Archive of Our Own

“I thought college was supposed to be better than high school,” Jimin mutters, steepling his fingers below his chin, eyes narrowed as he watches three letter jackets disappear into the crowd of students in the cafeteria.

Taehyung forces a small laugh to brighten his friend’s mood. “It is. High school was constant bullying, this was just one time.” He looks over his shoulder to see if he can still spot the head of curly chestnut brown hair, but it’s lost in the crowd. “And nobody has ever stopped them before today.”

Jimin purses his lips and crosses his arms, ignoring Taehyung’s sentiment. “Those fuckers need to grow up, they’re too old to be calling people fags in the middle of a crowded cafeteria.”

“Nobody is too old to be a bigot, Chim.” Taehyung looks down at his hands, worrying his lip between his teeth.

Noticing Taehyung’s dismay, Jimin drops his irritation and reaches out to grab Taehyung’s hands. “You want to play some air hockey?”

It has always fascinated Taehyung how well Jimin knows him. “Yeah,” he chuckles, grabbing his bag, “let’s go.”

As they walk back towards their dorm Taehyung stares up at the tall buildings, Jimin’s music playing in one of his ears through their shared headphones. Both of them had decided to be roommates, against the pushed sureties that they’d hate each other if they lived together. They moved in a week ago, excited to start their first year of college together. He loves the freedom that comes with being on his own - living in the dorms and taking care of himself. The only downside is that the stigma that had plagued him in high school seems to have followed him here. People were somehow able to figure out that Taehyung is gay, which doesn’t really bother him too much, he’s been out for years. But the snide comments made by the jocks earlier still hurt.

In high school, it was always Jimin that would tell them off. His wit is ridiculous and he can make any tough guy cry if he wants. But this time, when the jocks picked on them, it wasn’t Jimin that shut them down. It was a boy with curly hair and kind eyes in a letter jacket matching the bullies’.

It surprised Taehyung at first, to see this guy stand up for him like it was nothing. He told them to cut it out when they shouted at Taehyung, and he pulled them away when they made rude gestures. The boy didn’t acknowledge Taehyung when he rescued him, but it still meant a lot to him.

He expected too much from college and had hoped people would somehow be different here. But, of course, those jocks were carbon copies of the boys from high school that shoved him into lockers - well, not all of them.

Taehyung can’t help but smile at the image of the boy stepping in.

Maybe they’re not all bad…

When Taehyung steps into his astronomy class for the first time, he isn’t sure what he was expecting. He is painfully… unimpressed. It’s just a lecture hall with rows and rows of auditorium style seats going up a slightly slanted floor. No stars, no telescope- he can admit that his expectations were a bit too high this time...

He takes a seat in what he judges as the center of the chairs. He sets down his backpack and fishes out his notebook as he pulls up the small desk attached to the chair.

Just as he is settled, somebody else takes a seat in the row in front of him a few seats to his right. The boy has chestnut brown, curly hair and Taehyung can’t help himself. He leans forward slightly and immediately recognizes the boy’s profile. It’s the boy from the other day, the one that stopped the jocks.

If he didn’t acknowledge you earlier, he definitely won’t now.

And Taehyung is right. The boy doesn’t spare him a glance, he just takes notes and stays quiet. Granted, Taehyung is seated behind him. He probably just hasn’t noticed Taehyung - if he even remembers his face.

This time, Taehyung can’t help but feel a little disappointed. He should thank the boy, but he’s scared he’ll be told off or misunderstood. He’s had boys run from him because they thought he was trying to get into their pants when he said hello.

So Taehyung sits back and pretends he hasn’t noticed the boy. He takes notes diligently, listening to the professor’s lecture as he mentions homework being due the next class period. They have to go to a computer lab to complete it, as the program for the assignment is only on those computers.

After classes, Taehyung finds the computer lab closest to his dorm and steps inside, searching for an open computer. He sits near the wall and waits for the twenty year old computer to slowly reboot. He pulls out his phone and scrolls through his messages finding a slew of messages from Jimin asking where he went.

Jiminie: werent we gonna grab lunch???????????????

Taetae: I’m sorry! I forgot :( I’m in the computer lab working on some homework we can get food after

Just as Taehyung sets his phone down, it buzzes again.

Jiminie: welllllllllllll

Jiminie: im already getting lunch???? this guy offered to eat with me bc he said and i quote “i am too cute to pass up”

Taehyung’s eyes widen in surprise and, though he doesn’t mean to, he takes in an audible gasp. He’s suddenly very envious.

Taetae: You bitch. School just started and you’re already getting dick

Jiminie: :P

Just as Taehyung is typing out that he needs to meet this mystery man, his computer turns on. Somebody takes the seat next to him and a letter jacket catches his attention. At first Taehyung feels fear course through him, until he realizes the boy has curly brown hair. He swallows and takes his lip between his teeth. He keeps his eyes on his computer screen and tries not to draw attention to himself, he doesn’t want the boy to move if he recognizes Taehyung.

He begins working on his project, easily finding each menu on the program to answer the questions in his book.

Just as he’s reaching his halfway point, somebody lightly taps his arm. Taehyung jumps, afraid he’s done something wrong, or perhaps he was thinking out loud. He looks to his right and sees the boy from earlier looking at him sheepishly.

“Sorry… could you help me for a second?”

After recovering from the shock of seeing the boy’s face up close, Taehyung nods jerkily, trying to fight the blush rising to his cheeks.

Stay calm Taehyung, stay calm. He’s literally just asking you for some help with the homework. It’s fine! It’s fine! He scoots his chair over to see the boy’s computer better.

“I can’t find the planet menu,” the boy murmurs, his mouse flickering over each tab.

“Oh, yeah, that one is tricky.” Taehyung takes the mouse being offered to him and directs him to one of the tabs on the far side. It really isn’t that hard to find, but Taehyung isn’t about to demean the guy.

Once he has the small menu opened on the boy’s screen the guy smiles and thanks him before turning back to his work. Taehyung wishes they had a longer conversation, but who is he to think that boy would want to speak to him longer than necessary. Talking to Taehyung could damage his reputation.

Half an hour later Taehyung finishes his homework and begins to put away his things. The boy is still next to him working, and - he doesn’t mean to be creepy, but - Taehyung peaks at the top of his paper. Jung Hoseok.

Taehyung can’t help but find the name suiting.

Taehyung doesn’t expect to see Hoseok again until class, but is surprised to catch a brief glimpse of him as he walks out of Taehyung’s dorm building the following day. He doesn’t glance at Taehyung, but Taehyung spies a fraternity logo on his shirt.

I wonder what he’s doing at the dorms if he lives in a frat house… Taehyung thinks as he steps into the elevator. Must be visiting his girlfriend.

When he steps into his dorm room, he’s surprised to see two people inside, rather than just Jimin.

“Taehyung!” Jimin calls, grabbing Taehyung’s hand and pulling him further into the room.

The stranger is seated on Jimin’s bed, his phone in his hand but his eyes trained on Taehyung. He looks bored and like he doesn’t want to be in their dorm, but Taehyung still smiles at him. “Hello, I’m Taehyung.” He assumes it must be a friend Jimin made.

The stranger nods politely and might have been about to introduce himself, but Jimin speaks before he can.

“This is Yoongi hyung.” He waves towards the boy with platinum blonde hair. “He’s the guy that bought me lunch the other day.”

“Oh,” Taehyung says bowing his head slightly. “Thank you, I was supposed to meet him and forgot, I owe you.”

Yoongi snorts, showing a spark of emotion for the first time. “I think I owe you, if you met up with Jimin I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to meet him.”

Jimin beams and jumps onto the bed next to Yoongi. “He looks all tough and scary, but he’s really sweet once you get to know him.”

Yoongi rolls his eyes, but doesn’t push Jimin away when he leans against his side.

“That’s… great guys,” Taehyung chuckles as he sets his bag down on his desk chair. “I’m really glad you made such a nice friend, Jiminie.”

Jimin giggles cutely and begins speaking to Yoongi in a quieter voice, so Taehyung takes that as his cue to step out of the conversation and find something else to do. He grabs his laptop off his desk and pulls his headphones from his backpack.

“Wait, where are you going?” Jimin suddenly asks as Taehyung moves towards the door.

Taehyung looks over his shoulder, realizing Jimin is speaking to him. “Oh, I was just going to let you guys chat while I worked on homework in the lounge.”

“You said you didn’t have homework earlier,” Jimin mumbles, his lip pouted.

“I don’t have anything due tomorrow,” Taehyung clarifies. “I just don’t have anything better to do, so I was going to work on my paper for my lit class.”

Jimin jumps down from his bed and says, “Why don’t you come get lunch with us, that’s why we were waiting here anyways.”

