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Not fucking again.
Hoseok's favorite parking spot, the one he's been using since he started working at the university, is taken, just as it has been every day for the last month. Maybe, if it was at least a nice car, he wouldn't mind, but instead it's a hulking black SUV, which had appeared out of nowhere four weeks ago as if placed there by some demonic soccer mom intent on ruining his day.
It isn't a long walk from the other spot he found, but he still shoots a glare at the offending vehicle as he passes, swinging his bag over his shoulder forcefully. The tiny Kumamon dangling from the rear view mirror seems to be taunting him.
His students are already warming up when he enters the studio. He claps his hands sharply, and they all look up. Park Jimin, one of his sophomores, loses his balance and falls over. "Jungkook, please help him up," Hoseok calls over his shoulder as he crosses the room to drop his bag. When he turns around, they're all still looking at him expectantly. "Get back to warm-ups!" He snaps, and they all rush to look busy, making him hide a smile. One would think that after an entire month of his class they would realize he isn't a hardass.
On his lunch break, Hoseok is talking to Seokjin, one of the other professors, when the other man seems to notice something behind him. "Oh, there's the new music production teacher! I think you'd get along well with him, Hoseok." He waves, and a moment later someone is sliding into the chair across from Hoseok, someone really fucking stunning.
Sitting down, it's hard to guess his height, but everything about him suggests that he's probably smaller than Hoseok. He's wearing round glasses and a black turtleneck, dark, messy hair falling into his face. He looks young, especially with his smooth skin and sleepy eyes. "Hello," he mumbles, taking a sip from the cup of coffee in his hand, and damn it, his voice is nice too.
"Hoseok, this is Min Yoongi," Seokjin says brightly. "Yoongi, Hoseok is the hip-hop teacher." Yoongi nods and extends a slim hand, which Hoseok takes almost reverently. His palms are rough and warm, and he pulls away far too quickly.
"Nice to meet you," Hoseok says, disappointed when he receives only a grunt of agreement from Yoongi. Nonetheless, he keeps up a smile, and the three of them manage to sustain polite conversation for the remainder of their break.
After that awkward first conversation, it doesn't take long for Hoseok and Yoongi to become friends. Yoongi proves to be just as stubborn and quiet as their meeting would suggest, but Hoseok persists and eventually he opens up.
Yoongi's morning class starts about fifteen minutes before Hoseok's, so he takes to stopping in to say hi. Sometimes he brings coffee, and Yoongi's students whine that they want coffee too until he glares at them, which is surprisingly effective. Once in a while he hears one of them say something as he walks out the door, often along the lines of "Professor, is that your boyfriend?" or "Professor, are you blushing?" and every time that happens he also hears Yoongi say some variation of "Kim Taehyung, if you don't shut up you're getting an F on your final." And every time it makes him grin.
One day, he's in the middle of a lesson when he notices someone at the door, and he almost falls over. He catches himself, of course, because he's been teaching here for three years for a reason, but the class seems to pick up on his move and everyone comes to a halt. "Oh, don't all stop just because I'm here," Yoongi says, suddenly looking a little flustered, and Hoseok thinks he sees Jimin topple over again, clearly not as adept at balancing.
"Jungkook, help him up again," Hoseok sighs, gesturing for Yoongi to come in. "What brings you here, professor?" Yoongi shrugs.
"I don't have any afternoon classes on Thursdays, so I thought I'd stop in and see if the great Jung Hoseok was as talented as they say."
"And what have you concluded, sir?" Hoseok says, hoping his outward playfulness will hide the fact that he really wants Yoongi's approval, although he isn't quite sure why.
"It wasn't terrible," Yoongi says nonchalantly, but the tips of his ears flush a little. "The dance looked complicated."
"It's really not," Hoseok says, and then he has an idea. "Do you want to learn the point move?" He's already dragging Yoongi to the center of the room, ignoring his splutter of protest.
"No, really, I just stopped in," Yoongi says defeatedly, avoiding the gazes of Hoseok's students. "I'm a music production teacher, I can't dance."
