Jin couldn’t remember exactly why he had agreed to come to the business party, but he knew he was certainly regretting it now. Jimin - who had promised to stay close to his older friend and pull him out of any unprovoked social situations with any of the numerous guests whom Jin did not know - was on the other side of the massive ballroom, engaged in an animated conversation with several other men.

Serves me right for putting up with his crap all the time.

Jin hadn’t wanted to disappoint Jimin, so against his better judgement, the elder had agreed to accompany his friend to the dance at which he now sat, bored and with a vague sense of discomfort. There was one problem, however, and it was that Jin had no idea how to dance. He had briefly considered asking some of the attractive young women in attendance to waltz with him, but then realized that since he was the man, it meant that he would have to lead - and Jin definitely wasn’t prepared for that. Instead, he sat awkwardly while he played with the sleeve of his fancy gray suit, which was itchy and uncomfortable if Jin had anything to say about it.

Jin sat against the wall of the room, continuing to wonder what he had done to deserve this cruel punishment while he watched his so-called “friend” laugh and joke with the group of men he didn’t know. He was so deep in his thoughts that he almost didn’t realize it when another partygoer sat down next to him on the cushioned bench to which Jin had been glued for the past two hours.

“Enjoying the party?” asked the stranger, his voice low but pleasant.

Jin jumped, startled by the sudden intrusion. He hadn’t expected the man to talk to him - or even to acknowledge his presence - and became flustered for a moment before the stranger chuckled.

“Sorry,” the man apologized in his slurring, languid tone. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Oh, no; that’s okay,” smiled Jin. “I was just lost in my own thoughts, I guess.”

This earned him another throaty laugh from the apparently friendly stranger, and Jin noticed that the other man was quite attractive despite his short height. The other man was clothed in a beautifully crisp, black suit that sharply contrasted his pale skin. He had pleasing features and well-styled hair, which was colored a much softer black than his suit. Overall, the man looked kind and yet strangely intimidating to Jin; there was an air of confidence - or perhaps even a lack of anxiety over what other people thought of him - that made the stranger seem powerful. Jin bet that he didn’t have any trouble asking women to dance.

❧

“So are you enjoying the party?” repeated the stranger, sounding genuinely curious.

“Oh! I, uh… I… don’t know,” replied Jin. “Not really, I guess.”

“Well, that’s too bad,” sympathized the other man.

Jin glanced at the stranger, who was looking straight ahead into the room full of dancers rather than at Jin himself. He turned now to meet Jin’s secretive gaze, and the nervous man’s eyes shifted quickly away, choosing to focus on his own shoes rather than the other man’s small but piercingly attentive pupils.

“My name’s Jin, by the way,” he mumbled.

“Jin, huh? Well, very pleased to meet you, Jin,” chuckled the stranger. “Hope you guess my name.”

“E-excuse me?” Jin stuttered.

“Nothing; never mind. What I meant to say was that my name is Yoongi,” corrected the stranger. “Min Yoongi. And it’s nice to meet you.”

“You as well, Mr. Min.”

“Oh, please, please; call me Yoongi,” insisted the other man. “I like you, Jin, and I think we’re going to get along well.”

Jin smiled. Yoongi was rather charming, so Jin couldn’t hold the young man’s slightly awkward introduction against him. Maybe Yoongi was just unused to approaching other people in such a brash way - and besides, Jin was the one huddling alone in the corner of a packed room, so he didn’t really feel able to judge.

“So, tell me, Jin: why aren’t you having any fun?” questioned Yoongi as he returned the other man’s smile.

Jin noticed how white Yoongi’s teeth were, though they mostly remained hidden under the other man’s lips as he shyly parted them, revealing just a glimpse of the sparking enamel. He was incredibly well put together, and must have been rich, but Jin couldn’t remember Jimin mentioning anything about a Mr. Min Yoongi at all in the younger man’s rambling list of important individuals bound to be in attendance - which Jimin had recited twice before they’d left his house earlier that evening. Still, even if he didn’t recognize the name, something told Jin that he should do his best to entertain the short-statured man in front of him, so he answered the question honestly.

“I suppose it’s because I can’t dance,” mused Jin. “So, I’ve just been sitting here for most of the night.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened at this, as if he couldn’t believe that this was the reason Jin was allowing himself to be miserable. Jin himself had to admit that it was a little childish; he should just ask a lady to dance regardless of his self-consciousness, or even go over and stand by the punchbowl with Jimin and the gathering of rich, pompous moneymakers he didn’t care to know. Jin simply had no interest in doing so, however, and questioning his life choices on a somewhat comfortable bench on the sidelines next to an attractive, mysterious stranger seemed to him like a favorable enough alternative.

