Chapter Text
Walking down the hallway, you are focusing almost exclusively on your cell phone in your hand so you completely miss the other people exiting a room and entering the hallway directly in your path. Suddenly you feel your shoulder ram into something hard, you lose your grip on your phone as well as your footing and end up splayed across the floor in the most embarrassing fashion.
“Eugh!” You grunt as you feel your equilibrium shatter. Simultaneously the person you had rammed into grunts “Aish!” in your direction, he too stumbles, but luckily for him his companion keeps him from falling on his ass unceremoniously.
“Oh my god, I am so, so sorry!” You plead at the stranger while sitting up and looking around for your missing cell phone. You spot it 3 feet in front of you and decide in that moment without thinking it through that crawling on your hands and knees to retrieve it is not going to make things incredibly awkward…
“It’s okay! I am sorry as well!” The stranger dips his head in your direction, almost as if to bow in his apology, using slightly accented English. His voice is deep and smooth, the tone reminding you of dark roast coffee. He is wearing a ball cap low on his forehead so you can't make out his face well, but you can see the black tendrils of his chin length hair sticking out behind his neck. He is neatly dressed, with a green bomber jacket over an oversized white shirt and loose black jeans with holes in the knees. His companion is similarly dressed, except his pants have no holes, and his jacket is a gray hoodie. They remain close to each other and neither of them seem inclined to help you up, which you don’t blame them given you had just crawled several feet away from the duo.
With blushing red cheeks, you make your way to your feet, as gracefully as you possibly can, and feel the need to apologize again, if only to break through the now awkward silence stretching in front of you.
“I really am sorry, I should have been looking where I was going. I hope you aren’t hurt.”
The man’s slightly taller companion laughs. “He is fine, don’t worry!” The pair return your slight smile and you decide to take that moment to walk away, heading towards the elevator as you had been prior to the collision. As it turns out, they were also heading for the elevator, which means the awkward silence was going to be continuing. When you get in, you head to the side where the buttons are and press the button for the lobby, where you are going to meet your friend.
“What floor?” You ask the pair pit of courtesy as they step into the elevator, and also so they didn’t have to get any closer to you.
“Ah, ground,” the shorter man says quietly. You could tell they were feeling the awkwardness too. What you would give in this moment to have not lost your wireless earbuds…
You press the ground floor button again for emphasis, and without reason, and then step back so you have a little breathing room. You are in a pretty large hotel in Las Vegas and the time it takes to get from floor 18 to ground level is excruciating. At some point you hear the duo next to you talk quietly to each other in another language. Your ears perk up abruptly as you realize they’re speaking a language you actually know, Korean.
“Do you think I should have helped her up?” Bomber jacket says.
“No, she literally crawled down the hallway. There was no way to help her up without making things more awkward,” hoodie replies.
They continue talking in hushed tones while your brain starts to short circuit. It takes everything in you to not turn your head in their direction and listen to them talk. They obviously wouldn’t know that you could understand them, the chances of a random stranger in Los Vegas knowing Korean are slim, but now that you’ve heard them speak you know, without a doubt, exactly who these men are. You weren’t expecting it, of course, there hadn’t been any announcement about his military service being complete. But the man you had run into in the hallway was 100% Min Yoongi of BTS. And Taehyung was his sole companion on this elevator. Right now. Next to you. Holy shit.
Unable to help yourself, and not wanting them to say anything else without knowing you can understand them, you decide to comment on their conversation in Korean as well. “Sorry again, I hope you aren’t hurt in any way. Please both of you enjoy the rest of your evening.”
The doors open finally and you rush off of the elevator, leaving both men stunned to silence, Taehyung’s mouth slightly ajar. They glance at each other, clearly surprised by your sudden ability to speak Korean, and knowing that you had overheard everything they’d said on the elevator. You rush over to your friend, Emily, who is waiting for you near the reception desk, and quickly grab her wrist away from her cell phone to pull her to the side.
