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February 13th - 5 days until Hoseok’s birthday
Hoseok isn’t bitter that his roommate Jimin managed to acquire himself a significant other before he did. He’s totally fine with his love life as it stands right now; he’s just living his life for himself, not stressing out about having to impress others or find someone to really accept him as how he is. Relationships are just too much work and Hoseok has a lot on his plate.
He is, however, a little jealous that Jimin got to become friends with Yoongi before he got a chance too, because damn, Yoongi is cool. Like, an effortlessly tsundere anime character type cool. That one guy at your high school that exclusively wore leather jackets and had multiple ear piercings that you wanted to become friends with but was slightly too intimidated to even talk to type cool.
So yeah. Hoseok isn’t jealous, or bitter. But damn, did Jimin really have to keep Yoongi all to himself all the time? Like he really gets to hang out with Yoongi almost every day? Unfair.
Hoseok is sitting in the living room, listening to music and working on some chemistry lab reports he’s managed to procrastinate on for about a week and a half now when he hears, “Is this some 2014 ScHoolboyQ?”
Blinking, Hoseok looks up to see Yoongi standing in front of him on the other side of the coffee table. Honestly, Hoseok didn’t even realize he was standing there. Jimin had let him in and then sprinted away to finish his makeup before Yoongi could see his bare face before their date. Hoseok just continued on with his work, not even phased by the high-pitched squeak Jimin let out once he opened the door, since Jimin does it literally every time Yoongi shows up, even though they’ve been dating for a while now and Yoongi is so whipped for his boyfriend Jimin could answer the door wearing an actual potato sack and he’d still be swept off his feet. Love is gross sometimes, Hoseok thinks.
“Oh,” Hoseok finally answers. “Yeah, I guess it is. My study playlist is just on shuffle, it’s all background noise at this point. Do you like him?”
“Yeah,” Yoongi says easily. He moves to sit down next to Hoseok on the couch. “What else do you have on there?”
Hoseok sets down his pen and shifts to face his laptop and scroll through his playlist. He can feel Yoongi looking over his shoulder and he tries not to feel the pressure to impress him.
“Um, a bunch of stuff I guess,” Hoseok says, fingers moving quickly on the trackpad. “Mostly R&B, a lot of pop for when I have to choreograph stuff for our dance club. I’m open to a lot of genres, really.”
Yoongi hums as his eyes scan through the list of songs on the screen. His expression turns amused when he spots a particular artist. “Tinashe?”
Blood rushes to Hoseok’s cheeks as he tries to turn his laptop back towards him so Yoongi can stop judging him. “She’s a true artist, and a great dancer, okay?” Hoseok’s pouting, but he doesn’t even care; he’ll defend his queen until his dying day.
Yoongi laughs so hard his gums show, and his hand goes to pat Hoseok’s thigh. “I’m not making fun of you for it, I was just surprised is all. Not many people know of her. She definitely deserves more recognition.”
Happy that Yoongi isn’t hating on his music choice, Hoseok’s frown turns into an open mouthed smile. He nods his head enthusiastically in agreement. “Right? I’m so upset we haven’t had a good quality album from her like Aquarius, that was a treasure.”
They continue going through Hoseok’s playlist, chatting away while Jimin is taking his sweet time getting ready. They find that they both enjoy rap and hip hop, but that Yoongi enjoys songs with more bass that really hits hard, whereas Hoseok leans more towards songs that are smoother and more sensual, better for dancing to.
“Although Hoseokie-hyung can really dance to anything,” Jimin says as he appears in the living room, makeup finally finished, and hair and outfit perfected. “Ready sugar?”
“Sugar?” Hoseok questions. He glances over at Yoongi, whose red face clashes incredibly with his black leather jacket. Hoseok can’t help but break out into a fit of giggles at the sight of Yoongi’s embarrassed expression.
“Yeah. Sugar,” Jimin replies easily. “Because he’s my sweet, sweet boy, right sugar?”
“Yes,” Yoongi mumbles, avoiding eye contact with Hoseok. Hoseok is now realizing that Yoongi’s cool guy image really was nothing but an image, and that Yoongi is more marshmallow than tough cookie, which pleases him to absolutely no end.
