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‘Good morning’ Seokjin greeted with a warm smile. The lady walked into his shop and greeted him back. ‘Nice to see you again, is there anything specific you’re looking for today?’ he asked. ‘Oh no my dear, I’m just looking for something to spruce my living room up a bit, you know? It’s so dull nowadays, I just need it to be a bit brighter. Especially since it’s autumn now, everything is a bit grey.’ the lady explained. Seokjin nodded. ‘I see. Well, I do have some nice succulents over here.’ he moved away from the back of his counter and walked over to the front of his flower shop. ‘They’re pastel coloured so they should be able to cheer your place up a bit, right?’
And that’s how the rest of his day went; uneventful but nice. He had a few of his regulars come in, stopping by to buy some of their favourite plants. There were a few people who came in to pick up orders and he got a few phone calls asking him to craft some beautiful bouquets for weddings, birthdays and various other special occasions. He bickered with one of his co-workers during his lunch break; the usual.
'Jesus Christ, Hoseok why the absolute hell would you eat jam and eggs on toast?’ he near yelled.
‘Because?’ Hoseok retorted. ‘You have some saltiness, mixed with the sweetness of the jam, it’s tasty as fuck dude, you should try it. Want a bite?’ He held his sandwich out for Seokjin to try, who only looked at him like it was something gross he’d found stuck underneath his shoe after a long day of walking through parks filled with dogshit. ‘No. Thank you.’ he said pointedly. ‘Alright, your choice.’ Hoseok replied. ‘But don’t come crawling back to me the next time you have no lunch with you and you want half of mine.’ They both stared at each other for a few seconds before they burst out laughing. Seokjin forgetting his lunch was a rather common occurrence, and since he was a massive foodie, he was unable to run on just two pieces of toast; he was unbearable on an empty stomach. This meant that Hoseok, his red-haired friend who also happened to be an incredibly talented dancer and choreographer, was usually the one having to split his lunch with him so he wouldn’t have to deal with an incredibly cranky boss for the next few hours.
*
A few hours after lunch, and about five minutes before the shop closed, Seokjin was stood behind his counter again. He’d just finished wrapping up an order with a particularly picky customer who wanted exactly thirteen Alliums, fifteen Dwarf Irises, nineteen Heliotropes and seven Morning Glories. The customer had asked him to wrap the bouquet in a piece of Pantone Paisley Purple coloured paper. On top of that, he’d been requested to tie everything up with a Pantone Purple Heather coloured ribbon. Seokjin had just spent the past fifteen minutes looking up the exact colour codes and researching places that actually sold these items because what the fu-
What the fuck.
The bell at the front door rang, signalling that a new customer had just entered Seokjin’s shop. Seokjin’s beautiful flower shop. The one with a massive ‘J.F.’ on the frontage. This could be interpreted in many different ways. It could simply stand for ‘Jin’s Flowers’ but Seokjin and his employees liked to joke around and think of other possible meanings. They had come up with various different ones, some of which included ‘Jesus Freak’, ‘Junk Food’, ‘Juicy Fruit’, ‘Jack Frost’ and Seokjin’s personal favourite: ‘Just Fishing’.
Either way, the bell rang so Seokjin looked up. Seokjin looked up and he couldn’t believe his eyes, because in front of him stood a purple-haired man, fiddling with the door handle, looking clueless as hell, dimples popping out as he apologised to the shop owner.
*
‘Which one? Baby blue or faded grey?’ Namjoon held up two different button up shirts. ‘Neither hyung.’ Jeongguk sighed. ‘He likes pink. Right Jiminie-hyung?’ Namjoon looked around, finding a mop of blond hair in the hallway. ‘Huh?’ Jimin asked, popping his head into Namjoon’s bedroom, raising his eyebrows. Jeongguk heaved another heavy sigh. ‘You said he liked pink right? The guy?’ He wiggled his eyebrows a little bit. Jimin’s eyes lit up. ‘Oh!’ he exclaimed. ‘Yes! I mean, he always goes on about how much he misses his pink hair and how he has this pinkish watch he’s so fond of and yeah.’ He shrugged. ‘I guess it’s his favourite colour.’ ‘So?’ Jeongguk said and nudged his head towards Namjoon’s closet. ‘What Jeongguk? You want me to wear pink? I don’t have any pink clothes.’ Namjoon replied. ‘Everything I have is pretty much black.’ Jimin shot up. ‘I have an idea, wait right here. Jeongguk, get him into that black outfit.’ he said and left the room. ‘What black outfit?’ Namjoon asked, but it was too late, Jeongguk was already up and rummaging through Namjoon’s closet. After a few minutes he handed Namjoon a small pile of clothes. ‘Put these on hyung. Trust me, it’ll look great.’ After a few seconds of hesitation, Namjoon caved and accepted the dark looking bundle of fabric and put it on. ‘A turtleneck? Jeongguk I’m going on a blind date, I’m not teaching a class.’ ‘Who says you need to give a lecture in order to wear a turtleneck Namjoon-hyung? That’s just ridiculous. By the way, you look super smart in this outfit, it’s very fancy. I think you’ll be fine.’
