jimin drops to his knees once he finishes the choreography, palms pressed against the dirty floor and breath ragged and heavy. small wheezes left jimin as he stared at jackson, who stood off to the side and had yelled at jimin at an unnecessary volume whenever a step was off. his face was flushed and he repeatedly licked his dry lips although it wasn't working and he could feel his throat practically screaming for water.
jackson steps forward, tossing jimin a water bottle. it was warm and the plastic had dents in it -- but it was water, so jimin stayed silent as he chugged it and listened to jackson talk. before the black haired man could even start talking, jimin could feel his barely-there confidence drain. jackson crosses his arms and stands with his arms crossed and to his full height (which was meant to be intimidating, but not to jimin -- the two were practically the same height anyways). "you did better than i thought you would, i'll admit. however, you still look pale amd shitty so all i can say is, put on darker and heavier makeup." jackson instructs before he gestures to the blonde's neck and furrows his eyebrows. "hide the hickeys, too."
jimin screwed the lid back onto the bottle and wiped his mouth against the back of his hand, opening his mouth to correct jackson that the bruises lining his neck are, in fact, not hickeys but rather bruising from his mom. he quickly shuts it and gives his boss and curt nod when he realizes it won't make a difference and that he shouldn't waste his breath on it. he hoarsely calls out an okay as jackson leaves and tries to ignore the burning in his lungs and soreness in his stomach.
◄
jimin slipped out of the side door next to the stage directly after his performance was over, nearly moaning at how good the cool night air felt against his flushed and sweaty skin. he closed the door gently behind him and let out a deep sigh as he leaned against the rough and washed out brick of the club, not minding the way it scratched at his bare shoulders as he leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes and let his thoughts fog over.
"jimin-ah?"
a familiar voice calling out his name made jimin open his eyes slowly and raise his head up to look in the direction of the voice. he wasn't sure who to expect; taehyung, hoseok, and jungkook were out of the question as they were too young to get in, much like jimin himself, and yoongi was at the entrance, checking ids and making sure everything was under control. but who jimin wasn't expecting to see was jungkook's older brother -- sungjin standing there looking blatantly surprised and confused. jimin didn't blame him -- he was only eighteen, a year older than jungkook.
quickly, jimin peels himself away from the wall and flashes sungjin a nervous smile and bowing, desperately ignoring the way he felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach and the large lump forming in his throat. "sungjin-ssi," he stumbles out, "i wasn't expecting to see you here."
"call me hyung," sungjin dismisses the honorific jimin had used and steps closer to the highschooler. "i wasn't expecting you to be here either. fake id?"
jimin feels his cheeks heat up. oh how he wishes that's the only reason he was here -- a rebellious high schooler wanting to get drunk at a gay club and has a fake id to do so. but sadly, that's not it. jimin figures he has nothing to lose and should come clean about being a stripper now, rather than down the road when he's gotten to know jungkook's family better.
"i work here, actually." the blonde mumbles softly, the words almost unheard by sungjin. he lets his eyes fall to the ground, feeling small next to the older. "i-i'm a stripper. god, that sounds really bad, but-"
"how did you manage––?" sungjin furrows his eyebrows and looks at jimin.
"it's...it's a really long story." jimin shrugs deflatedly. "you probably wouldn't understand."
sungjin eyes jimin, watching the way he shied away and kept his distance. his cheeks were colored a pale pink -- assumably from the chilly night by now -- and he didn't look the older in the eyes, only keeping them trained on his fidgety hands. sungjin takes a deep breath before nodding his head toward the entrance, "how about we talk? get to know each other?"
——
thoughts?
