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Jimin loved it.
The fact that Hoseok slept in Yoongi’s room so often that is. It meant he could stay up watching anime all night without his stand-in father figure trying to smack common sense into him about going to bed on time.
Instead, Hoseok usually ended up in Yoongi’s room. In Yoongi’s bed, with his head on Yoongi’s chest and his arm around Yoongi's abdomen, holding him tight. Yoongi usually wound up scrolling on his phone and stroking the sides of Hoseok’s arms until morning. Not like he locked his phone and put his nose in Hoseok’s hair, smelling his shampoo until he drifted away. More like … he was looking at a tweet on his phone one second, then was blinking against the stabbing white light of morning.
And it was an almost weekly occurrence.
It was unclear when the arrangement started too. Maybe it was the first time they were drunk and collapsed on Yoongi’s bed. Hoseok kept insisting he was about to get up and go to his room, but Yoongi made the mistake of stroking his arm. Hoseok in turn nestled closer, smelling like liquor and mumbling about how warm he was. Then it was morning and Yoongi’s mouth felt like a middle-east desert, but damned if he was going to move an inch to fix it.
It could have been that time they watched a movie in Yoongi’s bed and fell asleep like that: his head on Hoseok’s shoulder and popcorn in their laps. Or even the time after a big show when they talked on Yoongi’s bed about their trepidations for the future. When Hoseok admitted he has trouble sleeping without stroking his arms or holding a pillow.
Whatever the start, it became apparent that Hoseok slept way better with Yoongi next to him. This resulted in merciless teasing from Seokjin and Yoongi alike, but he would be lying if Yoongi said he didn’t enjoy it too. So any time Hoseok sent him a text saying he couldn’t sleep, he sent one back.
”Come over”
This time was no different.
Yoongi looked tired all day. Hoseok half expected him to pass out the minute he got in bed, but when Hoseok slipped inside his room, Yoongi was staring at his phone blankly.
“Hey …” Hoseok called softly, subtly announcing to Yoongi that he was there.
Yoongi blinked. “Hey.”
Hoseok padded over to him, no rush behind his gait as he strode. It was weird that Yoongi was in his own room now. They started all of this when he shared with Seokjin, but despite the constant jokes, the eldest never really cared what they did. Now he’s all alone in this room and there’s nobody to see them. It was so comforting that Hoseok sometimes walked there on autopilot instead of his own room.
“Room for two?” Hoseok asked, finally meeting to edge of the bed with his thighs.
“Yeah.” Yoongi started to shift over, making room for Hoseok and dropping his phone somewhere as he did.
Hoseok hummed, putting a knee on the mattress as space was made available from him. “You looked exhausted earlier. Figured you’d be out by now.”
“Me too.” Yoongi didn’t tell him he expected this. That he’d wait for this. “Trouble sleeping?”
“Ever been so tired you can’t sleep?” Hoseok climbed into his bed in the dark. Like he knew his way around by heart. (He did)
“No.” Yoongi chuckled, watching Hoseok slide into the covers and pull them up to his chest.
“Sucks.” Hoseok mumbled.
They were quiet for a moment as Hoseok got settled. Yoongi pulled the covers up as well, but turned over on his side, propping his head up in his palm with an elbow buried in the sheets for support.
“Wanna talk?” Yoongi asked in a whisper, the conversation growing muted now that they were close.
He couldn’t see Hoseok. But he knew his eyes were sunken and the bags below them were laden. He knew he was tired. He could hear it and feel it.
“I dunno,” Hoseok sighed.
Yoongi pressed his palm across the sheets between them. “Whatever you want.”
Hoseok nodded, and he began to move. It was almost choreographed when they did it. Yoongi always waited to see where Hoseok was going, then adjusted. When he started to roll towards his side, Yoongi scooted in. He felt a hand on his hip and Hoseok pulled him closer until he was tucked under his chin and Hoseok could put a leg over him.
It was kind of cute, Yoongi thought, how Hoseok liked pressure on his stomach. Liked feeling him there against it.
“I’m just so stressed.” Hoseok muttered. “Can’t get my brain to shut up.”
Thoughtlessly, Yoongi put his nose on the skin of his chest, his lips hovering where the V of Hoseok’s t-shirt came together. “What’s it saying?”
Goosebumps rose on Hoseok’s skin as he spoke, but the second Yoongi touched him, he instantly relaxed. It took one long trail of his fingers down Hoseok's forearm, and the muscles came undone. They uncoiled and released like a squishy toy that was all scrunched up and left to slowly expand back to its original form. It felt nice to have him go slack to gentle strokes on his biceps.
