To say Jin was surprised would be a bit of an understatement. He hadn’t expected the real Namjoon to be so…great.

After setting up the details of their ‘date’, the two had continued texting pretty late into the night, talking about random stuff that honestly, probably should have been kept for the date conversation, but—Jin was curious.

After all, despite Jimin’s enthusiasm, Jin kind of wanted to know a little about the stranger he was going on a romantic date with. To be fair, it’s not like he knew…fake-Namjoon, either, but still.

Namjoon, the real one that is, was apparently a music producer for a pretty big company, along with his friends (including imposter Namjoon). Jin, for some reason, couldn’t picture the tall, lanky, awkward-looking man as a big-shot music producer, but then again he couldn’t really judge.

This Namjoon also seemed, well…to be frank, much more intelligent than he had let on with his first text. Jin wasn’t expecting the sudden proper grammar, well-constructed sentences, or the man’s penchant for advanced vocabulary. In that sense, Jin supposed he could see Namjoon working with music—lyrics, anyway. He imagined the guy was pretty good at that aspect of his job.

He had found himself genuinely excited about the date, though still a little wary. He had endured Jimin and Taehyung’s teasing all throughout work that day, vowing revenge.

“Jin-hyung, make sure you don’t tell any more than three dad jokes!”

“Yeah, and NO puns!”

“It’s a wonder we still have any ing customers the way you guys carry on,” Jungkook muttered, arranging the fresh muffins perfectly straight in the display case.

“No cursing in the lobby, Jungkookie!” Taehyung sing-songed, poking the youngest in his cheek.

“Don’t touch me.”

“Such a grump! Have a little fun, won’t ya?” Tae laughed, going back to his cleaning.

“I think you’re fun, Jungkookie!” Jimin said sweetly, grinning at how Jungkook blushed at his words.

“No flirting on the job,” Jin said tiredly, barely paying attention. He was now busy wondering what he should wear for the date—the place wasn’t too fancy, but not exactly casual either. What kind of fashion sense did Namjoon prefer?

“Jimin, if you hypothetically knew anything about Namjoon’s taste, what should I wear tonight?” he gave in—he knew Jimin knew something. The little .

“Um…not too flashy, but…not like, your Mario t-shirt,” Jimin answered, looking up as he thought.

“Obviously, thanks for the help,” Jin said sarcastically.

“Well…okay, like—smart, but y! Not like you’re going to a club, but not like you’re going to the library to do homework for 5 hours after study hall, either!”

“What…does that even MEAN?”

Jimin rolled his eyes, “ugh, I’ll just come over and help you get ready.”

****

As annoying as Jimin could sometimes be, Jin would admit the younger had a good sense of fashion—at least, Jin thought the outfit the small redhead had picked out looked pretty nice on him. Oddly, he found himself hoping Namjoon would agree.

He fidgeted with his phone as he waited outside the restaurant they were supposed to meet at, wondering if maybe he was too early. Jin normally liked being at least ten minutes early to anything, but their date wasn’t until seven and it was only 6:40.

Jin didn’t mind waiting, though, because it gave him time to compose himself. He didn’t know why all of a sudden he had gotten so worked up—it was just a date, after all. One that probably wouldn’t get a repeat performance. He had only promised Jimin one date with the guy, after all. All he had to do was get through this dinner without dying.

“Oh…. you’re early too. I thought I was going to be able to surprise you!”

Jin looked up from his phone to see Namjoon—the real Namjoon, that is—standing in front of him, his shoulders a little hunched, holding a relatively small, but intricately put together bouquet of…some kind of flowers. Jin wasn’t very well-versed in flower knowledge, but he knew those weren’t roses. Did this guy not know what kind of flowers you’re supposed to get for dates?

Jin didn’t want to be rude, though, so he smiled tightly and accepted the blue and white spray. “Oh, well…thank you, they’re…lovely.”

“Um, well, I’m glad you like them!” Namjoon said, straightening up a little. Jin was a little taken aback by Namjoon’s bright smile, and…dimples?

“Cute,” he mumbled, blushing when he realized he had said that out loud.

“Uh, shall we?” Namjoon gestured towards the entrance, graciously ignoring Jin’s slip up. Jin nodded, still clutching onto his phone as well as the not-roses, and followed behind the other.