“Woah, what's the emergency, Y/N?” Emily says a bit loudly to you in surprise at you pulling her away. You shush her and pull her further into the corner so you can speak to her privately.
“Em, holy shit!” You are out of breath for some reason, and take a moment to gather your bearings. Out of the corner of your eye you see Yoongi and Taehyung have pulled their hats even lower and are making their way through the lobby towards the main entrance.
“What, what?” Emily shakes you slightly, clearly a little panicked by your out burst.
“Em, I just ran into fucking BTS on the elevator.”
–– & —
You and Emily make your way down the block towards the club you are planning to go to. This trip to Vegas was in celebration of your 30th birthday, which was coming up this weekend, and your mutual friend Butch had gotten you both into this prestigious club where you planned to drown your sorrows and dance with strangers until you forgot how old you were and that you were still single in your third decade. They spend the short walk to the club thinking about Yoongi and Taehyung in the elevator, what a wild experience that was, but then your mind wanders to less realistic daydreams about meeting them again and actually becoming acquainted. You had a better chance of winning the lottery, probably. Then your mind drifts off to how the last two years have been. You had broken up with your fiance in 2023, it was a hard decision but you had no regrets now. Despite your biological clock ticking, you had been able to turn the devastating breakup into the push you needed to really better yourself.
You also have a lot more energy now. At 1 week to 30, you felt the youngest and most alive you had ever felt. Your face is aging faster than you would have liked, but that is something you are just going to have to come to terms with, you suppose. You think about your ex, the cool air touching your cheeks reminding you of him ever so slightly. You hope he was doing well. The breakup was hard, and you hadn’t remained friends afterwards. You have an ache in your chest about that fact, but know you can’t do anything about it now.
Shaking your head slightly in an attempt to clear out your thoughts, you blink a few times and take in your surroundings. You are about half a block away from the club now, with Emily trailing slightly behind you, eyes glued to the gps on her phone for fear of getting lost. Emily has been to Vegas before but never to this club. Her last experience had been one to remember, and you are hoping this trip will top it for her. If you have to leave your precious babies (two beautiful cats) for any length of time, it had better be the best fucking time ever.
“Alright we made it, good job everyone, applause all around,” Emily says out loud, more to herself than to you, and you laugh at her outburst. Emily is always upbeat and a little silly. It is something you really appreciate about her personality.
You wrap your arm around her shoulders and together you walk up to the club entrance. There is a bouncer just inside the door asking for names, which you have to raise your voice over the thudding beat of the music through the doors past the bouncer. He scans the list for a few seconds, then nods and opens the door for both of you, allowing you entrance to the club.
The club lighting is dim, but still visible, multi colored light bulbs in every ceiling light make the club feel moody, and you are here for it. There is a DJ on the back of the large open room, with a bar to your left and what looks like a lounge area to your right, with the hallway to the bathrooms just past the lounge. The lounge has multiple seating areas, and each sectional, bright red in color, sunk into the floor a step or two. It looks comfortable and sleek at the same time.
You and Emily decide to head straight to the dance floor, needing to do something with all the energy you’ve gotten just from walking into the club. There are already a lot of people dancing, it is only 9pm but the club is in full swing. You don’t want to drink anything right away because you know you are a lightweight and don’t want to end up drunk and leaving with a stranger. As exciting as a one-night-stand might be, you prefer your sexual encounters to be sober, consenting, and otherwise rational. Emily is already cozying up to a tall man with broad shoulders, he has short, brown hair and is wearing a simple blue button up over a white shirt, and light-wash jeans. She is stunning with her long, brown hair with blonde balayage and the purple dress she’s wearing hugs her curves, accentuates her tiny waist, and stops around the middle of her thighs. Emily is average in height, and you are just a little taller than her, but because she prefers flat and you prefer heels, you always end up towering over her.
