In the Quiet of the Bar
By:cassxtle
Summary:
Yoongi is a bartender and Jimin has never been drunk in public before. Cuteness ensues.
Story:
Yoongi walks up to the bar and sighs before entering, grumbling to himself. It's 10:30 on a Thursday night and he could be in bed right now eating popcorn and watching the Lord of the Rings for the tenth time. But noooo, Jin had to go and get himself sick and now Yoongi has to cover for him. He honestly doesn't mind his job most days, a bartender makes pretty good money, even in a small joint like this. But he's not so fond of the place that he wants to spend his nights off here. He curses himself for the millionth time when he thinks about the phone call that got him here. His boss had called him half an hour ago asking him to come in and Yoongi being the terrible liar he is couldn't come up with a decent excuse in time. So here he is walking into the nearly empty pub, making his way over to relieve Jin, who's standing with his forehead pressed against the cool wood of the bar. When he raises his head he looks pale as a ghost and Yoongi softens. Poor guy, he thinks and is significantly less bad tempered when he ushers the other man out, waving off Jin's thank-yous and I'm sorry's. While Jin grabs his jacket he turns back to Yoongi, nodding towards the bar where a man, or a boy really, sits gazing into space. "He's pretty far gone," Jin chuckles, wincing as his headache hits him again, "he's been there for an hour, basically talking non-stop." Yoongi glances at the boy and the two drunk girls singing karaoke on stage before turning back to Jin. He rolls his eyes, "Oh great. Another night of enlightening conversations for me I guess," But he shrugs. It's part of the job even if Yoongi isn't exactly the most talkative bartender in the world. "Anyway," he says, "Go home and take a fuckton of cold medication." Jin smiles and nods, wincing again. He waves on the way out, "Thanks Yoongi."
Yoongi nods, "No problem, hyung."
When Jin's out of sight, Yoongi takes up his position for the rest of the night. Behind the bar he busies himself with cleaning glasses. It's super quiet tonight, the only customers are the two girls, now laughing at their rendition of "Fantastic Baby", a few of their friends and a couple seated in a secluded corner. Oh and of course the boy sitting at the bar with a cute smile on his face as he makes eye contact with Yoongi. Yoongi feels the need to look away before the brightness of that smile burns him. Still though, the guy really is cute, not that Yoongi notices of course. Nor does he notice the boys flawless skin and fluffy blond hair. He also definitely doesn't notice the way his eyes crinkle while he smiles or the way his small hands are wrapped around an empty glass.
Yoongi walks over to him, because what else should a bartender do? It was his duty to check if the cute guy, ahem, if they guy wanted a refill.
"Hi!," the boy says happily, as Yoongi's about to ask if he wants another drink. "My name is Park Jimin, is the other bartender okay? He's been feeling sick all night, for a while I thought he would pass out or throw up...." He rambles on, teetering off when he realizes what he's doing. He giggles, his hands coming up to cover his face.
Yoongi smiles despite himself. He generally attempts to maintain an image of 'aloof and mysterious' as far as bar-tending goes, it allows him to avoid many conversations since most people would be intimidated by that kind of deal. Park Jimin, apparently, is not "most people."
"Hi Jimin, yeah he's okay he's heading home now," Yoongi replies cheerily, surprising himself, since when is he so friendly? "Can I get you something?"
Jimin stares at him for a second before starting a bit and looking at his empty glass in what could almost pass as wonder. "Oh!" he giggles, and Yoongi's heart flutters. What the fuck? "Yes please, it's a..um...long island?" He laughs to himself, and Yoongi has to really concentrate to keep his cool. Because the cute boy is now staring at him with an eyebrow quirked and a dazzling smile on his lips. "I'll have another one of those please." He says happily, if slightly slurred. Yoongi wonders how much he's had to drink. He almost asks before he catches himself once again. As a bartender he shouldn't really be poking into this guy's business, he can drink himself to sleep if he wants. Yoongi nods and says in his best professional voice, "You got it, long island iced tea coming right up." He hurriedly starts making the drink, he feels Jimin's eyes on the side of his face and he stands a little straighter. He makes the drink with ease, putting on a bit of a show just for the hell of it. Hey, if the kids gonna stare he might as well show off. Yoongi's good, the best drink-mixer the bar has. It's all he's done as far as jobs go since he started university so it stands to reason that his skills are pretty polished.