“That’s so gross,” Hoseok says, but he’s smiling and doesn’t really think it’s gross at all. Thinks it’s rather cute actually. “Y’all are gross, get out of here and get on your date already. Let me live my single life in peace, please, with nothing but my lab reports and a very unsociable cat to keep me company.”
They all look over to where Luna, Jimin’s cat is stretched out on her cat tree, completely ignoring everyone’s existence.
“She’s perfect, don’t mock her,” Jimin sniffs airily and moves to grab Yoongi’s hand so he can pull him up from the couch. “We’ll be going now, please do not bother my cat.”
“No promises!” Hoseok says to them as they make their way to the front door. “Use protection!”
Jimin turns around quickly to make a slicing motion across his neck at Hoseok, while Yoongi seems to choke on his spit and has to beat his chest with his fist a couple times before he can actually leave the apartment.
Hoseok cackles and leans back into the couch. He’s glad Jimin found Yoongi.
February 14th - 4 days until Hoseok’s birthday
Even as the only single person in his friend group, Hoseok still likes Valentine’s Day. It’s a Hallmark holiday through and through, nothing but another excuse for large corporations to make money off of the general public buying things they don’t really need, but still. Hoseok likes to celebrate. He likes the cheesy decorations and the discount chocolate and the over the top advertisements on TV.
Also, he’s a bit of a romantic, sue him.
And somehow, his love and passion for every single holiday and opportunity for celebration has gotten him into the present situation. That being, him dressed in a cupid outfit at Yogurtology while couples are scattered about the shop shoving frozen yogurt into each other’s faces and making heart eyes at each other, including his gross roommate and his gross boyfriend.
Hoseok regrets telling Seokjin how much he loved Valentine’s Day.
(“What size are you, approximately?”
“Um, like a small or a medium maybe? Depends on the clothes and also how many bags of Hot Cheetos I’ve consumed that day.”
“Interesting...”)
The outfit is itchy beyond belief, the little headband incredibly tight and the straps for the angel wings digging into his armpits, but still. Hoseok likes Valentine’s Day, right?
“Hyung, I hate Valentine’s Day.”
Seokjin looks up from where he’s refilling the toppings bar. Gummy hearts, for the season, of course. “That’s not something Cupid would say,” he replies with a frown.
Hoseok just puffs out his cheeks in displeasure. He had agreed to help Seokjin out at the shop today since all of the other employees decided to take the day off. Taehyung had gone out with Jungkook to some giant bouncy castle thing, and the other students that normally worked in the yogurt shop also decided to go someplace nice with their significant others. That left Namjoon, who obviously stayed back to help his boyfriend man the shop for the numerous couples that came here for their Valentine’s Day date, but he was too big to fit into the cupid costume, at least according to Seokjin.
Hoseok thinks it’s just because Seokjin wants Namjoon to stand behind the counter with him so he can constantly poke his dimples and give him (not so subtle) nose kisses. Gross.
At least Seokjin hadn’t made him wear the tiny red booty shorts that came with the outfit. He knows he likes holidays but he’s still a man with limits.
“Go shoot some arrows at people! Make them fall in love,” Seokjin tells him.
Hoseok looks around at all of the people in the shop, every single one of them very clearly already head over heels in love with whoever they came here with. “Hyung, there’s literally only couples here. Everyone is already in love. I’m not sure why you needed a cupid here in the first place.”
“Aesthetics, my dear Hoseok. Also, I’m not giving you your month of free yogurt if you don’t move your little booty and spread some love everywhere.”
Grumbling, Hoseok reluctantly takes his fake bow and arrow set, along with his little pouch of glitter and confetti, and walks over to the tables. He puts on a smile for the customers and pretends to shoot them and sprinkle glitter over their heads, then gives them a coupon for their next visit.