You find your own groove to the music nearby Emily, and laugh out loud when you realize the broad-shouldered man has a friend who is trying to get your attention. You dance your way over to him and are now face to face, with only a few inches between you. He smiles brightly at you while very clearly looking you up and down, assessing, and appreciating, how your body looks. You are wearing a similarly tight dress to Emily, except yours flares out at the waist and has pockets. Your dress is a royal blue color which always looks best on your skin tone, and it has a sweetheart neckline with thin straps. You feel beautiful in this dress and know you look hot, so when the man seemingly approves of your appearance you feel incredibly validated in that moment, allowing you to let loose and truly enjoy dancing with your temporary partner. He is wearing a t-shirt that accentuates his chest and arms, and you find your own gaze lingering over his body as well.
A few more songs play before the DJ looks as though he is finishing his set and another DJ is setting up. Your dance partner takes that moment to ask you if you want a drink from the bar, and when you nod yes he escorts you in that direction. Once you are far away enough from the dance floor, you can actually hear yourself think again.
“I figured you would want to get your own drink, but I’d love to buy it for you,” your dance partner leans over and says into your ear. You pull back and smile brightly at him. “I would love that, thank you. I’m Y/N by the way,” you mention.
“I’m Todd, and my friend over there is Dex. He seems to really like your friend, it seems.”
You glance over at where Emily and Dex are still dancing. They have their hands roaming around each other's hips and waists and are standing incredibly close. You shake your head and smile at the two of them. “She seems to like him too, I think.” You both laugh at this acknowledgement. He spins around and orders himself a drink then turns back to you with raised eyebrows while you select your own order.
“Just give me something sweet, with ice,” you tell the bartender. What ends up being made is something dark red with a salt rim and a little umbrella sticking out of the top. You yoink the umbrella out and take a sip, and it is actually pretty good! You aren’t big into alcohol and know if you were back home you would NOT be drinking right now. But when in Vegas, right? You take a long sip of your drink, trying to get the volume lower so you can comfortably hold it while moving around. Setting your drink down is obviously not an option, so you are gonna have to either stand there and drink the whole thing or take it back with you.
“Do you want to sit?” Todd says to you over the music, motioning toward the lounge area. Without glancing in that direction, you nod and smile back at Todd and follow him to the seating area. He has been pretty gentlemanly so far, which you appreciate. You approach the sunken sectional and suddenly your heel decides to slip on a puddle on the floor and you temporarily lose your balance.
“Woah!” Todd shouts as you stumble, spilling your drink. He tries to help stabilize you but is still holding his own drink. You manage to catch yourself before you face plant, but unfortunately for you your drink has sloshed and lands all over your dress. You are annoyed, mostly because that is going to stain, but also because now you have to leave Todd’s presence and worry you’ve ruined the mood for the moment.
“Are you ok?” Todd asks you, his face full of lighthearted concern. You smile back slightly, the smile not quite reaching your eyes. “Me, yes, but my dress cannot say the same. I’ll be right back.” Your laugh turns into a sigh and you motion to him that you are going to go clean yourself up. He seems apologetic and takes your drink from you, which is now almost empty anyways, while you make your way towards the hallway where the bathrooms are.
You make it to the bathroom and take a deep breath as you look over yourself in the mirror. Your makeup still looks great, honestly, you feel sexy and more confident than you have in years, and even your hair is still looking amazing, long Y/H/C curls, full of bounce and shine. Your dress, however, had a dark red stain right in the middle of your abdomen, making the dress appear a dark purple color. The drink definitely had some food coloring in it, grenadine perhaps, so you knew there was no way that stain was coming out, but still you did your best to blot it with paper towels, scowling at the dress in the mirror and wincing a little when you think about your wallet. This was your first time wearing this dress, such a shame it will only get to be worn once since you felt so good in it.