Taehyung glances over at Yoongi to make sure it’s okay that he comes, but the elder is observing the wall of Jimin’s drawings. “Okay,” Taehyung responds, shrugging. “Where are we eating?”

They end up at the sandwich shop across the road, all sitting at a rather small table, munching on their food in silence.

After eating half his sandwich, Taehyung decides the silence is a bit too heavy. “So,” he starts slowly, wiping his mouth with his napkin. “What’s your major, Yoongi-ssi?”

Yoongi shakes his head and sets down his sandwich. “Call me hyung, I feel too much like an adult when you use formalities. I’m a business major.”

“What made you want to do business?” Taehyung asks.

Yoongi shrugs, brushing crumbs off the table idly. “My dad wants me to take over the family business, and he’s paying for this education, so here I am.”

Jimin frowns and tilts his head, seeming to catch onto Yoongi’s downtrodden tone. “Is there something else you’d rather do?”

“Music,” Yoongi responds immediately. “I want to be a producer, but dad said no and I guess that’s okay, it’s not like it’s my life or anything.”

Taehyung presses his lips together. He knows the feeling well. His parents weren’t very supportive of him going to school to be an author, they knew it isn’t a very steady job. But they kind of forgot about that once Taehyung was outed for being gay on social media - that issue took up a lot of their brainspace, it seemed.

Before he knew it, Taehyung was being pulled out of his head when Jimin mentioned how often he zones out - he hadn’t realized time had passed. He focuses back in on the two in front of him to see them both staring at him and immediately flushes red. “Ah, sorry.”

Jimin rolls his eyes and waves him off, but Yoongi seems to react differently. He only smiles slightly before looking back over at Jimin. Taehyung wasn’t sure how to take that, but he decides to let it go before he stresses himself out over it too much.

“What were you saying?” Jimin asks, leaning his elbow on the table.

“My friend Seokjin always wanted to be a model, but his parents made him go into accounting, so I guess it happens all the time. He’s really into arts - paintings, photography, dancing, singing, all that mess. But his parents have him learning about numbers and playing soccer.”

“That’s a shame,” Jimin mumbles. “You should introduce us to him some time, since I’m an art major I would love to use him as a model.”

Yoongi smiles at that. “I’ll let him know. He’s always happy to model, we just met this freshman that does photography and Jin’s hardly let him pick up a camera without asking to model for him, poor kid. He’s either too shy to say no, or he just doesn’t care… We’ve been trying to get him out of his shell.”

“It sounds like you have nice friends,” Taehyung hums. He can’t help but be envious. He was never able to make friends except for Jimin since high school. He met Jimin back when he was bubbly and loud, but since the bullies from school got to him he hasn’t been able to put himself out there enough to meet anybody new. He knows he’s being irrational, but he can’t help the shock of fear that hits him when a stranger asks him a question.

They wrap up lunch quickly once Jimin realizes he has a class in fifteen minutes. Jimin runs out of the shop to grab his backpack without saying more than a few brief goodbyes, inadvertently leaving Taehyung alone with Yoongi.

They wander out the front door, Taehyung unsure of how to end their outing in a fluid manner.

Luckily, Yoongi seems to be better versed in talking to people. “It was nice meeting you, Tae,” Yoongi says, probably picking the nickname up from Jimin.

Taehyung blinks and whips to face him. “Yeah! It was really nice to talk to you too hyung, I’m glad Jimin has such a great friend here.” He feels his nerves kick in when Yoongi rolls his eyes at him - he wonders if he said something wrong.

Instead, Yoongi holds out his hand. “Give me your phone.”

Quickly, Taehyung fumbles to fish his phone out of his pocket, unlocking it before handing it to the elder.

“I,” Yoongi says slowly, tapping on Taehyung’s phone, “am your friend too now. So my number is in your phone, if you ever need somebody to talk to or just want to chat I don’t really put my phone down often.”

Taehyung smiles gratefully, bowing his head slightly as he takes back his phone. He looks down at Yoongi’s new contact and feels his chest blossom with warmth. “Thank you, hyung.” He feels the sudden urge to call his mother and scream “Mom guess what! I made a friend!” But he knows that’s childish, and his mother would probably not respond with anything more than “That’s nice, how are your grades?”

“Send me a text with your name and I’ll save your number,” Yoongi says. He glances over his shoulder, down the hill towards campus. “I booked one of the recording booths, so I’m going to head out. Make sure to text me, okay?”

Taehyung nods fervently and waves at him as he leaves. He can’t help but feel a lot lighter on his feet as he walks back towards his dorm.

Perhaps college is better than high school.

Taehyung attends three more astronomy lectures with Hoseok sitting in front of him. Two weeks of watching the boy with a small admiration without saying a word. Perhaps he’s creepy, perhaps he’s crushing - he isn’t sure which, identifying what emotion he’s feeling has never been his strong suit. Since he only attends lectures twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, he doesn’t expect Hoseok to even realize the same boy sits behind him. But after Taehyung helps him again at the lab, Hoseok turns to him in class the next lecture.

“How do you think you did on the homework?” he asks conversationally, since the lecture has yet to start.

Taehyung clears his throat before speaking, just to make sure his voice doesn’t crack. “I think I did fine, it’s all pretty easy if you know where to find the menus.” He chuckles lamely, praying that he didn’t offend Hoseok as he’s the one that asked for help. “What about you?”

“I think I’ll ace it,” Hoseok says, beaming. “Thanks to you, that is. If you didn’t go to the lab at the same time as me I probably would’ve tanked both of these projects.”

Taehyung shakes his head and waves his hands in front of him. “I’m sure you would’ve done alright, you only ask me, like, one or two questions.”

“Yeah, but those are the important ones.” Hoseok chuckles and turns back to the front just as their professor steps under the projector’s screen.

Hoseok doesn’t say anything to him for the rest of class, but Taehyung doesn’t mind, a simple conversation was enough.

Taehyung wakes up the next Thursday with his throat burning, his head pounding, and his stomach churning. He quickly shuts off his alarms and begrudgingly rolls over in his bed. Jimin is still sound asleep across from him and he doesn’t want to wake him up, but he feels the terrible urge to cough. Instead, he settles for something between coughing and clearing his throat, muffling the sound under his comforter. When he looks back up, Jimin hasn’t shifted in the slightest.

He takes in a rasping breath and pushes himself to sit up. Immediately, everything feels worse. He grimaces and rubs at his temple in a fruitless attempt to sooth his pounding skull. He figures what he’s feeling must be congestion - i.e. he’s gotten another one of his colds.

Taehyung doesn’t get sick often, but when he does end up contracting an illness, it’s bad. It’s as bad as that illness can get. He never experiences just a little stuffiness, or soreness. No, he feels full on illness. Lucky for him, as terrible as the sicknesses are, they disappear within two days. He just has to power through.

He looks over at his alarm clock and sees that he still has time to make it to astronomy, but he isn’t sure if he should. The only reason he would want to go is to see Hoseok, but he doesn’t want Hoseok seeing him like this. And missing class will give him the chance to ask Hoseok for the notes he misses.

Shivering, he stands from his bed and makes his way towards his desk. He grabs the half drank water bottle from the corner and opens one of the drawers by his chair. He fishes around inside until he finds his cold medicine. It’s the strongest medicine he could find at the pharmacy before moving in - since he knows his colds are always awful, why waste money on weak solutions. Consequently, it knocks him out within an hour of taking it.

He takes the pills, washing them down with his water, and then looks over at Jimin. He should probably let him know he won’t be going to classes, otherwise Jimin will wake him up and Taehyung prefers to sleep through these colds. So he gently shakes Jimin’s shoulder, softly urging him to open his eyes.

Jimin wakes rather reluctantly, blinking up at him blearily when he finally does gain consciousness. “Wha’s up?” he mumbles, rubbing his eyes.

Taehyung has to clear his throat, and before he even opens his mouth Jimin is sitting up, concern on his face. “Yeah,” Taehyung croaks weakly, “I’m kind of sick today… I was just going to let you know so you don’t wake me up for classes.”

There’s a hand pressed to his forehead before he can even finish his sentence and Taehyung is so fond of his best friend. He always dotes on Taehyung when he’s sick, witnessing enough of his flus, colds, fevers, and stomach aches to know how badly they affect him.

“Ah, Taehyungie,” Jimin coos, “did you take meds?”

Taehyung nods, smiling softly at Jimin in reassurance. “I just did. I’m going to go back to sleep and wake up when I’m back to normal.”

“Okay,” Jimin hums, pouting in a maternal manner. “Do you have anything to do this evening that I should wake you for?”

Taehyung thinks for a moment, then nods. “I need to do my astronomy homework.”