He places the drink in front of Jimin, a trace of smugness in his smirk when Jimin looks up at him with admiration. Just as Jimin's about to take a sip, Yoongi realizes he forgot something, "Wait! Wait hang on." He says quickly and Jimin pauses with the drink halfway to his lips and grins, placing it back down. Yoongi disappears for a second and comes back to quickly place a lemon wedge on the edge on Jimin's glass.
"Voila." He says proudly. "Can't forget the lemon."
Jimin laughs, "You're so cute bartender!" He leans his head on his palm as he gazes up at Yoongi.
Yoongi feels the blush rise in his cheeks and he looks away, clearing his throat. "Uh well... thanks.. Jimin." He says lamely, desperately wishing he could get his goddamn emotions under check.
Jimin laughs that bright laugh of his and takes another sip of his drink before saying, "and you're shy too!" He giggles to himself as if that's the funniest thing he's heard all day.
Yoongi halts in his self-reproach to contemplate that. Yoongi is not really shy under most circumstances. He prefers the term"unapproachable" and okay maybe his people skills could use some work but really he's confident in his attitude and his personality. He might come off as rude to some but no, it's not from shyness, no way.
Just like that Yoongi decides that under no circumstances is he going to let himself get all flustered by the cute guy sitting at his bar. Min Yoongi does not get flustered.
He instead smirks at Jimin, who's still freakin smiling (seriously does he ever not smile?), and shakes his head, "Me? Shy? Never."
A different emotion flickers across Jimin's face at the sudden change in Yoongi's demeanor but Yoongi can't quite place it before it's gone and Jimin is smiling again, finishing his drink and asking for another.
And so the night goes, Yoongi talks and mixes drinks while Jimin talks and slurs progressively more as the night continues.
Around midnight Yoongi is leaning against the bar from his side as Jimin does the same from his, animatedly telling a story about one of his childhood friends.
"And so that's how I met my best friend," He says, eyes twinkling, "Taehyung and I have been inseparable since. Now we live together for school."
Yoongi is grinning and chuckles, "I can't believe a friendship flourished from a fight over a bouncy ball."
Jimin scowls at him, though he looks far from threatening as a grin breaks through, "Hey! It was more than just a bouncy ball, it was my favorite bouncy ball!" His words come out significantly jumbled and Yoongi laughs for real, "How drunk are you? Slow down champ."
Suddenly Jimin sits up straight and peers at Yoongi curiously.
Yoongi quirks an eyebrow and waits for him to speak.
"Bartender.." Jimin says slowly, "I've been calling you bartender this whole time! I don't even know your name! What's your name bartender?"
Now normally Yoongi avoided telling clients his name, there weren't rules against it or anything but he just never felt overly comfortable telling a bunch of drunk strangers much about himself. If he had to talk to them he tried to keep it focused on them and not him.
It was one of the things he genuinely enjoys about this job. When he gets to listen to someone interesting talk about their lives (without having to put much of his own input in preferably), he finds it fascinating. He loves the idea of thinking about all the lives different people had lived. He loves hearing people's life stories. So when bar-goers felt like talking (as they most often did after a couple drinks) he would happily listen in silence, absorbed in the diversity of living. A good conversation was especially rewarding for him since oftentimes even drunk people were too intimidated by his cold exterior to approach him.
But Park Jimin is not intimidated and he's interesting, so interesting in fact that Yoongi had spent the night not only listening but also asking questions and even talking a little about himself too, when it came up. This, among other things (Yoongi can't help but admit) is why he barely hesitates a second before smiling and holding out a hand to Jimin, "Hello Park Jimin, my name is Min Yoongi."
Jimin takes his hand and they shake, Yoongi tries to ignore the softness of Jimins hand and how it fits so nicely against his own.
Jimin takes his sweet time letting go, meeting Yoongi's eyes for a second longer than necessary before dropping his hand to curl around his nearly empty glass. How many times it's been refilled, Yoongi doesn't recall.
"Yoongi-hyung.." he muses before checking to make sure he's right, "you're older than me right?" Jimin asks, Yoongi hums in agreement.
Jimin nods before gazing back up at him, "I'm glad you're the bartender tonight."
