A week later

Jimin jumped up from his seat and smiled brightly as the door opened. “Welcome to – oh hey Yoongi-hyung!”

Sighing, Yoongi shrugged off his coat, rolling his neck a little as he hung it up. “Ya, Park Jimin, don’t think I didn’t see you slacking. Sweeping the floor’s your job, buddy.” He called, grinning at the younger.

It had only been a week, but Yoongi already seemed to be much more comfortable in the café. After getting to know the other workers, Yoongi had shed his shy demeanour and begun to show his sassy playfulness – unfortunately for Jimin, a lot of it included teasing the younger. He now had two people constantly poking fun at him, and while it made the café a (mostly) happy place, Jimin somewhat resented being the of every joke.

Grumbling a little, Jimin leaned back against the table, grabbing the broom beside him but making no move to actually start working again. “At least I’m here when I’m supposed to be… Jungkook hasn’t even shown his face yet.” He muttered a little sullenly.

“Yeah, but he’s younger than you. And at least he does what he’s supposed to do,” Yoongi shot back easily as he grabbed a rag and started wiping tables. That was one good thing about having another worker – less chores for each of them. “Ya, move your , I need to wipe this table.”

“You wish I’d move my for you,” Jimin retorted, wiggling his hips a little as he pushed away from the table.

Yoongi just rolled his eyes and slapped Jimin’s with the damp towel. “Get back to work,” he mock growled, grinning at the younger.

With a little silly smile on his face, Jimin went back to sweeping the floor, glancing at Yoongi out of the corner of his eye. He was wearing his usual black skinny jeans, and the way they hugged his figure as he leaned over to get the corners of the booths – Well, it wasn’t illegal to appreciate a nice , was it?

Jimin was finishing up with the floor when Jin came back, armed with his usual load of supplies. “Ya, Jimin, stop staring at Yoongi and do your own work! Jungkook! Is the kitchen ready yet?”

“Hey! I was working damnit! And Jungkook’s not here yet, we don’t know where he is.” Jimin scowled a little. Did Jin have to call him out on that? He’d finished his chores, not like he was lazing around or anything.

Jin frowned, completely ignoring the first part of Jimin’s reply. “He’s… not here yet? That’s odd,” Jin murmured as he headed towards the kitchen. “He’s been coming in later and later these days…”

“Really? That’s weird…” Jimin murmured. As a trainee, Jungkook usually had the most free time out of all of them, especially since as one of the youngest trainees he was slotted into the undesirable early morning practices. He almost always finished with practice by lunch, leaving him plenty of time to come to the café for his shift.

Yoongi furrowed his brow as he wiped the last table, chucking the rag back into the bucket of soapy water and wiping his hands on his apron. “Do you think maybe he’s getting into trouble with his company? Maybe they’re not allowed to have jobs outside of training?”

The frown on Jin’s face deepened. “I don’t think so, he never said anything about that. Why, is that a usual rule?”

“Yeah.” A pause. “Uh. I mean. I would think so?” Yoongi fidgeted a little, looking a bit… embarrassed? “I mean it kind of makes sense, they don’t want their precious idols to possibly have a bad image as a waiter or something.”

Jimin raised an eyebrow. Yoongi sounded just a tad bitter at the end there. “Were you a trainee before?”

“Never.” Yoongi practically spat the word out, lips curling into a slight sneer. “I hate label companies, always trying to mold their idols into whatever they want, restricting their music, their lives, no. Never.”

The anger in Yoongi’s voice surprised Jimin, but before he had a chance to question him, the door flew open. Jimin turned to face the newcomer with a smile, which quickly turned into a scowl when he saw who it was. “Ya, where have you been?”

But Jungkook didn’t answer, his eyes wide with something like… fear? Adrenaline? Jimin’s annoyance at his lateness quickly melted into concern. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Jungkook swallowed, eyes still glancing around wildly. “Is he outside?” he whispered quietly, and Yoongi raised an eyebrow.

“Who?” he asked, glancing outside the window. “There’s nobody standing outside looking or anything… well, there’s that orange-haired kid that’s half-sprinting down the street – ”

The horrified squeak from Jungkook told them that was who he was hiding from. Jimin went over to where Yoongi was, tilting his head as he saw the orange-haired kid in question. “Wow, that’s… very bright hair.” He mumbled quietly. “Ya, Jungkook, why are you running from him?”

