Chapter Text
Namgyu was pretty good at his job. At the club his title was bartender, but he did a lot more than just pour drinks. He was always helping clean up, taking out trash, and mopping up any messes. He also flirted with the guests, would sometimes give out free drinks and even did some deals with some underground artists and whatnot. So that’s why he didn’t think anything of it when he gave an extra drink to MGcoin, or Lee Myung-gi, who he had been a fan of for a while.
“Heyyy, are you MGcoin?”
“Yeah, that would be me,” Myung-gi said slyly, a smirk across his lips. “Could I get a beer, please?”
“Yeah, of course! I got you,” the long haired man says as he reaches in the fridge for a beer and pops off the lid. He hands it to Myung-gi who doesn’t waste a second before downing half of it.
“Didn’t think I would see you here. What’s the reason? Just to get out? Or maybe you're with some friends. Oh, or maybe looking for a girl?”
At that last sentence Myung-gi chokes on his drink, spilling it on his mouth.
“No girl anymore. That's for sure. I caught her cheating… haven’t looked back since,” He scoffs, looking down at his hands. He then realizes how personal he just got with this random bartender, who was also a fan. “I just wanted to go out tonight, though. Thought it would be nice to clear my head for a bit and have fun.”
Namgyu smirks, and nods Myung-gi towards a girl by herself, in the corner of the club. She had short, black hair that touched her shoulders, accompanied with a skirt and lacy blue tank top. “Maybe join her, it could be a nice way to get your mind off things, huh?” Myung-gi looks at her for a moment, and then places the now empty bottle on the counter. He goes to pa Namgyu for his drink when Namgyu slides him another one. The longer-haired man claims it’s “on the house” and encourages him to go up to the woman.
“Go on, a little fun couldn’t hurt,” Namgyu says, encouraging Myung-gi more.
Myung-gi grabs the beer, slides him some cash, and walks in the direction of the woman.
…
Choi Su-bong, aka Thanos, made his appearance yet again at Club Pentagon, like he had many nights. He had his hair done the way he usually did, tousled in all its purple glory, paired with his brightly colored nails, a pair of baggy jeans coupled with a baggy shirt, and his cross necklace, which was his signature centerpiece.
Although he was semi-famous in the rap game, Subong had yet to really have a real team behind him, and usually went solo to the club. He loved the spotlight and he was small enough to where going out by himself wasn’t too overwhelming, just some fans here and there. He walked in, head held high and after taking a selfie with a couple of fans he went straight to the bar.
Subong always spent half the night there. If not half the night, he would come back in increments and if he ever had to perform there he would still visit the bar.
The female bartender, Seo-yeon, had greeted him like always but that wasn’t who he was here for. After glancing around for a bit, he saw him. Standing on the dance floor with some drunk guy who could barely stand, twirling him around a bit before guiding him to a seat.
“Namgyu’s on his break,” Soo-yeon said, after catching Subong stare. “I’ll tell him you’re here if you—“
“That’s fine, I didn’t come for him,” Subong said, cutting her off. “My usual, thanks.” He threw some money on the counter and started back to where he was looking, until a familiar voice turned him around.
“Ah, Thanos! Was wondering when I’d see you! I’ve missed you, y’know. It’s been a whole three days—,” Namgyu starts, but then quickly sees that Subong had paid for his drink and had already ordered from the woman. “Already picked Soo-yeon over me, huh? Ouch. Betrayed by my favorite customer. Guess I’ll go flirt with someone who does appreciate me.” He tries to give a pouty look but his smile fails him and the tone in his voice is too jokey to be taken seriously, so Thanos doesn’t give it a second thought. He can’t stop thinking about Namgyu all up on that guy, even if it was just for a moment.
He hadn’t even looked at Namgyu since he saw him guiding that drunk guy to a seat. Was he seriously getting possessive? Over a bartender? Subong still hadn’t even made eye contact with the smaller man because of this small pettiness that he was getting frustrated with himself. He picks his head up to look at Namgyu and is immediately reminded of his possessiveness. Namgyu had been letting his hair grow out a bit, and tonight it showed. His long, black waves flowed elegantly to his shoulders, paired with his cat-like eyes and soft-pouty lips. His face was sculpted ever so diligently and his skin was the clearest thing he’s seen without glasses on. To add on, he was wearing a black button up with the two top buttons undone, revealing some chest and his sleeves were rolled up to give a peek of his forearms. Namgyu’s hands worked as he used a towel to wipe a dirty spot on the counter before he looked up and met Subong’s gaze.
“Go ahead, I’ll train Soo-Yeon here to know all my favorite drinks,” Thanos smirks, and before he knows it Soo-Yeon is at the other side of the bar, flirting with someone who actually seemed interested in her.