Just as Namjoon was about to reply, Jimin came hollering through the hallway. ‘Hyung! I hope you don’t mind I invited someone over!’ he shouted and walked into his bedroom, dragging a confused but hyped looking Taehyung along. ‘Hey baby, what are you doing here?’ Jeongguk asked, surprised. ‘Oh hey!’ Taehyung greeted his boyfriend by placing a quick kiss on the top of his hair and then another one on his nose. ‘I dunno, Jimin called me and asked if I could collect all of my pink clothes and accessories so here I am.’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘Hi hyung!’ Taehyung added. Jimin beamed. ‘Yeah, I figured since Tae majors in fashion, he’d probably have some stuff laying around. So, Tae, care to share the goods?’ It wasn’t until then that Namjoon noticed that Taehyung was holding two big bags. ‘Oh alright, cool. Uh, just dump them out onto the bed I guess.’ Namjoon said, gesturing to the heavy looking sacks.
The three younger guys all stood around for a few minutes, excitedly picking up various articles of clothing, pieces of jewellery and even some makeup. ‘Alright hyung.’ Taehyung turned around, suddenly very serious. ‘Since you’re wearing a super smart outfit, it’d be really nice to add this barrette, look.’ He grabbed a dusty pink piece of thick looking fabric, fiddled with it a little and placed it on top of Namjoon’s head, twisting a strand of hair from underneath and placing it on his forehead. ‘Ooh!’ he cooed. ‘It looks so good with your purple hair! Look!’ He guided Namjoon towards a mirror and started pulling on his jumper and belt. ‘See, if you just twist this, the buckle is on the side and it looks slightly asymmetrical. Yeah that’s cool. See the difference?’
This continued for a little while, until Namjoon was wearing his pink barrette, a pink charm on a necklace and some little pink gems in his ears. It was subtle, but it did give the whole outfit a nice pink vibe. Jimin set to work and gave Namjoon a subtle dusting of pink and purple hues on his eyelids, and even added some onto his cheeks. ‘And to finish off,’ Jimin said, ‘a nice, deep burgundy lip.’ He swiped a dark, berry coloured lip tint over his lips and dabbed the colour around with his ring finger. ‘See hyung? All those makeup classes they teach me in college are paying off. Now, are you satisfied?’ ‘I uh- Y-yeah I think I look… I think I look fine. Right?’ Namjoon stammered, looking at himself in the mirror. ‘I look alright, right guys?’ ‘Hyung stop being so damn nervous’ Jeongguk said. ‘It’s just a date, no need to worry and shit.’ ‘It’s not ‘just a date’ Jeongguk.’ Namjoon replied. ‘It’s a blind date with a dude whose name I don’t even know. The only thing I know is that you guys know him and that he likes pink.’ He paused. ‘Apparently.’ Jimin sat down on the bed next to Namjoon. ‘I promise it’ll be okay Namjoon-hyung. Like you said, we all know him, he’s great. We can’t tell you anything more about him, cos that’d defeat the point of a blind date. Right? But I promise you, he’s brilliant. Okay?’ Namjoon sighed. ‘Alright. But that doesn’t mean I’m not terrified.’ Taehyung sat down on Namjoon’s other side and rested his hand on Namjoon’s thigh. ‘We know hyung. I think that’s normal though, isn’t it? Being nervous for a date.’ He chuckled. ‘Sometimes I still get nervous before going on a date with Jeonggukie.’ Jeongguk’s cheeks turned bright red and he looked down. ‘Either way hyung, I think it’s perfectly normal to be nervous. That’s what makes it exciting too, I think.’ Taehyung added.
