TEEN BEACH | b.c + y.ji

TWENTY-TWO: YANG JEONGIN, CLUB LEVANTER, AND THE DEFINITION OF A HARNESS

DESPITE PROMISING jeongin he wouldn't leave his side, hyunjin disappeared as soon as the trio stepped foot into club levanter.

"well, there he goes," changbin muttered over the pounding bass in the club. hyunjin had forced the elder into a weird red and grey half-flannel-half-sweater shirt with denim jeans, and since they belonged to hyunjin, they were a bit baggy on the shorter boy. however, it looked good— in an odd way— on changbin. he was seething, though, as he hated wearing anything that wasn't monotone. jeongin didn't know how hyunjin managed to wrestle the clothes onto him plus do his hair so that his fringe showed off more of his forehead, but he assumed that hyunjin got the rest of the gang to help him.

"we'd better get moving," changbin continued, "or else we might get swept away in the crowd just like our lovely friend did."

looking around, jeongin realized he was right; more and more people were flooding into the club and it was becoming more difficult to see. taking jeongin by the hand, changbin tugged the taller boy in a random direction until they were away from the entrance.

levanter was everything and nothing like jeongin expected it to be. for one, although practically everyone was drinking, he thought that there would be people making out all along the walls or doing nasty things on the dance floor. however, most people were just flailing around in small groups or with someone else. very rarely did he spot anyone grinding against each other, although when he did, he quickly averted his eyes. i did not come here to see that. despite the music giving him a slight headache, jeongin had to admit that the club wasn't as terrifying as he thought it would be. plus, the strobe lights were pretty.

"do you know where we're supposed to go?" changbin asked, letting jeongin's hand go when they were a good distance away from the entrance. jeongin hummed in response and pulled out his phone to read the directions felix had texted him earlier.

"they should be—"

"jeongin!"

the said boy turned to find felix slipping past a group of people, grinning wildly. his brown hair was slightly tousled but it did nothing to distract from his sparkly black button-up which glimmered in the dim lighting of the club. he seemed slightly out of breath as if he had been running around for a while.

"felix!" jeongin exclaimed. "i'm so happy we found you!"

"me too, mate!" felix paused. "wait, who's 'we'?"

jeongin's face blanched ever so slightly. "um... well, hyunjin and changbin found out about the party, so..." he moved to the side revealing changbin standing behind him. "they decided to come. i completely forgot to let you know and i'm so sorry if we just ruined—"

"no! no, it's perfectly fine," felix insisted. jeongin missed the way his fingers drummed against his thighs nervously. "uh, seungmin and jisung have a booth for all of us near the bar. you guys can go meet them there if you want. i was just heading out to get the birthday boy."

jeongin nodded and was about to leave when changbin grabbed him by the wrist. "wait. i.n, do you think you could go without me? i'll be there in just a moment." changbin's gaze wasn't on him when he spoke, though— rather, it was on felix, who seemed like he was frozen in place.

something's going on, but i don't know what. "yeah, that's fine. take your time." with that, jeongin left in the direction of the bar, thankfully finding seungmin and jisung's booth without much problem. jisung was sitting face-down at the table and seungmin was next to him, sipping a cup of clear liquid and patting his head.

"hey, je—" seungmin's greeting abruptly cut off and his eyes grew wide. "what in god's name are you wearing?"

jeongin shrugged nonchalantly, sliding in the booth next to him. "changbin said it was a bdsm harness. i didn't know what that was so i asked hyunjin, and he said it's an accessory people wear sometimes to make others happy. since it's chan's birthday, i wanted to make him happy, so i wore it!" he wiggled his arms around. "do you think he'll like it?"

seungmin squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his temples. "holy hell, if i could drink this memory away i totally would, but i'm the designated driver for tonight." he sighed and opened his eyes again. "jeongin, there's something i need to tell you. hyunjin lied to you."

jeongin's jaw dropped. "wait, what?"

seungmin nodded. "a bdsm harness isn't really for making people happy. it's more like..." he stopped when jeongin's face fell even further. "woah, you good?"

jeongin's lip trembled a bit. "i... i just wanted chan to be happy...because i didn't get him a gift...but you're saying that this won't make him happy?" this is a disaster! oh my god, i wanna go home right now! i need to leave before he sees me!

seungmin waved his hands frantically. "no! no, it's not like that! what i meant to say was..." his eyes flitted back and forth from the table to jeongin's eyes. "...the harness is...well...uh..."

jisung said something, but it was muffled since he was lying face-down on the table. apparently seungmin heard it, though, because he was quick to slap the boy on the back and hiss, "shut your depressed ass up."

"what did he say?" jeongin questioned.

"nothing useful. anyway, bdsm harnesses aren't really to make everyone happy. it's more for...certain people."

jeongin tilted his head. "do you think chan will be happy?"

seungmin looked him up and down before grabbing his drink again. "oh, yeah. you don't need to worry about that."

seungmin's words came as a huge relief to jeongin. phew! dodged a bullet there. "thanks, seungmin. sorry that i got kinda worked up about it."

the brunette snorted. "at least you're not as bad as this kid here." he jabbed jisung in the ribs with his elbow. "he's been moping around all day and i'm the one who got stuck babysitting him so that he doesn't get drunk and do something stupid."

"what happened to him?"

"well..." seungmin threw a glance down at jisung. "let's just say that it's a good thing your friend minho isn't here right now."

"that's because he was being an ass," changbin's voice rang out from behind them. sliding in the booth next to jeongin, he added, "although not as much of an ass as you, thankfully."

jeongin cast a cautionary look at changbin— please don't start anything tonight, he thought— but was surprised to see that the boy looked a lot more relaxed and comfortable than he did earlier. heck, he was even smiling a bit. changbin never smiles when he talks to the surfers. what's going on with him?

"at least this ass can beat you in uno any day of the week," seungmin shot back, and changbin looked slightly offended.

"if we arm-wrestled right now, i could guarantee that you'd get owned."

"i'd be glad to test that theory."

jeongin giggled under his breath as the two duked it out until he glanced upwards and saw a familiar glittery shirt. "guys, felix is back! hi, fe..." the words died in his throat when he saw who he was with.

a silk black shirt, so see-through that it left nothing to the imagination.

tight leather pants that hugged his legs when he moved.

a thick silver chain that rested on his pale collarbone.

silver curls tamed and swept-back off of his forehead.

a little smile that said he knew exactly what he was doing to jeongin's heart.

bang fucking chan, you are an absolute masterpiece.