"You can rap though, right?" Jungkook asks, and Yoongi's eyes flit to him immediately. "You could do that instead." Hoseok files this bit of information away in his head and waves Jungkook off.
"Don't try to force him into anything," He scolds, shushing Yoongi when he splutters indignantly at the sheer hypocrisy of that statement. "Look, it's just a simple slide with your left leg and then you drop down and sort of hook your arm, see? It's easy." One of the students turns on the music and he demonstrates a few times, watching Yoongi's face intently.
"Fine," he sighs, throwing up his hands. "But don't expect it to be good." The class cheers.
Yoongi isn't bad, actually. It's pretty clear that dance is not something he does often, because he's stiff and awkward for the first few minutes. But as Hoseok guides him through the motions, hand resting lightly on his arm, he seems to get a little more comfortable.
Once, he trips, and Hoseok catches him without hesitation. Yoongi just sort of looks up at him like a deer in headlights, and Hoseok notices that he has light freckles spattered across the bridge of his nose. He already knows his students are going to make fun of him later.
After about twenty minutes Yoongi is able to do the move correctly, if not passionately, and the entire class congratulates him. Jungkook, with his cheesy fucking grin that kind of makes Hoseok want to strangle him, says "See, isn't Professor Jung a great teacher?" and Yoongi just lets out a nervous, breathy laugh and says yeah, he's alright. Hoseok feels like he could dance an entire ballet right then and there.
Sure enough, as soon as he leaves fucking Park Jimin is all over the place, eyes wide and smile even wider. Jungkook eggs him on, and they do some sort of dramatic reenactment of the dance that involves a lot of swooning and clutching of biceps. Hoseok suddenly wishes they'd stayed afraid of him.
The first snow falls a few days later, and after having to wade through snow banks up to his thighs, Hoseok decides to leave a strongly worded note on the windshield of the dreaded SUV. It's not vulgar, just...demanding. He signs it with the number of his new parking spot, just in case there's a response.
There is. An entire fucking letter, in fact. Okay, so it's not that long, but it's actually pretty well written, if Hoseok ignores the fact that it's basically telling him and his strongly worded note to politely fuck off. At least he thinks that's what it says; the handwriting is atrocious. The SUV is already gone, so he waits until the next morning to respond, a little more aggressively this time.
This goes on for a week. Hoseok doesn't mention the situation to his students or his friends, because the more he thinks about it, the more he realizes what he's doing is really petty and ridiculous. Of course, whoever's on the other end is equally extra. Their notes get increasingly pretentious and eloquent, which for some reason pisses him off more than the original rivalry.
His students seem to notice that something is wrong. After he yells at them four times in half an
hour, Jimin and Jungkook exchange a look that makes him nervous and approach him in a way that makes him...even more nervous.
All they say is that maybe he should go home early. "You don't, uh, seem like yourself," Jimin says softly, and Hoseok can't really argue with that. The whole class cheers when he tells them they're dismissed, but they all spare him heartfelt goodbyes and tell him they hope he feels better soon.
He's pulling out of the teacher parking section when he sees Yoongi, and he's about to stop and say hi when he realizes what kind of car Yoongi is standing in front of.
A hideous, clunky black SUV. With a Kumamon ornament on the rearview mirror.
Hoseok almost screams. Yoongi is holding a note, scanning it with confusion. As he reaches the bottom, a grin flickers across his face. Vaguely, Hoseok recalls that he actually called Yoongi a demonic soccer mom. Wait, he actually called Yoongi a demonic soccer mom.
Yoongi looks up, and Hoseok peels out so fast he thinks he can smell his tires melting. Fuck.
Maybe he doesn't talk to Yoongi for a little while after that. It's not completely unreasonable, he thinks, to react this way. Someone he considers his best friend, someone he had been about to consider his attraction to, drove a huge, ugly car. Oh, and he had been Hoseok's bitter enemy for months now.
It doesn't go unnoticed. Seokjin pops in to tell Hoseok they miss him at lunch breaks, why hasn't he been coming? He overhears Jimin, whose best friend is in Yoongi's class, telling Jungkook that Yoongi has been even more of an asshole than usual. Hoseok frowns at that, because he doesn't think Yoongi is ever an asshole. Except clearly, he is.
