"good evening, you have reached the blindfold's landline. how may i help you?"

"yeah, i'd like to book a table for two today evening. would that be possibleㅡ?"

"let me check our reservations for tonight and get back to you, sir."

bullshit, jeongguk thought to himself, though he waited patiently nevertheless. with your reviews, you must be empty enough to host a six-year-old's freaking birthday party.

"sure."

"we have some space today, sir. what time would you like to book for?"

not too early, not too late. "eight?"

"eight. may i have your names, please?"

"yeah. jeon jungkook and ... jimin."

"... i'll be needing jimin's last name, sir."

lee? park? kim?

"i'll get back to you."

···

GUKIEMONSTER
hey uh jimin

MINIEMOUSE
who is uh jimin

MINIEMOUSE
is uh even a legit surname

GUKIEMONSTER
hey speaking of surnames!!!

GUKIEMONSTER
what is urs??

MINIEMOUSE
shin ??? shin jimin ???

MINIEMOUSE
haven't i told u already ????

GUKIEMONSTER
nope

MINIEMOUSE
okay but is "uh" a legit surname i'm actually curious

MINIEMOUSE
like i mean "oh" is a legit one

GUKIEMONSTER
it's not

MINIEMOUSE
okay so that's just u being weird

GUKIEMONSTER
it is

MINIEMOUSE
thumbs up emoji

GUKIEMONSTER
that's my thing wtf

MINIEMOUSE
no i made it ur thing

GUKIEMONSTER
but it's still my thing???

MINIEMOUSE
i'm ur thing

GUKIEMONSTER
truth

MINIEMOUSE
okAy are you done arranging stuff

GUKIEMONSTER
arranging what

GUKIEMONSTER
my iron man socks???

MINIEMOUSE
wow you had to bring that up

GUKIEMONSTER
i smell jealousy

MINIEMOUSE
no u smell socks

MINIEMOUSE
they practically smell the same i understand the confusion

GUKIEMONSTER
they are scentless socks thank you

MINIEMOUSE
i'll be the judge of that

GUKIEMONSTER
eating, talking and sock-smelling

GUKIEMONSTER
what a romantic date this is going 2 be

MINIEMOUSE
ok but are u done arranging for it tho :-////

GUKIEMONSTER
give me un momento desu

MINIEMOUSE
oui si

···

GUKIEMONSTER
booked a table for 8:00 :)

MINIEMOUSE
HYPE LKJSDLASKD

MINIEMOUSE
i guess i'll need to know ur name then :-)

GUKIEMONSTER
not really no

MINIEMOUSE
whAT

MINIEMOUSE
GUKIE I CANT JUST GO "yeah hi i'm jimin and i have a table booked with gukie"

MINIEMOUSE
THEY'LL KICK ME OUT

GUKIEMONSTER
why dont you say that & see what happens ;D

MINIEMOUSE
GUKIE

GUKIEMONSTER
when you get there, just give your name to the booking dude or whatever ok

GUKIEMONSTER
i'll take care of it :)

MINIEMOUSE
or you could just tell me ur name

GUKIEMONSTER
nah

MINIEMOUSE
6 MONTHS GUKIE

···

it wasn't a bad-looking place.

maybe jeongguk took reviews a little too seriouslyㅡhe'd kind of expected a rundown building that couldn't afford lighting, thus the dark dining.

after a few minutes of scrutinizing its exterior, he pushed open the entrance's door, a soft jingle of bells signifying his arrival. he took a moment to look around the room before closing the door behind him.

it was not a bad-looking place at all.

the dining room must have been separated from the entrance area, as the room he was standing in was emanating a soft, warm glow instead of being immersed in complete darkness as the dining area was said to be. it was, in a sense, aesthetic. jeongguk hadn't much knowledge on the subject of aesthetics, but the setting was definitely pleasing to his eye.

his inner theorist kicked inㅡwhat if the dining area was ugly and dingy and unkept because all the restaurant's earnings had been spent on beautifying the entrance room? was that why they'd introduced the concept of dark dining in this restaurant, to hide the repulsiveness of the unfinished room? not to mention that there was only one other guest thereㅡa considerably tall man who looked vaguely miffed, foot tapping the floor impatiently.

jeongguk distracted himself from his slightly disturbing thought process by pulling out his phone, fingers automatically opening the texting app. he tapped on his most recent chatㅡa conversation with seokjin in which he'd gloated about bagging a face-to-face date with 'that online girl', as the older had stubbornly insisted on calling her.

good luck, seokjin's last message had been.

i will, jeongguk had replied.