“You didn’t come here with anyone?” Yoongi raised an eyebrow as he asked the question.

“I did,” sighed Jin. “My friend, Jimin. But he’s busy up to some boring investors or something, and I don’t want any part of that if I can avoid it.”

❧

Yoongi was silent for a while, and Jin worried that maybe he had offended the other man. Was Yoongi himself one of the “boring investors,” and had Jin’s offensive remark just ruined Jimin’s chances at securing a grant from the probably very powerful man? Jin’s fears were calmed when his cryptic companion’s mouth broke out into a smile again - this one showcasing his bright pink gums as he stared up at Jin with a look that said he had a plan.

Jin found himself getting slightly nervous, and he asked Yoongi what the latter was so excited about with a high-pitched chuckle.

“I am going to teach you to dance, Jin,” replied Yoongi as he stood, and smoothed the invisible creases on his spotless suit jacket.

Jin didn’t know how to respond to that. The dance floor was packed with young men and their dates, and the entire perimeter of the room was filled with people like Jimin, joking and the egos of wealthy old men with the hopes of getting a slice of the pie for themselves.

“W-won’t people think it’s a little weird that we’re dancing together?” protested Jin.

“Nonsense,” Yoongi bellowed as he grabbed the other man’s arm. “No one is going to notice me giving you a quick lesson, and besides-” He turned his head as he continued to drag Jin toward the middle of the ballroom to give the latter a subtle wink. “I don’t give a if they do.”

Yoongi had positioned the two of them in the exact center of the parquet dance floor, and Jin was about to ask how anyone wouldn’t notice them if they were so far out in the open when Yoongi suddenly grabbed his right hand. Apparently the shorter man would be leading the dance - a fact confirmed when he cupped Jin’s left shoulder blade and started to step in time to the music. Jin wanted to ask how on Earth this was supposed to help him learn to dance with a woman, but he decided to keep his mouth shut and follow his teacher’s steps.

To Jin’s own shock, before long he was dancing - and in a surprisingly coordinated and fluid manner, at that. Yoongi had started off with the waltz, and although the song being played was a bit too fast-paced to be appropriate, Jin found that he could keep up as long as he concentrated, and the two men moved in perfect tandem across the floor.

Also worthy of note was that Yoongi had been correct in his assumption that no one would notice them. Jin saw that everyone had continued to go about their own business for the duration of time he’d been dancing with Yoongi, and the other guests seemed to be unable to care less that there were two random men taking up what was admittedly a large portion of the dance floor as they waltzed and turned.

❧

“Let’s try something a bit different,” smirked Yoongi.

“Wait; what do you-”

Before Jin could finish his sentence, they were spinning rapidly, and Yoongi was laughing almost giddily as Jin quickened his feet, trying not to trip in the process as he reeled from the sudden change of pace. The shorter man stopped abruptly, and Jin struggled to maintain his balance while simultaneously doing his best to keep in step with the other man, who had gone back to waltzing.

“Isn’t this fun?” asked Yoongi with another gummy smile.

“Well,” replied Jin, almost out of breath, “it certainly is tiring.”

“You get used to it,” chuckled Yoongi.

With that, he set them spinning together again, and before Jin could protest, Yoongi had thrown his head back in wild laughter. Jin’s head was still dizzy from the last unexpected twirl, and the world behind Yoongi’s head took on a whole new level of blurriness as they twirled the opposite way.

Jin squeezed his eyes shut momentarily, and when he opened them again, he thought he saw the slightest flicker of something odd cross Yoongi’s otherwise neatly composed face. The shorter man looked up at Jin as they continued to spin, and the latter shook the thought out of his mind in an attempt to steady himself.

Giving Jin no time to object, Yoongi asked him another question as they continued to turn, around and around in circles that became gradually more and more rapid as the music started to pick up speed, whipping into a crescendo seemingly out of nowhere.

“Don’t you like having fun, Seokjin?”

Jin didn’t remember giving his full name, but that was unimportant now. All he was trying to focus on was not passing out as their velocity increased, Yoongi showing no signs of stopping the spin any time soon even as Jin felt his eyelids flutter.

“I’m a bit dizzy, t-to be honest,” gasped Jin.

Yoongi seemed unaffected by the spin as he kept going, not slowing down at all despite his partner’s obvious fatigue. Again, Jin saw a split second of something terrible cross the shorter man’s face. A scowl, horrible and full of malice, on a handsome face that was suddenly and inexplicably not quite so human in nature.

“The dizziness is what makes it fun!” exclaimed Yoongi.