He starts parking farther away from the campus entrance, just to decrease the risk of having to look Yoongi in the eye and pretend that he doesn't want to simultaneously cuss him out and kiss him. It doesn't work. The last note he'd gotten had said "you snooze, you lose," and after that he stops replying, but he also starts getting up earlier, which is absolute hell.
One day, when Hoseok gets to school, the coveted parking spot is gloriously empty. He takes it without hesitation. Yoongi pulls up behind him as he walks away, but he doesn't spare a glance. You snooze, you lose, as they say.
His class seems to appreciate his sudden good mood. He does snap at Jimin and Jungkook, but they're just easy to snap at. Also, he distinctly remembers saying this was an individual warmup, and whatever sort of intertwined yoga position they were spectacularly failing at, while interesting, was not individual.
It's not until he's leaving that he realizes Yoongi saw him this morning. Yoongi knows why he's ignoring him, Yoongi knows he's been fighting with him through these stupid notes. Yoongi knows Hoseok called him a demonic soccer mom.
There's a note tucked into his windshield wipers, and he reaches for it hesitantly. He shouldn't be this nervous. Yoongi isn't even there, but somehow Hoseok thinks it would be better if he was, if he had been waiting to scream in Hoseok's face. It would make it easier to hate him.
He unfolds it with trepidation. This time, it's relatively short, just one sentence in that messy scrawl that, now that Hoseok knows it's Yoongi's handwriting, is cute rather than horrific. It still takes him a moment to decipher, but when he does he nearly does a double take.
if i'm such a soccer mom, why don't we carpool?
Below that is a phone number and a winky face, and Hoseok isn't sure if he should cringe, scream, or just smile really wide, get into his car, drive home, and then do the first two things.
He goes with the last option, and when he's done he saves Yoongi's number in his phone. His finger hovers over the "new message" button, and once again he feels like he's back in high school sending a risky text to his crush. Which is...exactly what he's doing.
Deciding to keep it simple, Hoseok just sends a short message. They can talk about the situation later, because dealing with emotions in a healthy way? What's that?
offer accepted, kelly
He gets a message back almost instantly.
oh so i get a special soccer mom name and everything nice :)))
give me your address, i'll pick you up tomorrow
He falls asleep feeling like his lumpy old mattress is built out of fucking...clouds or whatever. And yes, he knows clouds aren't really soft.
When Yoongi said he would pick Hoseok up tomorrow, however, he conveniently forgot to mention that he would be there at ass o'clock in the morning. Hoseok is woken rudely by the sound of the doorbell, and when he finally drags himself out of bed and stumbles to the door in a loose t-shirt and boxers, peering around it, who should it be but an immaculately dressed, pristine and lovely Yoongi. For a second, Hoseok thinks maybe it won't be so hard to hate him after all.
Fifteen minutes later he's in Yoongi's car, a cup of coffee warming his sleep-numb hands. "So," Yoongi says, and just that one word makes Hoseok's entire body tense. "Demonic soccer mom, huh?" Hoseok just sort of stares at him, not sure how to respond and also not really paying attention, seeing as Yoongi is distractingly pretty. He's noticed this before.
Suddenly Yoongi turns his head, and he's looking right into Hoseok's eyes, and his cover is clearly blown. Their gazes are steady, unwavering, maybe even meaningful for a moment, and then Hoseok sees the corner of Yoongi's mouth twitch and they're both laughing, heads thrown back and, in Hoseok's case, hands waving wildly.
Yoongi almost slaps his knee, but Hoseok fixes him with a death glare. "Eyes on the road, hands on the steering wheel," he reminds him, ignoring the fond sigh he gets in response. And just like that, he realizes Yoongi doesn't hate him. He's pretty sure he doesn't hate Yoongi either.