Then he reaches Yoongi and Jimin’s table. They’re holding hands on the tabletop and Hoseok thinks it’s gross (adorable) how tiny Jimin’s hand looks in Yoongi’s. He greets them with a swat with his foam arrow to the back of Jimin’s head. Which he immediately regrets because of the absolutely murderous intent that appears in Yoongi’s eyes.
“What’s up lovebirds?”
“Well we were doing just fine until you came over here and absolutely assaulted my boyfriend.”
“Yoongi, calm down, it’s just a toy,” Jimin tries to placate his boyfriend. “Besides, there’s no way he could’ve hurt me with those stick arms anyways.”
Hoseok frowns. “I resent that.”
“You started it,” Jimin says, and sticks his tongue out at his roommate.
Yoongi rolls his eyes at the two of them, used to the banter between them by now. “We were just leaving anyways, we’ve got dinner reservations to get to.”
“Why’d you come here for frozen yogurt then?” Hoseok asks.
Yoongi just looks at Hoseok like he’s the dumbest person alive. “We’re adults, we can eat dessert first.”
“Valid,” Hoseok says, nodding.
They scoot out of their chairs and take their trash to the receptacle, waving goodbye to Hoseok and then to Namjoon and Seokjin behind the counter. Hoseok fake gags at them as they leave and Jimin gives him the finger before slipping out the door.
Hoseok walks back over to his friends and groans as he flops onto the counter in front of Seokjin.
“Hyung, how much longer do I have to do this? I’m hungry,” Hoseok mumbles into his arm.
Seokjin merely pats his head in response. “Only like two more hours Hoseokie.” Hoseok groans again. “What are you hungry for?”
Hoseok hums a bit while he thinks of a response. “Budae jjigae.”
“Really?” Seokjin asks incredulously.
Lifting up his head, Hoseok replies, “Yeah, it’s like, my favorite food.”
“Oh?” Seokjin says. “With you being a dancer and all I would’ve expected you to go for something healthier, more lean proteins, less carbs and sodium.”
Hoseok shakes his head. “Nah, budae jjigae is where it’s at. I’ve been craving it a lot lately. Must be homesick or something.” He shrugs before hopping up on the counter to sit cross legged and greet customers as they come in.
“Why do you say that?” Seokjin questions, leaning his forearms on the counter next to Hoseok.
Hoseok sighs before answering, looking down at his hands in his lap. “Dunno, just… reminds me of my mom.”
“Ah.”
“She used to make it a lot when I was a kid,” Hoseok continues. “We didn’t have a lot of money since a lot of it went to paying for my dance classes, my mom was always so supportive of my dreams and hobbies. But all we could ever really afford was just cheap ramen and canned spam so yeah. She made us budae jjigae a lot.” There’s a fond smile on Hoseok’s face and a bit of a faraway look in his eyes as he recalls some memories. “She would get the big wok out and the portable burner and set everything up on the coffee table and we would all sit around it while it cooked, just my mom and my sister and I, since my dad was never in the picture, and we would just… talk about our days. I always looked forward to it, it became sort of a tradition to do it at least once a week.”
“Wow,” Seokjin says, voice soft and gentle like he’s afraid to break Hoseok out of his reverie. “That sounds really lovely.”
Hoseok clears his throat. “Yeah, it’s been hard being away from my mom for such long periods, especially after being around only her and my sister for so long? It was always just us, and moving away from the two of them was difficult.”
“I’m sorry,” Seokjin murmurs, voice still soft, too soft for this yogurt shop.
Hoseok puts his sunshine smile back onto his face. “Don’t worry about it hyung, I’ll be okay. I’ve got you guys now, right?”
Seokjin smiles back. “Yeah Hoseokie. You’ve got us.”
February 15th - 3 days until Hoseok’s birthday
Hoseok slams open the door to his apartment, taking his shoes off hastily and removing his dance bag from his shoulder. Dance practice was particularly difficult today - he had a solo performance coming up for their showcase and was having difficulty nailing some of his more acrobatic moves. His body was completely maxed out, protesting his every move. Hoseok just wanted to go lay in bed and sleep for about twenty years.
