Chapter 13 – She loves me, He loves me not

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!” Rapmonster shouted, shaking his head and arms crazily as he smiled, filled with the high of their successful performance.

Suga grinned looking at him. J-Hope and Jimin high-fived each other and exchanged a bro-hug.

“Let’s go party!!” piped up the blonde kid, and he lifted a fist in the air, carving a way through the crowd as they laughed, following him.

They had a harder time reaching the bar than they expected. On the way, a lot of people stopped them, patting their shoulder or wanting to give them a congratulatory handshake. LOTS of girls were swarming around Jimin, who couldn’t stop grinning, overwhelmed by his newfound popularity.  Fifteen minutes, and several phone numbers later, they finally reached the bar, where Jin and Jungkook were waiting for them.

“Hyung!!!!!!” Jungkook jumped up and down as he saw Jimin’s black-capped head approaching, “Hyuuuung!!! You were so cool! Omg, you were so cool!!” he jumped, shaking Jimin’s arm up and down as he squealed, and Jimin started jumping with him, smiling gleefully.

Jin and Hoseok looked at the pair of them with a similar fond-parent smile.

“I dare say, we didn’t ” added Suga, with a smug little smile.

“You were great!!!!!” exclaimed the youngest, turning to the red-haired boy with eyes full of awe, “really hyung, all of you! It was incredible!” and Suga laughed.

Rapmon (whom no one had noticed vanish) reappeared with a tray full of little glasses containing golden liquid, shouting “shots!!!” and everybody cheered an grabbed a glass. Except for Jungkook, who stood awkwardly to the side.

“Come on, kid” said the platinum-haired boy, I won’t tell if you don’t” he added, winking at him.

So Jungkook hesitantly, reached for a little shot glass and brought it back near him, smiling stupidly. There were only six of them there, but still several more glasses on the tray, so Rapmon turned to a nearby group of girls inviting them to take one, which they did eagerly. He then lifted his own glass up in the air and shouted “BTS!!!”

Everybody joined him and then downed their drink in one shot.

“bleeeeergh!!!!” exclaimed Jungkook, his face twisting in disgust at the unexpected bite of the drink, “that’s foul!!”

Everybody laughed.

“Here kid, have another” said Rapmon, handing Jungkook another small glass, “it gets easier after the first.”

“What are you trying to do, man!” said Suga, grabbing the glass from him, “he’s 16!” he added reproachfully, before downing its contents.

“Don’t lecture me,” replied Rapmon snarkily, “you started drinking earlier than that.”

To which Suga just shrugged with a smirk, and Rapmon hugged him from the side.

“Is he really 16?! Oh my god!” said one of the girls, “he’s so cute!” and Jungkook smiled embarrassedly as she pinched his cheek.

“I thought he just had a baby face,” said another, “Will you drink with me? You can call me noona” she giggled.

Suga laughed and patted him on the shoulder before leaving.

“Hyung! Where are you going?” called out the youngest, but Suga was already out of earshot.

“You guys were really cool today” said the first girl, briefly touching Rapmon’s shoulder.

“Thanks,” he smiled at her, taking her hand off his shoulder and holding it in his for a moment, “oh hey, I’ll be right back” he then added before leaving, chasing after someone he’d recognized in the crowd. The girl looked a little disappointed but quickly decided to join her friend who was still cooing at Jungkook.

“Yes,” said a third girl, “especially that dance was amazing,” she added, batting her eyelashes at Jimin, who grinned like an idiot. “How did you learn to dance so well?”

“Well….” stuttered Jimin, blushing as he rubbed the back of his head.

“I taught him everything he knows!!” J-Hope butted in, throwing his arm around his friend’s neck and making the girl back off a little.

“What?! No you didn’t!” retorted the brown-haired boy, pushing him away, while J-Hope laughed.

“You guys are such good friends!” said the girl, clasping her hands together, “I wish you’d teach me how to dance…” she added in a purring kitten voice, having sidled up to Jimin without him noticing and he nearly choked in surprise.

“Hum, yeah! Sure!” he answered, grinning too widely. And she took his hand and pulled him onto the dancefloor.

Hoseok made a face, scrunching up his nose and announced he was going to get another drink.

“How about you?” the fourth girl asked Jin, surprising him since he had just been quietly observing everybody, “do you dance?”

“Me?! Oh, no… I can’t dance…”

“Well I can teach you…” she winked at him, taking his hand, “come on!”

And Jin let himself get dragged onto the dancefloor. He turned around as he left and saw that Jungkook was shaking his head, pleading him with his eyes not to go and shrugged helplessly. As he turned back towards the girl who was leading him on, he spared a chuckle at the thought of his poor dongsaeng who was gonna get eaten up by all the noonas.

‘Sorry, Kookie…’

*

A lot later, Rapmon made his way to the bar to find Hoseok sitting on a stool with his back hunched, staring at the bottle of beer in his hand as he swirled its contents.

“Hey man, why so glum?,” he asked, taking the seat next to him and putting a hand on his friend’s back, “we just had our best performance yet!”

His friend turned to give him a smile, but it didn’t reach his normally cheerful eyes. The blonde boy waved at the bartender, who put a fresh bottle of beer in front of him within a few seconds.

“I’m starting to think we should always start with a dance intro, did you see the girls go ing nuts?!” he added with a laugh.

Hoseok chuckled but remained quiet.

“I was thinking of asking Jimin to officially join BTS, what do you think?”

“Yeah, that’s cool” replied the dark-haired boy, but he didn’t really seem like he was paying much attention.

“Dude” said Rapmonster, looking at his friend.

“What?”

But Rapmon just shook his head and took a sip of his beer.

“Have you seen him?” asked Hoseok suddenly.

“Who?”

“Jimin.”

Rapmon grinned, “oh yeah.”

Hoseok turned at his friend’s reaction, staring at him questioningly.

“Last I saw he was pretty busy with some chick near the bathroom,” he laughed, “all hands, that one!!”

Rapmon was busy chuckling at his own joke and didn’t notice his friend’s face grow darker. Hoseok pushed his bottle away on the counter and got up.

“Hey, where you going?”

“I think I’m gonna call it a night.”

“What?! It’s barely 1am?!” protested Rapmon.

“Yeah I’m not feeling well” answered his friend, and he patted him on the shoulder before walking away, as Rapmon looked at him go, dumbfounded. He watched his friend disappear into the crowd, and then decided to follow him, downing the last of his beer before he did.

He headed for the entrance, and stopped when he recognized Hoseok’s familiar skinny frame, standing still just by the door that led into the hallway. Rapmon wondered why he’d stopped and followed the gaze of his friend until he saw what he was staring at with such an intense expression. A few feet away was the same scene he’d witnessed only minutes before: Jimin and some unknown girl, locked into a passionate embrace. The girl had both hands up Jimin’s shirt, while the boy had one hand tangled into her long hair, and another resting on her as$. The blonde kid chuckled, thinking ‘way to go, Jimin’, but then turned back to Hoseok and saw his face tighten, before he shook his head and walked out.

‘Oh.’ Thought Rapmonster, realization coming upon him all at once, ‘Ooooooooh…..’