The restaurant's always busy in the evenings, with half the town coming in for a few drinks after work. Jimin's glad for the business but he's tired, his back aching and his feet burning, and he kind of just wants to go home for the night. The only bright side is that Sua is having a blast pretending to be a waitress. Sometimes she's too sulky to help, claiming a corner to herself and complaining about how bored she is every time Jimin walks by. But today she keeps toddling around the restaurant, asking customers if they need anything else and demanding that Jimin give her things to carry back and forth. Earlier, he had handed her a set of chopsticks and silverware to place on a table and she had beamed like he had given her a trophy.
"Your dreams are about to come true," Taehyung says from his perch at the counter. "She's going to inherit the restaurant."
"Yeah, today," Jimin mutters. "In twenty years, she's going to wake up and tell me she's selling it. But maybe I'll be dead already and it won't even matter — "
Taehyung reaches across the counter and smacks Jimin on the head with his napkin. "Stop spiraling. You're so dramatic."
Jimin doesn't manage a retort because a customer's calling out to him.
"Excuse me, some more soju?" she asks, and Jimin waves to show he's heard.
He grabs a bottle and slips out from behind the counter, maneuvering through the closely-set tables to reach her and her friends. When he's tired, Jimin grows more sensitive to other people's scents. Right now, the overwhelming mix of scents is making him a little dizzy, and not in a good way.
Someone shifts their chair without noticing him, and he ducks neatly out of the way.
"Careful," a low voice murmurs, and there's a hand on his lower back, steadying him.
Jimin doesn't have to look to know who it is. He looks anyway, the back of his neck prickling with heat, and Jeon Jungkook's casting him a cursory, pleasant glance. He drops his hand, but Jimin's skin burns where he's been touched. Jungkook's with a few of his firefighter buddies today, though Jungkook isn't drinking like the rest of them. Jimin's been spending the evening trying very, very hard not to look at him. Now that he's made the mistake, he can feel his breath catching in his throat; Jungkook's almost absurdly handsome, all long wavy hair and sharp angles and soft eyes.
Jimin gives him a nod of thanks and moves along to do his job, though the flush doesn't quite fade from his cheeks. When he makes it back to Taehyung, he's met with a shit-eating grin.
"Don't look now, but someone's staring."
"Shut up," Jimin huffs, resisting the urge to stick his tongue out at him like Sua always does these days.
"He's been single for a little while now, you know," Taehyung whispers conspiratorially, leaning across the counter so Jimin can hear him.
Jimin tries not to show it, but he's surprised. Last he heard, Jungkook had been dating someone for a while — he'd assumed it was serious. That's part of why he's never looked for too long.