“Are you sure you don’t just want to wait to do that tomorrow? It isn’t due until Thursday…”

Taehyung knows he could and should probably wait and let himself recover, but he can’t stop thinking about Hoseok and what might happen if Taehyung isn’t there to help him… if he needs it, that is. “No, I have a pretty set in schedule for this stuff, I’d rather finish it today.”

Nodding, Jimin pats Taehyung’s head and sends him back to his bed, promising to stay quiet as he leaves for class.

Just as promised, Jimin wakes Taehyung after he returns from class. He asks to see if Taehyung feels any better and, truthfully, he feels even worse, but he tells Jimin he’s doing fine. Jimin knows him too well, but doesn’t say anything as Taehyung puts a mask over his mouth and nose.

When he arrives at the lab, Hoseok looks to already be struggling - his lip is bitten between his teeth, brows pinched, and eyes flitting all over the screen. As he sets his backpack down in the seat next to Hoseok the other turns to look at him, his brow still furrowed.

“Hey, I didn’t expect to see you here today, you weren’t in class.”

Taehyung quietly clears his throat before responding, “Sorry, slept in.”

“You don’t have to apologize to me,” Hoseok chuckles before turning back to his screen. Taehyung watches him struggle for a moment and asks what he’s looking for when it doesn’t seem like Hoseok is going to find it.

“The coordinate menu, I don’t know how to get to it…”

Quietly, Taehyung directs him to where he needs to go and begins working on his own homework. Hoseok helps him catch up to where he is and they begin working together.

Over the course of an hour Hoseok cracks a few jokes and makes Taehyung giggle behind his mask, and as they’re putting away their things Hoseok turns to Taehyung, his eyes sharp with observance.

“Are you okay?”

Taehyung pauses mid sniffle. “Huh?”

“No offence, but you look sick…” Hoseok mumbles his eyes scanning over Taehyung’s features. “You said you slept in during class, but I get the feeling-“

“Yeah, it’s not a big deal, just a little cold.”

Hoseok purses his lips. “You should’ve stayed at your dorm. Why did you come to do your homework today? You could’ve waited to do it tomorrow.”

“I didn’t want to leave you hanging,” Taehyung responds, looking at his backpack. This is usually the moment that people think he’s into them and run away before Taehyung can “confess” to them. Taehyung’s heart is pounding in his chest - while, yes, Taehyung does have a little crush on Hoseok, he doesn’t want Hoseok to run away from him yet.

Taehyung isn’t sure what he’s expecting Hoseok to do, maybe get up and leave, maybe tell him he’s not interested. But instead, Hoseok smiles and says, “I guess I owe you one, huh?”

“Oh- No! You don’t!” Taehyung says quickly, waving his hands in front of his face. “I guess this just makes up for the time you told your friends to stop making fun of me…”

“Huh?”

Taehyung feels like he’s digging himself into a hole. Maybe Hoseok forgot about that time, or he didn’t realize it was Taehyung they were making fun of. “I… At the beginning of the semester, I was at the cafeteria with a friend and some guys were calling us names… you told them to knock it off.”

Hoseok places a hand on Taehyung’s knee, squeezing slightly. “Tae, that isn’t something you should owe me for, I was just being a decent human being.”

With nothing to say, Taehyung pulls his lip between his teeth and looks at the carpet next to Hoseok’s chair.

“So,” Hoseok grunts as he retracts his hand and picks up his backpack, “I owe you a favor. Let me know when you need one.”

Taehyung opens his mouth to respond, but it seems he was too stuck in his head, for when he looks up, Hoseok is disappearing through the doorway.

“I’ve got it!”

Taehyung looks up from where he has his head buried in a pillow. Jimin has shifted from sitting on his bed to standing on the sheets, wearing a pose of triumph. Taehyung grunts in question.

“Tell him to pay you back by buying you coffee!”

Taehyung sighs forlornly and drops his face back into the pillow. “I can’t do that!” he whines, his voice muffled. “He’ll think I’m coming onto him!”

“Isn’t that the point?” Jimin asks, his voice stilted as he sits back down. “You have a crush on him, shouldn’t you be coming onto him?”

Taehyung whips his head up in exasperation. “I do have a crush, but… how do you ask somebody to go out with you without scaring them away?”

Jimin purses his lips in thought, fiddling with the rings on his fingers. “Well… if they run away, they weren’t the right person for you to begin with.”

“But- What if I don’t want them to run away? What if I would rather stay friends than scare them off?” Taehyung picks at the comforter as thoughts of past crushes flit through his mind. “I’ve never gotten the chance to even properly flirt with somebody, they usually run off before I have the chance. I don’t want Hoseok hyung to leave me - I don’t even know if he’s gay!”

“There’s only one way to find out, Taetae,” Jimin hums, standing from his bed to walk over to Taehyung’s. He lies down on his stomach next to Taehyung and grabs his hands to stop them from picking. “It’s all a leap of faith. If you really want to be with Hoseok-ssi, you need to step out there and make a move. From what I can tell, Hoseok-ssi doesn’t have his head on right just yet. Maybe he’s more attracted to you than he’s letting himself think he is. Maybe all it takes is a little push in the right direction.”

Taehyung takes a deep breath in and shakes his head. “I can’t…” He shifts to lie on his side and face Jimin. “I’m used to rejection. Guys never stick around and I’m okay with that… But I just don’t want hyung to run like the others have… I just really, really want him to feel something for me, and if that’s just platonic… I guess that’s okay.”

“No it isn’t Tae,” Jimin mumbles, pushing Taehyung’s bangs out of his eyes. “This will eat you alive if you don’t do something about it.”

“Right now, I’d rather stay right where I am than take that leap…”

Jimin purses his lips, but he doesn’t push it. “That’s okay Taehyung, if you want to take this slow you can… but since I know this little crush you have is just going to keep building you’re always welcome to talk to me.”

Taehyung smiles shyly at Jimin and pulls him against his chest. “I love you Chim, you know that?”

“Yeah,” Jimin chokes beating on his chest. “I can’t breathe, asshole!”

Taehyung cackles and continues smothering him.

In comparison to his Tuesdays and Thursdays, Taehyung isn’t too fond of his Monday, Wednesday, Friday classes. Perhaps it’s the lack of Hoseok’s presence, or maybe he just likes astronomy a lot… he doubts the latter.

He usually would’ve been excited to see Hoseok on a day that didn’t hold astronomy. But today, when Taehyung sees Hoseok, he feels dread. The only reason he’d looked up from the sidewalk to begin with was because he heard somebody call, “Faggot!”

And there Hoseok is, walking next to two snickering buff boys. One of them is nudging the other out of praise. They’re walking towards Taehyung, and he isn’t sure what to do. Even if there was somewhere to run, Taehyung doubts he would’ve. He doesn’t want Hoseok to think he’s running from him now, but he also fears what may happen when the boys come closer.

“Cut it out Jaesang,” Hoseok mutters, rolling his eyes.

As they come closer, one of the boys, Jaesang apparently, smacks Hoseok’s arm. “No, you just don’t get how funny it is yet. Watch this.”

And before Taehyung realizes what’s happening, Jaesang has shoved him to the side hard, his palm flat and forceful on his shoulder. Taehyung stumbles over his feet and falls onto the concrete. He can hear them laughing, and he slowly peaks behind him to see if Hoseok is laughing with them now. But Hoseok is nowhere to be seen.

Taehyung doesn’t have the chance to wonder where he went before there’s a hand wrapping around his wrist and pulling him up. Taehyung looks up, expecting Jimin to have suddenly appeared, but he’s met with Hoseok’s kind brown eyes. This time, there’s a hint of sadness in them and Taehyung hopes it isn’t pity. He’d rather Hoseok think of him as a friend instead of a charity case.

Once he’s on his feet again, the snickering has stopped. Hoseok doesn’t pay his waiting friends any mind as he looks Taehyung over. “You’re bleeding,” Hoseok mutters, holding Taehyung’s wrist to survey his palm.

Taehyung suddenly becomes very aware of their proximity and feels heat shoot up to his cheeks. “I-”

“C’mon Seok, if you stand too close you’ll catch his gay!”

Hoseok sends them a sidelong glare and they seem to deflate a little, turning to speak to each other quietly.

“You should get this cleaned up,” Hoseok says, returning his attention to Taehyung’s hands.

Forcing a laugh, Taehyung pulls his hands from Hoseok’s. “It’s really not a big deal - you should get back to your friends.”

Hoseok’s brow pinches. “You’re my friend too, Taehyung.”

Taehyung shakes his head and takes a step away. “I don’t want to embarass you, have a nice day, hyung.” He turns on his heel and quickly continues walking to class, gripping his pulsing hand. He doesn’t look back, even though he wants to… so, so bad.

