In His Dreams - JiHope

Stripper

Three days later

Hoseok blinked and looked around. He was in an office he didn't recognise, it was dark, and smelled a little damp. At the end of the room was an old scuffed desk, and someone was sitting behind the desk. Hobi didn't recognise the man at all, but hated him on sight. He was huge, with bulky muscles, and wide shoulders, and as Hoseok watched, the man cracked his knuckles and smirked at the papers on his desk.

A knock on the door beside him made him jump. The door swung open and a girl with bleach blond hair poked her head into the office. "He's here"

"Send him in" said the man behind the desk, picking up a photo from the pile by his hand. Hoseok stepped forward as Jimin walked through the door, passing through the glass wall as if it didn't exist.

This version of Jimin was older again, this looked like it was just before he joined BTS, so he would have been maybe 17 years old.

"Ahhhh Park Jimin, welcome" The man grinned at the young boy, looking him up and down, and licking his bottom lip, "According to your application you want to be a dancer is that right?"

Jimin shuffled his feet and nodded.

"OK – well let's see what you've got"

"N-N-Now?" young Jimin stuttered

"Well this IS an audition" the man drawled

"Ummm.... OK"

Hoseok watched as the younger Jimin started popping and locking - moving his body skilfully to the music in his head "Not bad Jiminie" he whispered under his breathe.

"Thanks" The real Jimin spoke from behind him

"Jesus, why do you always do that?" Hobi spun to face the pink-haired boy who shrugged "It's not like I have any control over it" he replied, watching his younger self with a little frown "that wasn't the right step there – did you see?" he pointed out to the red-head.

Hobi hadn't seen it – he was too busy admiring the younger dancers ability to body roll "Who is this sleaze anyway?" he pointed through the barrier to the older man, who was watching the younger Jimin dance like he was a buffet dinner.

Jimin laughed, but it wasn't a good laugh. "Wait.... You'll find out in a minute"

They both leant back against the wall, waiting for the younger Jimin to finish dancing. The man behind the desk leaned back considering the boy standing in front of him, panting from the exertion of dancing.

"That wasn't bad Jimin," he steepled his hands in front of him "Now take off your shirt and shorts"

"What?" Young Jimin's head whipped up to look at the manager.

"Take. Off. Your. Clothes" The man repeated slowly.

"W-w-why?" Jimin stuttered.

"Jesus kid – I just want to see if you have what it takes to dance in a club"

"Why do I need to take my clothes off for that?"

"... Jimin.... I represent half a dozen artists... they are all placed in the best strip clubs in Seoul... "

Jimin was silent and the man behind the desk grinned a little, knowing that the kid had to be desperate to be there at all. "I thought you knew"

Jimin flushed, feeling stupid and embarrassed.

"I mean if you don't want to strip, I can put you in with the escorts" The greasy manager stood up from behind his desk, slowly walking towards the boy.

He stroked his big fingers down the side of Jimin's face, wiping a sweat drop that was dripping down his cheek, and licking it from the tip of his finger. "Either way you're going to have to take your clothes off"

"I didn't know Hobi – at least not when I went for the audition" the older version said from beside him, "but ...I mean... I considered it – the stripping, not the escort service. Look at me – I was desperate, I really needed the money"

He shook his head and sighed "I was so young - it wasn't even legal for me to be in those clubs and I was seriously contemplating taking my clothes off for money. See that's the moment right there, see the frown, that's when I made a deal with myself that if I hadn't found anything within the next two weeks I would come back and accept his deal."

Hoseok wasn't looking at the younger version of Jimin, he was looking at the pink version, the one he thought was his friend but was quickly realising he didn't know at all.

"I was so pathetic" Jimin sighed watching the younger version of himself leave the office, a tiny part of him proud that he had escaped that day without taking any of his clothes off.

"What happened that stopped you?"

"I auditioned for BigHit the next day...."

For the first time since this all started, Hoseok wasn't crying when he woke up, but he felt sick when he remembered the desperate young Jimin seriously contemplating stripping as his only option.

He had set up his cot in the corner of the office that was attached to the practice room. It was a tiny space, just big enough for the desk a couple of chairs and the cot, and as he lay there the walls started to close in on him, making him feel trapped in the dark space.

He sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and reaching over to open the door into the practice room. Resting his elbows on his knees, he put his head in his hands, he was confused, and hurt and didn't know what to do about it. How did he not know that Jimin had gone through any of this? He thought Jimin was his friend.

He wasn't going to get back to sleep while these thoughts were haunting his mind, so he got out of bed, grabbing his dance gear, he walked to the bathroom. If he wasn't going to sleep he may as well do the thing he loved the most, and sort out the new choreography for their next song release.