Work Text
"Today is gonna be a pretty hot day, highs dancing around the mid nineties in the afternoon and not dropping until around 6 or 7 PM tonight. If you can, stay inside, stay hydrated, and stay cool! Humidity will be about 80%, with hardly any clouds or wind. No precipitation in the forecast until about a week from now, next Wednesday-" the TV behind Taehyung drones on, as he gets dressed for work this extremely warm morning, drilled into his head by the meteorologist on screen. Taehyung likes his job, at least enough to get up at five in the morning, every weekday. His job is fun and interesting and unique enough for him, and it keeps him on his toes. Not really though, since he's usually strung up stories above the ground, wiping away at windows of a multi-level penthouse building downtown. Taehyung has never been one to complain though, even with the hour long commute through packed traffic and his boss who is always on his back, 'cuz Taehyung refuses to be on his dick, and for good reason. The guy is a real pain in his ass, and not the good kind. It's five-thirty, a few minutes later than usual, but Tae is finally leaving the house. He's wearing a pair of exercise shorts and a white t-shirt, layers of deodorant packed underneath to try and shield out some of the perspiration he will accumulate throughout the day. He quite literally jumps into his dirty tan sedan parked outside of his two bedroom apartment and inserts his key into the ignition and turns it.The sound that rings out is quite less desirable than one of an engine revving and roaring to life. His car won't start. He twists the key again, and the sputters continue to tumble from the inner workings of his car. Please, not today, Taehyung pleads inside his head to anyone that will listen, specifically, any god who is willing to spare him the cost of car repairs or an expensive Uber ride to work at 5:37 AM or the extremely unnecessary yells from his asshole boss who doesn't seem to have a single shred of sympathy for any human roaming this floating rock. Once more, Taehyung tries to start the car, shooting a quick little prayer to the cloudless skies up above, maybe to the moon that has just hidden itself behind the horizon. It's still dark out, and none of his neighbors are ever up this early, which he has discovered from past bad-luck experiences. And to no avail, the engine chokes again. He slams his hands down on the steering wheel, his head gently coming to rest on the center where the horn is, being careful not to accidentally honk at the neighboring houses or trees that sit in front of him. He digs his phone out from his right short's pocket and dials. "Please pick up, please pick up, please pi-" Taehyung is cut off once the ringing stops. "Do you have any idea what god-awful time it is? Do you know what a clock is? Do you even own one? Could you even read it? I'll buy you one AND offer to teach you how to interpret those little squiggles called numbers if you promise to never ever call me before 10 AM again!" the voice rants on in Tae's poor ear, him now holding his phone a little farther away from his face. "Jin! I'm so glad you picked up, and thanks for the offer, but I can read just fine, jackass. I need you to pick me up and take me to work, or at least help me jump-start my car. It's dead." "And?? This is one of those things that are how one might put it, 'Not my problem'. So I'm very sorry for you, but I am going to be going back to sleep until like, 4. Bye!" Jin bids, and Taehyung screams. "No! Jin, please don't hang up. Please! I don't have money for an Uber drive an hour through the morning rush or even for a tow truck. Please! I have jumper cables in my basement, just please come over!" He begs, way too close to tears at this point. "Tae, drive your car over here, pick me up, and I'll do it.""Okay, I might not be able to read, but at least I can hear! I just told you my car WILL NOT START! How am I going to pick you up to bring you back to my place with my car that cannot even leave the driveway! Why would I need you if I could drive to your house! Jesus Christ, I should already be on the road by now. I'm so screwed, my boss is never gonna let me live this down-""Shut up," Jin yawns, and the sound of a light flicking on can be heard in the background. "You owe me one after this. I'll be over in ten minutes.""Fine, fine, thank you! I really appreciate it, Jin." Taehyung thanks profusely. "Yeah, whatever," and with that, the phone clicks off. Taehyung shoots out of his car back inside of his house, grabbing the jumper cables from a shelf in his basement, next to multiple cans of WD-40 and tools that he has only used once or twice. He grabs the nice black box of cords and runs back outside. From now on, I'm leaving these cables in my car. Taehyung pops the hood of his car and props it up, locating the battery. He pulls the black and red cords out of the box and begins to attach the red cable to his dead battery when a familiar black SUV pulls into his driveway, a tousled-hair, slightly irritable looking Jin sitting behind the wheel. He looks less annoyed than he sounded on the phone. He gets out, clad in a plain white t-shirt and a pair of flannel pajama pants, and trudges up the driveway. Tae is lucky he happened to back into his driveway last night, or else they wouldn't have been able to