“That I don’t have time to …” Hoseok paused when Yoongi put his lips to his collarbone, tilting his head a few degrees to do so.
Yoongi kissed it feather-lightly. Just a peck. Right at the end of the bone, where it pressed up aginst his skin in a gentle slope. Exactly where Hoseok always liked it. It was terrifyingly intimate, but it wasn’t the first time and it won’t be the last. All that mattered was Hoseok falling asleep, brain waves slowing from their riptide. Hopefully enough to let him go.
“Time to …” Hoseok repeated.
“Time to?” Yoongi exhaled the rhetorical question and felt goosebumps against his lips.
His kissed Hoseok’s skin again, soft and meaningless.
“Time … to …” Hoseok’s voice was barely audible. “To …”
“Yeah …” Yoongi encouraged softly.
Hoseok said something unintelligible and that was that. He gave up, loosened up, and his weight sunk into the mattress. It wasn’t long then until his breathing started to even out. His mouth fell open a touch and he took in slow, deep breaths. He probably looked really peaceful. He usually did when he started to fall asleep.
Yoongi didn't see his face, though. He kept kissing Hoseok’s neck until he was sure.
Then one more, just for good measure. He smiled against Hoseok’s skin. “Time to sleep.”
He got no response. Hoseok was out. Mission accomplished.
Yoongi hadn’t been sleepy before he got the text, but he already felt a little draw himself. So for once, he didn’t fight it. He let his eyes flutter shut, and his breathing slow until it matched Hoseok’s. In for four counts. Out for four counts. Just like a dance. Perfectly in sync.
And he drifted away for a little bit. Thick clouds of thought passed into his head. Thoughts about Hoseok as always. The first time he kissed him on the back of the neck and had to apologize. After that, when Hoseok chuckled and said it felt good. That it was relaxing. So Yoongi did it again. It was effective. It was intimate.
His thoughts wandered further. They wondered what it would be like to do more than that. To kiss the side of Hoseok's neck or his back or his jaw or his lips. He was too far gone to reprimand himself for the thoughts, a dream whisking him away like batter.
But not quite.
He heard a noise and sleep evaporated like a ghost in front of him. He opened his eyes.
He was on his back now and so was Hoseok, though his arm was still clutching Yoongi by the middle and Yoongi’s arm was under Hoseok’s head. It was kind of tingly from lack of bloodflow, but Hoseok seemed so pleasantly asleep that Yoongi opted for potential amputation instead of waking him. And there were no further noises to boot.
So he shut his eyes and started off again, hoping to walk right back into the comfy limitlessness of his head.
Except there was a noise again. A distinct one. The sound of Hoseok speaking. But not?
He blinked his eyes open, looking over to the barely larger man next to him. His mouth was ajar and moving the tiniest bit.
“Seok?” Yoongi asked in a hushed tone.
No response. A couple of groans at most.
He did this sometimes. Talked in his sleep. When he was extra stressed and tense that was. Yoongi always thought that sometimes Hoseok’s body was so ready to shut down, that it forgot to turn all the lights off before it did. Sometimes it left his mouth on.
Usually it was just nonsense mumbles about dolphin embraces.
Sometimes he was pretty clear.
“I give it a false review.” Hoseok stated groggily.
The corner of Yoongi’s lips twitched into a smile. “A what?”
Hoseok didn’t always sleep-talk back, but every now and then he would. Rarely ever made sense when he responded, but sure gave it his darnedest despite the roadblock of being unconscious.
“It means …” Hoseok shifted as he mumbled a few more words, turning to Yoongi and onto his side a little. “Means it’s fake.”
Yoongi twisted his arm, shaking some blood flow back into it now that Hoseok moved off of the spot he occupied before. He moved it down then and put his hand on Hoseok’s back, rubbing a circle onto his spine the way he knew Hoseok liked it. Knocked him out so fast.
“What’s fake, Seok?”
Hoseok grunted. Didn’t seem happy with the question. “Anything can be fake, Yoongi.”
Yoongi bit back a laugh. He was so entertaining when he spoke to him directly. Certainly some version of himself in Hoseoki’s dream was getting quite the lecture about fake news.
Then, thinking himself to be the funniest man alive, Yoongi said back, “Even love?”
Hoseok grunted again as Yoongi started to hum the chorus. He would be pissed if it woke him up, but Yoongi was having too much fun at Hoseok’s expense to care.
