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Seokjin’s eyes were wide as they peered through the sliver of open space left by the closet door- the crack barely wide enough for him to see anything. His ears were ringing loudly and his heart was about to beat out of his chest-
He was in quite the predicament, his rash, not-so-thought-out plan biting him straight in the ass as he hid in a stranger’s closet, for God’s sake-
His thoughts strayed to where he had previously been just a few minutes prior, power-walking down a random hallway of his apartment complex to escape. It wasn’t even the correct floor but he had thought that maybe it would distract his stalker long enough for him to slip away unnoticed. He should’ve known that it would backfire on him; as soon as he had heard the shrill ‘Oppa’ from down the hall, he had seen a chance and taken it, just to have it come back to slap him right in the face.
His genius plan had been to duck into a random stranger’s apartment for just a few minutes, the door had been left cracked open even, long enough to hopefully elude his crazy ex-girlfriend but luck was just not on his side that day at all- He had been waiting just inside the doorway, hadn’t even bothered looking around much after the initial quick sweep with his eyes to make sure no one had been in the immediate area of the kitchen or the living area. He had collapsed against the wall, breathing hard and heavy from the sudden weight of the situation he was in, and how it couldn’t possibly get any worse. After a few moments, he had heard bags rustling just outside the door, and he had darted into the hallway closet as fast as he could, barely closing the door in time to see a man walk into the apartment and close the door behind him with his foot, arms still struggling to hold all of his bags of groceries.
He was so screwed, so royally fucked. He tried his best not to panic, fear creeping up his spine as he tried to be as quiet as possible. He debated just coming out, and trying to explain the situation to the supposed owner of the apartment who was unaware of Seokjin hiding in his coat closet like a big creep, but he just couldn’t make his limbs cooperate. He hadn’t been able to see who had walked in the door, and he honestly didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing. He tried hard to hold back a sigh- it didn’t matter. Anyone would react the same way to finding a random guy in their closet; there wasn’t much hope for him getting out of this without the campus police being called on him.
He just had to do his best to not be found.
Which proved to be easier said than done, as he heard the door shut all the way and the lock being clicked. A chuckle almost escaped his lips-
Fate really did hate him today.
The minutes he waited felt like hours, years, decades. A thin layer of sweat had settled against the nape of his neck; his body was starting to stiffen from not moving for so long. He tried breathing as quietly as he could, but in the measly confined space surrounding him, it sounded like he was gasping for air, even though his inhales and exhales were as gentle as possible.
The man must be finished putting up groceries- even though the door was cracked was as wide as he dared, from his current angle he couldn’t quite see the kitchen area as well as he would’ve liked. He would just have to wait it out. He strained to hear what exactly the man was doing, his flushed ears contrasting heavily against the pale skin of his neck. He could only hear the muffled ruffling of grocery bags. His best bet was to leave when the man retreated to a different room. He would try to listen for any noise of a door opening or closing.
Luckily, finally, he heard the low screech of a door knob turning, and a moment later the soft click as the door was closed. Seokjin just barely held in the large breath that wanted to escape his lungs; he wasn’t clear yet. He carefully pushed open the closet door, ever so gently, and slid out of his hiding place. He reached for the door, hand shakily making its way to the handle. Almost free-
A loud yell behind him startled him, and he would’ve just hurriedly unlocked the door and scurried out had it not been for the weird sound behind him. A loud thud, and a splat, followed by a wet sound- what the-
“W-what are you d-doing in my apartment, hyung?”
He barely recognized the voice, slowly turning to accept the consequences of his actions. His eyes were drawn to the floor, where a white liquid was spilled all over the floor, stray droplets dripping from the nearby cabinets. The container was settled just a few inches from a pair of sneakered feet, now drenched from the spilled milk. The shoes seemed vaguely familiar, his gaze traveling up lean, muscled legs hidden behind a layer of jean material, sweeping over a tight stomach and exposed biceps, across enticing collar bones-
“H-Hoseok.” He muttered dumbly after he finally recognized the well-defined cheekbones and strong jaw.
Seokjin really couldn’t have had any worse luck than this- He hadn’t seen Hoseok in months, their schedules hadn’t matched, and now they finally cross paths and the younger man must think he is complete creep after catching him leaving his coat closet.
