BLIND DATE. ❪ PJM + JJK ❫

thirteen

ㅡTHE BLINDFOLD, 8:34PM

taeil released a tired sigh as he closed the doors to the dining area behind him, pulling his goggles down to rest around his neck. it took him a moment to adjust to the change in brightness and the sudden enthusiasm he was faced with as donghyuck bounced forward up to him, built-up anticipation evident.

"how was it, hyung?" the youngest asked in a low whisper, eyes wide with awe. a smile found its way on taeil's lipsㅡdonghyuck, unlike him or the other waiter with them presently, doyoung, did not sport a pair of glasses around his neck; but he did have a wide grin plastered across his features that taeil had only seen thin scowls in place of in his other colleagues.

"not so great, kid," he replied, hoping donghyuck's enthusiasm would drop. it did not. the younger did pout, but only to give taeil a light shove.

"did you disappoint our customers? hyung!"

he couldn't help but feel a pang of sadnessㅡdonghyuck shouldn't have been here. he should've been home, studying. that was what taeil would have been doing at donghyuck's age.

on another note, donghyuck shouldn't have been here, as in right outside the set of oaken doors, watching, waiting. he should have had goggles around his neck, in proud display; he should've been in there, serving peopleㅡbut he was too young, their manager had informed him, much to his dismay.

taeil opened his mouth to reply, to say that customers were a handful and donghyuck should consider himself lucky to not have to mill around in the dark; instead simply stand here, smile, and send people in, when doyoung shook his head. a small, almost unidentifiable movement, but taeil caught it.

he closed his mouth.

the bell tinkled in the distance, and the three straightened out of reflex, ready to serve. a tall man entered, but stopped in his tracks as he noticed another person in the room, one who taeil recognized to have been pacing around for quite a while now. the two released identical yelps of recognition before slapping each other on the back, exchanging words cordially.

"wanna take this one, donghyuck?" doyoung whispered, gaze fixed in the distance and smile in place.

donghyuck broke into an even wider grin, rolling back his shoulders in preparation as the customer moved away from his friend and towards their gathering. "aw, yeah!"

his grin reduced to a pleasant smile as the customer came to a stop in front of them, grinning uneasily. donghyuck nodded, suddenly in a whole new identity, "good evening, sir. may i have your name?"

"namjoon," he answered, sending the usual baffled glances towards doyoung's and taeil's goggles. "i reserved a table, for me andㅡjimin."

jimin?

doyoung did a visible double take, and taeil intercepted before namjoon could notice, "jimin, sir? is that right?"

namjoon cursed under his breath. "did i pronounce it wrong?"

"just one second, sir," doyoung spluttered, flipping through the notepad jaehyun had given him before. "let me just check something and we'll have you at your table in a jiffy."

"sure," namjoon said good-naturedly, moving his gaze in an appreciative circle of the area. "this place is lit, fam."

"no, sir," donghyuck corrected, folding his hands in front of him,"the dining area will have no lighting whatsoever! see, the pitch-black darkness disables your sight and heightens your sense ofㅡ"