The sun had set during their walk so now the only lighting was the cool streetlamps on each corner. The lamps blasted them with an unnatural blue light and highlighted each flaw on the pavement, obnoxiously reflecting against shiny silver plastic litter and broadcasting the stumpy orange cigarette butts that gathered in the crevices between pavement slabs.

Jungkook let out a puff of cold air in a small cloud and stopped behind Namjoon, watching the white fog disperse into the air as he waited for his friend to speak.

"This is it," The man gestured a gloved hand to a brick building. It had been half plastered a blue grey on the bottom floor, the top floor was bare brick and appeared to be residential.

Jungkook stared blankly at the large sign above the window. "Joon, this is a bar,"

He hummed in agreement, pushing the door open and sliding his gloves from his hands and clumsily plunging them into his coat pockets as they were hit with a wall of warmth.

Jungkook hesitantly stepped in, his shoes gripped tightly onto the heavily glossed floor, forcing him not to drag his feet as they neared the tables and bar that matched the same glossy look.

There was the low hum of music and chatter, not too busy because it was a week night and Jungkook was sure it was not the closest bar to their dormitories with how far they had walked so their fellow students had better places to be.

"This is where you are going to meet someone who can keep you busy so you stop distracting me with your incessant questions while I'm studying," Namjoon smiled, unzipping his coat.

"But how? This isn't a gay bar, I don't want to talk to a straight guy," He complained quietly, glancing around the barren room. There were two people seated at the bar, two men, with a few seats between them and a couple of tables were filled with small groups of people.

"You're fine with pestering me about it though,"

"That's different, you won't judge me,"

"I'm judging you," Namjoon rebutted before leaning into his ear. "Now, you see that guy? We aren't leaving until I see you talking to him,"

Jungkook glared at him, lips sightly parted in disbelief.

"Meanwhile," He hummed, shrugging his coat of and leaning to see the back of the room. "I'll be over there,"

Jungkook looked up to see three young women who appeared to be around their age, talking to eachother happily.

Before Jungkook could complain anymore, his friend had left.

He pursed his lips and reached to unzip his coat, too uncomfortable to take it off completely but his skin tingling in response to the sudden change in temperature from outside.

His eyes slowly adjusted to the shiny red wood that seemed to make up the majority of the interior, only disrupted by the carpets beneath the tables and small square abstract paintings on the walls.

The gloss reflected the warm yellow lighting from above and added to the heat Jungkook was struggling to adjust to.

Nervously he stepped closer to the man, sparing a look to Namjoon who gave him a reassuring nod as he pulled out the bar stool and stepped up onto it.

This caught the man's attention, who turned to him.

His first thought was that he was attractive, which he promptly kicked himself for.

The man was only half turned towards him, broad shoulders angling more to the bar than him as he looked over his shoulder to see who was intruding his space.

Jungkook stared back at him for a couple of seconds before offering a small smile, his mouth suddenly dry. "Um, hello,"

"Hello," The man smiled back, though it seemed more mocking than friendly, taking a sip of his drink. "Can I help you?"

"I uh, yeah," Jungkook gulped, feeling the thick varnish of the bar against his palm as he hopelessly clutched onto the slippery wood. "I know you're probably straight but I need you to flirt with me so I can leave,"

"Excuse me?" He chuckled, turning to face Jungkook fully with his head rested on his palm.

"It's not gay if it's practice," Jungkook defended, feigning confidence despite the retching twist in his stomach emerging with each second this man stared back at him.

His hair was long and wavy, strong brows barely visible through the slight kinks that tipped each strand, framing his dark eyes. Jungkook found himself struggling to distinguish his pupils from his irises, seeing just two lifeless circles staring back at him, never seeming to blink.

Or maybe they did and Jungkook was too busy internally panicking to notice.

"Sweetie, you really think I'm straight?" He smiled, a bemused glint crossing his eyes before he looked away to sip his drink.

Jungkook used the opportunity of his broken eye contact to respond. "Yes?"

The man looked back at him. "Well your gaydar is off, darling," He gave a small wink.

Jungkook noticed that his tanned skin was ever so slightly pink across his cheeks, indicating he was already a little tipsy despite acting sober.

Jungkook wet his lips.
What the fuck is a gaydar?

"Should I assume yours is on...?" He managed.

"Always. Especially with cute little things like you wandering around," He cooed.

"I'm not cute. I'm manly,"

"Awe sure you are sweetie," He said, intertwining his hands behind his back to stretch before straightening his posture and using his left hand to twirl the brown liquid of his drink around the wall of his glass, his right arm laying lamely on the bar surface.

"I sure am," Jungkook snapped holding the man's free arm down to the bar.

He quickly realised he had no plan with this and felt his chest tighten as the man raised an eyebrow at him, shaking his hand off easily and placing his on top, rubbing his thumb over his skin. His larger hand easily smothered Jungkook's own. "There's no shame in being cute, especially when you're a bottom,"

"I'm not a bottom." Jungkook said sternly, a frown tugging at his lips.

"Sure about that? You seem like a little try hard, inexperienced, bad boy bottom to me," His voice was deep and smooth, perfectly agreeable if what he was saying didn't piss Jungkook off so much.

Jungkook felt a twinge of shame and annoyance. "You got the bad boy bit right but no way am I a bottom. You however, I could see you bottom any day,"

"Oh really?" He gave a lopsided smile and pulled a pen from his pocket. "Then call me, we can see who's really top,"

The man flipped his wrist over easily, scribbling his number over the soft skin. "But just know you're gonna get fucked; I always win,"

"In your dreams you always win or maybe because you've never seen a real man like me," Jungkook grumbled, looking down at his wrist to check the numbers were legible.

