Chapter Text
ONE
The pretty man is hissing at the garlic again.
Jimin looks up from where he’s stocking shelves to see a short dark haired man, dressed in black from head to toe, standing where he does most evenings when he enters the store, hissing in the general direction of the garlic cloves in the fresh produce section.
He sort of reminds Jimin of a small angry kitten, the kind one sees when you spend hours scrolling through videos of animal rescues to make yourself feel better after your no good dirty rotten ex-boyfriend cheats on you but won’t stop trying to win back your affections after you kicked him out on his ass.
Or something like that.
Jimin wouldn't know, of course. (He does. The videos haven’t helped yet.), but that’s what the man looks like, tiny and fierce and trying to look more dangerous than he actually is.
It’s actually really cute, minus the hissing.
He watches as he stands there a moment, having a stare down with a vegetable, before nodding once and taking down his hood. He then shakes the rain off before grabbing a basket to do some shopping. He never stays long, only to grab some packets of ramen and an iced coffee drink and a few snacks.
Jimin has only been on the night shift for about a month so far, but he does think it’s a little weird that this has happened every other night that he can remember so far.
He continues watching him as he makes his rounds, scrunching his nose adorably as the aircon kicks on. He looks around as he considers his ramen options for a few seconds, and then picks up some Samyang and makes his way to the coolers. From there, he gets some chips and jerky and turns towards Jimin to make his way to the checkout counters, where an exhausted looking older man holds down the fort.
Jimin quickly averts his gaze as the man walks past, trying his best to look incredibly interested in the bottles of soy sauce as he passes. He waits a beat, then two, and turns around to look for him at the front of the store, peering cautiously around a display of seaweed snacks that absolutely do not hide him from anyone.
And sees him staring straight at him, dead in the eyes.
Jimin finds himself staring back, even though part of him tells him that he needs to look away. He can feel goosebumps erupting all over his arms as the shared gaze seems to get stronger, stronger, stronger, until the man’s eyes seem to glaze a deep red.
Then, out of nowhere, the connection stops.
Jimin blinks as the man turns back around, towards where his groceries are being scanned and bagged, and looks around for a moment as if to reassure himself he was still very much in the real world. His soy sauce was still on the floor, boxes half opened where he had left them. The lights were still on, his heart was still beating, the floor was still beneath his feet.
So what the fuck had just happened.
🦇
Later, on his lunch hour, he seeks out Hoseok.
“Hyung?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you get many weird people in here at night?”
Hoseok looks up from his laptop. The bags under his eyes are somehow deeper than the evening before, which reminds Jimin to text his brother and tell him to please pick up some extra shifts before his boyfriend dies of exhaustion. Namjoon and Hoseok have been dating for years and between the both of them trying to make it in the music industry and working another job on the side each, it’s brutal on their sleep schedule.
“What do you mean weird? Like the furries that stopped by Sunday? Because that’s just normal, Jimin-ah. It happens all the time.”
“No, not like that.” That had been something he had never experienced before, either, but this was....more. “Just. weird.”
“Define weird.”
Jimin chews on his lip before answering. “There was this guy earlier,” he starts. “I was in the condiments and he came in around midnight and started hissing at the garlic. I thought maybe he had been in before is all.”
Hoseok works in the back of the store, packing boxes of merchandise that the dayshift will ship out later the next day and doing inventory on the things they need to stock up on, so he’s rarely on the floor, but Jimin thinks maybe he’s seen him anyways.
“He always comes in around midnight, wears all black, never says anything,” he continues and takes a bite of his sandwich, trying to look nonchalant. “He also tries to fight the garlic bulbs. And he’s kind of small.”
He doesn’t mention whatever happened when they caught each other’s eyes, though. That was still something he was trying to convince himself actually happened.
Hoseok looks confused for a moment before he laughs brightly. “Oh, that’s just Yoongi.”
Yoongi. Jimin rolls the name around on his tongue. “So you know him?”
“Yeah, he’s a music producer. Your brother and I have known him since college. He can be a little quiet sometimes, but he’s a genius.”
“Huh.”
“Did you say he tries to fight the garlic?”
“Yeah. He comes in, hisses at the garlic, then goes about his business. I just wondered if we needed to be, I don’t know, worried?” Jimin just wants to be prepared. He doesn't get paid nearly enough to care, but he also doesn't want to get murdered, even if the guy is cute.
“Worried?” Hoseok laughs again and rubs at his eyes. “Jimin-ah, Yoongi hyung is the least threatening person I know. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“So what’s his deal then?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he’s allergic to it or something.”
Jimin picks at his sandwich. He had sort of been hoping for a deep dark backstory or tragic tale, anything to regale to Taehyung when he gets home later, but maybe Hoseok is right.
He watches him go back to his work and is just about to grab his phone to text Namjoon for more info when it lights up and a name flashes across the screen. It’s the seventh time in the last hour they’ve texted.
Jimin sighs and swipes it without a second thought. Messaging his brother can wait.