Chapter Text
jin-hyung was a menace.
jeongguk kept repeating this phrase in his head as he walked through the crowded streets of the city, hands shoved in his coat pockets to keep them warm in the cold weather. the scowl on his face deepened as he remembered why he was out here in the first place, when he could have been back at his apartment, playing overwatch in his underwear.
jin-hyung had always been meddlesome but jeongguk really appreciated his concern. if jeongguk was low on grocers, jin-hyung would drop by with home-cooked food. if jeongguk had trouble with his freelance art work, jin-hyung would cheer him up with the blurays of his favorite action films and a large tub of ice cream. if jeongguk needed moral support, jin-hyung was always there... because there really wasn't a time when he wasn't.
but that wasn't the point.
he was one of jeongguk's favorite persons in the world, but sometimes, jin-hyung went overboard. case in point three days ago, when he wouldn't stop pestering jeongguk about his friend who was single and free and into younger men and had just come back from a music scholarship in the states. he knew jeongguk swung both ways, but he also knew that he'd been having a dry spell ever since he graduated from university which was...
jeongguk frowned. it was only a year and a half ago. but to jin-hyung, that was a year and half too long, and he'd arranged a dinner date for jeongguk with his friend in no time at all.
"he's a charmer, jeongguk! maybe then you'll have more fun than rotting away in your apartment, crying over your deadlines," the older man had said, "just trust me this once."
and even though jeongguk despised the idea of having someone pick his dates for him, he could never say no to jin-hyung. so he begrudgingly accepted the dinner reservation stub that the elder provided him with, and made him promise that if the night went horribly, he'd have to buy jeongguk that awesome bluetooth speaker he'd been eyeing at the local himart recently.
jin-hyung didn't even bat an eye and even sealed the deal with a pinky promise. "you're in for a treat!" he exclaimed with confidence.
the memory of the conversation did nothing but rouse the butterflies in jeongguk's stomach. before he left his house, he decided that he'd genuinely try to have a good time, mostly because he didn't want to make a bad impression and tarnish jin-hyung's reputation. he even dressed nicely, clad in a white dress shirt and his best pair of black denim, hair stylistically parted to the side.
his ultimate plan was to get to the restaurant, make small talk with the friend and enjoy the food, and then leave and never talk to them again. that way he could tell jin-hyung that he made the effort, but he just couldn't feel the spark.
jeongguk nodded to himself. yep, a foolproof plan.
it took jeongguk another ten minutes before he found himself standing in the entrance of yamashita's.
the establishment itself was extravagant in every sense of the word, with cream-colored walls and sculptures of samurai flanking the dark wooden front door. through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, jeongguk could see that the place was packed with people in formal wear. it was easily the most posh japanese restaurant in town, at least high end enough for people to have to reserve before they get to dine in it, and jeongguk had gone in a total of two times in his twenty-three years of living.
the first was when jin-hyung had gotten engaged a couple of years ago, and the second was when he dated an upperclassman when he was nineteen.
even though it was so long ago, jeongguk still felt intimidated by the visage that the restaurant posed. even more so now that he had a blind date scheduled in there.
glancing at his watch, he was surprised to find out that he was actually ten minutes late already, and he blanched at the thought of making his date wait.
jeongguk rushed to the maitre d' and showed him his stub, all the while trying to remember what jin-hyung had said about his friend.
he hadn't given a name ("that's for me to know and for you to find out!") because he loved surprises, but he did give a description: light pastel-colored hair, petite frame, small eyes, cute smile. there was also that bit about the friend looking intimidating at first glance, but jin-hyung had assured him that underneath all that ice was a a gentle softie.
"talk about the underground music industry too," he advised, "he was part of it, so he's going to appreciate that you know about it."
at least jeongguk wasn't rushing into this quite blindly.
when the maitre d' finally confirmed his reservation, he was let into the main area of the restaurant and jeongguk didn't bother eyeing the lavish decorations adorning the place. he immediately started honing on tables with only one occupant in them, hoping his date wouldn't be too pissed at him.
there was one table in the center with a blonde girl in a red dress, but he was pretty sure jin-hyung's friend was a dude. there was also a table near the window with an aged businessman sipping wine from a glass, and a table with a dark-haired man texting on his phone.
no one fit the description given to him, and he was starting to feel disappointed when he sighted a particularly peculiar hair color towards the back of the room. jeongguk walked towards the area, loosening the collar of his shirt as he stopped close enough to check out the person that caught his eye.
mint green hair, a sharp gaze, and an aura that clearly told people to back off. jeongguk couldn't tell if he was small because the man's shoulders were wide and he had a black leather jacket on, but he was pretty sure that this was jin-hyung's friend.
his friend who was drop-down gorgeous and totally jeongguk's type.
his friend who was looking at him with a steely stare for the last thirty or so seconds he'd spent ogling at the man.
jeongguk bit his lip and took a deep breath as he walked to the table and pulled out the chair, mumbling an apology as he sat down and made himself comfortable. "sorry i was late! i... uh... have you ordered?"
the man merely raised an eyebrow. "and you are?"
panic nearly settled in the pit of jeongguk's stomach as he realized his lack of manners. he shook his head and offered a small smile. "yikes! yeah, i should probably introduce myself huh? i'm jeongguk, jin-hyung's younger brother! but i bet you already knew that... he set up this date after all, right?"
jeongguk watched as the other man gave him a once over, and felt relieved when the corners of his lips lifted. then he extended a pale hand towards jeongguk.
"min yoongi," he said, and jeongguk shook the hand with both of his. "pleasure to meet you."
jeongguk didn't want to admit it, but he was pretty sure his foolproof plan had just gone out the window.