Yoongi feels the blush again but he doesn't look away from the boy, he laughs instead while he fidgets with a dishcloth, "Is that so Park Jimin?"
Jimin nods again, suddenly attempting to look serious even as he almost falls off the bar stool. "Yup, I'm glad because you're nice," he pauses to brush the hair out of his eyes (adorable Yoongi catches himself thinking), "nice and handsome." Jimin looks at him, studying his features as if to confirm it for himself. He grins impishly at Yoongi's slightly flushed face and finishes off another drink.
Yoongi looks down, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "You really have drank a lot tonight, Jimin." He chuckles at the others boys indignant expression.
"Hyung..." Jimin drawls, leaning his cheek on the bar top, "I may be," he pauses and pouts, his gaze training unwavering on Yoongi's, "..drunk but I would think you were handsome even if I wasn't." He nonchalantly goes back to drawing circles on the bar with the condensation from his now empty glass.
Yoongi doesn't really have an answer for that other than staring pointedly at a spot on the wood while he waits for his cheeks to put out their fires. Luckily Jimin fills the silence with quite a few words, all at once.
"You are handsome so I hope I haven't embarrassed myself yet, I was worried about tonight but I told myself I should celebrate since I passed my semester but Tae wasn't around but I decided to go anyway because I've been so stressed lately and I wanted to forget about some stuff for a while." He pauses and twirls the glass around a couple times. He looks up and smiles when he sees Yoongi leaning in to listen. He goes on, "And so I wandered in here and I was so shy and didn't know what to do so I just sat at the bar and a girl tried to talk to me but she was really drunk and I didn't really like her. Then the other bartender came and told her to leave me alone which was nice. He talked to me even though he wasn't feeling good and I got kinda drunk and then you came in and now I'm really drunk and man you really are handsome." He pauses again and gazes up at Yoongi who is blushing profusely. "Anyway," he continues, "I hope I'm not embarrassing myself." Yoongi is about to reassure him that, no, there's no way Jimin is embarrassing himself but the other boy speaks again, "can I tell you a secret Yoongi-hyung?"
Yoongi couldn't say no to that face even if he wanted to, "Of course you can."
Jimin sits up and looks around at the now empty bar, as if making sure no one was listening. He leans in towards Yoongi and Yoongi chuckles at his antics. Jimin meets his eyes, "This is the first time I've ever drank in public." He laughs, running a hand through his hair, not noticing the way Yoongi's eyes follow the motion. He prattles on, "I've drank before with friends and at parties and all that but I never did it in public." He lowers his voice to almost a whisper, undoubtedly so the non-existent people don't hear him, "I was feeling brave tonight and decided that I wanted an adventure." Suddenly his brow furrows and he chews his bottom lip nervously. Yoongi tries not to stare at those lips.
Jimin looks at him again and searches his eyes, his gaze doing things to Yoongi's heart beat. Again, what the fuck? Yoongi thinks, unable to look away until Jimin does.
"But now I'm worried I was embarrassing or that I said stupid things, because I say stupid things when I'm not drinking and I say embarrassing things when I drink even in private so I just hope I didn't make it crazy obvious that I think you're gorgeous or that I definitely want to be your friend even though you're really cool and I'm really not."
Yoongi stares at him, his face absolutely burning up as he tries to think of something to say, unbelieving that someone as, (okay he'll admit it, he's been thinking it all night), someone as flawless as this damn Park Jimin thinks he's gorgeous. When Jimin's mouth drops open as his words catch up to him, Yoongi is quick to stutter out, if only to keep him smiling, "You're cool Jimin, y-you're really cool. Like cooler than me for sure. And gorgeous obviously but that's...that's beside..uh..beside the point." He finishes in a mumble, praying to God Above Jimin is too drunk to remember a thing about what he just said. Why did he say that? Ugh. He hides his face behind one hand as he goes through the stages of self-loathing. He freezes when he feels a tentative one take it away. He looks up and Jimin is smiling, as wide as can be. "You think I'm cool?" and Yoongi has to laugh because this guy just looks so happy and his smile is enough to cause a million butterflies to erupt in Yoongi's stomach and to light up even the darkest corners of the deserted bar. They laugh together for a moment in the quiet of the night, and Yoongi doesn't ever want the warm hand on top of his to let go, and he definitely doesn't want that smile to ever slide off Jimin's face.