“He looks like a dancer… Or something. Is he another trainee?” Yoongi murmured, almost to himself. The slight sneer on his face didn’t go unnoticed by Jimin, and he frowned again. What the heck did Yoongi have against trainees?

Jungkook swallowed again, slumping a little. “I’ll tell you guys later, just – is he coming here?”

Jimin shook his head as the orange-haired guy pulled at his hair in frustration, looking around frantically. “I don’t think he knows where you went.” he replied quietly. “Don’t move from behind the door though, if you’re hiding from him. He might see you if you move past a window.” He might not know why Jungkook was running from the other, but they were friends, and if Jungkook wanted to hide Jimin would help.

Nodding in relief, Jungkook let himself slide down against the door, sitting on the ground before it and slumping in exhaustion. “Thank goodness…” he murmured, letting his head thud against the door. “I thought I was caught for sure…”

“Caught?” That was Jin, coming from the kitchen. He was wiping his hands on a damp towel, a dark look on his face. “Jungkook, why are you late again? You keep coming in later and later these days. What’s wrong with you? And what do you mean caught? Are you really working here without permission?”

“Ack.” The guilty look on Jungkook’s face was all Jin needed to see, and his scowl became even darker. Quickly, Jungkook stood, bowing apologetically. “I’m sorry… I’ll try to come on time from now on. I’ll find a way to get here without Taehyung seeing me…”

“Too late,” Jimin muttered. In the process of bowing, Jungkook had exposed himself to the window, and the orange-haired kid was either the luckiest person in the world or the most observant one, because he’d somehow caught sight of Jungkook – probably thanks to his dark red hair – and made a beeline for the café. “He’s headed this way.”

Jin’s eyes narrowed even as Jungkook’s went wide again. “Oh no,” Jungkook gasped, looking around wildly. He latched onto Jin, looking up at him with pleading eyes. “Can’t you just hide me? Tell him I’m not here, that you don’t know me, something, anything, I’ll explain later you can fire me later whatever just don’t tell him I work here.”

Jin didn’t answer, his expression still dark. Jimin gulped a little. “It might be better to hide it, otherwise we could get in trouble too,” he suggested hesitantly, glancing over at Jungkook.

Still frowning, Jin nodded curtly at last. “But where the hell are we going to hide him?”

Yoongi rolled his eyes, finally speaking up. “He already saw you in here, if we hide you he’ll know. Jungkook, just sit your down and I’ll get you a drink, and just pretend you’re a customer. You didn’t even put on your apron yet, so it’ll be fine.”

“Yoongi-hyung, you’re a genius,” Jungkook gasped gratefully even as he sped towards a table near the back.

Jin threw up his hands. "Well if you're all going to be busy dealing with this, I'm going to go clean up the kitchen. God knows someone has to do work around here," he added with a pointed glare at Jungkook, who winced a little.

But as Jin retreated to the sanctuary of his kitchen, Jungkook turned back to Yoongi and started thanking him profusely. “Thank you, thank you, thank you – ”

The door burst open, and Jungkook instantly swallowed any further thanks, calling instead “Um sorry, I’m still waiting on my white chocolate mocha…?”

Yoongi was already behind the counter like the barista he was, murmuring a quick apology to the impatient “customer”, leaving Jimin to deal with the supposed Taehyung. “Hi, welcome to – ” he started, only to get cut off.

“Ya, Jungkook!” Taehyung yelled out, making Jimin cringe with the roar of his voice. It was surprisingly low for someone that looked so much like a flower boy, he thought privately. “Why were you avoiding me after practice?”

“Oh, Taehyung!” Jungkook pasted a smile on his face, but even to Jimin it looked fake. “Ah, did I? I’m sorry, I just had something to do…”

“Something to do?” Taehyung raised an eyebrow as he strode over to the table Jungkook was seated at. “You spent a good three hours running away from me, only to end up in here ordering a mocha?”

Busted. Three hours? Really? Jimin rolled his eyes. If it were him, he’d have lost Taehyung within 10 minutes. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair, staring at the quarrelling pair. So much for pretending he just popped in here for a drink.

Yoongi had stopped working, realizing the jig was up. He lazily stirred the half-finished mocha, staring intently at the pair. “So Taehyung, you’re a trainee too?” He asked casually, pouring a little more chocolate into the drink without looking at it.