Seokjin had always had a small crush on the younger man. Namjoon had introduced them, but they had never made plans to hang out other than meeting by chance at mutual friend outings. Hoseok was literal sunshine, always smiling and joyful, and Seokjin had been drawn in like a moth to a flame. The older man had always admired him. Even though he’s only seen Hoseok during his dance practices a few times, he could tell that beneath the surface, the younger man was a perfectionist in his craft, and his fierce determination to succeed was easy to read from every move he made.
Seokjin flushed deeper, suddenly realizing he had been staring for a least a few minutes. “I-I can explain.”
The blonde mentally cursed himself, only guilty people said things like that. He wasn’t guilty of anything, well, except the breaking and entering part. But he had been desperate, surely Hoseok would understand. He was distracted by one thing, however.
“Uh, do you want to change your pants?”
The brunette looked down, startled, gasping in surprise. “Oh no! That was supposed to last me for the rest of the week!” He cried out, bending down to pick up the now almost empty jug of milk. He carefully stepped over a bit and threw it in the garbage. He was muttering about his now ruined pants, and Seokjin saw his hand sweep under the hem of his shirt, over the dark gold button fastening his jeans together. He barely caught himself in time to not lick his lips.
“What are you doing?” He managed to ask, his voice shaky- Hoseok stopped momentarily before continuing to push the jeans down, revealing a pair of dark, baggy boxers.
“I don’t want to get milk everywhere- my washer is right here.” He replied simply, shuffling as carefully as he could over to a side of the kitchen previously obscured from Seokjin’s hiding place. Hoseok heaved a sigh as he dumped the pants into the small machine before reaching for the detergent. “Guess I’m not wearing those later.” He joked, trying to lighten the mood. “Why are you here again?”
Seokjin stared at the younger man like a deer caught in headlights in the middle of the night. “Well, you see, I was on my way home…” His hands twitched, and he clenched them tightly. His ears were still stained a bright red, and it didn’t seem like they would return to normal for a good while. He had to busy himself, staring straight at his crush as he described prior events of breaking and entering did not settle well.
He moved forward and grabbed a few paper towels from the roll sitting on the counter, and kneeled down to start cleaning up the spilt milk. He ignored Hoseok’s amused stare. “I was coming home from my last class, and I ran into an ex-girlfriend of mine.” He stopped short, silently debating if he should reveal the entirety of the situation. Hoseok’s gaze changed to pure curiosity, and Seokjin figured that after all of this, it was best to come clean as much as he could. “I broke up with her because I’m gay. I couldn’t pretend anymore. I was exhausted- but she never accepted it. She’s completely crazy. Anyway, she’s pretty much been stalking me since then, and to throw her off, I got off the elevator at a different floor than mine. Unfortunately, she was close to finding me somehow; I saw your door open and ducked in. I only wanted to stay a few minutes until she was gone, so I stayed at the door. I panicked when I heard you coming in and rushed to hide in the closet.” He hung his head lower, focusing on cleaning up the remaining spillage. Saying all of that out loud was so embarrassing, A soft dusting of rose covered his cheeks now.
Now, here he was in this awkward position- he had revealed he was gay to his crush, had somehow managed to hide in his crush’s apartment, and had also made said crush spill a half gallon of milk all over the bottom of his pants and across his kitchen floor from startling him.
His head snapped up when he heard the sound of badly muffled laughter, and frowned at the sight of Hoseok’s lips pressed firmly together, his cheeks red, his jaw trembling. The younger man’s shoulders shook and he couldn’t contain it any longer- a loud burst of laughter escaping his lips that were pulled into a wide smile. He brought a hand up to try to stifle the sound, but it was no use. Seokjin just puffed his cheeks in annoyance and went to grab more paper towels.
“Does that mean-“
Don’t you fucking do it, Hoseok.
“-that you literally came out of the closet.”
Seokjin picked up the entire roll of paper towels, aimed, and chucked them quickly at Hoseok’s head.
Direct hit.