But alas, the real world catches up to him again after a minute or two and he squints at the clock hanging on the wall across from the bar. 12:56 am. No wonder the place is empty, they close at 1 on Thursdays. Reluctantly he stands up and steps back, looking at Jimin. Jimin is still very drunk and is swaying just a bit on his stool.
"Jimin, we're about to close." Yoongi says, biting his lower lip, part of him wishing they could stay and talk all night long. Well, all of him really.
Jimin laughs, glancing around as if just noticing how empty the place is. "Holy shit," he giggles, the curse catching Yoongi off guard, "I've spent my whole night here! You really must be interesting Yoongi-hyung.." He muses softly.
Yoongi fights to keep himself from grinning too hard, "I think you're the interesting one Jimin."
Jimin doesn't stop his grin and his eyes crinkle joyfully. "You really think so hyung?" He swings to his feet, stumbling and holding onto the bar for support, he laughs at himself. "I don't wanna leave you cause of the whole handsome and nice thing but I'll leave anyway since it's gonna be after hours and that's probably illegal." He rambles a little more but Yoongi is already chewing on his bottom lip, ignoring for now that Jimin has called him handsome once again. Clearly, Jimin isn't in a state to be walking around on the streets all alone in the middle of the night. Surely it's Yoongi's duty to at least make sure he has a ride or a place to go or something. He would do it for anyone, he tells himself. Though it's not exactly true since he's thrown out more than his share of pervy drunk men into the sobering cold of the night when they got a bit too touchy. But Yoongi's stomach clenches at the thought of Jimin, who's never been drunk in public, who's too sweet for his own good, who's super, super drunk, leaving the bar to get lost, stumbling into dark alleys or any number of bad things happening to him. No. No way. Yoongi tells himself. No way is Jimin walking out of here alone.
"Jimin." He says, the other boy smiles at his name and slides back up the bar, standing in front of Yoongi. "Can I call someone for you? To come pick you up?"
Jimin thinks long and hard, his face in a cute little pout, Yoongi notices (of course).
He thinks about it for a second, "Hm well.. I could call Tae!" He says brightly, his head drooping as he sort of stumbles back onto a bar stool, as if a wave of fatigue hit him all at once.
"Jimin?" Yoongi chuckles a little, as the boy just lets out a non committal, "..hmm.." as he rests his head on his arms.
Yoongi sighs and rubs the back of his neck with his hand, finally resigning himself to his task. He walks around the edge of the bar and comes up to Jimin.
"Jimin? Do you have a phone?" Jimin burrows a little deeper into the crooks of his elbows and Yoongi just makes out a mumble of "..front pocket."
Yoongi blushes a little but gently pulls out the phone, ignoring the warmth in his cheeks as his hand accidentally brushes against Jimin's leg, and finds it touch-ID protected.
"Jimin..." he starts but then laughs a little as Jimin grumbles and detaches one hand from under his head, holding it towards Yoongi who holds out the phone to him. Jimin presses with a thumb and the phone unlocks, he pulls his sleeves over his hands and snuggles back into his arms. The scene is so cute Yoongi contemplates taking a picture before realizing how weird that would be and shaking the thought out of his head. Focus.
He finds Jimin's friends number and takes a breath before pressing call, he'd always hated talking on the phone, especially to strangers.
The line rings once, twice, three times before someone picks up.
"Jimin-ah...?" A groggy voice says, obviously just woken up. "Why are you calling me so late? Are you okay?"
Despite the obvious sleepy quality to his voice, Yoongi is touched on Jimin's behalf to hear real concern in the guys voice, he's obviously a good friend. That makes the next part easier somewhat.
"Uh.." Yoongi starts, eloquent as always, "This is a..uh..friend of Jimins?" Friend? What? He's a bartender for christs sake. He decides to say as much, "Well actually I'm a bartender, we've uh..we've been talking most of the night and well..oh no don't worry he's fine..!" He quickly adds when the man on the phone makes a sound of distress, "Well fine but piss drunk." Yoongi adds, looking back to Jimin who's close to passed out on the bar top.
"Anyway he mentioned that you live together so would you be able to come get him? I don't want him to go walking around alone.. you know.." He says lamely. Unnecessary. Ugh dumbass.