So far, Namjoon was being a perfect gentleman. The flowers (even if he had messed that part up a little) holding open the doors, pulling out Jin’s chair, and most importantly—

“You look really great, by the way. I mean—you always look great! At least, the times I’ve seen you. Which, I mean, I’m sure you look great even when I haven’t seen you! I—um,” the younger stuttered, clearly getting nervous again.

Jin preened a little at the attention, but he made sure to not be a total about it. “It’s fine, Namjoonie, I get what you’re saying. Thank you, you look pretty nice yourself.”

“Oh, haha, well,” Namjoon squirmed a little in his seat, “I won’t, uh, take all the credit. My friend helped me pick out this outfit. He says my fashion taste is…’too forward thinking’ for the casual public, whatever that means.”

“Oh? Which friend?” Jin asked, leaning forward a little. “And don’t feel bad, I had a friend help me too. I may have shown up in a Super Mario t-shirt if it weren’t for him,” he joked.

“Uh, well, I don’t know if you know him, but he goes to the café a lot—Yoongi? Short, grumpy looking, kind of…rude, sometimes?”

Jin hummed, taking a sip from his iced tea.

“Well—anyway, he’s the one who texted you first, actually. He kind of…stole my phone,” Namjoon continued, straightening out his silverware anxiously.

“That explains a lot,” Jin said, looking Namjoon over. He did look nice—credits to ‘Yoongi’. His blonde hair was swept up off his forehead, and it looked like he had a hint of eyeliner on. His clothes fit him just right, his light blue dress shirt buttoned casually, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Jin was definitely not disappointed.

The two continued to talk, pausing only to order their food, then flowing right back into conversation. Namjoon was a lot easier to talk to than Jin had previously thought—he was actually kind of…perfect, in an imperfect kind of way. Once he got more comfortable with Jin, the other had seemingly transformed into a completely different guy. His intelligence showed through his way of speaking—the way he seemed to think carefully about what he said, and how he spoke clearly and surely. Jin could now definitely see this man working in the music industry, the confidence, the intense power hidden behind his unassuming form. It was pretty hot, actually.

He also just seemed to be generally smart. Jin was honestly feeling a little attacked—how dare this man be so good-looking, and also a freaking genius! It was just a little unfair.

“—And, well, roses are just so cliché, right? So I went with something a little different. I didn’t want to do what has been done a million times. You’re unique, and you deserve unique flowers.”

Oh. Well, now Jin just kind of felt like an . “Ah, so…that was, on purpose, then,” he said slowly.

Namjoon grinned, his dimples showing and again throwing Jin off his game.

Once their food came, they quieted down, eating in a comfortable silence. Jin found himself not even caring about the food—he just wanted to keep talking. He wanted to know more about the interesting man in front of him.

“So…are you from around here?”

After launching another conversation, the two lost track of time, staying well after they finished their food—a good two hours, just getting to know each other, joking, laughing. Jin couldn’t recall the last date he had gone on that made him feel so giddy. He couldn’t believe how easily he had gone from never wanting another date, to wanting a million more. Before, he had just been so caught up in his dumb little fantasies about the fake Namjoon—Yoongi, his name, apparently—about what their first date would be like, what he would be like, that he hadn’t given Namjoon a fair shot.

Now, he was thanking the stars for the whole mishap—Namjoon was amazing.

“Well, I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy about making a mistake before! I’m really glad you ended up being such a good date!” he told Namjoon, laughing a little.

“Mistake?” Namjoon’s smile fell into a confused frown.

“Oh, I mean, funny story, actually! Well, I had really written my number for your friend—what, Yoongi, right? Because he had been coming in every day, and—he had asked for YOUR name to be written on the cup, before, and so I kind of thought—,”

Jin stopped, noticing how Namjoon had stiffened, biting his lip and looking down at the table. He didn’t look like he thought the story was very funny at all.

“Um, I mean…it turned out better than I thought it would! Honestly, I wasn’t quite sure when you showed up with these flowers, but—,”

“I think…I’m gonna, just, go,” Namjoon interrupted, his voice thick, clumsily standing up and throwing a few bills down on the table. “That should cover all of it, I’m…I’m sorry for wasting your time,” he forced out, quickly turning on his heels and heading towards the exit.

“Namjoon, wait, I didn’t mean—!” Jin swallowed, quickly standing up, starting after Namjoon before stopping and turning back to grab the flowers, then following the other outside.

But by the time he got out of the restaurant, Namjoon was nowhere in sight.