Legs heavy from being overworked, Hoseok trudges into the living room where Jimin is sitting on the couch, drama reruns playing on the TV and his Childhood Development homework strewn about the coffee table. Hoseok practically throws himself onto the couch next to his roommate, huffing out a breath and finally letting his body relax as he melts into the cushions.
“Rough practice today I take it?”
“I just can’t get that one handed backwards flip thingy,” Hoseok complains. “I practiced for hours and it’s still not right.”
Jimin runs his fingers through Hoseok’s hair, even though it’s probably sweaty and smells bad. Jimin’s nice like that. “I’m sure it’s perfect, you’re just always so hard on yourself when it comes to your choreography and performances. And yet, you always nail it when it comes time to go on stage.”
Hoseok only whines again, part of him knowing that Jimin is right, and that his moves are flawless, but the other part of him, the more perfectionist part of him, wanting to argue back about how this time is different and how he definitely needs more practice. He lets the more rational side of him win, letting the topic go as Jimin continues to pet his hair and soothe away his worries for now.
“It wasn’t just that though,” Hoseok murmurs. “My dance bag ripped and I kept accidentally dropping all my extra towels and spare t-shirts and socks because of the hole at the seam. But I don’t have any money to buy a new one because I have to save up some to buy actual nice adult clothes for that internship where I’m teaching at the middle school.”
“I thought you had some clothes that you’ve been wearing to interviews and stuff though?” Jimin asks.
Hoseok scoffs. “I have like, one good polo shirt that I’ve been using and one nice button up that I hadn’t pulled out of my closet since my sister’s graduation. And let me tell you Jiminie, you can only wear the same two shirts so many times before a prissy sixth grader tells you off about it.”
Jimin snorts, fingers pausing in Hoseok’s hair as he laughs. “Children are pretty mean.”
Humming in agreement, Hoseok says, “Yeah, remind me why we’re both in majors that require working with children again?”
They both giggle, and Hoseok flips over onto his back and situates himself so that his head is more comfortably in Jimin’s lap. “Being an adult is so hard sometimes. I’ve never related more to the Friends theme song in my life.”
Jimin starts singing the song to him, Hoseok mumbling along and clapping at all the right parts until they both break out into a fit of giggles again.
“Ah, that reminds me.” Hoseok clears his throat, then pouts. “I really wanted to buy myself a set of Airpods too, as a birthday present to myself.”
Jimin frowns down at him. “Gotta prioritize some things Hoseokie.” He boops Hoseok on the nose, causing Hoseok to only pout harder.
“Yeah, but I want them, and I haven’t been able to buy myself anything nice for so long, I really thought I could make it happen for my own birthday.”
“Maybe your guardian angel will come down from heaven and help you out this time.”
“Don’t be silly Jimin,” Hoseok answers, finally closing his eyes and settling himself in for a long deserved nap. “That’s just ridiculous.”
February 16th - 2 days until Hoseok’s birthday
Hoseok loves his friends.
Truly, he does. Ever since Jimin and Yoongi started dating and he was introduced to Jungkook and Taehyung, and then Namjoon and Seokjin, life’s been great for Hoseok. He’s surrounded by couples and they’re all gross and in love when Hoseok is decidedly, not, but still. He usually always has someone that he can go see a movie with, or check out that new restaurant across town with.
So yeah, Hoseok loves his friends.
But good Lord Almighty, if Namjoon doesn’t stop complaining about his damn sore cheeks while Hoseok is trying to enjoy his (free) dessert in peace, he’s going to peg him in the face with his half full cup of froyo.
“Is Seokjin’s dick really that big?” Hoseok asks, exasperated, after Namjoon has once again whimpered pitifully from smiling too large at a customer.
The customer scurries away with their yogurt and Namjoon looks at Hoseok in confusion, rubbing at his cheek with his hand. “Huh?”
“Seokjin,” Hoseok responds plainly. “His dick, specifically. Is it really that big? Does giving him a blowjob really cause your mouth to be in so much pain afterwards you can’t even smile?”
“Hoseok, you can’t really ask those kind of questions in these types of establishments…” Namjoon says, still perplexed as to what Hoseok’s getting at.