Namjoon took a deep breath and nodded his head. ‘Yeah I think so as well.’
*
And that’s how Namjoon found himself in ‘J.F.’, a fancy, but cosy looking flower shop.
‘So, what are you going to bring him hyung?’ Jimin had asked him, heart eyed. To which Namjoon had choked out ‘B-Bring him? Wh-What do you mean?’ Jimin had gasped. ‘Hyung! You do need to bring him something! You know, to try and woo him.’ The three younger boys had bickered and ended up eventually coming to the conclusion that Namjoon was to bring his mystery date a prettily arranged bouquet of fresh flowers.
‘Make sure there’s pink in there too!’ Jimin had called after him. While the boys were leaving his apartment, Namjoon had vaguely heard Jeongguk yell something along the lines of ‘What do you know hyung? You’re single!’ Then there had been a noise which sounded an awful lot like someone getting pushed down half a flight of stairs, which had been followed by a lot of laughter from three people, so Namjoon had assumed all of them were fine. And if not, they’d know where to find him.
Back to the task at hand, however. Namjoon decided to look up some flower shops near him, he didn’t want to visit his usual one where he bought all his houseplants and cacti, just in case the date would go to absolute shit and he didn’t want the owner to know.
So that’s how Namjoon found himself in front of ‘J.F.’, a fancy, but cosy looking flower shop. He’d walked past it multiple times, but had never bothered to go in. Time for a change, he figured.
As soon as Namjoon walked in, a little rose gold bell made a soft, tinkling noise above his head, notifying the employee that a new customer had just come in. While he walked in, he attempted to simultaneously close the door, which wasn’t going to work. Obviously. In the process, he got his sleeve stuck on the door handle and his bag got caught between the door. He started to pull on his sleeve, while attempting to also free his bag at the same time. Namjoon turned around to shoot an apologetic look at the employee who was undoubtedly laughing at him. ‘I am so sorry.’ Namjoon said and twisted around as much as his body would allow him to.
What the fuck.
*
Seokjin realised his mouth had fallen open and quickly closed it. ‘It’s alright, do you want me to help you with that?’ Seokjin asked and plastered a friendly smile on his face. He got an apologetic grin in return. ‘Yes please.’ the purple-haired – oh hell, purple-haired – man replied. ‘Sorry, I’m so clumsy. I don’t even know what I was trying to do. Really, I am so sorry.’ Seokjin chuckled and helped Namjoon free himself from the door and its handle. ‘It’s alright, really. It’s just that I’m closing up in about five minutes, so I don’t have much time to help you. Do you have anything specific in mind? Or are you just here to browse? Cos if you are- ‘ Namjoon cut him off, hands raised in the air, now having been freed. ‘No! No, I’m not here to browse! Actually, I need a bouquet?’ he half-asked, half-stated. ‘I see.’ Seokjin replied. ‘Come on over here, we’ll figure it out. How big would you like for it to be? I really do need to leave in a few minutes so-‘ Namjoon was quick to answer again. ‘Just something pretty please. I want lots of pink if that’s possible.’ ‘Pink? I have a lot of pink.’ Seokjin said. Because of course he did. His all-time favourite colour was pink. There was just something about the way the colour had so many different hues, ranging from hot pink, all the way to a nice dusty rose. He loved rose gold, he loved pinks with a lavender undertone, he loved every single shade of pink. He loved the pink of late-night summer sunsets. He loved the pink of the gems in the ears of the man stood in front of him. He loved the pink at the tips of the ears of the purple-haired guy, stood opposite him, describing what he wanted. Seokjin was so close to cancelling his blind date and just asking this man’s number. ‘Sorry, what?’ ‘Oh, uh, I was just saying that it’s for a date, so if you have anything that would suit one, that’d be great.’ Namjoon looked nervous. ‘Right. A date.’ Seokjin was absolutely gutted. ‘Right. Yeah. Sure, I can make you a pink bouquet. For a date. Yeah.’ ‘A-are you alright?’ Namjoon raised his eyebrows, eyes filled with mild worry. ‘Yeah of course. Just give me like five minutes okay? You can sit on that bench over there, if you want to.’ Seokjin motioned over to the wooden bench on the other side of the shop, which was surrounded by succulents, cacti and baby bonsai trees. Namjoon walked over there while Seokjin started grabbing some random pink flowers that seemed alright for a pretty bouquet.