“Yoon.” Hoseok said lowly. He suddenly grabbed Yoongi’s shirt with his fingers, struggling to grip it in his sleepy state, but wanting to have a hold on him as he put his face into his chest. “Don’t joke about that.”
Yoongi furrowed his brow, the singing cut short. He gently drew some lines up Hoseok’s back, feeling the muscles squeeze and tense up below his hand. Not necessarily in response to the tic-tac-toe Yoongi was playing on top of them, but just all over Hoseok’s body.
“Seok?” Yoongi whispered.
Hoseok got quiet, but still held onto him tightly. Yoongi traced broader strokes on Hoseok’s back, hoping to calm him down from whatever weird dream he was having. He hoped it hadn’t turned sour because of his few off-key notes.
Hoseok was quiet, but after a moment, he started babbling nonsense again. The words broken up by pauses, but slipping out again as quickly as before.
“Hyung.” was all Yoongi could make out.
“I’m right here.” Yoongi turned, craned against the angle to kiss Hoseok’s head. “It’s just a dream.”
All at once, Hoseok sprang to life.
His eyes popped open first, taking the surroundings in as every part of his body shook into liveliness. He moved, letting off Yoongi’s shirt to grab the sheets on the other side of him and hoisting his body over top of Yoongi’s as he did so.
“Oof - Hey -”
Hoseok straddled him and grabbed his phone, blinking against the terribly bright light of his screen when he brought it to life, then putting on the flashlight.
“Fuck -” Yoongi exclaimed, throwing a hand over his face to block out the alien teleport beam of light that just slapped him in the face. “What the fuck?”
“Shit.” Hoseok flicked it off, tossing the phone away as fast as he had acquired it, then collapsing back down on him. “Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.”
“You’re …” Yoongi paused, moving his arm to see Hoseok shoving his face into his chest. “Are you okay?”
“Mhmph” Hoseok affirmed into his shirt.
Yoongi was a little bewildered, not sure what to make of the happening. But Hoseok seemed to have calmed down, so he took his hovering hand and put it on his back like before. He drew an arc under Hoseok’s shoulder blade and watched his breathing go from erratic to stable.
After a solid thirty seconds of Hoseok taking in the scent of lavender detergent off Yoongi’s clothes, he picked his head up.
“Sorry,” Hoseok restated, only catching Yoongi’s eyes for a second before turning and putting his cheek to his chest. “Bad dream.”
Yoongi nodded. “And flashing me with God’s light is usually what you do when you wake up?”
“No, I just …” Hoseok exhaled. “I was just making sure you were still here.”
Yoongi grew confused. “Uh … Why would I leave? This is my room.”
“Well, in the, uh, in the dream …” Hoseok calculated his syntax for a second, proceeding slowly. “I was like …” He paused again, “I guess we were living together in a house and you kept telling me that pandas were going to come out of the earth and eat us all so we should leave.”
“Seems legit.” Yoongi joked.
“Yeah, well, apparently it was. I kept telling you it was fake, but you were right and the pandas came so we had to evacuate.” Hoseok suddenly found the dream a little funny, loosening up as he laughed. “And then we went to these escape pods or whatever, but in the chaos they pushed us to different … like boat things or whatever. And they put me in a pod, and I couldn’t see you anymore. I woke up terrified.”
Yoongi lightly pressed his thumb into Hoseok’s back, rolling it down across bumps and dips and divets. Hoseok let out a relieving moan and his weight got a little heavier on top of Yoongi.
“Aren’t pandas herbivores? They eat bamboo.” Yoongi pondered. “Man, your dreams are fucking wild.”
“It’s the -”
“Stress.” Yoongi finished for him. “You gotta quit thinking about it.”
Hoseok tilted his head, moving it into the crook of Yoongi’s neck when he did. It was nice. Hoseok started shift up an inch or two and Yoongi decided to help, tugging on his leg with a free hand to bring him closer.
Again - intimate. Really intimate. Scary intimate. Like sirens-flashing-that-this-is-a-bad-idea intimate.
“Can’t.” Hoseok said into his neck.
Yoongi paused, his fingers reaching the end of Hoseok’s sleeping shirt. They ghosted along the hem near his shorts, and almost without him willing it, they curled over the edge. He lifted Hoseok’s shirt just enough for his hand to slip under it, then pulled more as it caught on his forearm when he ran his hand back up.
Hoseok sucked in air, but didn’t move. He let Yoongi run his fingertips against the bare skin of his back without protest. Then Yoongi dug in a little bit.