“Like, I mean, I know Seokjin exudes the most BDE out of anyone in our friend group, but like wow, I never really expected it to be true.”
Namjoon throws a spoon at Hoseok, but it doesn’t make it very far and it just lands on the tiles with an awkward little tink that sounds way too loud in the quiet shop. They both look at it sadly until Seokjin comes in and asks, “What are you guys talking about?”
“Your di-” Hoseok starts, but Namjoon cuts him off.
“Derriere!” Namjoon shouts out over Hoseok. “Your… derriere.” He hangs his head in shame. Hoseok laughs and thinks that sometimes, Namjoon should really just keep his mouth shut.
“Nice save Joon,” Hoseok says. Namjoon shoots him a glare before turning to his boyfriend.
“My cheeks are all sore,” Namjoon explains. “From you know, doing that thing.”
“Thing?” Seokjin cocks his head to the side in confusion.
“Aha!” Hoseok exclaims, nearly jumping out of his chair to point an accusing finger at the two of them. “So your mouth is sore from sucking Seokjin’s cock like it’s an everlasting gobstopper! I knew it!”
Seokjin rolls his eyes at Hoseok and crosses his arms. “Hoseok, please don’t make me kick you out of my store. Also, if you’re going to use a dessert metaphor for my dick, at least make it a good one. It’s much more of a… Magnum ice cream bar, or one of those swirly lollipops you get at Disney.”
“Hyung, what?” Namjoon whispers.
“I have way too many bad images in my head right now, I’ll leave of my own volition, thank you. You need to keep your food kink under control Seokjin,” Hoseok says.
“You started it!” Seokjin yells at him as Hoseok gets up to throw his cup in the trash. “I’m banning you from this shop!”
“You already gave me a month of free yogurt and you can bet I’m going to milk you for all it’s worth!” Hoseok yells back.
“Joonie already does that when he sucks my -”
“Alright I’m out for real now, goodbye.”
February 17th - 1 day until Hoseok’s birthday
“I can’t believe this,” Hoseok mutters to himself as he knocks on the door to Namjoon and Taehyung’s apartment.
It’s the day before Hoseok’s birthday.
And he’s been sexiled.
“Fucking horny jackasses,” Hoseok curses under his breath, just as the door opens to reveal one disheveled looking Taehyung with what looks to be batter smeared across his cheek. He’s smiling and laughing, but the happy expression slips right off his face as soon as he sees Hoseok at the door.
“Tae?” Hoseok hears Jungkook ask from the direction of the kitchen. “Tae, who’s at the door?”
Jungkook bounds into view holding a whisk, but skids to a stop as soon as he spots Hoseok.
“Wow, please try to contain yourselves. Your excitement is just, overwhelming,” Hoseok says as he shoulders past Taehyung and into the entryway to take off his shoes and backpack.
“Hyung,” Jungkook finally says. “What are you doing here?”
Straightening up, Hoseok answers, “What, can’t I come hang out with my favorite dongsaengs?”
“What?” Taehyung responds, finally snapping out of his stupor. “What, no, of course you can. Just… a little warning would have been nice.”
“What, are you about to get it on too?”
Jungkook’s face pinkens and he squeaks as he scurries back to the kitchen, whisk clutched to his chest.
“What do you mean ‘too’?” Taehyung asks as he follows his boyfriend into the kitchen, Hoseok trailing after him and sitting on one of the barstools next to the island.
“I’ve been sexiled,” Hoseok huffs as he places his head down on the counter in front of him.
“So you can’t go back to your apartment?” Jungkook asks, biting down on his bottom lip.
“Not tonight,” Hoseok tells him. “I don’t want to walk in on any of that. What are you doing anyways?”
“Baking a cake!” Taehyung exclaims. “It’s for yo - ”
Jungkook shoves a spoon full of batter into Taehyung’s mouth before he can finish. “It’s for this club that Seokjin convinced me to join. We have to bring in some desserts and I thought I would try to make a dairy-free cake for everyone to try.”
“Why didn’t Seokjin ask me to join?”