‘Ooh!’ Namjoon cooed and turned around. ‘Is that a Japanese maple bonsai?!’ he exclaimed.
What.
‘Uh yeah. That’s an Acer Palmatum. How do you know?’ Namjoon ignored him. ‘Look at the pretty red leaves! Aren’t they adorable? Oh, and then the tiny orange ones in between! Wow, she’s so pretty.’ Namjoon’s hands fluttered all around the precious, fragile tree, careful not to accidentally touch and break it. ‘Yeah, isn’t this a stunning one?’ Seokjin smiled. The man with purple hair, a pink barrette and black woollen trench coat looked absolutely awestruck by the little thing. ‘Yeah, wow.’ He seemed breathless. ‘I-Is there a possibility that you could maybe save this one for me? I would love to buy her right now, but I wouldn’t be able to take her straight home and I don’t want her to die.’ And the man looked so genuinely upset by that thought that Seokjin didn’t even think twice before agreeing. ‘Yeah of course, I can just take it to the back and then you can come back whenever is most convenient for you.’ He said, shrugging, like saving tiny, red bonsai trees for big, purple-haired men was a daily occurrence for him. Namjoon’s eyes lit up. ‘Wow! Thank you so much! I’ll definitely come back tomorrow to pick her up then!’ ‘Sure.’ Seokjin chuckled as he added in some greenery, to balance out the abundance of pink. He always liked using complimentary colours to balance each other out and make the arrangements pop. ‘You can come tell me how your date went.’ Namjoon laughed at that. ‘Yeah, I will. I’m super nervous, you know?’ ‘How so?’ ‘It’s a blind date.’ Namjoon supplied. ‘I’ve never been on a blind date before, so I’m terrified.’ Seokjin laughed. ‘I’m in the same boat actually, I also have one tonight. That’s why I have to leave soon’ He tied a pink ribbon around the three different pink coloured pieces of paper holding the flowers together. ‘But hey, she’s probably really great. I’m sure you don’t need to worry.’ ‘Oh no.’ Namjoon scratched the back of his neck. ‘It’s a guy, I’m pretty sure. Not that into girls.’ ‘I see.’ Seokjin replied. ‘Bi myself.’ he supplied, not really knowing what this man was supposed to do with that information, but he said it anyway. ‘I figured.’ Namjoon replied, pointing at the pink, purple, blue button pinned to Seokjin’s lavender tinted apron. Seokjin looked down. ‘Ah yeah, forgot.’ he said, sheepishly. ‘Anyway!’ He clapped his hands. ‘All done. What do you think?’ He held up the fresh bunch of flowers; a wide array of pinks, some purples, a bit of green and even some blue and yellow hues mixed in. ‘Satisfied?’ Namjoon took a look and grinned. ‘Definitely. It looks marvellous.’
After paying for the bouquet, Namjoon took the flowers into his arms and began to leave. ‘Thanks so much for doing this so quick and on such short notice, you’ve really helped me out!’ Namjoon smiled. ‘Oh, and thank you for wanting to save the tree for me, I promise I’ll be back to pick her up tomorrow!’ He shot the pretty red tree a quick glance, almost as if to let it know that he would, in fact, be back, that it wouldn’t have to worry, he would come pick it up and bring it to his safe home. Seokjin laughed. ‘It’s no bother, really. I’m glad I was able to help you out! Good luck on your date, and see you tomorrow then! Don’t leave her hanging!’ Seokjin pointed his thumb in the direction of the Japanese maple tree. A big grin from the tall man in return. ‘I won’t forget! And you too. Good luck I mean.’ Namjoon took a deep breath. ‘Good luck on your date.’ He smiled and his dimples popped out. He slowly shuffled backwards and almost forgot to open the door before he left, but after a quick warning from Seokjin, he ended up being fine.
The cool November air was very welcome on his face as soon as he stepped outside.
*
A theatre. That’s where their friends had decided to make them go on their date. Namjoon wasn’t sure why. He’d heard something about the other guy having some affinity with acting, but wasn’t sure what that was about exactly. He himself enjoyed visiting shows at his local theatre a lot, so either way, he was down for it.