Hoseok has mixed feelings about the whole carpool thing. On the one hand, Yoongi continues to appear at his door far too early every single fucking day, and Hoseok spends the entire ride rubbing at his eyes sleepily and trying to pretend he knows what Yoongi's saying. On the other hand, Yoongi always holds the door open for him and glares at him until he puts his seatbelt on. And sometimes Hoseok looks up to see Yoongi staring back at him, gaze flickering back to the road and freckles standing out even more against his suddenly flushed cheeks.
He starts bringing Yoongi coffee again. Both of their students, who are all assholes, notice the change now that they're friends again. Jungkook and Jimin gang up on him even more than usual, since according to Jimin "if this buff dork can ask me out, you can do the same with Yoongi." They dissolve into disgustingly domestic bickering after that, but it gives him time to think.
Hoseok does like Yoongi, at least platonically. They have a lot in common, and he's friendly under that perpetually bored, lonely façade. Now that he's gotten over the whole parking spot thing, being with Yoongi is the highlight of his day. Even if he's not listening at all, Yoongi's gentle chatter during their morning commute is soothing, and his smile when Hoseok tries to pretend he knows what he's talking about is, frankly, breathtaking.
Hoseok does like Yoongi...maybe not just in a platonic way. But as their previous interactions suggest, he's not the best at dealing with his emotions. Jimin and Jungkook bug him until he admits it, and then they attempt to come up with various ways he could "confess his undying love," but they're all either ridiculously elaborate, uncomfortably sexual, or both.
Hoseok decides to just pretend the feelings aren't there until they go away, which works for about a week, and then Yoongi shows up in his afternoon class again. When Jungkook proposes a dance battle, instead of shyly agreeing like he did last time, Yoongi cocks an eyebrow at Hoseok. "The only move I know is what you taught me, but I'm in if you are. Unless you're too polite to go up against a rookie like me?"
Hoseok smirks and shakes out his limbs. "You wish, Kelly." His students exchange quizzical glances, and Jimin murmurs, "Is this some weird roleplay thing? Should we leave?" Ignoring them, Hoseok gestures for Jongin, one of the juniors, to start the music.
Yoongi has been practicing. As promised, all he does is the move he'd learned previously, but he's more fluid now, and his footwork is only hurried in one spot. When he finishes, Hoseok just stares at him for a moment, mouth open, until Yoongi starts blushing and shoves him. "Go, you ass," he urges, and Hoseok snaps out of it quickly, making sure he glares at Jimin and Jungkook to keep them quiet.
He drops with the beat as soon as it starts, letting the music take him over. At first he had intended to let Yoongi win, but quickly realized he could use it as a chance to impress him. Maybe. He can't tell if it's working, because Yoongi is a blur, melting into the mass of people as Hoseok whirls and sways.
When he comes to a halt, panting lightly, there's a moment of pure silence, and then one person starts clapping, followed by the rest of the group. Hoseok knows without looking that the first was Yoongi, and when he does look up, Yoongi's staring at him so proudly it makes his stomach lurch.
"Holy shit," Yoongi says, ignoring how some of the freshmen gasp innocently. "Well, we know who lost."
Hoseok gets up and, feeling daring, throws an arm around Yoongi's shoulder casually. "I don't know, class, what do you think? Professor Min's certainly been working on his moves."
"No, you won," Jungkook says matter-of-factly, and the majority of the class makes various noises of assent. Hoseok feels Yoongi shaking against him, and is almost concerned for a second before he realizes he's laughing. It's that deep, soft chuckle that makes his eyes crinkle at the corners, and Hoseok's feelings come back in full force, so suddenly he gets a little dizzy.
He can't take this anymore. Yoongi is so sweet, so thoughtful, so fucking pretty. He makes Hoseok feel warm and light, even half asleep and shivering in his car. One day, after he hands Yoongi his morning coffee and the older man fucking beams at him, turning away quickly to berate his students, Hoseok realizes maybe he loves him, just a little bit.
Instead of telling him, like the grown man he is, Hoseok sends Yoongi a text one night saying that his morning class the next day is cancelled and not to bother picking him up. Yoongi responds with a string of fucking hideous emojis. God, why is Hoseok in love with a man with such bad taste?