Hoseok had felt sorry for him, so he had said Seokjin could stay as long as he needed to, as long as he treated him to coffee later that week. The younger’s pants were now currently in the dryer, and, much to Seokjin’s relief, he had slipped on another pair of lounge pants. The blonde figured he had overstayed his welcome, but Hoseok didn’t seem to mind. The milk was already cleaned up, and Hoseok had even refused Seokjin’s offer to buy him more.
“Trust me dude, for that story, it was worth it-“ He had explained, which resulted in another random object being thrown at him. This time, a pillow from the couch.
They talked for a bit, about previous gatherings they had mutually attended, Hoseok’s dance competition coming up that weekend, some of Seokjin’s practice scripts- The blonde was starting to get comfortable, but had to stop himself. He felt like enough time had passed, and stood abruptly, smiling over at the younger man.
“I’d love to stay, but I think she’s gone now so I should get going.” He explained, briefly confused by the look of disappointment that flashed across Hoseok’s face.
The younger followed the blonde to the door, and Seokjin turned back around. “I really, really appreciate you not calling the campus police on me and for letting me hide here. You have no idea how annoying my ex can be.”
”It’s no problem, it was nice to have company for a little while, we should hang out more often. Just the two of us.” Before Seokjin’s ears could flush with red once again for the third time in one afternoon, he turned quickly and opened the door, peering out to look down one side of the hall. He stepped out further but froze when he heard a yell from the opposite side, a shrill voice scraping against his ears.
“How dare you make me wait out here for so long! We have so much to discuss and if you would stop running away-“ The girl cut off with a gasp as she saw a man emerge from behind the blonde, watching with wide eyes as he slid a hand over Seokjin’s hips and leaned in close, ghosting his lips over the length of a wide shoulder.
“Babe, who’s this?” He asked, loud enough for the girl to here. He stepped closer, ready to pull Seokjin away.
The girl stood silent for a few moments, but before Seokjin could think properly to formulate any kind of a reply, she rushed away further down the hall, toward the elevators.
She was now gone, but Hoseok had yet to pull away.
“Looks like you owe me, again.” The younger man firmly planted his lips against Seokjin’s warm nape, muttering against the heated skin. He reluctantly pulled back a moment later, shuffling to the very closet Seokjin had been hiding in barely an hour early, and returned with one of his hoodies- he offered it to the blonde, who still had a blank look on his face. "Use this just in case she's still out there or something. It has a big hood."
Seokjin just nodded, shrugged on Hoseok's favorite hoodie, the smooth fabric of the hood brushing against his heated cheek as he pulled the hood up.
The back of his neck still burned from where Hoseok's lips had touched.
Hoseok was in a daze- had been for the past week. His mind was still having trouble processing the crazy events that had had happened at his apartment just a few days ago. He had stopped to get groceries after visiting his parents over the weekend, had gone a little crazy and bought too much, but he had been in a good mood. He made one trip, and before getting the rest of his bags from the car, he had heard a voice call out to him.
One of the newer students from his dance class had greeted him, and made small conversation for a few minutes. They parted ways, and Hoseok continued on with his day, returning to his apartment dorm with the rest of his bags.
He liked his dorm- it was pretty spacious, because he had been pretty lucky with the upperclassman raffle. He was supposed to put the groceries away, take a shower, and have some cereal for dinner because he was too tired to make anything else.
What he had not accounted on was for an intruder to be in his place. He could still feel the exact moment his heart had almost leaped from his chest in utter terror. He vaguely remembered the cold splatter of milk across the bottom of his pants and over his socked feet. His body had frozen, his mind in a panic-
But as the figure had turned around, just as startled as he had been, he relaxed just a bit, as a familiar face came into view. He was kicking himself for not recognizing the older man from his wide shoulders and slim waist, but now it made sense that they belonged to Seokjin.
He had met Seokjin through Namjoon, although they had never really became deeper friends other than acquaintances, only running into the each other during mutual friend social gatherings or the rare times he caught glimpses of the other man when Seokjin visited Jungkook and Jimin at the end of their dance practice.