Seven. They were supposed to meet at seven in the evening, and the show was meant to start at eight. They’d have about an hour to get to know each other a bit and then after the show, they’d have even more time, maybe they could even invite their friends over. However, it was ten past seven and Namjoon was still stood outside. On his own. The November wind was cold and Namjoon felt like some evil, unknown entity was pouring ice water onto him, it slowly seeped through his thick, woollen coat and into his warm turtleneck, soaking him to the bone. He rubbed his hands together and blew some hot breath on them in an attempt to heat himself up, but to no avail.
Enough was enough. Namjoon whipped his phone out of his (Taehyung’s) coat pocket and opened his groupchat with Jimin, Taehyung and Jeongguk. Just as he was about to text them, asking them why it was taking so long and what he was meant to do now - because hell, he was freezing his tits off - he felt a light tap on his shoulder. His head shot up and he turned around, almost pulling a neck muscle in the process, and in front of him stoo- In front of him stood a broad shouldered, caramel-haired man. Namjoon’s eyes widened in an attempt to take everything in properly. The man’s stunning face was framed by perfectly placed, slightly curled strands of amber hair, shiny and all. There seemed to be a slight shimmer on his eyelids, which were accompanied by a vintage looking pair of spectacles and his lips were tinted a slight red. He was wearing one single dangly earring in his left ear, the other one was empty, didn’t even seem to be pierced. A simple camel-coloured trench coat was wrapped around the man’s tall body, paired with a light blue, flannel scarf, smart black trousers and some fancy looking shoes. He was carrying a leather bag with him as well, some flowers sticking out.
Namjoon stared.
And stared.
He opened and closed his mouth a few times, causing him to give the other male his best impression of a confused goldfish about ten times before he was finally able to speak.
‘Y-you- Here? Wh- For wha- For me? Da- On a date?’ He motioned in between them, as if that was meant to clear things up. The other man started laughing. ‘I… Wow, this really is something, isn’t it?’ Namjoon continued staring. Why not, now that he had the chance to do so, he figured. ‘This only happens to me, I swear.’ Namjoon sputtered. ‘Wow. Wow, this… Wow.’ ‘Wow, indeed. So.’ Seokjin paused. ‘I’m assuming you’re my blind date then?’ he asked with a smile. Namjoon scratched the back of his neck, a nervous habit he hadn’t been able to break for years now. ‘I uhh, I think so. I think so, yeah.’ ‘You don’t seem all that thrilled.’ Seokjin said, sceptical. ‘No! No, I am! Trust me, I am!’ Namjoon was quick to defend himself. ‘It’s just that… Wow. You know? I walked into your shop and when I saw you, I immediately considered cancelling this date and asking you for your number.’ Seokjin laughed. ‘Those were my thoughts exactly. I was so close to just asking your number and cancelling this date, but I didn’t want to be unprofessional. And aside from that, I wanted to give the mystery man a chance.’ He smiled. Namjoon stared. Again. But this time it was filled with even more disbelief. ‘Me? You? You wanted to ask me? For my number?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Pretty positive.’ Seokjin shrugged, seeming careless. ‘Look, we need to get inside. We can continue chatting in there, yeah?’ Namjoon nodded and Seokjin offered him his arm, which Namjoon gratefully accepted. They made their way inside with their arms interlocked.
*
The men got to know each other a bit before the show started. Namjoon learnt that Seokjin had a degree in film and acting, which was one of the main reasons their friends had decided to send them to a theatre. He also found out that Seokjin did some acting and modelling jobs on the side, but his main source of income was his flower shop; something he’d started himself and had worked very hard for. In return, Seokjin learnt that Namjoon was a philosophy and English literature professor at a university nearby. In his spare time, he apparently worked for a record label, where he produced a few songs every once in a while. He was really into poetry, which caused him to be a great lyricist too; very useful for his extra work. They exchanged a few random facts too. This is how Seokjin found out that Namjoon had a dog who hated his guts and never listened to him, how he adored bonsai trees and plants because ‘they could never hate him’ and how he felt like he needed to look up at the stars for at least ten minutes each night because otherwise he ‘would simply pass away’. Seokjin told Namjoon about his brother who owned a restaurant which he technically co-owned, but since he wasn’t really around much, he figured it wasn’t truly his as well. He talked about how he absolutely loved to cook and how he ‘would simply pass away’ as well if he wasn’t able to cook himself a nice dinner at night. Just as they were about to start discussing what the superior homemade dinner was, their show started.