You smile at yourself, shaking your head a little at the absurdity of having ruined a dress in less than half an hour, but make yourself move towards the bathroom door and back to your date? Dance partner? You don’t know exactly how to refer to the man making your evening interesting, but that’s what is still on your mind as you enter the hallway that leads out to the lounge area. You stop yourself mid-stride when you glance up and see Todd has started chatting up another woman in your absence. She was taller than you, mostly her heels were taller, long brown hair gorgeously blown out, and her dress contained a lot less fabric. He has since ditched both of your drinks and is watching the woman intently as she speaks to him about something animatedly.
Your shoulders slump a little, and you make a split-second decision to turn on your heel and head back to the bathroom and recompose yourself. As you do you find yourself face first into another person, knocking both of you onto your asses and another drink spills on you.
“Shit,” you hear the man in front of you on the floor half-whisper half-shout. You stayed on the floor for longer than you probably should, frozen from the shock of running into someone and having a second drink dumped on you tonight. A hand is suddenly in your face reaching for you to help you up and in a daze you grab it and let the man help you to your feet.
“ Are you okay,” a familiar voice asks you. You look up at the man still holding your hand and meet eyes with the same man from the hotel. Min Yoongi was staring at your face with his eyebrows raised, this time without the hat or the facemask he had worn before to conceal his identity.
“Um,” you start, but are unable to come up with anything to add. You look down at your dress and see this drink managed to spill down the front of you, even lower this time, so now you were looking even more pitiful than before. You groan at the sight and mutter more to yourself than Yoongi, “how am I even supposed to walk out of here now.”
“I’m so sorry, I’ve ruined your dress. Please, let me help.” Yoongi drops your hand then, setting his now empty glass on the nearby console table, and shrugs off his jacket, the same green bomber jacket from the hotel. Your eyes widen as he starts to hand the jacket to you, and you take the jacket from him sheepishly.
“Hold this in front of you for now,” he says to you, assuredly. You only nod in response. The shock of running into someone again wears off and you remember now why you were heading in this direction in the first place. You sneak a glance over your shoulder to see Todd and the girl staring in your direction and it makes you spin around quickly, avoiding their gaze, hunching in on yourself, embarrassed. Yoongi, sensing your sudden panic, glances behind you and sees the same pair staring, then his face changes to something a little more stern.
“Come with me,” he commands, grabbing your hand and walking you through the lounge towards his companions. “I’ll be right back,” he tells them, then walks with you towards what looks like the back of the club and a side door to the parking lot. You escape outside, Yoongi still holding your hand and guiding you to what looks like a large black SUV.
Stopping in front of the car, Yoongi drops your hand and turns back towards you. “Sorry about your date,” he says softly. “And your dress.”
You laugh awkwardly before correcting him. “He wasn’t my date. At least not anymore…” you trail off. “And the dress, it’s fine, I had already spilled on it. I, uh,” you pause, not sure what else to say at this moment. Now that you’re outside you have no reason to keep using his jacket, so you hand it back to him and curl your arms around yourself for some comfort. Everything that had just happened was sinking in now and you were dealing with some major embarrassment.
“You’re from the hotel, aren’t you, from before?” Yoongi asks but you can tell from his tone that he already knows he’s right.
“And you’re Min Yoongi,” you say back to him. His eyes widen in surprise but he doesn’t say anything back right away.
“Can I offer you a ride back to the hotel? I imagine you would like to change clothes,” he says without acknowledging your admission of knowing who he really is.
You study his face for a moment before answering. He is looking at you with the question lingering in his expression, his eyes wide, eyebrows lifted slightly, lips parted enough to let his tongue slip out and gently moisten his lips. You see him swallow, still waiting for your answer.
“Sure,” you finally answer him. He nods his understanding and then grabs his phone out of his pocket, dialing a number quickly and pressing the phone to his ear. It rings for a moment before he switches to Korean and says, “Come outside, I need to go back to the hotel. No, tell them to stay,” and then just like that, he hangs up.
