to which the girl groans in annoyance.
“Teddy! I wasn’t done with that!”
“Y/N, you need a break. Your eyeballs are going to fossilize at this rate.” Teddy rolled her eyes, and without asking, started packing up Y/N’s things for her.
Y/N knew there was no point in arguing with someone like Teddy—persistent, tenacious—so she sat there and watched as her best friend destroyed her perfectly set-up study area.
“Is this about the art department thing?” Y/N finally spoke up, her arms crossed as she frowned.
Teddy paused, a wide grin taking over her face. “The Rent-A-Date auction? Duh, everyone’s going.” She shoved Y/N’s textbooks and laptop into her backpack, and Y/N had to bite her tongue as she watched her precious babies being handled so carelessly.
The Fine Arts department had their annual Art Gala coming up, where all the students displayed their creations to the world. But in order for that to happen, they needed funding, and funding came from the public. So they hosted a Rent-A-Date auction, where people from other departments bid on students from the art department to take on a date, essentially raising money for the exhibition.
It sounded absolutely ridiculous to Y/N.
Y/N immediately shook her head, “I can’t, I have two essays due next week. And a presentation. And—”
“—Gosh! Do you even know what the word 'fun' means?” Teddy cut in, waving her hand dramatically. “Come on, Y/N. Just for an hour. Think of it as…cultural immersion.”
“I major in law, not cultural immersion.” Y/N grumbled and rolled her eyes.
“Exactly,” Teddy said, already getting up to leave. “Which is why you need balance in your life.”
Before Y/N could even formulate a convincing excuse, Teddy pointed at her like a courtroom prosecutor.
“One hour,” she said. “If you still hate everything after that, I’ll personally drive you back here and buy you coffee. Then you can rot away in your textbook madness. Deal?”
Y/N pauses, contemplating.
One hour wouldn’t kill her…probably.
Hopefully.
She sighed and stood in defeat, dragging her bag onto her shoulder. “Fine. But I swear, if anyone tries to make me bid on anything, I’m leaving.”
Teddy grinned so wide it could have been suspicious.
“Cross my heart,” she said sweetly.
Y/N followed her out into the cool evening air, unaware that Teddy had already crossed that line long ago.
𓍯𓂃𓏧♡
Chaos.
That’s the only way you could describe the scene before you. The pavilion, where the auction was happening, was packed with students. When Teddy had said everyone was going, you didn’t think she really meant…well, everyone.
Students from nearly every department were here, and you swore you even saw Yoongi. That man was more of a stay-at-home-introvert than you, yet he still came.
Art students were lounging around, laughing and speaking amongst themselves, and the loud chattering only made you more nervous.
“Do I really have to be here?” You leaned over to Teddy and mumbled under your breath to her.
She rolled her eyes dramatically and slapped a numbered paddle into your chest. “Yes,” was the only thing she said before she skipped away to the front of the stage.
You reluctantly followed behind while gripping the paddle like it was a live grenade.
“I should be in the library,” you muttered to Teddy as you reached her side. “I have so much to do.”
“You also have a pulse, which you’re wasting by living like a nun,” Teddy said, tugging your sleeve. “Come on, it’s for a good cause! You’re basically doing charity work.”
You shot her a withering glare. “By bidding on random guys?”
“By supporting the starving artists,” Teddy corrected, sweeping her arm toward the cluster of said art students. “Besides, it’s just one date. Harmless. You can go back to your boring spreadsheets afterward.”
First of all, you didn’t even use spreadsheets.
Second, before you could even formulate a protest, the pavilion quieted as Professor Han, head of the Fine Arts Department, gently tapped the microphone for attention.
“Welcome, everyone!” His voice echoed through the hall. “Thank you for coming to support our annual Art Gala fundraiser! Let’s raise some money—and maybe find a little love while we’re at it.”
The crowd cheered, but your stomach sank. You didn’t do love.
The auction starts, and you watch with a grimace as students strutted up the stage one by one. Some waving awkwardly, others providing outgoing, and outrageous, performances to appeal to the crowd. Teddy occasionally would nudge you to bid, to which you reluctantly did, but never ended up going high enough to actually get the date.
As each student gets paired up with their respective dates for the night, it seemed like the auction was finally about to come to an end.
But the next person, however, seemed to have caused an uproar amongst the crowd.
“Next up, we have Jeon Jungkook from Fine Arts!”
The cheers pretty much doubled, and you were afraid your eardrums would explode.
And then he came up, the supposed “man of the hour.”
Tall, lean, with messy dark hair that fell into his doe eyes and a silver loop glinting from his bottom lip, Jungkook looked like he belonged in a museum exhibit. Hell, his right arm adorned with colourful, intricate tattoos seemed like it could have a museum of its own.
He stood on the stage with an easy going smile, oozing lazy confidence. Jungkook did the least out of every guy that went up so far, yet seemed to elicit the most response.
Teddy suddenly elbowed you hard. “BID.”
“What? No—!”
But Teddy had already grabbed your paddle and shoved it up in the air.
“Fifty dollars!” Teddy shouted, and you choked on your own breath.
The silence in the room was deafening, until everyone erupted into cheers and whistles. Professor Han blinked, then laughed. “Well then, we have a very generous starting bid! Sold to Y/N!”
Teddy squealed and clapped, but you just about wanted the ground to open and swallow you whole right at this moment.
You never planned on bidding so high…or even getting a date, with Jeon Jungkook of all people!
And as if your thoughts had summoned him, he appeared in front of you seconds later, head tilted to the side with a smile that exposed a cute little dimple on his right cheek.
“Guess I’m all yours now,” he said, voice low and teasing. “Lucky you.”
You stared up at him horrified, though for a second, you forgot how to breathe. You blamed the noise, the lights, the humiliation.
Definitely not the way he was looking at you—like you were the only thing in the room worth noticing.
a/n: hey guys...this is lowkey my first post ever 🫣 ive had this idea for a while and i couldnt find anywhere to read something like this so i thought i'd write it myself :P idk if this is hella corny or smth but lmk if we are into this boys 🙏
edit: guyssss pls i was NOT expecting this to get so many likes, im so grateful 🥹 i saw some of you were asking for taglist so lmk if you want to be added!