"I'm probably the most dominant man you'll ever meet but your attempts are adorable so I'll let you have your fun," He said, taking the final sip of his drink and letting the glass land back on the counter with a dull thump.

"Oh yeah?" Jungkook said, leaning forward and raising an eyebrow, trying to appear more intimidating.

"Of course, why? Would you like to prove it now rather than later?"

"Watcha proposing?"

The stranger lifted a hand to gently press beneath Jungkook's chin. "I'm proposing I fuck you til you learn who's in charge," His voice was lowered and more intimate, almost husky, leaving Jungkook fighting off an embarrassed blush.

"And- and what will you do when you realise it's me, huh?"

"That won't happen sweetie," He grinned, ruffling his hair. "You'll see for yourself soon enough,"

"Gonna have to turn you down for now. But you could always leave me with a reason to call your soon submissive ass," Jungkook said, feeling his nervousness fade slightly as his focus changed to the man threatening his masculinity.

"I don't bottom," He stated plainly, focus drawn to the bartender as he called him over, ordering two drinks, lifting his hand to gesture the number as he did.

"Well get used to it because the only one getting utterly fucked, is you,"

"Remember these words when you're screaming for me to go faster," He chuckled, egging him on.

"Who says I'll even let you get fucked by me? I have a certain amount of skill I expect," Jungkook bluffed, distracting himself with the drink placed beside him and hoping his inexperience wasn't too obvious.

"Bottoms don't need skill, just a nice ass,"

"You obviously never had a decent bottom then," Jungkook said lifting the glass to his lips and instantly regretting it as his throat burned I response to the golden liquid.

He tried his best not to cough or let his eyes water as the man watched him with an amused smirk. He waited a moment for Jungkook to regain composure before speaking again.

"I only fuck people who are my type, they're usually stubborn bottoms like yourself so it's not surprising they have no skills, or that you don't for that matter,"

"I'm more skilled than you'll ever be" Jungkook boasted, running his finger along the corner of his glass coolly, as though that same drink wasn't far too strong for him a moment ago.

"I've never heard of a skilled virgin before, shame you spoiled it, would have been a nice surprise,"

"Not a virgin like you," He muttered looking past him at Namjoon who was somehow still speaking to those girls as though he hadn't crashed their table.

He let out a loud laugh, his lips stretching into a squared smile. "You sound like a child. You know if you actually had any confidence in your abilities you wouldn't feel this pressing need to validate yourself,"

Jungkook pursed his lips, glaring down at his free drink and debating whether he could stall by taking another sip or whether that would make him look stupid because he would cough again. He could take a tiny sip but then that itself would look stupid beside this man's large unaffected swigs of the beverage.

He looked up to see him patiently waiting for a response, the amused gleam in his eyes never faltering. Jungkook shuffled on the spot before answering, "Validate myself, please, have you heard yourself lately?"

"Perhaps but I'm quite enjoying the show. Watching you scramble to defend something you've never had, it's cute,"

"Well take a good look at your so called 'show' because it'll change when you can't walk cos you've been fucked so good by me,"

"With all this talk why don't you prove it? You're all bark but you haven't touched me this whole time. You scared?"

Jungkook shrugged and wet his lips, trying to appear smug. "Dunno what I'd catch,"

"Cooties?" He cooed, taking Jungkook's glass from his grasp and nudging it to the side as he leaned forward.

No gentleness remained in his hold as he gripped Jungkook's jaw and firmly pressed their lips together.

Jungkook could hear his pulse throbbing in his ears as he clutched onto the edge of the counter. Before he could catch up with the situation and think of kissing back, trying to use the limited knowledge that he could gather online, the other man had begun to move away. "Adorable,"

"Shut up. I should be saying your attempt was adorable, you didn't even use any tongue," Jungkook countered, resisting the urge to lift his hand and touch his lips.

"I would have if your mouth wasn't closed as tightly as Pandora's box," The man snickered. "With all your talk I expected the tension in your lips to be as weak as your attempts to assert dominance,"

"Only because I wasn't expecting it, asshole. I'm a great kisser,"

The stranger patted the bar with a hum as he stood, reaching to pinch Jungkook's cheek. "Sure you are sweetie, but as much as I love to tease a hot bottom, if I'm not getting lucky tonight, I might as well head off,"

He patted his cheek lightly where a red mark remained from his fingers and shrugged his jacket on. "Call me if you've got the bottle to,"

Jungkook watched his back as he walked to the door, turning to wink at the barman with a slight smile as he pulled the door open and stepped back outside into the cold.

His stare lingered on the door until he saw the man through the window, walking quickly down the street until he was soon out of sight.

"So he was gay then?" His friends voice made him jump and he turned to look where the man was sitting, only to see Namjoon in his place.

Jungkook sighed and nudged his drink to Namjoon, the edge clinking against the two empty glasses that were left behind. "Yeah, he was also a dick,"

"But he kissed you; how was it?"

"I dunno, it was okay I guess? I wanna go home,"

Namjoon hummed and tried the drink he was presented with. "We go home on one condition,"

"I let you work?" Jungkook interrupted with an eye roll.

"Two conditions: one, you let me work, two, you think about this and don't pretend it didn't happen, yes?"

"Fine," Jungkook agreed, letting his foot drag across the foot rest of the bar stool.

"And you have to agree or I won't show you the way home and you'll be stranded here all night,"

"I already agreed just take me home," He whined, avoiding eye contact with the bartender as he zipped up his coat and turned to the exit.

07/02/22