Immediately the man, Taehyung, makes another sound of panic and there's a bit of rustling, Yoongi guesses that he's getting up. His voice comes back full of worry, "Oh my god he's drunk? Jesus. Ugh this is bad, oh god. I'm out of town by like three hours," the man says, voice laced with worry, "Where are you? Can he get a taxi?"
Yoongi thinks about where they are. The bar is situated far off any main roads, taxi's very rarely came down this way. He tells Taehyung apologetically, somehow feeling bad despite it not being his fault. Must be something about the distressed tone of this obviously caring friend of Jimins. Taehyung groans, "Oh what the hell Jimin! Why couldn't he bar hop on main street like a normal person?" He sighs and Yoongi can practically feel his worry through the line.
Yoongi clears his throat, Taehyung breaks off his constant stream of worried words for a second.
Yoongi speaks carefully, chewing on his words before saying them, "Uh..Taehyung is it? Listen, I don't have a car. I don't like the idea of Jimin trying to find his way home from here any more than you do. In fact I'm completely against that idea so.." He takes a deep breath before continuing, "My apartment is five minutes from here." There's a sharp intake of breath from the other line, Yoongi presses on hurriedly, "I can give you my name, phone number, address and all that crap and Jimin can crash at my place for the night. He'll be safe I promise."
He can just about hear the other man thinking it over. After a few long minutes of silence, Taehyung sighs.
"I don't see any other solutions." He pauses before taking another quick breath, "But.." He begins, his tone entirely different, "I swear to god if anything, anything happens to him, I will personally hunt you down and make you regret being born. Do I make myself clear?" There's a undeniable seriousness to his voice and Yoongi gulps, utterly shocked.
"What the-...yes jesus christ. Nothing is going to happen to him, you have my word. ..Crazy bastard," he mumbles the last part, nearly jumping out of his skin when the man asks loudly, "What was that?"
"N-," Yoongi clears his throat, "Nothing. Jimin's safe with me, that's a promise."
Taehyung sighs, most of the threat out of his voice now. "I do not like this at all. But I have your word so you better take care of him. I'll come get him tomorrow morning, I'm driving back early and I want to make sure he's okay personally." Some of the cold suspicion crept back into his voice but before he can threaten to chop of his head or something Yoongi cuts him off and gives him all of his information. They hang up after that and Yoongi sighs in relief. Fucking intense dude. Jimin is still happily lying on the bar and raises his head when he hears Yoongi hang up the phone.
He laughs at the expression on Yoongi's face, "Yeah, he's pretty scary when he gets protective." His words are still slurred and he suddenly stumbles again to his feet, he runs a hand through his hair and just about loses his balance. Yoongi pockets the boys phone, opting to give it back once he knows Jimin won't topple over.
"Oh no.. Tae isn't in town is he? oh crap..." Jimin realizes, looking upset. He pauses, thinking hard. "Well anyway Yoongi-hyung," he says finally, "I can find my way home from here...maybe." He looks towards the window, probably trying to visualize it. And failing, inevitably. Yoongi is utterly unconvinced.
Yoongi shakes his head, "Don't bother, you're crashing at mine tonight."
Jimin's eyes widen and he breaks out into a sunny grin, Yoongi can't help but smile as the boys previous happiness returns to him. "Oh my god really? That's so coooool," Jimin coos, "I get to see where the handsome cool bartender lives." He giggles happily and Yoongi flushes a little for the hundredth time that night, he'll never get over being called handsome by someone who looks as good as Jimin does.
He grabs his jacket from behind the bar and is about to pull it on when he notices Jimin's ripped jeans and thin sweater. The kid obviously didn't think ahead to how cool it gets in the city at night. Yoongi doesn't hesitate in draping the jacket over Jimin's shoulders, helping him put his arms through the sleeves. Jimin looks at him shyly before huddling into the jacket, he mumbles idly as they walk towards the door, "It's kinda like I'm hugging you hyung." Yoongi laughs a little, though the words kinda make him actually want to hug him. Yoongi what the fuck, the familiar phrase passes through his mind. It seems to be the theme of the night for him.
"Thank you." Jimin says once they get outside.
"For what?" Yoongi asks as he locks the door behind them.
Jimin thinks for a second, looking around at the sleeping city around them.