“My driver is coming out, then we can go.”
You just nod, not finding it in yourself to speak again in the parking lot. It’s dark out and you are still kind of in shock about this entire night. You’re embarrassed because you look fucking stupid with your wet dress on, and a bit awkward because you’re standing next to a stranger, in a dark parking lot. Doesn’t matter that he’s famous and you’ve been watching him for years, you don’t actually KNOW this man.
The driver makes his way over to you both after exiting from the same side door of the club, he bows slightly to both of you before getting in the driver’s seat and starting the car. Yoongi turns to open the car door, stepping aside to let you in. The interior is all black leather, soft and warm, and the faint aroma of sandalwood lingers in the air. You realize as you slide to the far side of the seat and Yoongi climbs in next to you that it must be the smell of his cologne. It’s nice, you think, muted and calming, but also deep and earthy. You smile slightly, thinking that it suits him.
Yoongi confirms with the driver to drive back to the hotel and then he sits back and looks at you. His eyes take in your whole body now, and you find yourself feeling self conscious again.
“Seems only fair you should tell me your name since you know mine,” he says to you, teasingly. He is wearing a slight smirk and his dark, brown eyes are sparkling with the reflection of passing street lamps.
“I’m Y/N,” you tell him quietly.
“Y/N, what brings you to Vegas? I assume you aren’t from around here, given we’re staying in the same hotel.” He tilts his head to the side, slightly, and you find it very endearing.
“Well, tonight I was supposed to be celebrating my birthday, but, you know…” you trail off, looking down at your still-ruined dress. The stain was definitely setting in now and you frowned at it.
“Happy birthday, then,” He seemed almost shy in his congratulations, his voice becoming softer as he spoke. “I was surprised before, in the elevator, when you spoke Korean,” he admits, looking down at his hands fidgeting in his lap. “I’m sorry we spoke about you like that in front of you. We don’t usually assume people in this country will understand us.”
You nod understandingly at this. “Yeah, it’s certainly not a language most people in this country have learned. And it’s all right. You couldn’t have known.” You’re side-eyeing Yoongi now, trying to get a better look at him. As spacious as the back of the SUV is, you’re still sitting only a few inches apart and can hear the sound of his breathing in your right ear.
The car ride grows silent after that, the two of you choosing not to fill the silence with any words. It’s not awkward, but peaceful, and you find your mind at ease as you pull up in front of the hotel lobby doors. You start reaching to exit the car when Yoongi grabs your wrist suddenly.
“I feel bad about ruining your evening. If you’ll let me, I’d like to make it up to you somehow.” His eyes meet yours and they’re pleading somehow. His hand still rests gently on your wrist and you find yourself unable to deny him anything in this moment. “Ok,” you whisper, and he smiles at your response. Dropping your wrist, he hops out of the car and holds the door open for you, reaching his hand to help you get out easily. “We will wait here while you change, take as long as you need. I’d like to take you somewhere, though, once you’re done.”
What the fuck is going on. Where is he going to take you? Your mind is racing as you make your way over to the elevator and hit the button for the 18th floor. With sudden panic, you pull out your phone and send a quick text to Emily, who has already sent you several texts asking where you disappeared to.
You: hey I ended up leaving with someone…tell you about it later
Emily: look at you go girl! cant wait to hear about him!!!
You opt to not tell her about who you are out with yet… still not sure if you’re going to find him outside the hotel when you return. Feels almost too good to be true. You have fantasized about this man for a decade, but you know deep down the version of him that you know isn’t the real one. But you find yourself desperate to get to know him now that you have the chance. He’s been so kind to you, a complete stranger, with no reason at all. He didn’t need to do any of this, but he did anyway, and you find yourself wondering why.