The story of why Seokjin had been in his apartment had given him mixed emotions. On one hand, this girl must be pretty freaking delusion to keep stalking Seokjin, enough to where he had outweighed being caught by the authorities over her. On the other, Seokjin had revealed that he was gay, and something fluttered inside his chest. He didn't quite know why- sure, he was gay himself, but he had never told a single person, and even though Seokjin was really good looking, he had never viewed him that way.
At least, he guessed, until now.
He still remembered briefly talking to Seokjin after the older man had cleaned up the mess he had made. He had felt relaxed, and open- there hadn't really been a chance for them to have a conversation to themselves out with friends.
When Seokjin had gone to leave, that high-pitched voice had echoed over the hall, and Seokjin had tensed up so much, Hoseok had thought that the older man was going to snap in half. He acted without thinking, stepping closer to him, invading his personal space-
But this girl had annoyed him, why couldn't she accept that Seokjin was gay? Maybe she didn't believe him- Hoseok could help with that. He normally wouldn't act like this, would never make such a bold move, but a wave of possessiveness had coursed through him, and suddenly his hands were over Seokjin's small waist, smaller than he had expected, always hidden by a hoodie or baggy shirt. They slid down to rest on his hips.
As he now walked home from class, his hands felt empty. He yearned to touch Seokjin again.
But, as he remembered running his lips over Seokjin's neck, he missed that feeling most of all. He had daydreamed often of his soft skin against his lips, and questioning how the older man's own would feel against his. He was kicking himself for not trying harder to make a deeper connection with the blonde.
He had vaguely remembered that Seokjin said they lived in the same campus building, but he hadn't gotten his room number, and their complex was quite large. Hoseok had too much to focus on to go try to track him, and the fact that he hadn't seen Seokjin around at all made it feel like their schedules conflicted too much for Hoseok to wait around the lobby. He would just have to make up for lost time when they met up again.
He accidentally bumped someone and was startled from his thoughts. He apologized to the nameless face, but when he looked up, a scene behind the stranger caught his attention.
Seokjin was sitting at one of the picnic tables near the side of one of the campus buildings, he vaguely remembered it being the drama department, his head cradled in his hands. Hoseok's chest fluttered when he realized that the blonde was once again wearing the hoodie that Hoseok had given him.
But the sight of the girl next to him made his insides boil. It was Seokjin's ex girlfriend. It looked like the blonde had been trying to study but was rudely interrupted and the man had just given up, running would not help him.
Seokjin rubbed his face with his palms and sighed, looking up, catching Hoseok's gaze. The brunette couldn't ignore the pleading look in the older man's eyes-
He found himself at the edge of the table before he realized, and the girl looked up at him, a look of shock on her face.
"I would appreciate it if you would stop stalking my boyfriend, miss." He smiled, but the threat was implied. The girl didn't reply, and Hoseok didn't wait for her to. He turned to Seokjin, his hands twitching to reach out for one of his shoulders but he fought the urge since they were in a very public place. Instead, he reached for Seokjin's bag and picked it up.
"Did you forget our coffee date?" He said cheerfully, silently urging Seokjin to catch on. Their coffee plans weren't until tomorrow, but if they had an excuse to escape from the girl-
The blonde did look confused for a moment, before making an exaggerated face of realization. "Ah, I'm so sorry Hoseok, I was trying to study for an important test coming up and lost track of time. You even had to come look for me-" He tsk'd, standing up quickly, startling the girl. "Ara, please. We're done. I tried it with you, but I just can't lie to myself any longer. Please understand, I will never like girls. It's not just you." He took Hoseok's arm and lead him away, body tense.
He couldn't look back. He knew that the girl would most likely be crying and if he saw her, his strong front would more than likely come crashing down. Ara had come to him first and asking him out. He had conflicted feelings, but Ara had begged him to give her a chance- she had been sweet, but she wasn't for him. Being with her had actually helped him make up his mind- he didn't like girls in that way. It wasn't surprising to him, but it had been for Ara. She didn't take it well, and continued to pester him even though Seokjin had tried to be firm that they were done.
A hand slid over his own, intertwining their fingers. Seokjin was brought out of his thoughts as the brunette smiled at him.
"Is this okay?" He asked lowly.
Seokjin began to relax.
"Yeah, it's okay."
Everything would be okay now.