"that doesn't even make sense," he muttered to himself, clicking his tongue. a soft tap on his arm diverted his attention from his phone screenㅡjeongguk tried not to start too violently, but probably failed as the man who had called him chuckled slightly.

"excuse me, sir," he began smoothlyㅡprobably a waiter, though jeongguk couldn't help but find the huge goggle-like things he was wearing a bit ... out-of-place. "i'm sorry i surprised you, moving around silently is part of my job."

"no, it's cool." jeongguk tried to hide his curiosity towards the glasses, but was probably staring at them a bit too intensely for it to be considered normal behavior. the waiter must have noticed, and explained good-naturedly,

"it's enables me to see in the dining roomㅡthe pitch-black part isn't a joke. do you have a reservation?" he added.

"right. yes." jeongguk cleared his throat. "for jeon jungkook and shin jimin?"

the waiter pulled out a notepad and flicked through its contents, and jeongguk took the wait as an opportunity to interpret his name tagㅡjaehyun. though why a name tag would be useful for anyone in complete darkness, he didn't know.

jaehyun finally looked up with a nod. "and you are?"

"jungkook. jimin should be arriving ... shortly." he glanced down at the display on his phoneㅡ20:07.

"of course. i request that you switch off any mobile devices and anything else that may produce a light, for the sake of the effect of dark dining."

jeongguk powered-off his phone. "that's all i got."

jaehyun smiled one of those unnerving waiter smiles. "lovely. would you like to come with me?" he motioned towards a set of doors, presumably opening into the dining room.

"there's just ... one thing." jeongguk chewed his lip as if hesitant.

"if you're afraid of the dark, sir, i highly suggest you back out."

"no, no!" jeongguk let out what he hoped was a manly laughㅡadmittedly, waiters intimidated him a bit. "i just have a small request."

"go on."

"jimin doesn'tㅡ" jeongguk leaned closer to jaehyun, who seemed moderately surprised, probably not used to guests confiding in him about anything (which was understandable enough). "jimin doesn't know my name."

"ah," jaehyun's brow furrowed, "romantic."

"right? i've told her to give her name when she arrives here, could you just show her to my table when she does? i'd appreciate it if you didn't mention my name to her, haha."

"it's against our policies to let in people without proper confirmation," jaehyun began, before making finger guns at jeongguk and winking. "but i'll make an exception. come."

jeongguk scampered after him as he glided over to the doors, a few extra waiters scattered around near it. jeongguk devoured the names pinned to their shirtsㅡtaeil. doyoung. donghyuck.

jaehyun handed his notepad to doyoung. "escort the person who gives their name as jimin to mr. jeon's table," he instructed.

"totally against the rulebook, but you're the man, jae."

a tinkling of the entrance bell caught jeongguk's ear, and he looked over his shoulder casually, careful not to expose his face in case it was jimin. he tried not to feel too dejected on seeing it was a maleㅡa significantly short one, tooㅡwho was almost immediately ambushed by the restless man he'd seen before when he'd entered the restaurant. maybe he'd kept him waiting too long?

would jimin keep him waiting too long?

"sir?" jeongguk turned back to the expectant waiter, whose arm was extended for him to hold. "shall i show you to your seat?"

jeongguk took the offered arm with a nod. "yes, thank you."

jaehyun placed a hand on one half of the set of oaken doors and pushed it open.

they stepped in, the door swinging shut behind them and cutting off the one source of lightㅡjeongguk almost wanted to let go of jaehyun's arm and back away, appreciate the light more before he was completely deprived of it.

he didn't.

after that, all was black.

[ + ]

lmao i think u can guess whats about to go down