get the cars lined up properly for the jump start. "I think this is the universe telling you to buy a new car," Jin suggests as he yawns, popping open the hood of his own car to attach the cables. "Jin, I would love a new car, but what I really need is a better paying job..." Taehyung says as he scratches his neck, finishing up connecting one end of the red cable to his dead battery, passing the other end to Jin so he can do the same. "I will help you look later, Tae. Do you wanna go to lunch on your break?" Jin asks as he connects one of the black cable's clamps to the other side of Taehyung's battery. Taehyung's eyes brighten up, and he nods happily as Jin makes the last cable attachment to a bolt inside the engine. Jin hops into his car and starts the engine, letting it run for a while, before Tae jumps into his car and twists the key, the engine stuttering for a second before turning over. They leave it run for a few minutes as they make plans for lunch."Do you want to stay in the city today? It's a Friday, but if I make reservations now, we should be able to get in for your break," Jin promotes, and Taehyung smiles fondly at his friend. They disconnect the cables from the cars and Taehyung tucks them back into the box, locking the clasps in place and tossing it into his trunk. "Thank you for coming out, Seokjin, but I really have to go. I didn't even call my boss to tell him I'd be late..." Taehyung titters nervously, being reassured by Jin's hand on his shoulder. "If your dickhead of a boss gives you any shit, tell me, and I'll kick his sorry ass into next week," Jin scowls playfully before bidding his friend goodbye and driving away. Taehyung pulls straight out of his driveway and begins the long drive into the city.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Taehyung drives through his apartment complex, hitting a stripe of yellow speed bump laying on the road particularly hard, his car bouncing over it with shocking intensity. He hits the gas through a yellow light onto the main road outside his neighborhood, and he's finally city-bound. He clicks a few buttons, the radio beginning to blare through his five-seater car, and he rolls down the front windows, since the air conditioning in his car hasn't worked for the past three years. Yeah, it is time for a new car. As Green Day rings out of the speakers, catching the attention of some joggers on the shoulder of the street, Taehyung can finally breathe again. He'd been so worked up about being late to his job this morning that he hadn't taken a good deep breath in a solid 15 minutes. The song ends, and the morning news show begins to play instead. He turns it down as he comes to a red light, and debates whipping out his phone to tell his boss he's going to be a little late. He glances at the clock. 5:51 AM. Oh shit. His breaths begin to shorten again as he feverishly grabs his phone from the cupholder adjacent to his seat and scrolls through his contacts to call his boss. He clicks on "Dickhead Marty" and listens to tone after tone ring out, and with every one, his agony increases. On the second to last ring, he picks up. "Taehyung! Why are you callin' me?" his boss inquires, the gravely pitch of his voice giving Taehyung anxiety already. "Hey Marty, I had some car trouble this morning, and I'm gonna b-"Marty cuts him off. "Hell yeah, you're going to be late! You even heard the news?" his boss scoffs, and Taehyung turns up the radio. "...with traffic being backed up at least half a mile on the highway today, due to a four-car pileup near the South End Bridge. If you've not yet hit the highway, you're bound to sit for probably an additional half an hour to forty-five minutes while work crews clean up the wreckage. Detours highly recommended. We will keep you updated in the following minutes to come..." "Fuck me," Tae says, scaring himself half to death at the same time, because he didn't mean to say it out loud. "My pleasure, Taehyung," Marty chuckles, and Tae rolls his eyes. "Try and take the North Bend detour, you might make it by 6:15... if you're not here by 6:20, your monthly bonus is getting cut in half." And with that, his asshole boss hangs up the phone. The light turns green, and Taehyung floors it, setting up his phone GPS to take him on the North Bend detour. Usually this route would take him almost 10 minutes longer than his normal way, but with traffic backed up due to the crash, he's going to get there way quicker. As long as everyone else doesn't have the same idea. It's 5:59, and the GPS is telling him he's got a 25 minute drive to go. Taehyung needs that monthly bonus more than anything right now. 25 minutes my ass. He flies around a turn, and he wouldn't be surprised if his car actually lifted off of the ground for a split second. Time is money, quite literally, and Taehyung doesn't have any of either to waste. Expected arrival time has gone from 6:24 to 6:22, so Tae figures he should shave off another four or five minutes to be safe. He sees the first sign for North Bend, and changes lanes, settling on the far right side of the road. He's cruising at 55 MPH in a 40, so he's praying all the cops are busy elsewhere. Maybe at the crash, Taehyung hopes. "Take a slight right onto North Bend and continue straight, your destination will be on the left. Expected arrival time: 6:19," Siri tells him