A Little Slice of Heaven [Namjin]

Chapter Eleven: Of Spicy Cluck and Magic Hands

AN: Everything that was supposed to happen in this chapter didn't... turns out it is going to take another chapter to get to where I thought this chapter would take us.  Oh well. Enjoy, vote, comment!

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It was nearly six in the evening when Jungkook pulled his car into the second to last parking spot outside Spicy Cluck. The four men piled out, chattering idly as they made their way to the door of a restaurant that looked as though it needed at least twelve coats of a paint. The door squeaked a protest on old hinges as they filed in. They were met with a lopsided sign hanging from the front counter that invited them to seat themselves. Jungkook watched the incredulous expression on Namjoon's face as they moved through the crowded seating area to an empty booth made of chipboard and prayers.

"You weren't kidding when you said this was a dive," the blond said as he slid in after Hoseok. Above their red laminate tabletop, a light bulb housed in a dim green cone flickered weakly. Around them, the voices of the other patrons bounced off a ceiling that was not built for acoustics. "With this many people here, it must be good."

"Best chicken on Jeju," Taehyung supplied, snagging plastic menus from the holder at the window-end of their table and passing them around to the others.

"You'd think if they were this busy all the time, they'd spruce the place up," Namjoon murmured, flipping open his menu. His eyebrows shot into his hairline and Jungkook did his best to not laugh at the older man's expression. "Okay, well, that explains it."

Jungkook allowed himself a small chuckle, knowing exactly what Namjoon was surprised about as he opened his own menu. While Spicy Cluck was always crammed full of patrons, their prices were so low that he had often wondered how they managed to stay in business. They didn't have the money to fix the place up because they probably barely broke even. And yet, they refused to raise their prices. Jungkook wasn't going to question it, though; his pay wasn't exactly huge so he was perfectly happy to pay cheap prices for good chicken.

A harried looking waitress came up to their table and dropped off empty cups, motioning over to the fountain drink dispenser on the far side of the dining room. He could see her eyeing their nice clothing with barely contained curiosity, especially when her eyes fell on the strings of diamonds dangling from Namjoon's ears. Hoseok had insisted they all get gussied up and, while Jungkook was about eighty-five percent sure that all the jewelry Tae, Hobi, and himself were wearing were of the department store costume variety, Namjoon's wealth was real. Part of him wondered if that was why the blond stayed with his husband; maybe he was a gold-digger. It was only a small part, though. There was something about the dimpled newcomer that felt a lot more genuine that that.

Tae gathered all their cups and went to get their drinks after the waitress hurried off with their orders. Once he had settled himself back in the booth next to Jungkook, he blew the paper off his straw at Namjoon and grinned.

"So, Namjoonie-hyung," the groom started, stabbing his straw into the lid of his cup.

"Hm?" Namjoon twisted the end of his straw paper and promptly shot it across at Tae in retaliation. It caught in the younger man's hair, causing them to laugh. Jungkook reached over and pulled it off, rolling it into a ball and tossing it onto the table. He refused to admit that he did so as an excuse to touch the soft brown locks of his hyung.

With a smile of thanks to Jungkook, Tae returned his attention to Namjoon. "What do you do for a living? I never asked."

There was a hesitation in Namjoon's eyes as they waited for an answer. Jungkook slowly rotated his drink, wondering at a flush that was creeping across the older man's face.