"For the jacket," he says happily, "and for letting me stay at your place tonight," he pauses to give Yoongi one of his bright smiles, "and for talking to me tonight. I really like talking to you hyung."
Yoongi smiles back, stuffing his hands in his pockets as they walk. "I like talking to you too Jimin."
Jimin grins even wider and Yoongi tries not to notice when he purposely steps closer so he can walk close enough to loop his arm through Yoongi's. And he does, linking arms with the bartender and leaning his head a little on his shoulder. Yoongi can't hold back a small smile and Jimin takes it as an okay to keep up their close proximity.
They walk like this together all the way back to Yoongi's apartment, up the road from the bar. The entire time Jimin is rambling about this and that and asking questions and at least three time Yoongi has to reassure him that he's not annoying or embarrassing.
After the third time Jimin smiles sheepishly, "I just don't want to push you away by talking too much since you're probably really tired of talking to drunk people all the time."
Yoongi chuckles, squeezing Jimin's arm a bit with his own and before he can think to stop himself he says the first thing that crosses his mind, "I don't think I'd ever get tired of talking to you Jimin."
Jimin stops walking and contemplates Yoongi's face for a moment, when he sees no annoyance in his features he sighs happily and keeps walking, "I know I'd never get tired of talking to you hyung." His voice still slurs a bit, now from a combination of alcohol and tiredness. Yoongi feels a little bubble of affection in his heart for the boy.
And he finds himself wondering, not for the first time, if he stood any chance of seeing Jimin again after all this was over. The thought of not seeing that smile again is enough to nearly have him asking Jimin as much. But he holds back, reminding himself that Jimin was still hammered and if anything would come from this night it would have to be confirmed when the kid could think straight. Or not straight. Yoongi snorts at his joke and Jimin peers at him curiously. Yoongi just shakes his head and gestures towards an apartment building a few metres down the sidewalk. "This is me," he says, suddenly feeling a wave of unexplained nervousness, "It's uh..it's not much but..it's..you know..clean and warm so it does the job." He laughs nervously, running his free hand over the back of his neck. Jimin even in his drunken state feels Yoongi's apprehension and simply smiles at him, "Looks nice to me-e-e," he yawns suddenly and Yoongi decides that what this kid needs is sleep, sleep, sleep. So he leads the way towards the door. He has to force himself not to melt when he feels Jimin's arm leave his, only to instead have Jimin's fingers curl around his hand. Yoongi gulps a little and has to marvel at the way the touch feels..well..it feels right. He holds Jimin's hand and leads him inside and up a flight of stairs. He fumbles with his keys at the door and reluctantly, very, very, reluctantly lets go of Jimin's hand to push it open and walk in. He closes the door behind the younger, who looks around the small but cozy apartment, content as can be. He yawns again and sways on the spot. Yoongi goes to his side and puts an arm around him to steady him, he laughs a little as Jimin leans on his shoulder, nearly asleep on his feet.
"Come on Jimin," Yoongi says quietly, "Time for bed before you fall over." Jimin hums and mutters something along the lines of, "I'm..notss even tired hyung.."
Yoongi rolls his eyes, "Sure you're not." He chuckles lightly when Jimin grumbles, nudging his face harder into his shoulder. Again there's that bubble of affection. Whipped as fuck. Yoongi tells himself, sighing.
He leads Jimin to his bedroom and helps him carefully into bed, taking off his shoes and his jacket. My jacket. Yoongi finds himself smiling at the thought. He puts Jimin's phone on the bedside table. Yoongi is fairly certain Jimin's fast asleep as soon as his face hits the pillow. Yoongi shuffles quietly out of the room, going to the kitchen and rifling through a drawer for some Advil. He grabs a water bottle and quietly reenters the room, putting both items with Jimin's phone. The kid is going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning.
Just as Yoongi's about to close the door he hears a soft, "..hyung?" from the mass of pillows and blankets on the bed. He pauses, "Yeah Jimin?"
Jimin snuggles deeper into the blankets before sighing, "I really like you, thank you for talking to me tonight."
Yoongi's mouth quirks up as he blushes a bit in the dark. A moment passes and he whispers, "I like you too Jimin," he checks that the heating is on in the room before whispering a gentle, "Goodnight."
Jimin hums, "Goodnight Yoongi-hyung."
