Joon turned to where Ava and Jungkook stood arm-in-arm, the leader of Noon Mool slipping out of his thoughtfulness. "I've a few rounds to make. Don't get into too much trouble." He winked at Jungkook, who grinned mischeviously back at him.

Then Joon held out his arm. Shae hesitated, but took it.

Joon lead Shae into the chattering crowd and slid with poise into a small pocket of conversation. Shae was reluctantly fascinated by Joon's effortlessly commanding, diplomatic aura in this new setting. A human rights debate popped up between three leaders in their conversation, and Joon conducted himself with such persuasive magnetism that it gave Shae a fresh reason to feel speechless in his midst...and to once again feel confused about whether or not despising Kim Namjoon was 100% justified.

____

Meanwhile, Jungkook downed the rest of his glass, then set it nonchalantly on a table next to him. He smacked his lips in satisfaction at the taste.

"Good?" Ava was feeling coy, and the flirtatious slant of her shoulders in Jungkook's direction only said as much.

"Yes." Jungkook took a deep breath, exhaled slowly with his hands on his hips, then stated rather abruptly, "Gotta use the men's room now."

Ava's shoulders slumped. "Uhhh.... Sure. Of course."

In a flash, Jungkook was gone.

"Story. Of. My. Life." Ava sighed. She reached for a glass of her own on a nearby table and, forgetting etiquette training altogether, downed the whole drink in one go. She put the glass down with a heavy CLUNK and considered which lightly pigmented drink she should try next: purple or pink?

"Ah, you're one of the new pets!" A man with crimped red hair and a goofy, shameless grin was now leaning into Ava's personal space where Jungkook had just been. His mischievous eyes flickered downwards, then back up at Ava's face.

"Oh, right." Ava stretched out a lazy hand.

The man took it, bowed, and gave her hand a dramatic kiss—his head tilting back up at her in that same uncaged smile.

She frowned down at him.

"Jung Hoseok's the name. And you, consort of Noon Mool?"

"Ava." The eff is this guy?

"Looks like your date's ditched you, Ava." He laughed, triggering Ava's purest annoyance. "Jungkook's really not as smooth with the ladies as he seems. After about ten minutes or so, he runs out of things to say, and that noggin of his just," Hobi gave Ava's forehead a gentle flick with his finger, "boop. Reset. And then he makes a quick retreat. Poor kid."

Ava had a few thoughts running through her brain at this point: who the eff is this person getting all up in my personal space, and how does he know so much about Jungkook? Also, where the heck is Jungkook?!

She looked Hobi over more carefully. He wore a floral suit jacket, white blouse, black pants, and glinting golden boots. It all looked both oddly juxtaposed with his red hair, and yet somehow perfectly right.

His long face, his arms, his legs, every part of him ticked with careful expression in it. As obnoxious as she found him, she couldn't help but admit that he was mesmerizing to watch.

Ava asked, "Where are you from again?"

"I didn't say," Hobi grinned tauntingly, "but I tell yah what. If you choose me for the first dance, I'll tell yah a juicy secret about your Noon Mool palls. You won't find it anywhere else! Sounds like fun, doesn't it?"

"I'm usually into games. I'm not sure about this one that you're playing." Ava gave a vague gesture up and down in Hobi's direction.

"Well the first song is ladies' choice, so if you choose wisely, you might get something good out of it. Or you can always dance with that old guy over there who keeps checking you out."

Ava rolled her eyes.Turns out men can be annoying AF in any dimension.

____

Where Shae stood at Joon's arm, she had shifted from reluctantly admiring Joon's suave diplomacy, to eavesdropping on Ava and the animated stranger who had struck up a conversation with her.

Shae had overheard Hoseok's offer towards Ava, and she couldn't help but wonder what it was that this odd red headed fellow knew.

Joon was mid-sentence with an elderly couple on major atmospheric shifts and their impact on crop cultivation at different altitudes, when his gaze drifted to Shae, then to where she was looking.

"Oh, would you look at the time. Please excuse us." With a bow and a curtsey, Joon guided Shae over to where the man in the floral suit jacket was now attempting to explain the experience of flying solo to Ava.

"You almost died?" Ava mused, feeling marginally less annoyed by now. If nothing else, it was nice to have someone so eager to talk to her, even someone as weird as this guy.

"Well, most people do ok. The only time I tried flying with a jetpack, I ended up strapping the pack on upside down. So once I was in free-fall I had to manage the controls backwards--which is no small feat, lemme tell yah. Did I wet my pants because I thought I was gonna die? Yeah. Granted, I was also ten...."

"Awww, how terrible!" Ava gave a genuine laugh. 

Shae couldn't help but smile a little as well at the lovely oddity of this young man as she and Joon approached.

When Hoseok noticed Shae's warm gaze and Joon's proximity, his joyful expression vanished. Disdain fell into his features. The phrase "if looks could kill" flashed through Shae's mind.

It was then that Shae realized that this expressive stranger was the same scrutinizing face she'd spotted earlier in the crowd as she'd descended the staircase. Her heart skipped a beat.

"Well look at what the storm gutters drained in," Hoseok said, his smile and voice haughty now instead of friendly.

"Hobi."

"Joon."

"Who's your guest? She's prettier than the last one you had."

"This is Shae. I see you've met Ava."

Hoseok smiled warmly in Ava's direction. "Delightful."

Ava felt unsure of her smile now.

Shae continued to hold Joon's arm, and noticed that Joon's hand was balling into a fist.

Hoseok went on, "It's too bad Yoongi couldn't come."

"Oh?" Joon forced calm into his voice.

"Yeah, we both know he'd have murdered you on sight if he had."

The silence was deafening after that statement, save for Hobi's barking laugh.

"So where's your escort for the day, Hobi?" Joon asked stiffly.

"Oh, she's around here somewhere. She's the independent sort, so." Hoseok shrugged.

An abrupt rush of sound trumpeted through the hall, swallowing all of the conversation and announcing the first dance.

There was a flutter of voices in the room as the women began to ask their partners to the dance floor.

Shae gently slipped out of Joon's arm. She hardly knew what she was doing, but she was determined to get answers--and she didn't fully trust Joon to give them.

As Shae moved, something like terror sank into the pit of Joon's stomach. He started to reach for her, to hold her back, but hesitated.

Shae walked over to the man with the crimped red hair. She stretched out her hand, and gave a demure curtsy. When she looked back up at Hoseok's long face, his eyes were narrowed.

He took her hand and, without a word, began to lead her onto the dance floor. Their eyes stayed fixed on each other's as they walked, both of them suspicious.

As they walked away, Joon slammed one of his fists into his thigh. "Gha!"

Ava looked over at Joon. She thought that she could recognize that look of romantic dejection on his face. Personal experience was a fine teacher.

She grabbed two drinks from the table, and handed one to Joon. He took it. She clinked her glass against his. "Bottoms up, lover boy."

Joon ignored her comment.

They both threw back their whole glasses. Then they stood there, shoulders slumped in slightly, each inhaling and heaving a heavy sigh at the same time.

Ava took the glass from Joon's hand and put them back onto the table. Then the feisty woman in emerald green started pulling Joon by his perfectly tailored suit jacket towards the dance floor, before he even knew what was happening.

"You better not step on me with your big ass feet," she said.

As absurd as he felt...Joon couldn't help but laugh a little.

They joined the dance.