𝓐𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓵 𝓸𝓯 𝓓𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓱

ⓒⓗⓐⓟⓣⓔⓡ ⓣⓦⓔⓝⓣⓨⓞⓝⓔ

Taehyung scoffed when he looked at himself in the mirror, unimpressed with the outfit Jess and Jungkook had picked out for him. It was too colorful and had too many patterns. It triggered Taehyung on so many levels he could barely express his disdain against it. However, the look on Jungkook's face made him shut up about it. He seemed entranced by him.

"Are you sure this looks good?" he asked, uncertain, playing with the guitar-pick shaped earring.

"You look like a million bucks," Jungkook said.

"Kind of like a retro rock star," Jess added.

Taehyung frowned as they both laughed. His eyes glanced at Jungkook, who was wearing a dark blue velvet suit with a black dress shirt covered in white moons and stars.

"Where the fuck did you even get these clothes," Taehyung spat, loosening the scarf around his neck.

Jess pulled her tongue and flipped him off, leaving their room to go back to hers and get herself ready too. Taehyung looked at Jungkook, as if asking with his eyes if he was really going to let her dress them like this.

"I think you look very, very hot..." Jungkook whispered as he tugged at Taehyung's blazer.

Taehyung smirked and grabbed Jungkook's face in his hand, squeezing his cheeks.

"Be nice or I'll have to punish you," he threatened.

Jungkook bit his lip and turned around to respond to Jess calling him out. Taehyung took one last look in the mirror. He was definitely digging the eye makeup. It made him look mysterious. Even more than usually. The outfit, however, was way too flashy for him. He sighed as he turned to join the other two.

Jungkook had just finished zipping her dress up. Taehyung looked at Jess from the bottom up, his eyes trailing across every curve of her body. She was dressed in a skintight dark purple mini dress paired with nude pumps. He frowned, the faded bruises on her pale skin still apparent. But, when she turned around with a bright smile, he could not help but smile back. She seemed happier, and that made him happy too.

"We look like a bunch of clowns," Taehyung snorted, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"This is the style of the club we're going to, so get used to it," Jess snapped, sassy.

Taehyung put his hands up in defeat and motioned to the door, eager to leave to escape his own reflection. He put his hand on the small of Jungkook's back, guiding him towards the door. He smiled a little inside, this outing experience seeming ideally normal for all of them. Just a trio of friends going out for drinks at a funky club. Perfectly normal.

Jess took out a map on her phone, as they were walking to the club. She swore it was not that far, but the map stated that they had to walk for fifteen minutes.

"It's not that bad," Jess responded to Taehyung's sigh.

She was right. The fifteen minutes passed quite quickly as they all chatted and teased each other. Jungkook and Taehyung held hands the whole way. A normal couple going out on a normal date to a normal club with other normal people. Normal, Taehyung said to himself, anxious, his palms twitching. The weight of his knife in his pocket reassured him.

They arrived at the club, the music booming outside as the purple, pink and blue lights flashed across the sidewalk. Jess greeted the bouncer and they let them in before the line. Jess was right. What they were was totally the style of the club. Funky, colorful, flashy. Everything Taehyung was not. Everything he tried not to be. It's okay, it's kind of like you're wearing a costume, Taehyung said to himself. He would be recognizable in this outfit, so he simply had to make sure he did nothing out of the ordinary. Normal. He cleared his throat as the knife in his pocket squeezed against his thigh when he sat on a bar stool.