Subong brushes it off, but it’s not too long until he can’t stand the lack of attention from Namgyu, especially when he had that many buttons unbuttoned tonight. It was like torture, he couldn’t even fake flirt with the fan next to him.
“Yo, Namsu. Another Soju.” Thanos says, avoiding eye contact and without any feeling. Namgyu pops up in front of him with the drink, setting it down and proceeding to grab the other man's face to look at him.
“It’s Namgyu. And a please would be nice.”
Thanos opens up his cross necklace and hands the bartender a pink pill.
“Yeah, yeah okay, here’s my apology.”
…
Myung-gi didn’t know a lot. But one thing he did know was that this girl was not into him. At all. A free beer was always appreciated, but it didn’t exactly give him the clearest state of mind afterwards. Especially not when flirting with girls. After almost falling out a few times, he made his way over to the bar to go sit a little to try to regain any ounce of soberness he could get. He knew he couldn’t handle his alcohol, he really should’ve slowed down. On his way to the bar, Myung-gi suddenly ran into a wall. A breathing wall, with purple hair, an annoying demeanor, and with a full glass of Soju that had just spilt on the both of them.
“What the fuck is your problem, man?”
The wall was talking?
Oh, it was just that obnoxious underground rapper that Myung-gi could not stand. Thanos. He left the club anytime he performed here and foolishly thought he was safe from seeing him tonight.
“Just trying to sit down. Could you move?” Myung-gi replied, his words coming out harsher than he meant for them to be.
“You ran into me. Could you move?” Unfortunately, Thanos recognized him. “MGcoin, right? MGcoin, right? Figured you’d be in jail by now with all those fraud charges. You deserve a new black eye, it’ll match the other one,”
The words reminded Myungi-gi of the last bar fight he had been in. That night, an ex-fan confronted him after too many drinks and accused him of scamming and stealing their money. Things got more violent than they should’ve, which was becoming a recurrence with Myung-gi.
“Just shut the fuck up and we can all be on our way. I’m not planning on getting locked up in any way tonight. Unless you start something you can’t finish.”
…
The loud yelling could be heard from across the club, and immediately Namgyu was alert. He recognizes it instantly as Thanos’ voice, and Namgyu anxiously starts to look around for Thanos until he sees it. Myung-gi and Thanos, both men that he was responsible for intoxicating, were about to start fighting. Insults were being thrown left and right.
Shit.
He was always flirting, always smoothing things over. But, some nights, like tonight, it felt more like babysitting than bartending. Namgyu rushes over, and quickly gets in between them.
“Hey—guys, not tonight. Please. Seriously,” Namgyu tilts his head in the direction of the bouncer. He repeats his pleas with a few more “pleases” and instinctively grabs onto a wobbling Thanos, who appreciates the help and leans on Namgyu.
“Well, tell him to watch where he’s going!”
“Tell him to watch his mouth!”
“My mouth is washed, thank you!” an angry Thanos slurs back.
“Look it was an accident, right Myung-gi?” Namgyu says, looking at Myung-gi with a pleading face.
“Sure. I was just trying to take a seat,”
“See! No harm done it’s okay, now let’s forget this happened,” Namgyu turns his attention toward Thanos, pulling out his pouty face again. “Please, at least for tonight?”
Other than how drunk he was, Thanos really couldn’t fight that, especially not with that face. The purple-haired man, already clinging onto Namgyu looks him up and down, taking him all in and decides to end it here.
“Fine. But I’ll have you another night, MGcoin.”
Relieved, Namgyu takes Thanos to find a seat, still helping him walk. He sits with him for a minute until he decides he has to go back to work.
After a while, Soo-yeon speaks up.
“You should’ve just let him punch MGcoin. He scammed you, too, you know.”
“I know. I just. Didn’t want anyone getting hurt again. Happens too often,” Namgyu says, looking over at Thanos, who was now leaving with the girl that Myung-gi was talking to earlier. He wondered if Thanos actually liked her. He quickly brushed that thought off though, since this is his job and they probably wouldn’t even speak otherwise.
“You got a soft spot for him, huh?” Soo-yeon assumes, catching Namgyu so off guard he almost drops the glass he was holding. He could feel his face heating right up, and before he could respond she started again. “Well, I’m just glad I’m not in your position, because I definitely couldn’t defend anyone who scammed me like that.”
Oh, she meant Myung-gi.
Not Thanos. Huh.
Namgyu looks at Myung-gi, who was by himself, just staring absentmindedly into the distance. It was truly a pitiful sight. Maybe he did have a soft spot for him?