Taehyung isn’t getting very far with his paper, and it’s frustrating because he’s so close to finishing it. He can’t stop thinking - which is a common problem for him, but he can’t seem to focus for more than a minute before his mind drifts back to Hoseok. Taehyung has always crushed hard and often been a bit too hopeful when it comes to reading body language, but he can’t help but feel like Hoseok holds his eye longer, sits closer, and he knows for a fact Hoseok has stumbled over his words a few more times than usual recently.

He doesn’t realize how late it’s gotten until he hears Jimin snoring softly on the other side of the room. He checks the clock on his computer and is surprised to see it’s almost two in the morning.

He still has to write his conclusion and print his paper, he doesn’t particularly want to stay up much later since he has astronomy in the morning, and sleeping through it wouldn’t be ideal. He powers through the final paragraph and labels his work as sub-par before standing from his desk to make his way downstairs. There’s a computer in the lobby of his dormitory, and for it’s twenty four hour use, he’s thankful.

He walks down the hall, fiddling with his hair as he realizes how messy it’s become from the wind he endured between classes earlier in the day. As he rounds the corner to the elevator, he’s surprised to almost run into another person.

“Taehyung-ah?”

Hoseok is standing in front him looking sleepy and very disheveled. Taehyung wasn’t expected to be assaulted by how adorable Hoseok looks at two in the morning, but he’ll take what he can get.

“Ah, hello hyung.” Taehyung sends Hoseok a small nod and turns towards the elevator, fiddling with his hands as a silence blankets them. “What are you doing here so late?” he asks, trying to fill the void.

“I was studying at my friend’s dorm - maybe you know him, Jungkook?” Hoseok voice sounds raspy, like he just woke up or hasn't spoken for hours. He adjusts the straps on his backpack idly while looking at Taehyung through hooded eyes.

Taehyung purses his lips. “I don’t think I know him, I haven’t been to any of the floor meetings, though.”

“Oh, Kook doesn’t go to those either.”

“I might’ve seen him in the elevator,” Taehyung offers, trying to keep the conversation going.

Hoseok nods. “Well, he’s relatively tall, kind of lanky though. He plays soccer and has a brown fringe and huge eyes that make him look like a little kid.”

Taehyung snorts. “Oddly enough, I think I’ve seen him around before, you described him really well.”

The elevator door chimes as it slides open and Taehyung moves to let Hoseok enter first. Hoseok sends him a small polite nod and leans up against the metal rail on the wall of the elevator. Taehyung presses the button to send them to the ground floor and steps back as well. The elevator in his building is slow, and Taehyung wishes he’d known that before he moved in, otherwise he wouldn’t have chosen a room on the tenth floor.

The ride is quiet, Hoseok tugs his phone out of his pocket and taps around on it while Taehyung observes the distorted reflection of the metallic walls surrounding them. He doesn’t like the look of this elevator, it’s completely covered in a shiny metal and makes him feel like he’s more closed in than he is.

Just as the elevator beeps at the fifth floor, Hoseok puts his phone away and mumbles something about forgetting his notebook. He pulls his backpack off his shoulders and drops it on the floor of the elevator. It takes Taehyung half a second to realize his mistake. The elevator is extremely sensitive to movement - in the first week of school, he and Jimin got stuck inside for an hour because Jimin did a dance move where he popped his hip out.

The second Taehyung feels Hoseok’s bag hit the floor, he feels the elevator jerk to a stop. He stares at Hoseok in surprise and watches as the boy doesn’t shift an inch - not even to check for his notebook.

After what feels like five minutes Hoseok, quietly, says, “Did the elevator just stop?”

Taehyung has to force himself to stop chewing his lip to answer, rather intelligently, “Uh… yeah, I guess.”

Hoseok slowly straightens up and looks around the small room, the reflective walls, the hard flooring, the metallic ceiling. “I… might puke.”

“ What?” Taehyung is caught between rushing forward to make sure Hoseok is okay and stepping as far from him as he can. “I-It’s okay, hyung, it won’t fall.”

Hoseok shakes his head and backs up against the wall. He takes slow and even breaths and keeps his eyes trained on the floor. “I’m not scared of it falling, I don’t… I don’t like small spaces very much. And I especially don’t want to be t-trapped in one.”

“Okay, just hold on, hyung.” Taehyung keeps a trained eye on him as he turns to press the emergency call button, holding it for three seconds before a disgruntled female voice comes from the speaker under it.

“Hello, is there an emergency?”

Taehyung shifts to lean closer to the speaker, since he isn’t sure where the microphone is. “Yes, the elevator just stopped.”

“Okay, do you know what floor you stopped at?”

“I think we just passed the sixth floor,” Taehyung clarifies glancing back over at Hoseok, who has slid down the wall and sat back, closing his eyes. It could be the lighting, but the boy looks awfully pale.

“We’re sending our team there now, but it could take an hour or two since it’s so late. Is it just you in there?”

Taehyung watches Hoseok closely to make sure he isn’t going to puke as he answers, “No, there’s another guy in here with me.”

“Hang on for just a moment, boys, we’re sending our team over right now. If you need anything at all just hit the button again.”

At that Taehyung backs away from the speaker and turns fully to Hoseok. “Hey, it’s okay, we’ll be out of here before you know it.”

A breathy, forced laugh falls from Hoseok’s lips as he scrubs a hand over his eyes. “Yeah, in an hour or two…”

Taehyung sighs and moves to sit down next to Hoseok, leaving a large gap between them since he’s unsure if close proximity could irritate his claustrophobia. But after a few minutes of silence, a small sound escapes Hoseok and he pushes his head back against the wall, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Hey, hey,” Taehyung whispers, sliding closer to him without thinking. He stops himself a foot away from Hoseok, kneeling. “You’re okay Hoseok, the space isn’t as small as you think.”

“I know…” Hoseok mumbles, clenching his jaw. “I j-just… I can’t convince myself I’m not in a tiny box right now, no matter… no matter how much I try.”

Taehyung has never known someone with claustrophobia, so he’s at a loss as to how to help him - other than to get them out of the elevator. So he does the only thing he can think of. “I tripped today on my way to class,” he blurts.

At first, Taehyung thinks Hoseok is just going to ignore him, but the elder opens his eyes slightly and looks at him in confusion.

Taehyung takes that as some kind of encouragement. “Yeah, I was… uh, just walking and I forgot there was a curb in front of me. It was awesome, my stuff went everywhere. I don’t know how I did it, but my notebook was a good ten feet in front of me.”

Hoseok shuts his eyes again, but he looks far less tense. His hands are resting in his lap and he almost looks to be sleeping, if not for the small smile he wears on his lips.

Seeing better results, Taehyung continues. “Jimin wasn’t too surprised when I told him about it, he knows I’m a klutz.”

“Who’s Jimin?” Hoseok whispers, eyes still closed.

Taehyung gets comfortable against the wall next to Hoseok. “Jimin is my best friend. You might remember him, he was the guy with me the first day I met you - when you told those guys off in the cafeteria. He was sitting across the table from me.”

Hoseok cracks his eyes open slightly and looks over at Taehyung. A mischievous glint enters his eyes and Taehyung grows wary of the look. “Would it be weird to say I only noticed you?”

An intelligent, shocked noise escapes Taehyung, and he can’t seem to look away from Hoseok for a moment - until he whips his head away and looks at his knees. “Ah, Jimin- Jimin is really- he used to back me up a lot in high school, kind of like you did in the cafeteria… except he was meaner about it.”

“If he gave them a talking to they deserved it, I just refrained because I’m on a team with them, I don’t want to get on their bad side.” Hoseok leans his head back against the wall and closes his eyes again.

Taehyung chuckles and fiddles with his sleeves. “A talking to is an understatement. Jimin would make them regret showing up to school that day.”

“Sounds like a good friend.”

“He’s great!” Taehyung says, smiling. “He’s a really big sweetheart to you if you’re a good person. And he already likes you!”

Hoseok smiles slightly. “Glad I could get on your friend’s good side.”

“Yeah, he just… He’s naturally a nice guy, but after years of bullying in high school he’s always so on edge with new people.” At Hoseok silence, Taehyung continues. “Guys used to bother us every day at school, calling us faggots and telling us to off ourselves. Jimin grew more aggressive, while I guess I just… closed up. And it was really hard because- it’s not like we could tell them they were wrong. We just had to deal with it.”

Hoseok looks over at him. “So you really are gay?”

Slowly, Taehyung nods, afraid of his reaction. He wonders if Hoseok only stopped them from being rude because he thought it was unjust to pick on somebody for something they aren’t. Maybe Hoseok will side with them from now on…

“You know,” Hoseok starts slowly, straightening up, “I’ve been confused for so many years… because I just wasn’t exposed to sexualities other than straight. I knew what gay meant, I knew it mean liking the same sex, but I didn’t know what it meant when I wanted to date a girl one week, then a boy the next.”