“Um,” Jungkook stutters. “It was… full?”
Hoseok squints his eyes at him in suspicion but decides to roll with it. “Okay…”
“Anyways!” Taehyung says, taking the now clean spoon out of his mouth. “Hyung, you should go rest on the couch, take a load off, relax.” He makes shooing motions with his hands and Hoseok reluctantly gets up and goes over to flop face first down on the couch.
“I wanted some batter too though…” he complains, but Taehyung has already turned back around to Jungkook, and it sounds like they’re conspiring in the kitchen.
“Why didn’t they coordinate with us?” Hoseok can hear Taehyung whisper, none too quietly.
“Listen,” Hoseok says with his face still smushed into the couch cushion. “I know you guys went on that double date a little while ago, but you do know that that doesn’t mean you have to do absolutely everything together with the four of you right? You don’t have to synchronize your sex nights.”
“Huh?” Jungkook says.
“You were talking about coordinating with Yoongi-hyung and Jimin,” Hoseok tells him, now rolling onto his back so he can settle more comfortably into the couch and actually breathe. His eyes close almost involuntarily, tired from the stress of having classes all day and from getting kicked out of his own apartment.
“Oh,” Jungkook responds blankly. “That was for something different?”
“Yeah, we’re still just really upset that they didn’t coordinate outfits with us that one time we went on a double date,” Taehyung says, now focused on pouring the batter into the cake pan.
“Huh.” Hoseok huffs out a breath. “A little late for you to be complaining about that, isn’t it?”
“I hold grudges,” Taehyung says simply.
“I’m aware,” Hoseok responds, remembering the time Taehyung wouldn’t even speak to him for two weeks because he accidentally used up the last of his favorite flavor of froyo at the shop and Taehyung couldn’t have any on his break.
So Hoseok just accepts it, way too exhausted to even argue or question anything. He flops to his side so he can watch some anime on the TV, but he can still hear Taehyung and Jungkook giggling in the kitchen and saying stupid sappy things to each other, and it’s the first time in a while where Hoseok is actually upset that he doesn’t have a significant other. Someone that he could bake cakes with. Someone he could sexile Jimin and Yoongi with.
Someone who would actually remember his birthday, because apparently, it’s slipped all of his friend’s minds.
Hoseok huffs out another sigh and tries to focus on the screen in front of him, but he’s feeling heavy, and sad, and soon enough, the weariness of the day is washing over him in waves. Sometime later, he feels someone covering him up with a blanket and the soft click of a door closing.
Hoseok lets sleep overtake him and hopes that his birthday tomorrow is better than his day today.
February 18th - Hoseok’s birthday
When Hoseok wakes up, it’s to an empty apartment. Taehyung, Jungkook and Namjoon must have all had early classes, but Hoseok’s first class isn’t until ten so he let himself sleep in a bit.
He groans as he stretches his arms up over his head, body tight and taut after having been scrunched on the couch the whole night.
It’s not the best way to wake up on his birthday, but he supposes it could have been worse.
Grunting, Hoseok stands up to stretch out his limbs a bit more as he makes his way to the kitchen. There’s a note there on the counter, clearly a scrap from one of Taehyung’s notebooks if the complex equations and random doodles on the backside are anything to go by. Taehyung’s handwriting is a mess, and Hoseok has to squint and tilt his head a bit to the side to really make out the characters, but it’s just telling him to help himself to the leftover coffee in the pot and the cereal in the pantry, but whatever he does DO NOT OPEN THE FRIDGE.
Hoseok has never been one to question his friend’s motivations and quirks, and he’s not about to start now, especially with Taehyung, considering one time he told Hoseok to hold his hand open for a present and Taehyung plopped a straight up dead and deceased lizard right onto his palm and Hoseok screamed so loud his neighbors asked if they needed to call the police. So he decides to avoid the fridge for now.
That means that he has to eat his cereal dry and have his coffee without creamer, but beggars can’t be choosers he thinks, as he downs his quick breakfast in order to make it to his class on time.