*
‘Wow. Wow that was so good! Don’t you think?’ Namjoon was almost jumping up and down with utter excitement. The pair had walked into the theatre lobby, after having texted and called their respective friends to come meet up with them to have a nice chat and maybe enjoy a few drinks.
The show had turned out to be a very philosophical one, discussing why it was important to think of the greater good, reminding people to make choices that would make a big amount of people a bit happy, instead of making only three people extremely happy. Seokjin felt like it was interesting, and the acting was done very, very well, there was some singing involved too, which was not only fun, but also interesting. However, his reaction was nothing compared to Namjoon, who was literally buzzing with happiness and contentment.
‘-and when they discussed Bentham’s felicific calculus and his views on utilitarianism? Absolutely brilliant!’ Namjoon exclaimed.
Seokjin thought that was cute.
Oh god.
‘Yeah, I liked it a lot! Don’t know too much about the philosophical aspects of it all, but you can teach me, right?’ He stole a quick glance to his left where Namjoon roamed, drink in his hand. He nodded eagerly. ‘Oh yes, definitely! I could email you some-‘ Seokjin cut him off by placing his right index finger on Namjoon’s lips. ‘Namjoon.’ He smiled. ‘Be quiet.’ Namjoon pondered this for a second until he nodded his head a bit, squinting his eyes slightly. ‘That is me asking you to go on another date. You know that right?’ Namjoon offered Seokjin yet another goldfish impression, opening and closing his mouth about five times within the span of ten seconds. ‘A-another date?’ Namjoon stared at him. ‘You and me? Another date? You want? With me? On another date? Together? With me? Us?’ Namjoon asked, motioning in between them frantically. Seokjin chuckled and his eyes softened. ‘Yes Namjoon, I’d love to go on another date with you. Would you mind?’ Namjoon’s face lit up. ‘Yes. I mean no! No, I don’t mind.’ He smiled. ‘Yes please, I’d love that.’ Seokjin’s turn to start beaming. ‘Really? Are you sure?’ ‘Of course I’m sure!’ Namjoon exclaimed. He then seemed to notice something. ‘Oh uh, by the way.’ he mumbled and fiddled with his bag. ‘I got these for you but uh, yeah.’ He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and pulled out a slightly crumpled bouquet of flowers; a bunch of different shades of pink exploding from the pretty pink paper tied with a pink ribbon. ‘Yeah sorry, didn’t know my florist would actually be my date. But they’re yours if you want them. My friends told me I had to give them to you in order to woo you.’ Namjoon shoved his hands forward and looked down. Was he getting shy? Seokjin was so incredibly endeared by him. He laughed and reached out for the lovely pink sprigs. 'Let me guess? Jimin?' Namjoon chuckled. 'Yeah, he was quite adamant.' Seokjin smelt at the flowers. ‘I’d love them, thank you so very much.’
Right as Namjoon was about to offer Seokjin some more awkward apologies, the two men heard loud hollering from the other side of the spacious lobby.
‘Hyung! Jin-hyung!’ A red-haired man speedily walked up to them, pulling a seemingly less excited looking man with mint-coloured hair along with him. ‘Hey hyung! Sorry, are we late? Didn’t you also invite-‘ Before he could even finish his sentence, there was more noise. This time, it came from one of the other entrances. ‘Hyung! Joon! Namjoon-hyung! Seokjin-hyung, hi!’
Seokjin smiled. ‘Joon’ sounded cute, he thought.
Three men ran up to them. Two of them were holding hands, one of those men had black, curly hair and the other had caramel-coloured hair with some coloured streaks at the bottom. They both looked very striking. The third man had blond hair and somehow managed to look just as good as the other two newcomers. ‘Hi! Are we late?’ Jimin started. ‘Sorry, we tried to-‘ His eyes landed on Seokjin’s two friends and his voice immediately died down. He stared at them. The dark-haired guys looked at him and giggled. ‘What Jimin-hyung is trying to say is that we tried to catch the tube, but this person started freestyle dancing on our way there, so he just had to stop and watch them.’ the dude with the black curls sounded. ‘Either way.’ the one with the coloured streaks spoke. ‘It took us ages but we’re here now. Oh hi, I’m Jeongguk by the way.’ He smiled and held out his hand for the two strangers to shake. ‘I’m Taehyung.’ The one with the darkest hair introduced himself. ‘Lovely meeting you.’ Everyone’s gaze then turned to the boy with blond hair.