Taehyung’s eyes widen by a fraction. “You’re bisexual?”

“Yeah,” Hoseok mumbles, fiddling with his fingers. “I didn’t really figure it out until last year, but I guess I am. It’s not like I can do much about it, though. My family is extremely conservative - well, not my sister… she spends too much time on Twitter to be a conservative. But I know how my parents would react.. I’ve seen the looks they’ve given people in cafes, or when they would tell me to stay away from certain movies because there was a gay couple in it, the long rants my dad would go on during dinner… how my mom would nod along…”

“It’s okay to be scared, hyung.” Taehyung reaches over at takes Hoseok’s hand - a leap of faith he hopes the older doesn’t freak out over. He intends it to just be for comfort, really. “It’s a scary thing, to not just be straight. And it’s hard with bisexuality too, a lot of people know homosexuality exists but won’t accept it, but too many think that bisexuality is just somebody being confused. It’s okay to be scared of that, and, honestly, if I hadn’t been outed against my consent I probably still would be in the closet.”

Hoseok looks over at him, his gaze sad. “You didn’t want to be out of the closet?”

“No,” Taehyung sighs, biting his lip. “I wanted it to stay a secret, maybe, forever? I don’t know. I just know that my family didn’t take it well at all… They didn’t want to ostracize me, though, I guess they love me too much to kick me out. But I don’t talk to them much anymore, we usually end up on a conversation about getting medical help to “cure” me…”

Hoseok shakes his head and squeezes Taehyung’s hand. “Screw fuckin’ sexuality, why does everybody care about who we love?”

“It shouldn’t be their business,” Taehyung adds.

A silence blankets them, the most comfortable silence between them yet, and Taehyung feels calm, sitting in this stuck elevator with ugly lights and walls.

“You got any games on your phone?” Hoseok asks, suddenly.

Taehyung snorts at how sudden the question was and pulls out his phone. “I have Piano Tiles and this one game where a stick figure has to swing from rope to rope to reach the finish line.”

“Bet I can beat your high scores.”

Taehyung gawks. “I’ll have you know my scores will blow you out of the freaking water!”

Hoseok snatches Taehyung’s phone from his hand and opens the Piano Tiles app. “Watch me beat you first try.”

The next morning, Taehyung doesn’t expect to be awoken by a text ten minutes before his class begins.

Unknown: Im sitting by u today

He blinks at the message, then checks the time at the top of his screen and scrambles out of bed. “ Shit!” He’s going to be late to astronomy, and for some reason, that fear overshadows the fear of a stranger telling him they plan on sitting by him at some point during the day.

As Taehyung stumbles out the door, he goes to start playing music from his phone for his walk and sees the message again. He starts his music and decides he’ll take the bait and ask who might be creepily texting him.

Taetae: Who is this??

He walks halfway to class, already two minutes late at that point when he receives a response.

Unknown: Hoseok, i put my number in your phone without telling you whoops.

Unknown: where r u? :(

A smile breaks on Taehyung’s face and he has to bite his bottom lip to keep himself from bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Taetae: Oh! Hi hyung :D

Taetae: I’m on my way to class now, if you hadn’t texted me then I prbly would’ve slept through…

Taehyung thought it might’ve been a fluke that Hoseok wanted to sit by him that day, but he continued sitting by Taehyung in astronomy, walking with him to different classes, and even began studying with him. Taehyung is proud to say they’ve probably become what one might call “friends”.

“No, I don’t get it…”

“Hyung,” Taehyung mumbles. He tries to sound exasperated but Hoseok is just too cute. “It’s really simple, writing dialogue is just a formatting thing!”

Hoseok huffs and scrunches his nose. “But there’s so many rules to it! Why didn’t they teach me this in high school? I wouldn’t have gotten a fucking C on this stupid creative writing… thingy!” He flails his arms around as he talks, flopping back on Taehyung’s bed as he finishes his complaint.

“Well, at least your professor is letting you redo it. It takes some getting used to, hyung. You just need to practice writing it.”

Hoseok picks his head up to look down at Taehyung who’s seated on the rug. “Why don’t you just do these pieces for me? You’re the writer, aren’t you?”

Taehyung rolls his eyes and moves his textbook from his lap to the floor. “You know I can’t do that, plagiarism could get both of us kicked out.”

Just as Hoseok opens his mouth to respond the door opens and Jimin steps inside, followed by Yoongi. They both look absolutely exhausted and Taehyung wonders what Yoongi is doing in their dorm room if he’s so tired. “Hello, hyung!” Taehyung greets, waving at Yoongi.

Yoongi looks over at him and grants Taehyung a small smile, then his eyes slide up to Hoseok and they spark in recognition. “You’re…” he starts slowly, squinting at Hoseok, “on the soccer team.”

“Yeah,” Hoseok says, surprised. “How did you know?”

Yoongi waves him off, mumbling, “My housemate is on the team, I’ve seen you come by the house a few times.”

“Oh really, who?”

“Kim Seokjin.”

Hoseok hums in realization. “I didn’t know you were his housemate, how come I don’t see you around much?”

“Because the soccer team is loud, and I like to avoid loud things.”

Hoseok nods slowly, pursing his lips. “Understandable.”

Trying to break the rising awkwardness in the room Taehyung stands and jumps onto the bed next to Hoseok. “Okay hyung, show me how you’ve been writing your dialogue.”

As Hoseok gets to work writing out random dialogue to show Taehyung, Yoongi and Jimin climb onto Jimin’s bed and start opening their notebooks to study.

After an hour of the four studying on their sides of the room, each pair talking quietly between each other, Jimin groans in boredom and shoves his notebook off his lap. “I’m going to tell you guys a funny story.”

Taehyung looks up from Hoseok’s computer, ready to protest, but Hoseok pushes his computer off his lap and says, “Please do, I’m bored.”

“Great!” Jimin cheers. “I’ll tell you guys about that time Taehyung and I were chased around the lake by Taehyung’s old house.”

Taehyung groans and shoves his face into Hoseok’s shoulder. “Please don’t include too many details.”

His head shakes as Hoseok giggles. “No! I need every detail, please!”

When Taehyung looks up he sees the glint in Jimin’s eye and realizes there will be no mercy for him tonight.

And while Jimin’s story is very exciting and even more humiliating as he describes Taehyung’s screams, eventually Yoongi declares that he needs to go home and Jimin offers to walk with him, leaving Taehyung and Hoseok alone once more. But since they already gave up on studying, they are left to chat aimlessly about their lives before college.

“I swear, I was so socially awkward in high school it was embarrassing,” Hoseok mumbles into his hands. “Like, I don’t know if you’ve met Jungkook, but that kid is the exact same as I was in high school. I love him to death and he’s one of my closest friends, but that kid is so socially constipated it hurts.”

Taehyung smiles fondly, but it fades as a question rises to his mind. “Hey, hyung, do you mind if I ask you something… personal?”

Hoseok looks over at him and shrugs. “Go ahead.”

“If you and Jungkook are such good friends, why didn’t you tell him you were bisexual?” Taehyung asks softly, biting his lip as he watches Hoseok’s face carefully.

Hoseok contemplates the question for a moment, gnawing on the inside of his cheek. “I guess… I didn’t want to scare him away. He was the first real friend I made here, and I didn’t want to fuck it up by telling him I’m attracted to his gender.”

“Hoseok,” Taehyung murmurs, looking at his hands, “I don’t really know Jungkook well, except from what you’ve said about him, but he seems like a really nice guy.”

Hoseok nods, his head hung as he fiddles with his fingers.

“I think you should trust him.”

“What do you mean?”

Taehyung reaches over and grabs Hoseok’s hand from his lap and pulls it into his own. “Telling somebody your sexuality is a really big leap… and it’s scary. But you need to trust the people you love to catch you when you fall, and I know Jungkook will catch you.”

“I’m scared,” Hoseok whispers.

Taehyung squeezes his hand. “I know you are, but you’ll feel one million times happier if somebody else knows. It might not seem like it now, but putting yourself out in the open and letting yourself be known is kind of freeing. It’s like you step out of a box you didn’t realize was suffocating you slowly.”

Hoseok swallows and finally looks over at Taehyung. “You really think it’ll feel better?”

Taehyung nods and holds Hoseok’s gaze.

“I’m tired of hiding,” Hoseok whispers biting his lip.

Taehyung forgoes holding Hoseok’s hand to pull him against him, wrapping his arms securely around his shoulders. Hoseok grips Taehyung’s shirt between his fingers and buries his head in the crook of Taehyung’s neck.