Luckily, before he was sexiled, Hoseok was able to grab a spare outfit to stuff into his backpack, so he changes quickly and splashes some water on his face to really wake himself up before heading out to campus, locking up behind him using the key he knows Taehyung and Namjoon keep in the potted plant beside their front door.
Class is dreadful, as always, Hoseok struggling to stay awake for most of it, running low on energy and motivation, since it’s his birthday and here he is, stuck in lectures all day and no one has even sang the happy birthday song to him once.
Hoseok has to stay on campus all day, not even getting to go home for lunch considering his classes run right up to his lunch hour and then he has to book it to a long lab afterwards. So he doesn’t get to even think about heading back to his own apartment until it’s dinnertime and Hoseok is absolutely drained. He sends a quick text out in their group chat they have between the seven on them, seeing if anyone wants to get dinner for his birthday, but no one responds so he decides to just go back to his own apartment to celebrate by himself since apparently no one wants to celebrate with him.
Just as he’s getting on the bus to head home, his phone vibrates in his pocket and he takes it out as he sits down in one of the window seats, thinking it’s one of his friends finally responding to his dinner invite, but it turns out it’s just his mom wanting to FaceTime. There’s no one else on the bus except for the driver, so Hoseok accepts the call and brings the phone up to face himself.
“Hey mom,” Hoseok says as his mom’s face lights up the screen. Hoseok has always thought she was beautiful, radiant and warm, but it seems like everyday she gets older, her beauty just increases tenfold, and Hoseok is just so proud to call her his mom.
“Hi sweetie! Happy birthday!” she says, a smile that’s so similar to Hoseok’s filling up her entire face.
“Thanks mom, it seems like you’re the only one that’s remembered,” Hoseok responds, slight bitterness seeping into his tone.
His mother’s face falls, frown replacing that bright smile. “Oh no sweetie, what do you mean?”
“I think all of my friend’s forgot about my birthday,” Hoseok tells her. “No one’s said anything about it to me all day. No texts, cards, nothing. I even stayed over at Taehyung and Namjoon’s apartment last night and they were gone before I even woke up, just left a note about leftover coffee.” Hoseok’s pouting now, he’s just so confused, how could they have forgotten? He knows the exact date of all his friend’s birthdays, even knows their sun, moon and rising sign, and yet those same friends can’t even send him a quick text about his birthday?
“Oh honey, I’m sure you’re just being dramatic,” his mother says, always so calm and comforting when she knows Hoseok needs it the most. “From what you’ve told me, those friends would do anything for you, they love you too much to do something like that. They’re probably just busy with their own schedules, I’ve always said you guys work too hard, you need a break every once in a while.”
Hoseok huffs and picks at a loose thread on his shirt. “Maybe. I don’t know.”
“Well I’m sorry that I’m not there to spend the day with you, you know that I would spoil you rotten.”
Hoseok smiles, the first genuine one he’s had all day. “Mom, you don’t have to do that, you’ve already done so much for me, all my life.”
“I think you deserve it for just one day, and then we can go back to you refusing and rejecting all of my love.”
“Mom! I don’t do that,” Hoseok says indignantly.
His mother just laughs, so bright and lovely. “I know sweetie, I’m just messing with you.”
“I love you mom,” Hoseok tells her, still smiling. He notices that the bus is nearing the stop next to his apartment. “But I gotta go, I’m home now.”
“Okay sweetie, I love you too! Hope you have a happy birthday,” his mom says, laughter still evident on her face.
“I’ve got a couple of hours left, I’m sure I can make it a good one,” Hoseok says with a wink. “Bye mom.”
“Bye Hoseokie.”
Hoseok hangs up and gathers up his belongings so he can head off the bus. He makes it to his apartment door, fumbling with his keys before finally swinging the door open.
He’s meet with complete darkness, which is weird, because he and Jimin always leave a light on since both of them are scared of the dark, and also to deter people from breaking into the apartment.
“Jimin?” Hoseok calls out into the darkness. “Minnie, are you home?”
The door closes behind him, and he’s searching along the wall for the light switch, when suddenly, he’s both blinded and deafened as all the lights turn on at once and what sounds like a thousand tiny firecrackers start popping by his ears.