Silence. He was still staring.
Taehyung nudged his elbow in between the shorter one’s ribs and mumbled a low 'Chim', which seemed to pull him out of whatever daze he was in.
‘Oh, yeah. Hello, my name is Jimin.’ He blinked a couple of times. ‘Yeah. I’m Park Jimin. Hi.’
He was still staring.
‘Nice to meet you.’ The one with fire-red hair grinned, holding his hand out for Jimin to shake. ‘I’m Hoseok, you can call me Hobi if you’d like though! This here is Yoongi.’ He pointed at the person next to him while shaking everyone else’s hands as well, except for Seokjin’s. Said Yoongi shot him a look. ‘I can introduce myself just fine Hope.’ ‘Hope’ smiled and bent over, planting a swift kiss to Yoongi’s cheek. ‘I know babe, just trying to help you out.’ He smiled softly. This seemed to somehow melt the other man a bit, he smiled back and placed a quick kiss on the man’s lips in return. ‘Right. Well, I’m Yoongi. Few months younger than Jin-hyung here, so it’s probably Yoongi-hyung to all of you.’ he explained. ‘That’s it I guess.’ Yoongi shrugged.
The boys sat down in the bar area of the theatre and got comfortable. They spent the entire night getting to know each other. This is how they found out Taehyung and Jeongguk were dating, Taehyung a fashion major and Jeongguk doing a whole bunch of different things. He was studying to become a tattoo artist, personal trainer, graphic designer, singer and dancer, so ‘he’d have a lot of backup options’ he’d said. Hoseok and Yoongi turned out to be dating as well, had been for years now. Hoseok shared that he worked at Seokjin’s flower shop, but he taught dance classes as well and sometimes he’d get asked to choreograph routines for TV performances, celebrities or even perform himself. Yoongi told everyone he was a producer; he made music without having to deal with the fame aspect of it all, which he appreciated.
‘Yeah, you know that one song they covered in that show we watched just now?’ Seokjin asked. ‘The one you liked so much.’ ‘Hmm? What about it?’ Namjoon asked with a little smile, sitting closer to Seokjin and lightly resting his head on his shoulder. He wasn’t drunk or anything, his head just felt like it was slowly filling up with soft clouds, making him a little clingy. ‘Pretty sure Yoongi produced that.’ Namjoon turned his head so fast, he was sure he’d pulled a muscle in his neck. ‘Seriously? I liked it so much! Oh, what was it called?’ He thought for a minute. ‘Ah! Right! I think the song was called ‘Stargazing’? God, it was so so pretty.’ He sighed in awe. Yoongi smiled. ‘Thanks! Stargazing is one of my favourite songs too, since it talks about the struggle of wanting to do something but being afraid of the person you might become if you end up doing it, you know?’ Namjoon nodded eagerly and that’s how that conversation continued.
The rest of the night flew by like that; all the boys chatting away and getting to know each other. The later it got, the closer Namjoon began to sit to Seokjin. It started off with his head on one of his broad shoulders, but eventually the older man had his arm around the younger’s shoulders, hand softly playing with the hair in the back of his neck. Namjoon ended up resting one of his hands on Seokjin’s thighs, drink long forgotten, and he heaved a small but content sigh. Seokjin looked down and bent his head towards Namjoon’s ear so he could whisper. ‘You alright?’ he spoke softly. Namjoon opened his eyes, which he’d closed earlier, and looked up, keeping his head on Seokjin’s shoulder. A small smile played around his lips. ‘Yeah.’ He sighed again. ‘’M really enjoying myself. Hearing all these stories from people is so interesting, I love getting to know new people, y’know?’ Seokjin smiled and tightened his grip on the younger man’s shoulders just a tad. ‘You’re mumbling. Come on, let me get you home.’ As soon as he attempted to get up, he got pulled back down by something heavy. He looked over his shoulder and what he saw was a pouting, rosy-cheeked, blurry-eyed Namjoon. ‘Hyung.’ He whined. He actually whined, and Seokjin immediately sat back down. He cupped the other man’s face. ‘Everything alright? You okay?’ ‘Hmm.’ Namjoon groaned in return. ‘Jus want to stay ‘ere forever nd ever.’ He nuzzled his face into Seokjin’s chest as he spoke. Seokjin laughed. ‘Come on, I’ll get you home. Don’t worry, come here and I’ll help you.’ He pulled Namjoon up and wrapped one of his arms around his waist. ‘Let’s say goodnight to the rest, yeah?’ ‘Hmmmmyeah.’ It sounded like one massive, incoherent word and Seokjin chuckled. ‘Alright then, come on!’