“Just trust him, hyung.”

When Taehyung wakes up the next Tuesday, his head hurts. The first thing he does when he sits up is groan loud enough to wake up Jimin.

“Ah, shit Tae, shut the fuck up,” Jimin whines into his pillow, chucking his stuffed penguin at him. “My class doesn’t start for another two hours.”

Taehyung pouts and swings his legs over the side of his bed. “Fine, fine,” he wanders around for a moment, trying to find clothes to wear while being as quiet as possible. Just go to class Taehyung, he repeats in his head probably twenty times as he gets dressed. You’ll get to see Hoseok .

Luckily, Taehyung isn’t disappointed when he shows up to class - well, at first he is, because Hoseok has yet to arrive. But when Hoseok does step through the doorway, Taehyung feels his heart almost explode in his chest. Hoseok had walked in wearing an expression of anticipation, but once he met Taehyung’s eye his face lit up in a blinding, beautiful smile. Taehyung likes knowing that seeing him brings Hoseok joy.

“Taehyung!” Hoseok practically screams in the silent lecture hall. The other students look back at Hoseok at the loud noise, but Hoseok pays them no mind as he moves down the row towards Taehyung. “I told Jungkook.”

It takes Taehyung a moment to realize what Hoseok is talking about, but when he does, he feels his heart lift in his chest. “You did? What did he say?”

Hoseok smiles sheepishly. “You were right. Jungkook was really, really nice about it. I told him and he kind of just… nodded? He didn’t seem shocked or anything, he just accepted it and said that he was happy I would tell him something so personal.” The elder looks to be bouncing out of his seat with excitement.

Taehyung beams at him. “I’m proud of you, hyung. It feels great, doesn’t it?”

Hoseok looks like he’s about to burst. He nods, and before Taehyung knows what’s happening, Hoseok throws his arms around him and hugs him. “Thank you, Taehyung,” he mumbles into his shirt.

Class begins and ends before Taehyung even realizes it, and then he’s finishing his last class for the day. He checks his phone as he walks out of the building and sees three texts from Jimin.

Jiminie: party 2night fucker

Jiminie: its at yoongi’s house

Jiminie: yoongi isnt hosting it ofc but his roommate is and he said we could come

Taehyung sighs and purses his lips. He doesn’t care for crowds much, and the only gain he sees in going to a party is getting drunk. But he hasn’t ever been to a party, so maybe he’ll like it more than he thinks.

Taetae: Okay,, when are we going?

He begins walking back towards the dorm, plugging in his headphones and zoning out. Halfway through his walk his phone buzzes in his pocket and he tugs it out to check Jimin’s reply.

Jiminie: idfk…….. we have to be fashionably late tho. well show up at like 12 am

Taetae: Isnt that a little too late??

Jiminie: i know what the fuck im talking abt tae leave it to me i got this

Taehyung rolls his eyes and shoves his phone back into his pocket, he still has some homework to do before they go to the party.

By eleven pm Taehyung has had his homework finished for four hours and hasn’t had anything to do except play games on his phone, so he’s almost thankful when Jimin starts getting ready for the party.

Taehyung doesn’t do much - he doesn’t want to go too far with his outfit since he feels like dressing up too much is a common problem with freshmen. He puts on his favorite skinny jeans, a black long sleeve, muses his hair, and puts a tiny bit of eyeliner on and calls it good.

Jimin, on the other hand, spends half an hour working on his makeup and another half hour working on his outfit. He eventually settles with tight jeans and a flowy white shirt, and when Taehyung looks up at him once he’s finished he can’t help but think that nobody will mind how much Jimin dressed up, because the boy looks unreal.

They arrive at the party a quarter past twelve, and Taehyung isn’t surprised to see a lack of people outside. There is evidence of a crowd, but not many people in sight.

“I told you midnight is too late,” Taehyung mumbles, kicking an empty cup off the sidewalk.

Jimin rolls his eyes. “Yoongi said midnight is perfect, so it’s fine.”

“When did you stop using honorifics with hyung?” Taehyung questions, glancing over at Jimin suspiciously.

Jimin snorts. “After we fucked for the third time. I thought saying Yoongi hyung over and over was a mouthful, and he didn’t mind too much when I-”

“ Okay ,” Taehyung cuts in, feeling his ears heat up. “I didn’t need the vivid image.”

Jimin shrugs and walks up the front steps. He knocks on the door twice before stepping back.

The boy that opens the door is tall, and that’s saying something because Taehyung is tall. But this boy is tall, tan, and beautiful, and Taehyung feels very intimidated by him. That is, until he smiles at them. “You guys must be Yoongi hyung friends, come in.”

When they step inside Taehyung sees Yoongi and another boy wandering around the living room with trash bags, and another stunning boy seated on the couch. Upon seeing the tall, tan boy return the boy on the couch smiles drunkenly and calls out, “Joonie, com’ere.” He reaches towards the tall guy and makes grabby hands at him.

Joonie rolls his eyes and walks over to the couch, moving the attractive boy’s hands back to his lap before sitting down next to him.

“You guys actually showed up, wow.”

Taehyung looks over to see Yoongi approaching Jimin. He watches the elder closely to see if he’s as drunk as the cute boy on the couch and he must admit, Yoongi does put up a good facade. But he realizes that he too must be drunk when, first, he wobbles in his steps a bit, and then second, pulls Jimin into a sudden, and searing kiss.

“Hi,” the tall boy on the couch says, waving at Taehyung. “I’m Namjoon, you can call me hyung. This is Seokjin, you can also call him hyung.”

Seokjin waves cheerily, his cheeks red and smile dopey.

Namjoon points to the other boy with a trash bag and says, “That’s Jungkook, he’s younger than you, and uh-” he looks around for a moment before mumbling to himself, “I wonder where he went…”

Taehyung is about to ask who Namjoon’s talking about when, from the back hallway, emerges none other than Hoseok.

“Oh! That’s Hoseok, you can call him-”

“Hyung!” Taehyung greets smiling.

Hoseok looks over at him, and once he realizes who he is his expression morphs into surprise. “Hey, Tae, what are you doing here?”

“Yoongi hyung invited Jimin and me.” He looks over at Yoongi and almost gags when he realizes the pair are still making out heatedly. He reluctantly smiles at Hoseok. “I’m glad to see a familiar face.”

Seokjin narrows his eyes at Yoongi and Jimin. “You two are a bit much… don’cha think?”

Yoongi tears himself away from Jimin to glare at Seokjin. “You’re just bitter, old man.”

Seokjin’s mouth falls open in silent shock as he holds Yoongi glare. “How dare you,” he hisses. He shakes his head and looks around the room. “You know wha’ soun’s like fun?” he calls rhetorically. “Seven minu’es in heaven!”

“What?” the boy with the trash bag - Jungkook, gasps. Jungkook, who Taehyung has heard a lot about and would really like to get to know.

“Yep!” Seokjin says, the ‘p’ popping rather obnoxiously. He pushes himself off the couch and beckons the others over. “Sit, sit, get in a-” hiccup “cir’le!”

“But,” Jungkook starts, shifting uncomfortably on his feet, “aren’ there like… couples here?”

Taehyung observes Jungkook closely and sees the tell-tale redness painting the apples of his cheeks. He too is drunk, perhaps not as drunk as Seokjin, but still drunk.

Seokjin nods. “I’s fine. I’s just Yoon’i and Jimin.” He plops down on the floor and searches around him for one of the many beer bottles lying on the floor. Eventually, he finds purchase in one and places it a few feet in front of him. “Hurry up you li’l shi’s, we’re gonna play a game.”

The others reluctantly join Seokjin in the circle, until the only one left is Hoseok, who is still standing by the kitchen. Taehyung immediately feels himself grow worried. What if he doesn’t want to play because he doesn’t want to be intimate with anybody? Does he feel like he’s going to be pressured into something he doesn’t want to do? Is he apprehensive of this being his first experience? Is he-

“Do you want a drink, Taehyung?” Hoseok asks. “Jimin?”

Jimin nods vehemently. “Whatever gets me drunk the fastest.”

“Oh!” Seokjin suddenly shouts, pointing at Hoseok. “Get him some… uh…. Some of tha’ stuff! Tha’ stuff in the top cubb... cubbar… cubber…” He pauses his words and narrows his eyes as he tries to remember how to pronounce the word.

“I’ll check the top cabinet, hyung.” Hoseok looks over at Taehyung, who holds his gaze and nibbles on his lip. “We can just share one drink if you want,” Hoseok offers.

Taehyung sighs in relief and nods. He doesn’t want his first time getting drunk to be disastrous.