from his phone. Tae knows there's only one traffic light on this road, so as long as he beats it, he should make it on time. He's still speeding, so he might get the arrival time down another minute or two. He's still gotta park once he gets there, and walk to the building. At 6:16, Taehyung pulls into the parking garage, and he grabs his parking pass out of the glove compartment, hooking it on his mirror and whipping into a spot. He's one minute later than his boss's estimate, which makes Tae wonder how fast his boss drives every day. He shuts off the radio, grabs his work backpack from the passenger seat, and rolls up the windows before hopping out, shutting the door behind him and beeping his car twice, locking it. He breaks into a slow jog up the stairs to the penthouse's front door, where Marty will be waiting in the lobby for him, tapping his foot, looking at his watch, probably checking the box of cigarettes in his shirt pocket like he's afraid it'll grow legs and jump to the ground. at 6:18, Taehyung rings the buzzer. "Marty, its 6:18, I'm here, just let me in. My keys are buried in my backpack. I'm here before 6:20!" Tae half laughs to himself, waiting to be let in. "Who is it?" Marty sings, teasing Taehyung. What an ass. "Marty, I swear to God, you better let me in. I'll call management. I'll call the owner of this penthouse. I'll call the cops!" Taehyung angrily whispers into the speaker. He is not in the mood. He hears Marty snicker from the other side, and the door clicks unlocked. Tae makes his way into the lobby, and there's his boss, wearing a shit-eating grin, tapping his foot on the tile floor, looking at his stupid cheap silver watch that's probably leaving a green ring around his wrist, the box of cigarettes in his shirt pocket peaking out of the top. "Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to show up! It's about time. Too many 'car trouble' incidents in the last month, Taehyung. Pick a new excuse, jeez." Marty walks away, his keys jingling on his belt with every step. Taehyung is about to scream something less than gentlemanly back at him, but he bites his lip and decides against it. He walks into the staff locker room and unlocks his locker, his blue window-washing jumpsuit hanging on the hook. He takes his backpack off and slips the jumpsuit on over his shorts and his t-shirt, zipping it up to his waist and typing the sleeves loosely around his hips. It's even hotter now than when he left the house. There's no way he's wearing long sleeves today. He grabs his backpack and slings it over his shoulders before shutting the locker and going over to the supply closet, grabbings rags, squeegees, multiple spray bottles filled with glass cleaner, and a bucket. He makes his way to the front of the building, taking a seat on the little wooden plank attached to ropes that extend all the way to the top of this massive building. He straps himself in, hooking the bucket to the bottom of the seat, and he takes out his AirPods, putting one in his right ear. He presses play on his music, puts his AirPods and phone back into his backpack and zipping it up, hanging it by the loop on a carabiner next to the bucket. In no time, he begins his climb into the sky. Today, he does the top 15 floors of the penthouse. He gets to the first set of windows, grabs his spray bottle, and gets to work, making sure to evenly coat each window with cleaner before wiping it down with the squeegee. It's not the hardest job in the world, it just requires patience, arm strength, a good grip, and no fear of heights. Tae is a daredevil, he's not scared of much. If anything, he loves the adrenaline. He finds it even more fun if its windy, and his swing sways back and forth a little bit. The ropes that hold him to the roof are so strong, he doesn't doubt their ability to keep him in the air for a second. Tae would never survive at a desk job, and this is pretty much as far from that as you can get. He hasn't even seen a desk here, let alone sat at one. He's making pretty good time today, already on the third set of windows, and its only 7:05. His lunch break is usually from 12:00-1:30, but if he finishes all his windows before then, he can just go home after lunch instead of coming back. He hopes today is one of those days. It's a Friday, and he's having lunch with Jin at 12:30, but he should plan on getting there at 12:10, just in case his car tries to pull another stunt on him like the one this morning. Tae finishes on the third row of windows, and as he's getting pulled up to the fourth row, he sees something nothing short of interesting. Embarrassing. Accidentally invasive. A man taking nudes in front of the open window. At 7:30 in the morning. When Tae first spots the man, Taehyung's eyes barely make it over the bottom of the window, at the man's floor level. Tae's got a pretty... upward angle of things. And he doesn't try to look. But when there's nothing but transparent glass between them, it's kind of hard not to. He averts his eyes the best he can, and prepares for the insanely awkward confrontation to ensue. The man changes positions, his face dead serious above the phone directed towards his lower half. His thumb moves slightly as he captures a photo, and he retracts his hand towards his face to inspect it, his big doe eyes squinting into crescents as he scans the screen. Tae's gotta do his work. He can't waste any more time. He knocks lightly, not stirring the man behind the glass. He raps his knuckles against the pane again, and the man's eyes skirt up from his phone, and grow ten times larger than before. "Hey!" the man yells, running to his bed and ripping the duvet from the mattress and wrapping it around his bare frame. "Why are you looking through my window?""