You make quick work of taking your dress off and putting on another equally attractive outfit. You want to feel good and confident if you’re going to be spending time with someone as gorgeous as Yoongi for any amount of time. Even though he was dressed pretty casually he made the outfit look stunning. You couldn’t let your low self esteem make the evening not completely perfect. Even though your plans for your birthday had gone astray, this could possibly be so so so much better. You end up throwing on a tight white blouse and a flowy red skirt with a cute black belt to accentuate your waist. It makes you feel dainty and you check yourself one last time in the mirror before racing back towards the elevator, making sure to look where you’re going this time.
You are still reeling over the fact that Yoongi wants to spend more time with you? Wondering what exactly Yoongi plans to do to make it up to you , you slip on your shoes, the same pair you had worn at the club, and look yourself over in the mirror again. Once you feel satisfied with your appearance you make your way over to the hotel room door, with a little pep in your step. You are hot and you know it. It is such a drastic comparison to how you used to feel about yourself, and you find yourself grateful for having made the changes in your life to get to this point.
You make it back down to the lobby by the time the butterflies in your stomach start fluttering again. Your confidence starts to wane as you remember that you’re about to get back into Yoongi’s SUV.
The SUV is in the same spot where you get out before, and when you get within a few feet of it, Yoongi hops out and opens the door for you while holding out his hand so you can use it to help yourself into the vehicle. Once you are both settled back into your seats, you speak up finally about the thing that had been bothering you all evening.
“Not that this whole night hasn’t been surprising,” you start, “but how are you here right now? Aren’t you still supposed to be serving in the military in South Korea?”
Yoongi smiles slightly, gaze landing on his hands in his lap. “I asked my company not to release any information about my military service ending,” he said quietly, his tone tinged with what sounds like guilt. You aren’t sure why he would need to feel guilty about that, but you nod at his reply.
“Are you ARMY?” He asks you, after a beat.
You nod in reply, smiling. “Since 2019.”
Yoongi huffs a laugh, “No wonder you recognized me then.”
“I’m surprised your hair is so long, to be honest. I’m not sure if I would have recognized you with really short hair, since you never posted any photos of it.” Yoongi had never released any photos of his hair being cut before entering the military like the other members had done. All 6 of the other members had done so, but Yoongi never had. It left ARMY a bit sad for the lack of photos, but you understood his choice not to show it. You wouldn’t want to show anyone how you looked with a buzz cut either, even if you had millions of adoring fans like he does.
“Yeah,” is all he says in reply, clearly not wanting to broach that subject quite yet.
The SUV departs from the hotel shortly after you buckle your seatbelt, but you still have no idea where exactly you are headed. As if reading your mind, Yoongi takes that moment to explain just exactly where you are heading.
“I have made reservations for us nearby, Korean barbecue, and they have a private room we can use. I, uh, wasn’t sure what food you liked, so I tried to pick something safe. Since you know Korean I assumed…” he trails off, clearly feeling a bit shy and you watch as a flush enters his cheeks.
“Korean barbeque sounds great,” you assure him.
The rest of the car ride passes in uneventful silence. Yoongi's English is pretty good, better than you knew it could be, but you feel he was reaching his limit pretty quickly with idle conversation in the car, so you have no problem sitting in silence for a bit.
Once you reach the restaurant, the SUV pulls around back and you are able to enter from a secluded entrance and are led straight to a small parlor with just a single table for you and Yoongi to sit at. In traditional Korean Barbeque fashion, there is a grill in the center of the table to allow you to cook your own meat. You had never been to a place like this since you were easily intimidated and were never sure how to cook the meat yourself properly. But now you find yourself excited at the thought of Yoongi cooking some for you here, basically as a birthday gift.
Yoongi orders from the waiter in Korean, and you feel your excitement grow as side dishes and platters of prepared meats are brought to your table. The setting feels weirdly intimate with just you and Yoongi at the table, but you are enjoying every second of it. Your ARMY dreams are coming true before your eyes but you are a bit in shock about it and find yourself at a loss for words.