“Cupboard!” Seokjin exclaims. “Yeah, tha’s the word.” He waves his hand around in the air, in an affirmative motion and Taehyung has to bite his lip to keep from laughing. While it isn’t ideal to meet these new people while they’re all drunk, he’s happy to know that Seokjin is such a funny drunk.

Jungkook, on the other hand, is not a very chatty drunk. He’s sat himself across the circle from Taehyung and looks quite bored. He has his phone in his hand, but it’s off, and he’s looking around the destroyed living room in mild interest.

“Hyung,” Namjoon whispers, too loud not to be heard by everybody. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

Seokjin looks over at him and actually seems to consider his question for a moment, narrowing his eyes and pursing his lips. But his expression clears and he nods happily at Namjoon. “I’s fine, Joonie, I know you don’ wanna fuck anybo’y bu-” hiccup “me.”

Namjoon sighs and squeezes his eyes shut in embarrassment at Seokjin’s volatile language. “I told you hyung, I’m straight.” He looks over at Taehyung and grimaces. “I swear he’s not usually like this.”

Taehyung can’t help the giggle that escapes him, and he quickly covers his mouth and waves Namjoon off. “He’s fine, I think he’s funny.”

“See!” Seokjin shouts. “ He thin’s I’m funny!”

“Hyung,” Namjoon whispers, “speak just a little bit softer.”

At that moment, Hoseok returns with two drinks in hand and plops himself down next to Taehyung. “Okay, we’re good to start.”

Seokjin cheers and points to . “I’m gonna start.” The first time he tries to spin the bottle he accidentally just pushes it towards Jungkook, who’s eyes widen in fear as it rolls towards him at an unalarming rate. He pushes it back towards the center and Seokjin tries again.

The bottle lands on Taehyung and he can’t help the shock that ripples through him. He isn’t drunk enough for this. He looks over at Seokjin and the elder is smiling slyly at him. “Come, Taehyun’!” He stands quickly and offers Taehyung his hand. “Join me.... In my clo’et!”

Taehyung glances over at Jimin who’s in the middle of a large gulp of alcohol. He quickly pulls the cup away from his mouth and holds Taehyung’s gaze with a blank one before he offers the cup. Taehyung looks at it for a moment before he gives in and takes a big swig. He hands it back to Jimin and takes Seokjin’s hand, but he does most of the work to stand in fear of pulling Seokjin off balance.

He follows the elder to the closet right next to the hallway Hoseok had emerged from earlier. He intentionally doesn’t look back at Hoseok, fearing what looking him in the eye might do in this moment. But he can feel heat growing in his stomach from the huge gulp of alcohol he just had and he’s worried just how low his tolerance is.

Just before Seokjin steps inside he turns around and looks at the others. “Le’s change the ru’es. Ins’ead of se’en minu’es we’ll do fi’e.”

“Five?” Namjoon clarifies.

Seokjin nods. “You time, Joon. Don’ forge’ to lock the door!”

And at that, Seokjin pulls Taehyung into the closet. He keeps the lights off and pushes Taehyung backwards.

Not knowing his surroundings, Taehyung panics - afraid he’ll trip and fall - but his back his the wall adjacent to the door, a grunt escaping him as he makes contact. The door swings shut and Taehyung can’t see anything.

Apparently, Seokjin can’t see anything either, because when Taehyung feels the elders body come closer he almost elbows Taehyung in the nose. “Ah,” Taehyung yelps catching Seokjin’s arm, “shouldn’t we… turn on the lights or something?”

“I thin’ this game wor’s out better if the ligh’s are off,” Seokjin says, brushing him off. He shifts to stand in front of Taehyung, his arms caging him against the wall. “Coul’ you jus’ lean forward ever so sligh’ly?”

Taehyung swallows his apprehension and leans forward.

Seokjin comes close enough that Taehyung can feel his breath puffing against his mouth, it smells strongly of liquor. Taehyung holds his breath and waits for Seokjin to do something.

Taehyung feels Seokjin’s wet lips press harshly against the corner of his mouth after what feels like twenty minutes.

“Woah,” Seokjin breathes. “Sorry, I jus’ like… zone’ out there for a secon’. Wha’ are we doin’?”

Taehyung ducks his head and laughs. “Ah, we’re playing seven minutes in heaven.”

“Why?”

“You wanted to.”

“Oh,” Seokjin mumbles. “Okay.”

Taehyung expects him to do something, and maybe that was the elder’s intent. But when he leans forward, he loses balance, his hand slipping on the wall. Taehyung ducks out of the way seconds before a potential headbutt.  Seokjin’s head lands heavily on his shoulder.

“Uh,” Taehyung mumbles, tapping Seokjin’s shoulder, “hyung?”

His only response is Seokjin’s knees buckling suddenly.

Taehyung quickly wraps his arms around Seokjin’s waist to catch him. Well… it could’ve been worse.

He wobbles over to the door and bangs on it a few times. It flies open within seconds and when Taehyung’s eyes adjust to the light, Hoseok is standing there looking panicked.

“What’s wrong?” Hoseok asks breathlessly as his eyes survey both of them. “You okay Tae?”

Taehyung nods. “Fine, could you help me get him to the couch?”

Hoseok moves forward and takes one of Seokjin’s arms over his shoulders and helps Taehyung carry him back to the living room. They drop him on the couch, Jungkook helpfully putting a pillow under his head. Namjoon fetches a blanket from a cabinet below the television and tosses it to Hoseok, who unfurls it and lays it on Seokjin.

“Should we continue?” Jungkook asks. He looks like he doesn’t want them to.

But Yoongi nods. “Yeah, I don’t see why not.”

Next is Jimin, who’s spin lands on Jungkook. The youngest looks at the bottle in terror, and then Jimin. He’s turned twelve shades paler and seems frozen in his spot.

Jimin chuckles and pushes himself off the floor after giving Yoongi a kiss on the cheek.

“Show ‘em what you got, Minie,” Yoongi mumbles.

Jungkook lets Jimin help him up in a daze. And when the closet door closes, Taehyung can’t suppress his laugh when he hears Jungkook cry out in surprise.

When the two emerge from the closet, Jimin looks smug as he prances back over to Yoongi, and Jungkook… poor Jungkook looks like he just went through a tornado. His hair is sticking in every direction, his clothes are wrinkled, and his lips swollen.

“Well?” Yoongi asks, laughing loudly. “What’d you think?

Jungkook sits slowly and looks at his lap for a moment. He looks back up, his mouth still hung open. “Probably,” he says slowly, “the best first kiss on the planet.”

The whole circle gasps. “What?!” Hoseok hisses. “That was your first kiss?”

Jungkook pats his hair down. “Yeah,” he responds dazedly.

Yoongi spins the bottle and when it lands on himself he declares that means he doesn’t have to go. So that means it’s Taehyung’s turn before he’s ready for it to be.

Clearing his throat, Taehyung leans forward and spins the bottle. He hopes and prays that it lands on anybody but Hoseok. For some reason, he’d prefer not to have their first actual romantic altercation to be caused by a game.

But, of course, the planet is against him. Because the bottle just barely lands on Hoseok after a heated debate considering whether it’s on Jungkook or Hoseok. Jungkook looks terrified again, but eventually Namjoon points out that it’s just slightly closer to Hoseok and everybody nods in agreement.

Taehyung purses his lips and lets out a long breath.

“Good luck Taehyungie!” Jimin sings, rocking back and forth with his cup clutched to his chest.

Taehyung glances over at his friend in horror.

“What?” Jimin asks, “I thought you-”

“ Okay! ” Taehyung laughs loudly, shooting to his feet. He quickly walks to the closet without waiting for Hoseok and steps inside.

He backs himself up against the further wall and waits for Hoseok as he shuts the door.

Taehyung hears the lock click just as Hoseok flips on the lights. He stares at the elder until Hoseok looks up and he quickly diverts his gaze. Taehyung swallows and fiddles with his fingers. “Uh, we can just… stand in here for five minutes… if you want.” When Hoseok doesn’t respond Taehyung looks up and meets his gaze with a wary one. “You don’t have to kiss me.”

Slowly, Hoseok moves towards Taehyung. He shakes his head. “I… don’t want to fake this.”

Taehyung pushes himself up against the wall even further as Hoseok steps into his space. Hoseok puts his hands on either side of Taehyung’s head and leans in, close enough for Taehyung to be able to count his eyelashes.

You’re panting in his face, why is the world flashing- quit blinking so much dumbass!

Hoseok’s gaze falls from Taehyung’s eyes to his lips and he closes the distance between them.

The kiss is hesitant at first, just a slight brush of their lips. But just that small touch is enough for Taehyung to want more. He pushes himself forward and presses their lips together, and it seems like that is all the affirmation Hoseok needs. He moves from leaning on his hands to his elbows and presses his body against Taehyung’s. He languidly moves his lips against Taehyung’s, breathing in the sigh that falls from Taehyung’s lips.