He times his arrival carefully, so that when he gets to school Yoongi's ugly car is already sitting in the once disputed parking spot. Glancing around to make sure Yoongi himself isn't lurking nearby, Hoseok slips a neatly folded note under the windshield wiper.
we're getting dinner tonight
pick me up at 7 in your ugly car
Yeah, that should do the trick.
The doorbell rings at precisely 7. Hoseok is ready, because he's learned by now that Yoongi is never late. When he opens the door, there he is, in a neat navy blue suit and one of those fucking black turtlenecks, spectacles balanced on his round nose. He looks fucking beautiful, as always, but Hoseok restrains himself and just says "What's up, Kelly? You look hot," and then remembers he's trying not to be a clumsy meme fuck.
Yoongi smiles sweetly and holds out his arm for Hoseok to take. "Not so bad yourself," he murmurs, leading him down the stairs to where that hideous car sits, looking like a death trap. "Your chariot awaits," Yoongi says, sounding like such a fucking dork that it makes Hoseok's heart clench.
Hoseok doesn't really remember dinner. They ate something, he thinks, but from the moment he gets in the car to the moment he gets out, everything is Yoongi. He hates himself a little bit for being so obsessed, and yet every time he looks at Yoongi he can't really blame himself.
Of course Yoongi walks him to the door, silence hanging over them for the first time all night as they pace down the hall towards Hoseok's apartment. They pause outside the door, awkward for a moment, and then Yoongi leans forward and up, his hand coming to rest on Hoseok's arm and his lips near Hoseok's ear.
"I was going to ask if I could kiss you goodnight, but I have a feeling it might escalate quickly," he whispers, and Hoseok covers up his sudden shiver with a laugh.
"Sorry, I'll only kiss my boyfriend," he shrugs. "Guess you're out of luck." He turns to the door, but Yoongi pulls him back, frowning up at him.
"Is that not what I am?" He raises an eyebrow, practically taunting Hoseok, who is violently suppressing the urge to scream with joy. "I assumed we were dating after you brought me my favorite coffee almost every day for two months and then stared at my ass while I danced your choreography."
"Shut up, Kelly," Hoseok grins, yanking Yoongi closer and adjusting his spectacles, which have been slowly sliding down his nose all night. "If I kiss you, will you agree not to wake me up before sunrise tomorrow?"
"Probably not," Yoongi says without hesitation, and Hoseok kisses him anyway.
Jimin and Jungkook know the minute he walks in the door. "You look like a Care Bear on crack, Professor Jung," Jungkook says bluntly, while Jimin laughs so hard he falls over yet again. Hoseok just beams at them and tells Jungkook to shut the fuck up and start his warmups.
Life goes on the way it has been for almost four months, but now Yoongi gets a kiss with his morning coffee, and when Taehyung asks "Hey, Professor, is that your boyfriend?" the response is...well, actually, the same, but Yoongi sounds fond when he says it. Now, Yoongi visits Hoseok's afternoon class regularly, meaning Jimin and Jungkook have even more to reenact, with just as much bicep-clutching as before.
And now Hoseok does his best to listen in the car, because one day he's zoning out and Yoongi snaps his fingers in his face, making him jerk to life. "What? What's wrong?" He slurs, sitting up in an attempt to look alert.
"Nothing's wrong, dumbass," Yoongi pouts at him. "Did you even hear me? I said I love you." Hoseok just kind of stares at him, eyes wide, and then splutters awkwardly.
"U-uh...eyes on the road, babe." He fucking hates himself, because Yoongi's dark eyes do so immediately, fixing on the horizon and staying there for the remainder of the ride.
Yoongi gets out of the car and walks away without a word, leaving Hoseok feeling like absolute shit. But then he thinks of every problem they've had in the past few months, and how all of them had been solved in basically the same way. Tearing a piece of paper from one of the many notebooks Yoongi has lying around his car, he scrawls out a message with the dying pen scrounged up from his bag.
i love you too, kelly
After Yoongi moves in, Hoseok finds that waking up at the ass crack of dawn is a lot easier when he has someone he loves next to him.