Luckily, not much conversation is needed as Yoongi starts delicately placing meat on the grill with his chopsticks. You find yourself watching him, mesmerized by the skill he has with his fingers. It isn’t necessarily that impressive but the fact that it's Yoongi doing this for you right now has you in absolute awe. You realize you’ve been staring when Yoongi looks up at you then diverts his eyes quickly, blushing again. You shake your head, pull yourself out of your reverie and try again to make conversation.
“I’m turning 30 this week,” you say, trying to explain more about your upcoming birthday. “That’s why I’m in Vegas, it’s a big deal for me, to have reached 30 and to try and enjoy my life like this. Just having the means to do something like this feels like it’s worth celebrating. My best friend, Emily, the one who I left the hotel with earlier, she and I have been friends since we were 10, she isn’t really ARMY but she likes your music alright, which is all you can really ask from a friend about something you are passionate about.”
Yoongi places meat onto your plate and nods at your admission. “She sounds like a good friend.” You nod your agreement.
“Y/N, how did you come to know Korean? From what I understand, that isn’t a typical language people in this country learn,” Yoongi asks you, curious.
You chuckle to yourself before answering. “It’s because of you, actually, that I decided to learn.”
“Oh?” Yoongi seems surprised, his eyebrows shooting up with his response.
“Yeah, I was going through a hard time in my life when you all started your hiatus, right after COVID, and I needed some kind of goal, with you all enlisting it felt like a good opportunity for me to try and learn Korean so that maybe by the time you all finished your service I would be able to understand any new music you put out without having to google all the lyric translations. And once I started I fell in love with the language and managed to get where I am now.” You are smiling triumphantly as you finish your sentence. The progress you’ve made in Korean is something you are extremely proud of, knowing that you worked hard over the last two years consistently for this. Yoongi must feel the same way since his expression has changed to one of admiration. To show off a little, and maybe to try and make Yoongi feel a little more comfortable, you decide to switch to Korean at this point in the conversation. “We can speak in Korean if that is more comfortable for you, though I must admit I’m not the best with dialects from outside of Seoul, yet.”
Yoongi seems agreeable with your decision and the next hour passes quickly as you both eat the food that Yoongi prepares and talk about everything and nothing at the same time. Soju had been brought to the table at some point and both of you do a few shots before the food is gone. You enjoy every moment of the evening and know you’ve drunk a little too much when you giggle at something Yoongi says and find your cheeks are burning red from the alcohol.
“I think I may have drank a bit too much,” you say in slurred Korean.
“Really? I didn't think you had that many shots,” Yoongi is smiling at you now, and you feel yourself staring at him again, but this time you don’t have the inhibition left to stop yourself from doing it.
“I’m kind of a light weight, I don’t drink much usually.” Your eyes trace the curve of Yoongi’s jaw, his skin is pale and glowing with the flush of alcohol and good food, his lips are slightly swollen from eating, and his eyes glisten as he speaks to you. How is it even fair to be sitting across from this gorgeous man. If ARMY knew…you don’t even want to think about that. This moment is too precious to spend thinking about consequences.
“…beautiful,” Yoongi mutters to himself. You hear him, however, loud and clear, and since you’re too tipsy to stop yourself and feel your familiar self loathing returning, you have to reply.
“Me? No, I’m not.” You pout as you say this, wishing you were beautiful like he said.
Yoongi sits up taller and leans toward you now. “Don’t say that, Y/N. You’re absolutely stunning what are you talking about. Look at you.”
“Maybe I’m pretty on the outside but my personality must stink or else I’d have more people in my life that stick around. Everybody just leaves me. Like tonight, you’re gonna leave too. I’m leaveable.” You say that last part in English, not knowing how to express what you’re feeling in Korean, and Yoongi frowns, obviously unhappy with your admissions.