Now Jin had no idea how the other guests were ignoring them. It felt like his feet weren’t touching the floor anymore, and he could barely keep track of his own legs as they hurried to spin along with Yoongi, who hadn’t so much as broken a sweat. Of course, maybe their fellow dancers had taken notice and Jin just couldn’t see them, as the entire room was now nothing more than a huge swirl of colors, and it was impossible to make out any shapes amidst the chaos.

❧

“Isn’t this wonderful, Jin?!”

Yoongi was practically screaming at this point, and his voice now had a strange, crackling layer on top of its usual smooth tone. He cackled as Jin squeezed his own eyes shut, not wanting to see the rapidly spinning room around him.

“Aren’t you having fun, Jin?!”

Jin whimpered loudly, begging for the spinning to cease. He was powerless to stop Yoongi himself, and he could feel the air continue to whoosh around them as they turned, faster still, trapping Jin in an inescapable vortex.

“Come on! Have a little fun, Jin!” Yoongi chided. “Don’t be such a wallflower.”

“Please, Yoongi!” Jin sobbed, still refusing to open his eyes.

The other man only continued to laugh.

“Hope you guess my name, Jin!”

“What?” yelled the taller man, thoroughly confused.

He almost couldn’t remember his own name, and still the spinning wouldn’t stop. Even when Yoongi quit laughing and grabbed both of Jin’s wrists, the latter felt the room continue to twirl from behind his shut eyelids.

“Look at me!” growled Yoongi menacingly. Jin shook his head. “LOOK AT ME!”

Jin pried his eyes open, and thought he was definitely going to faint when he saw the man in front of him. Yoongi’s face was no longer his own, and it was twisted into a smile more horrible than Jin could have imagined. The former was only vaguely recognizable as the handsome man that had sat quietly down next to Jin on the sofa, and his eyes were a pure, veiny white as they bore into the taller young man. Yoongi howled with delight when he saw the look of terror on Jin’s air-blown face.

“Are you having fun, Jin?” he screeched in his multiple voices.

“NO!”

Jin closed his eyes as he screamed, and before he could open them again, Yoongi was gone. The only things left were a few final whispers of the other man’s laughter as even they trailed off into nothingness, leaving Jin alone in the middle of the glossy wooden dance floor.

❧

He stumbled as he fell out of the nauseating spin, and picked himself up to see the ballroom, still b with dancers unaware of the torture that Jin had been put through. The flustered man tried to catch his breath, and looked around for his mysterious captor - but the black-suited man was nowhere to be found.

Jin felt sick, and social embarrassment was the last thing on his mind as he pushed awkwardly through a waltzing couple on his way off the dance floor. A hand caught his shoulder as he stepped back onto the carpet, and Jin turned to hear a familiar voice.

“Jin, what are you up to?” asked Jimin, a glass of alcohol in his own well-manicured hand.

“I- uh, I was-”

“Look, none of that matters, okay?” interrupted Jimin. “I just wanted to tell you that we’re leaving soon, so get ready to go. Taehyung upset our principal investor like a goddamn idiot, and now I have to go back to the office to do damage control before we lose funding for the entire PR Department.”

The younger man’s voice was strained and angry, but he examined Jin with a look of concern on his face.

“Seokjin… Hyung, are you okay? Why were you on the dance floor by yourself anyway?”

“I just… I don’t know.”

“Well, I hope you at least didn’t make a fool of yourself while you were there.” Jimin pinched the bridge of his nose as a servant brought over his and Jin’s coats. “I can’t afford to have two idiots running around messing things up for me.”

Jin slipped into his coat, resisting the urge to remind Jimin that it had been his idea to drag the former along to a gathering that he had no business being at in the first place, and started to walk toward the tall entrance of the grand hall. Jimin continued to speak as he hurried after Jin while buttoning up his own jacket, sparing a glance at the older man as he passed in front of him.

“Are you sure you’re alright, Jin?” the younger man fretted. “You look as if you’ve seen the Devil.”

I’m kind of curious to hear who and/or what you all thought Yoongi was while you were reading this story. Did the “Hope you guess my name?” give it away, or is that too obscure a reference?

Anyway, Yoongi is indeed the Devil in this story - although it almost seems more like he’s just trying to have a bit of fun at Jin’s expense, rather than truly terrify him. Especially since he stops when Jin finally says he’s not enjoying it. Devil Yoongi just wants shy little Seokjin to loosen up, haha.

Semi-general-fic-related announcement: I’m thinking of doing, like, a little mini-series within this collection of stories that features each of the seven boys as the Devil in one form or another, because I think it’d be fun for each of them to get a chance to terrorize each other. Let me know if that’s something y’all would be interested in! I haven’t come up with all the ideas for it yet, but I’d be willing to work at it if that’s something that people would want to read. Thanks, everyone : )