Jungkook whirled around to glare at Yoongi. “Yoongi-hyung,” he whined, betrayal clear in his eyes.

Taehyung turned to stare at Yoongi as well, eyes narrowed ferociously. “So you do know Jungkook then. What, does he work here?”

“What’s it to you?” Yoongi shot back easily, ignoring Jungkook’s horrified gasps.

“We’re not allowed to have jobs outside of training,” Taehyung stated haughtily, shooting a sharp glance at Jungkook who looked like a kicked puppy. “And Jungkook should know this.”

Yoongi continued glaring, stopping the pretence of making the drink. “And I repeat – what’s it to you?”

Holding his head high, Taehyung stated firmly, “It’s my duty to report him if he’s breaking the rules.”

Yoongi snorted, lip curling into a sneer. “What, so are you going to tattle? What are you, five? You’re going to let your company control everything you do?”

Taehyung’s eyes narrowed even further. “Yes,” he snapped back. “If that’s what it takes for me to stay with the company, then yes.”

“Yoongi-hyung, please stop – ” Jungkook pleaded helplessly, but Yoongi slammed the half-made drink down on the counter, disregarding the hot liquid that splashed out. His eyes were sparking with anger as he glared at Taehyung, completely ignoring Jungkook.

“This is why I always hated idols,” Yoongi snarled. “You can’t think for yourselves, can’t decide for yourselves, you can’t do anything without the company’s permission. So what if Jungkook wants to have a job outside of being a trainee? Is it hurting anyone? Is it hurting you? It’s not like he’s giving up training for this. If you can spend your afternoon chasing after a person, he can spend an afternoon working.”

Yoongi’s words sped up as he became more and more angry, and Jimin’s eyes went wide. It was the first time he’d seen this side of Yoongi, and for once he could actually believe that Yoongi was a rapper.

“They have their reasons for not letting us work. Can you imagine the scandal if an idol was caught working in a café like this? Or if they insulted someone while working? It only makes sense.” Taehyung responded quickly, but he sounded suddenly unsure.

“If that’s the case they might as well chain you up and never let you out of the building,” Yoongi retorted sharply. “What if you went into a restaurant and insulted a waiter? Or got caught doing something embarrassing in a mall? Every time you leave the building you could cause a scandal.”

Taehyung opened his mouth then shut it again, looking a little lost.

“And besides, what does that have to do with you? What’s in it for you if you tell? If you don’t tell, you don’t lose anything, but you could cost Jungkook his future. Although you’d be doing him a favour if you did, considering how ing retarded your company seems.” Yoongi’s lip curled again. “I’m sure he’d be happier just singing and dancing on his own rather than being restricted by your company’s damn rules.”

“Yoongi-hyung.” That finally got Yoongi’s attention, and he turned to stare at the distraught Jungkook. “Please,” he half whispered, looking pained. “I know you don’t like idols, I know you don’t like trainees, but please – don’t say that.”

There was a moment of tense silence, then Yoongi turned away. “Aish,” he muttered, but the intense anger in his voice had dissipated. “Sort out your own damn mess then, Jungkook. I’m going to the washroom.”

Sending one last glare at Taehyung, Yoongi stalked off to the washroom. Jimin glanced at the trainees still in a faceoff, then shook his head a little. Glancing once more at them, he followed Yoongi to the washroom, leaving the pair alone in the café.

*** 

A/N: Idk I'm not very happy with this chapter. I might come back in the future to edit this argument, but it does well enough for now. I just wanted to get this posted before I chickened out.

Also. I know absolutely nothing about being a trainee, so I've got no clue if this is an actual rule or not. But for the purposes of this story, it will be.

ALSO BEFORE I FORGET. THIS STORY WILL BE UPDATED VERY, VERY SPORADICALLY FOR THE NEXT MONTH OR TWO. IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A BTS FIC, CHECK OUT SKYREBEL'S AMAZING SCIFI AU STORY HERE. It's really well written, with great characterization and development and a really cool plot, and it deserves a lot more attention :D PLUS the author plans to update about once every 4 days, which is a heck of a lot more than I'm doing here OTL.

Anyways, thanks a lot for reading! I'll try to get another chapter out by like the end of the month or something... maybe... OTL