“Oh,” Hoseok gasped. “Dude, ah.”
“Sorry. Is this …” Yoongi paused. “Is this okay?”
“Yes …” Hoseok pulled back, staring at Yoongi’s jaw. “I, uhm, I like it.”
“Okay.” Yoongi was tentative, but started again. “Gotcha.”
Yoongi’s other arm joined him on Hoseok’s back, tracing road maps on his skin until his shirt had ridden all the way up to his shoulders. Then it was just bare skin against the air. His back was an open canvas for Yoongi to sketch on. He’d never been much of an artist, but suddenly wanted to put every geometric shape he could fathom onto Hoseok’s muscles.
Then he felt something else. Hoseok’s lips on his neck.
It felt … too good. Too soft. Too reassuring.
“Oh,” Yoongi breathed.
“Oh.” Hoseok echoed. “Is - is this okay?”
Yoongi turned his head, looking at Hoseok so close. So distinct in the darkness. So defined like he was actually there. Well, yeah, duh, okay. Because he was actually there. Just inches from him and kissing up his jaw. Kissing his chin.
Then Yoongi caught his lips and he was kissing him. Mouth to mouth. Right there in his bed.
“Ah.” Hoseok breathed, barely any separation between their mouths when he did.
“Is this okay?” Yoongi asked quickly.
“Yes.” Hoseok pressed his lips on Yoongi’s in the quiet, parting again to speak. “I like it.”
“Mm.” Yoongi wanted to grin.
But Hoseok had other plans. He tugged on Yoongi’s side, and with essentially no resistance from the older man, rolled them over, pulling Yoongi on top of him. He put a hand on the back of his neck and kissed him more firmly. Yoongi couldn’t get enough of it, so he kissed back, settling himself back against Hoseok’s raised thighs.
It didn’t last long. Seems that wasn't where this was ending. Hoseok took his hands off Yoongi and planted them at his sides, pushing them upwards.
Yoongi kept kissing him, moving with Hoseok as he sat up. His arms stretched behind him, and Hoseok’s shirt fell back down, not all the way, but it seemed like neither of them cared.
Which made sense. He was in Hoseok’s lap and they were kissing like a romantic comedy. Neither of them cared about anything really.
Once they were up, Hoseok put a hand on Yoongi’s side, holding him as closely as he could. He took Yoongi’s lower lip too, pausing when he did just to feel a reaction. It came in the form of Yoongi gripping Hoseok’s shirt. He took handfuls of it and pulled him in like fishing line. Hoseok’s brain started to swim at that so he let go of his lip and they kissed again.
Their mouths were more open, but that was it. Nothing and everything.
Hoseok let his hand slide down. It rode the curve of Yoongi’s waist and came to a stop on his hips. He felt Yoongi’s grip on him loosen up too, but they were still kissing. He tilted his head and Yoongi did too. They moved harmoniously, and when they met again, Yoongi pushed his ballot. He licked into Hoseok’s mouth at the connection and it felt like an electric shock.
“Ah.” Hoseok exhaled.
Yoongi paused. There was a tide and their mouths drifted apart. He looked down at Hoseok through half open eyes and cocked his head. “Is this okay?”
“Fuck.” Hoseok answered off script. “Holy wow okay.”
Yoongi might have giggled at that. It’s up for debate.
But without argument, they did kiss once more. This time with the tips of their tongues dipping past boundaries. Nothing twistingly dramatic, but he loved the feeling so much. It was sweetness on Yoongi’s tongue and it pushed a fraction of dead space between their lips where they were sliding.
But most importantly, Hoseok was relaxed. Nothing in him was worried right then. He was calm and easy Under Yoongi. No stress.
Sure, a little weird that it took Yoongi putting his tongue in his mouth, but he won’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
And then it stopped. The noises of kissing bounced off the walls one more time, and their eyes stayed shut, but they just stopped. Breathed the same air. Felt relaxed with each other.
It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about it either. He thought about it a lot. People said they’d kissed when they were drunk once. Something about Hoseok saying he hadn’t kissed a boy before (a bold lie) and Yoongi crawling across the couch to take one off his bucket list. But that was silly and stupid. This was jarringly vulnerable in comparison.
He felt flushed.
“Seokie.” Yoongi said.
A pause, then, “Yeah?”
“Pandas are vegetarians.”
“... What?”
“I just remembered. They’re biologically carnivores that choose to eat plants. So …”
Hoseok smiled. “So it sounds like we should kiss some more before they eat us all.”
“Seems legit.” Yoongi smiled too.