You find yourself wondering if Yoongi regrets bringing you out, if he wishes he had never spilled his drink on you, never run into you in the hotel. You catch yourself then, noticing you were starting to spiral into your negative self-talk and knowing you should probably stop that before you go into a dark, dark place. But it's hard when you drink, which is why you usually don’t. Yoongi is still looking at you, clearly thinking about what he wants to say to you, but doesn’t come up with anything. Instead, he stands and walks over to your side of the table, and reaches his hand out for you to grab.
“I like your personality, Y/N.” You love the way your name rolls off his tongue, and your thoughts quickly shift to his mouth instead of self deprecation. The other thing that usually happens when you drink is you get..well, horny. Horny, and lacking inhibition… is not a good combination when you’re holding the hand of someone you’ve admired for years and is also super fucking gorgeous. Yoongi pulls you to your feet and you stand closer to Yoongi than you have all night.
“You don’t even know me,” you whisper.
“I’d like to. Know you, I mean.” Yoongi whispers back to you. You’re only standing a few inches apart at this point, and you haven’t stopped staring at his lips. You swallow thickly, and make yourself look away now.
“Why? Why me? I’m not special,” the self deprecation returns now, and you find yourself feeling shy, despite the alcohol in your system. You try to release his hand but Yoongi tightens his grip then, and places his other hand under your chin to force you to look back at him again.
“I think you’re special. And that guy back at the club is an idiot for not realizing that. I knew you were special after only a few minutes. Why do you think I brought you here? Surely you should have realized how unconventional this is.” Yoongi is pleading with you at this point, clearly he is desperate to have you understand that this night means something to him.
“But, but, I ruined your whole night, I bumped into you twice, made you leave the club, embarrassed you by eavesdropping in the elevator, and now I’m drunk at the dinner you picked for us, I’m just a fucking mess, honestly. You should get out of here while you have a chance. If anyone sees us here together I could ruin everything.”
Yoongi shakes his head, squeezing your hand. “I’ve enjoyed every moment since you ran into me in the hallway at the hotel. There’s just something about you, Y/N, I can’t explain it. But I’d like to see you again. Are you available tomorrow?”
You find yourself looking wide-eyed at Yoongi’s admission. He wants to see you again? What the fuck is happening. Was he…interested in you? Like actually? What?? You realize you haven’t answered yet and Yoongi is pleading with his eyes at this point.
“Uh, yeah, no, I’m free tomorrow. We planned a free day in case we were hungover.”
With that, Yoongi’s big, gummy smile makes an appearance and you melt at the sight. His hand has since left your chin, and you see him reaching for his cell phone. He releases your hand and puts his phone in it instead.
“Here, put your number into my phone, so we can keep in touch. Please,” he adds at the end. You type your number in quickly, making sure its right then handing the phone back to him. He pockets his phone and then reaches back up to caress your cheek, closing the distance between you a little. He stands a few inches taller than you even in your heels, so you have to look up to see him when he’s this close. He stares at your lips but doesn’t pull you any closer, doesn’t do the thing he’s clearly thinking of doing. You are frozen, unable to move an inch, even though you desperately want to close the gap and place your mouth on his. After a beat he pulls away and grabs your hand again muttering something about getting you back to the hotel safely.
The next few minutes fly by, as your blood alcohol level does its last bit of increasing from your last shot and without noticing the drive at all you find yourself being let out of the SUV again at the hotel. Yoongi assures you he will call you tomorrow, and in a daze you just nod at him, bow, and make your way back to your room.
Yoongi had almost kissed you standing there in that restaurant, you were sure of it, and you were kicking yourself now not closing that distance. But he wants to see you tomorrow…he wants to see YOU tomorrow. This unbelievable thought doesn’t leave your mind the entire time you get yourself ready for bed. You have your head on your pillow and your eyes closed before the thought hits you that you don’t have HIS number, he only has yours. So if he wanted to blow you off tomorrow he definitely could… and that is the last thought you have as you drift to sleep.