"i'd recommend that wagyu beef. it's what i always get."
jeongguk looked up from his menu and found jin-hyung's- no, yoongi staring at him with his chin rested on his palm. he looked like he wanted to say something else, but couldn't. jeongguk couldn't hold the man's gaze for long though, so he went back to perusing his menu, searching for yoongi's suggestion.
when he found it, his eyes widened. surely the price wasn't worth 500 grams of fancily cubed beef.
his reaction didn't go unnoticed because he heard yoongi stifle a laugh. "yea, i felt the same too when i first saw it, kid. try it anyway, this dinner's on me."
jeongguk looked at him incredulously. "yoongi-ssi!"
"just call me hyung," yoongi cut in, expression dead serious, "what kind of date would this be if i couldn't even buy you that?"
jeongguk desperately wished that yoongi couldn't hear how hard his heart was beating right now. he nodded weakly and gave his order to the waiter, and when that was done, he glanced at yoongi-hyung and was not surprised to see him still staring at him.
jin-hyung was right... intimidating was spot on. jeongguk felt nervous and small in his gaze, but damn if the thrill of that wasn't exciting. he wracked his brain for conservation starters, but yoongi beat him to it.
"so... tell me about yourself, jeongguk."
it felt like a job interview more than anything, but jeongguk did divulge details about his life to yoongi. he told him he worked jobs as a graphic designer and moonlighted as a volunteer cashier for his brother's cafe, told him about his love for horror and action films, but what really roused a reaction from yoongi was when jeongguk told him about the time he spent two years minoring in music production in university.
then jeongguk remembered jin-hyung's advice and told yoongi that he followed the underground scene a lot, practically spending most of his nights watching buskers and rappers downtown.
at this, yoongi cracked his first real smile, and jeongguk had to hold his breath as yoongi started to talk over him.
"ever heard of runch randa and gloss?" yoongi prompted. jeongguk didn't even have time to answer that yes, he knew those legends from the back alleys, when yoongi launched into a tirade about his experience in the underground.
it was halfway through yoongi's recollection of some senior rappers dissing the younger ones for petty issues that jeongguk realized that yoongi was actually gloss, and it was difficult to look at him without getting starstruck.
jin-hyung never told him he was friends with, in jeongguk's humble opinion, one of the best rappers of his generation. jeongguk listened and responded to yoongi with newfound admiration, and the conversation didn't stop even as they were served their food.
yoongi also touched on his hobbies, and once he mentioned photography, jeongguk couldn't contain his enthusiasm about it. luckily, the elder reciprocrated the level of excitement, and after sharing their favorite photographers and camera equipment brands, he looked softer than when jeongguk first sat at the table.
it snowballed from there.
from then on, conversation flowed so easily that jeongguk could barely remember eating his steak. he was too enamored by yoongi, from the low drawl of his voice to the twinkle in his eye when he talked about his puppy at home named holly. the man really was a charmer, and didn't hesitate to fluster jeongguk with a well-timed flirtation or a crude joke. jeongguk was totally done for. hopefully, the sentiment was the same, or this will all have been for nothing.
when they both finished eating and were just looking at each other intently, yoongi took the initiative to get jeongguk's number so he could meet with him again.
jeongguk was so elated that he nearly dropped his phone when he passed it to yoongi so he could input his digits there too. there were some messages from jin-hyung, but he disregarded them because it was probably just him worrying over him again.
"gotta say that was the best first date i've had," yoongi quipped as he handed jeongguk his phone back. their fingers brushed and jeongguk would be lying if he said he didn't feel a spark at the contact.
"definitely," the younger agreed. he almost felt guilty for being unenthused about this date in the first place. that didn't matter now though, not when yoongi looked at him like that.
"i quite like you jeongguk," he said.
jeongguk didn't miss a beat. "i quite like you too hyung."
yoongi grinned at him then, no reservations whatsoever, and offered to take him home.
jeongguk didn't usually put out on the first date, but jin-hyung was kinda right. it had been too long, and now that he had had a taste of it again, he didn't want the night to end even though it had to.
he let yoongi kiss him on his doorstep with a promise of meeting the next weekend for lunch between their breaths, and if he dreamed of mint-colored hair and gummy smiles that night then who could blame him?
the following morning, jeongguk woke up feeling like a brand new person. he felt rejuvenated and inspired and if he didn't get this feeling out to someone, he'd combust. he fished his phone from the pocket of his coat, hoping jin-hyung wouldn't kill him because he hadn't checked his mobile since yesterday.
the first thing that he saw was a text from yoongi however, asking him about his stance on lamb skewers.
fuck... this guy really was after his own heart, jeongguk thought as he replied with a hell yeah.
nothing could ever prepare him for the next messages he read though.
a grand total of nine messages from his older brother sent at around 9PM last night, all reading the same:
GUKKIE I'M SO SORRY JIMIN STOOD YOU UP!!!! HE HAD A FAMILY EMERGENCY AND I ONLY FOUND OUT ABOUT IT NOW TOO ;____; WE CAN RESCHEDULE AND HYUNG WILL MAKE IT UP TO YOU!
jeongguk froze, re-reading the messages again and again.
jimin... stood him up? was that jin-hyung's friend?
the implication made jeongguk cringe.
that meant yoongi was a total stranger. that meant yoongi didn't even know his older brother, didn't even expect a date. that was why he was looking at jeongguk weirdly for the first half of their date... he probably thought jeongguk was off his bonkers for coming onto him like that!
blood rushed to jeongguk's head in embarrassment, his cheeks coloring as he tried to get his head around the revelation.
he needed to talk to yoongi, and he needed to do it now.