Tomorrow│YM

[20] The Second Ring

Sometimes, Jimin was wrong.

In this case, he appeared to have misjudged the bachelorette party. Even if the sashes were a bit much, there were no tiaras or tacky dresses. As the night wore on, they mostly kept to themselves and were nothing short of courteous. Only a modest group of five, they barely took up any space on the floor as they danced coquettishly with each other. They hadn't even asked the DJ to announce Hani's imminent nuptials over the speakers. Yet.

They also tipped well. So there was that.

He wasn't wrong about the heat, though. As far as Jimin was concerned, the moment he crossed the club's threshold he had entered the second ring of hell. The club was scorching, muggy, and if lust had a smell, this was it. His only consolation was that he had Taehyung there to share his abject misery.

Except his friend was infuriatingly chill about working in Satan's crockpot.

"At least the hets can dance," Taehyung commented as one of the women glided back to the group with a fresh cocktail in hand. She was tall and slender with dark cropped hair that accentuated her long neck. If her sash was to be trusted, she also held the coveted title of maid-of-honour. And yeah, she could dance.

Frankly, she was stunning and drawing attention.

Jimin was feeling a little sour about it.

"So tense, Chim," Taehyung remarked loudly over the thumping music. "Want something to take off the edge?" he offered, holding up a bottle of gin.

"Not tense," Jimin grumbled as he dried a glass with inappropriate intensity. "Just hot."

Taehyung raised an eyebrow. "My mistake," he sighed and returned the bottle to the shelf.

Mercifully, the music transitioned to a slower track, taking a few decibels with it. The dance floor thinned out, lady squad included. Jimin breathed a sigh of relief and cracked his neck. Even the DJ seemed to know that he needed a break. He grabbed a clean rag and wiped away the sweat that stung his eyes.

Then came an influx of customers at the bar, but nothing the pair couldn't handle. Jimin tried to use the distraction to extinguish his fascination with the bachelorette party, but his eyes landed on the maid-of-honour more times than he was comfortable admitting.

Even so, the line eventually dwindled down to nothing.

"So how's Yoongles?" Taehyung asked, throwing a towel over his shoulder and leaning back against the counter.

"Fine," Jimin replied reflexively as he took advantage of the lull in customers to replenish their lemon wedge supply. He stopped mid slice and added, "I think."

"You think?"

Jimin shrugged and resumed cutting the fruit. "He sleeps a lot, and tends to be more active at night. Usually we eat breakfast together and then he goes to bed or naps on the couch for the rest of the day."

"Do you know what he gets up to at night?"

"Mmm... At first he made a lot of noise and knocked things over, but then he'd like, organize the junk drawer... Lately he seems to be watching a lot of netflix. Well, kinda. I don't think he pays attention to it."

"That explains all the cooking shows in my recs."

Jimin nodded absently. "Oh!" he exclaimed, "And last night I went to get some water and I found him sitting on the couch in the dark, just staring out the window at the streetlights."

"Huh." Taehyung pushed off the counter as a tall figure approached the bar, a silhouette against the colourful dance floor lights. "I'm not sure what I expected a hybrid to be like, but Yoongi isn't it."