anonymous
1728094956104
panop anon here again! re reading unfastening and had 2 thoughts: 1. i realized i’m fully picturing the beginning of the 3D live perf video when jk’s checking his phone outside as the part in ch3 where nj opens the door for him. 2. the rest of that scene also made me realize they BOTH think the OTHER is always playing a character! nj thinks jk is nice and kind, but ultimately is on the clock and doing his job when they’re together, as you make clear in his inner dialogue. i wonder then if jk has the same instinct to guard himself emotionally by thinking that nj’s moments of intimacy/ connection are him embodying his character. maybe that’s also super obvious, but something about rereading it made that second part click a lot more for me. i wonder what it’s gonna take for those two to push past the presumption that their connection is only part of roles they play…. so excited to see what happens next during the snow storm sleepover!!!
you're SO on the right track with that jk image! this video was totally what we had in mind when we were writing that abrupt energy shift before nj opens the door in that chapter, and the clip you mentioned fits so well with just before that, when he's leaning against his bike texting 🥵. it's so cool to see him flip that switch into performance mode! the focus! (attention is sexy!) i've honestly never thought about jungkook thinking that namjoon might be play-acting as gloss during their sessions and not being quite genuine, and i think that's a super interesting interpretation. it's definitely more present in nj's pov in the earlier part of the fic, like during their first real scene together he's thinking of his book character and how he's supposed to feel and stuff like that, so i can see where you got it from!
i shared this message with beebalm, bc i wanted to get her perspective on it and see what her interpretation is too. and she said she thinks jk is aware that nj's reactions to him in the moment are genuine, but there definitely is that sort of role disconnect you were talking about in that nj's a client. like jungkook's used to his clients wanting him physically and even romantically, but just because they want him during the time when they're paying him doesn't mean that desire is gonna extend outside of the service he's providing. she said "someone being genuinely into him still doesn’t override the fact that he’s a prostitute and it’s a business transaction and he’s not like… someone they’d introduce to their mother with no shame." 🥲 y'know, that saying about how people don't pay prostitutes for sex, they pay them to leave afterward.
so i do think jungkook has his own reservations/doubts about nj's feelings because he knows that he's a fantasy for most people, and that most people also want him to stay that way. it's escapism! up to this point, all of his interactions with namjoon have been so centered around this transactional relationship, he doesn't have anything outside of that to compare it to. which is why i'm so excited about the snow storm sleepover in the next chapter, because it's the first time either of them are gonna have an extended interaction where jungkook's not on the clock. they have to just be people!! what's that gonna be like?! always a pleasure to talk to you 🥰