His tongue swipes across Taehyung’s lower lip and the younger can’t stop himself from gasping. He moves his hand to Hoseok’s back, resting it on his shoulder blade and pulling him even closer.

Hoseok deepens the kiss further as he moves his hand to Taehyung’s jaw and tilts his head slightly, his tongue slipping between Taehyung’s lips.

Taehyung has to keep himself from making a noise, because a whimper is really fighting to fall past his lips - it doesn’t help when Hoseok somehow moves to have the high ground, tilting Taehyung’s head backwards and making him feel small under the elder’s touch as his tongue invades his mouth.

This must be what hell is, Taehyung wonders halfway through the kiss. My crush will kiss the life out of me, making me fall deeper, and then leave like nothing happened. He knows it will happen. He knows.

So he relishes in the moment, biting softly on Hoseok’s lip. Hoseok grunts lowly into his mouth and Taehyung’s fingers unconsciously grip the fabric of Hoseok’s shirt tight. He keeps himself pressed up against the walls in a futile attempt to keep their bodies as far apart as possible - while, yes, he’s happy to be kissing Hoseok, he’d rather not get a hard on.

There’s a knock on the door and Taehyung expects Hoseok to quickly pull away and leave. But he slowly pulls away from Taehyung, their lips hovering close together for a moment before Hoseok smiles softly and presses a soft kiss to the tip of Taehyung’s nose. He slowly drops his hands from where he’s holding Taehyung and the younger follows suit, taking a deep breath as Hoseok steps away.

Hoseok sends him another sweet smile before turning around and pulling the door open. He’s gone before Taehyung realizes it.

Taehyung doesn’t mean to stand there so long, but he hears Jimin call out to him from the other room and he quickly pushes himself off the wall and steps back into the main room. When he returns, he finds Yoongi passed out on Jimin’s shoulder, and Jungkook leaning back on the couch from his spot on the floor, close to Yoongi’s state.

“We can call it a night now,” Namjoon says, smiling at Taehyung like a proud parent. He stands up and gets to helping Jimin lift Yoongi off the floor. Taehyung watches Jungkook stand on swaying legs and wander around for a moment.

“I don’ wanna go home,” Jungkook whines, rubbing a hand over eyes.

“They have a guest room you can take,” Namjoon offers as he returns from dropping Yoongi on his bed. “I’m going to sleep in Jin hyung’s bed since it’ll be open.”

Jungkook nods sleepily and wobbles towards the back hallway.

“You ready?” Jimin calls and it takes Taehyung a moment he’s addressing him.

“Huh?” Taehyung looks over at Jimin, his mouth still ajar. “What? Oh- yeah, let’s go home.” He has no idea where Hoseok went. Maybe he ran away so he doesn’t have to face you…

Namjoon claps his hands together, like he’s trying to get rid of dust. “Hoseok went to the bathroom, if you want to wait for him to say goodbye. It was nice meeting you guys, you should come around another time when the majority of us aren’t belligerent.”

Taehyung chuckles and nods. “We’d be happy to.”

The two linger by the door for a moment, waiting for Hoseok in silence. Jimin kicks his stray pieces of the carpet, and Taehyung looks at the strange painting on the far wall.

“Oh good, you’re still here.” Hoseok reemerges from the back hallway and approaches Taehyung. He pulls Taehyung into a hug, his hand in Taehyung’s hair to press him closer. “I’m glad you came,” he whispers softly.

Taehyung’s heart is in his throat and he has to swallow before replying, “I am too.”

The second they step out the door, Jimin whips out of his stupor and quickly grips Taehyung’s arm and bounces on the balls of his feet. “You kissed ,” he hisses.

Taehyung bites his bottom lip to keep from outright beaming. “Yeah…”

“How was it?!”

“He…” Taehyung laughs breathily, “was amazing.”

Taehyung can’t sit still. He’s seated in his usual spot in astronomy, nervous and worried. He doesn’t want this to fall apart in his hands- he doesn’t want to lose Hoseok, and he’s afraid the elder will run from him. He’s afraid of losing one of his favorite people over a stupid game. But he’s also afraid of nothing happening at all.

He was once content with being Hoseok’s friend, and only that. But he can’t take back what he felt last night and he’s craving more. At this point, he wouldn’t be able to just be friends with Hoseok. No. He only wants one thing, and he’s scared of what will happen when he inevitably doesn’t get what he wants. Will he give up on Hoseok? Will he lose interest? Surely he wouldn’t… He wants to be with Hoseok, and he wants Hoseok to be with him, and he isn’t willing to share - not anymore.

He jumps when he feels the seat next to him dip, and he can’t seem to pull his eyes away from the front board.

Look at him. Look at him, Taehyung.

But he just sucks his lip between his teeth and sits there quietly, waiting for class to begin so the burning silence between them can break.

After what feel like hours, the professor begins speaking and Taehyung lets out a long breath. He sits back in his seat and begins taking notes, happy to have a distraction.

Halfway through the class, he’s completely forgotten about Hoseok when the elder leans over and whispers in his ear, “Wait for me after class?”

Taehyung glances over at him, his heart suddenly pounding in his chest. He nods shortly and quickly lowers his gaze to his paper.

He’s scared. So, so scared.

He tries to continue taking notes, but his hand is shaking too much. He holds his pen above the paper, watching as his hand trembles above the paper, his handwriting for the past few sentences illegible. He sets his pen down and presses his hand flat against the desk, trying to calm himself down.

It’s not working. Taehyung breathe. Breathe. You can’t have an anxiety attack in the middle of class- in front of Hoseok. Stop shaking. Stop shaking. Stop-

Hoseok’s hand covers his own, and he grips it tightly. Taehyung looks over at him in surprise, but Hoseok isn’t looking, he’s taking notes with one hand and holding Taehyung’s hand with the other.

Taehyung takes in a slow shaking breath and calms himself down, closing his eyes and listening to the rest of the lecture.

When their professor finishes his lecture, Taehyung packs up his things without moving his hand, and surprisingly, Hoseok does the same. Once they’ve both put their things away Hoseok shifts his grip on Taehyung’s hand to hold it more securely and he leads Taehyung out of the classroom.

They step outside and Taehyung follows him to the backside of the building where no students are walking. He lets go of Hoseok’s hand and steps back to lean against the wall. He watches Hoseok, waiting for him to speak.

Hoseok takes in a deep breath before saying, “What do you want Taehyung?” It doesn’t sound accusatory or angry, actually he asks it in a tone so soft Taehyung feels like melting.

But he’s confused. “What?”

“Tell me what you want. What would you like to happen now?”

He hadn’t expected this. He knows what he wants, he just doesn’t know if he wants to tell Hoseok. He’d rather Hoseok tell him how he feels and go along with it. “I… What do you want?”

Hoseok chuckles and steps closer. He takes Taehyung’s hand again and whispers, “I asked first.”

Taehyung swallows and looks down at their intertwined hands. “I want… to kiss you again.”

There’s a pause, and Taehyung is too afraid to look up. But then he feels Hoseok leading his chin up to look him in the eye and he does so reluctantly.

“I would like that too,” Hoseok mumbles, looking at him imploringly. “I want to kiss you many more times.”

Taehyung’s heart leaps in his chest and he has to suppress a small, hopeful smile. He’s expecting a ‘but’.

“Can I kiss you, Taehyung?”

Without thinking, Taehyung nods.

Hoseok’s free hand cups Taehyung’s cheek and the kiss is brief, but lingering. Hoseok doesn’t go far when he says, “What do I have to do to get you to be my boyfriend?”

This time, Taehyung doesn’t suppress his beam. “Kiss me again.”

Hoseok smiles as well and kisses him, this time firmer and longer, he embeds himself in Taehyung’s mind and makes him crave more. But he pulls back all too soon. His smile has fallen a bit and his eyes search Taehyung’s, worry clouding them.

“What’s wrong?” Taehyung asks, and he doesn’t mean for his voice to shake, but it does. He’s so scared.

Hoseok takes a step back, but keeps their hands intertwined. “I just… You can still say no, but… I have a request.”

“What is it?”

“I was wondering if,” Hoseok pauses to wet his lips, “you would be okay with this being… private? Like, our friends would know, and we wouldn’t need to hide in closets or anything. But I just- I don’t know-” he cuts himself off, seeming frustrated with himself.

“I’m okay with that, hyung,” Taehyung says, ducking to meet Hoseok’s eyes. “I understand how you feel, and I’m okay with it.”

“You are?”

Taehyung smiles. “As long as I get to kiss you again.”