They told Yoongi and Hoseok goodnight, Namjoon said it was a pleasure meeting them, and he’d check out more of Yoongi’s music. He’d opted out of taking dance classes from Hoseok, but he said he’d stop by the flower shop sometime to say hi, which made Seokjin feel warm on the inside. They then went to say goodnight to the three younger boys. Taehyung and Jeongguk both greeted them in a warm, comfortable hug and told them to stay safe. Jimin however, leaned in for an embrace, but as soon as he got close enough to Namjoon’s ear, he scream-whispered ‘I think I have a date with Yoongi-hyung and Hoseok-hyung?!’ Namjoon looked at him with big eyes. ‘A d-date? With them?’ Jimin beamed. ‘Yeah! Like, like, a date! Isn’t that amazing hyung? Wow, your blind date paid off even for me!’
Namjoon told him he deserved it and that he was happy for him and that was it, it was time to leave.
*
‘Alright well, I assume you can find your bed by yourself, yeah?’ Seokjin half-asked, half-joked. They were stood right outside Namjoon’s apartment, Seokjin awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.
Namjoon stared at him.
‘Hello? Earth to Namjoon? You okay?’ ‘Huh?’ Namjoon blinked and shook his head. ‘Yeah. Yeah sorry I’m fine.’ ‘Sure? Because I can just call Jimin and-‘ ‘No! No, it’s fine, please don’t bother him. I’m sure he’s getting it on with your two friends somewhere, let’s leave them be.’ Seokjin’s nose scrunched up in disgust. ‘I’d like to not think about what Hoseok and Yoongi are doing with Jimin while I’m dropping you off, thank you very much.’ Namjoon chuckled and rubbed his nose with his thumb. ‘Sorry hyung.’ He looked up. ‘Hey, thank you. Like, for tonight. I had such a good time, thank you.’ ‘Thank you too, I also had a really great time.’ Seokjin smiled. Suddenly, Namjoon looked even more awkward than he already was. ‘So, uh. Like. Is that second date thing still on the table?’ Seokjin grinned. ‘Of course! I mean, only if you still want to as well of course! You uh. You don’t have to say yes but, like, you know, like, yeah-‘ ‘Shut up.’ Namjoon laughed. ‘Shut the hell up hyung. Please, just please, shut up and let me know whether I get to go on another wonderful date with you.’
Seokjin took one last step forward to close the little bit of distance in between them. He leaned in slowly and tilted his head to the side. Namjoon’s breathing stopped. Or it accelerated like crazy. He couldn’t really tell.
And then, a pair of soft, plush lips were pressed against his cheek. It felt like minutes. No hours. No, it was gone too soon. It was nothing more than a split-second. As soon as Seokjin pulled back, Namjoon whined for the second time that night. Having subconsciously closed his eyes, he blindly grabbed in front of him until he found what he assumed to be Seokjin’s collar. ‘Again. Please.’ he whispered. Seokjin leaned back in and placed his lips back on Namjoon’s cheek, on the same place he assumed one of his dimples to be. Namjoon offered a content hum in response. Slowly, Seokjin placed his hands on either side of Namjoon’s waist and pressed his lips a little more to the left. Namjoon turned his head in Seokjin’s direction, and after a few more light kisses, his lips were dangerously close to the younger man’s. ‘Can I?’ he whispered, scared to ruin the moment.
‘Please.’
And that was all Seokjin needed to move his head that last little bit and finally, finally kiss Namjoon properly.