... I'm the fucking window washer? Why are you taking nude pictures in front of an open window? Someone invented curtains for a reason!" Taehyung shouts back, barely loud enough to be heard through the two window panes separating him and the previously naked selfie-taker. "Uh... for the lighting. Duh."Oh. DUH. Why didn't Taehyung think of that? Forget privacy or decency, natural sunlight is so important! Pfft, imagine being surprised when someone sees you. Through a completely clear window. The audacity of me!"Well?" the man shouts, motioning for Taehyung to speak. He sort of got distracted, for understandable reasons. Tae snaps out of it."I... have to wash the window still... can't you, like, get dressed?" Taehyung asks slowly. The man approaches the window slowly, opening it up with a whoosh. "Sorry, couldn't hear you so well. What did you say?" the man questions, and Taehyung gets a chance to focus on the man's facial features up close, instead of his... penis. Let's just say... he isn't unattractive. "I just said... I have to wash the window. It's kind of my job. Can you get dressed?""You want me to?" the man raises an eyebrow, face otherwise stone cold. Taehyung can't tell if he's joking or not. "What? I mean, yes? You don't have to, unless you want me to keep staring at your di-""Whoa, whoa, take it easy dude. I'm joking!" the man says with a bright smile and a wink, and suddenly, Taehyung's heart feels a little weird. "Oh, haha, of course..." Tae trails off, busying himself with a clean rag. What the fuck is going on?When Tae looks back up, the man has now acquired a pair of navy blue boxers, and honestly, they're not much less revealing than when he was naked. Calvin Klein makes very form fitting underwear."Sorry I flipped out on you..." the man pauses, widening his eyes. "Taehyung. I'm Taehyung," Tae replies."Jungkook. You just gotta understand I wasn't expecting to see a pair of eyes staring at me from so high up in the sky!" the man deemed Jungkook exclaims, scrolling through his phone once again. "It's no problem, I didn't expect to see-," Tae stops himself. "I didn't expect to see what I saw either, believe me." Jungkook laughs, moving his phone farther away from his face to get a new perspective. "Actually, how about I ask you. What do you think of this picture?" Jungkook asks, rotating his phone to face Taehyung."Wait, wait, wait! Hold on a second. When I first showed up, you covered yourself with your blanket. You didn't want me to see you. And now, you're willingly showing me your nudes?" Taehyung asks skittishly, darting his eyes all around, trying to make excuses not to see this strangers' nudes. "I was scared! I didn't know if you were some old man perv with his hands down his pants!" Jungkook counters."We window-washers need both of our hands available at all times. You don't know much about my job, do you?" Taehyung tries to reply effortlessly. It's hard to be cool when someone's trying to show you their dick.Jungkook tilts his head to the ceiling of his room and laughs. His jawline sharpens, and his Adam's apple protrudes sharply from his throat. Tae swallows hard."Just give me some feedback, would you?" he asks, a pleading tone edging into his voice. Before Tae can reply, he's got a face full of dick. Through an open window, yes, but there is definitely dick in his face.Jungkook did not need a second opinion on this photo. He knows he looks good. He has to. His body and physique is flawless, an unending expanse of tan skin covering his entire being. His legs are chiseled, his abs are defined, his arms and shoulders bulging. His hard cock wasn't awful either. He tried not to stare. "Uh, you look great. Whoever is receiving that must be God's favorite, man," Tae says smoothly, but his voice started shaking halfway through. What is happening to me?"Ha, thanks," Jungkook says as he cocks his head to the side. "It's not my best work, though.""It's not?" Taehyung asks, without even thinking. He didn't even realize his mouth was moving. And now it's dawning on Tae that this conversation needs to end. For multiple reasons. Too much nudity, no time to waste before lunch, and no time for inconvenient boners either. "Hell no, dude. If you want, I could give you my number and I could show you some better stuff," Jungkook smirks. Taehyung freezes. He stumbled upon this guy, taking nudes for someone else, and he wants to show Tae too? Might be a red flag. But there goes that mouth again, with a mind of its own. "Sure, but I can't get to my phone right now. I could give you my number, if you'd like?" Taehyung stutters as he rambles off the digits to his new... window acquaintance? Nudes buddy? and Jungkook copies them into the phone. "Thanks Taehyung," he says with another wink, typing away on his phone once again. Jungkook looks up from his phone, his lips slowly curling into a smile, as Taehyung's phone buzzes from inside his bag.
This is going to be interesting.