“Surprise!!”
Hoseok startles so badly he nearly topples over, hand clutched over his heart as he leans backwards into the wall, eyes blinking rapidly and heart rate through the roof. He says the first thing that comes to mind.
“What the fuck.”
There’s laughter coming from somewhere to his right, but Hoseok can’t tell who it is because there are still spots covering up his vision and he still hasn’t really gotten his bearings yet after being scared half to death. It sounds like Jimin though.
“Happy birthday Hoseokie!” That’s definitely Jimin, Hoseok would recognize that bright, cheery voice anywhere.
“You remembered?” Hoseok says softly, eyesight finally clearing up as he looks around to take in his surroundings.
All of his friends are there, wearing some various dollar store party supplies. Yoongi and Jungkook are both wearing tiny little party hats, and Taehyung, Seokjin and Namjoon are wearing silly, oversized plastic glasses that say ‘Happy Birthday’ along the top. They’re all holding those confetti poppers, bits of paper strewn about the floor. Hoseok’s brain belatedly realizes that those must have been the source of all the noise when he came in.
To his right, Jimin is still beaming at him, face pulled into a huge grin. He’s also wearing a party hat, and has one in his hands that he affixes to the top of Hoseok’s head. “Of course we remembered, how could we forget?”
Hoseok swallows, suddenly feeling guilty that he ever thought his friend’s wouldn’t remember his birthday. “It’s just, no one said anything to me all day, I thought you guys didn’t remember.”
Jimin just pinches his roommate’s cheek. “Because we were planning this surprise for you! And you know none of us are that good at keeping secrets, so we just decided to try to avoid talking to you at all, lest we let something accidentally slip.”
“Oh,” Hoseok says plainly.
“Did you really think we forgot?” Jimin pouts at Hoseok’s noncommittal shrug. “Oh I’m sorry Hoseokie, that’s not what we intended, we really just wanted to keep this a surprise for you. And I’m sorry for kicking you out last night, but we needed time to get everything ready and we didn’t want you to see the decorations!” Jimin pulls Hoseok into a quick hug before guiding him to the living room. “And look we have cake!”
And a cake it is indeed, complete with an excessive amount of frosting and so many candles it would be a fire hazard with all of them lit at once.
“Jungkookie and I made it!” Taehyung states proudly, side hugging his boyfriend and giving Hoseok a thumbs up.
“Is this what you were making last night?” Hoseok asks.
“Maybe,” Jungkook singsongs.
Hoseok smiles before telling them, “Well I had no idea. I really thought Seokjin just forgot to invite me to the dessert club.”
Seokjin makes a sad noise of protest from behind him. “I would never! I know how you are when it comes to dessert and food. Speaking of, look what I prepared!”
Seokjin gestures to the coffee table, where there’s large pot on a single portable burner, filled with what are clearly the ingredients for budae jjigae.
“Oh my goodness, you didn’t,” Hoseok says breathlessly, taken aback by his friends and their sincerity. He barely remembers mentioning his favorite dish to Seokjin, and yet here it is, already prepared for him for his birthday. The guilt is building up inside of him again, and it’s very close to breaking through in the form of tears.
“I did.” Seokjin goes to give Hoseok a hug as well. “Only the best for our sunshine.”
“Wait, Namjoon didn’t help you make this did he?” Hoseok jokes, looking over at Namjoon who has an exasperated but still good-natured smile on his face.
“No I didn’t, but I did blow up all the balloons!” He gestures to the floor around him where multi-colored balloons are scattered all over the floor. There are also some taped to the wall next to a large sign that reads out ‘ HAPPY BIRTHDAY’. “It was the only thing they’d let me prepare. And yes, my cheeks still hurt from it.”
Hoseok laughs, remembering the time at the yogurt shop when he made fun of Namjoon’s sore cheeks and had, apparently, incorrectly assumed it was from something a bit more raunchy than just blowing up balloons for his birthday party.
Sometime during Hoseok’s teasing of Namjoon, Yoongi had gone over to the portable speakers set up on the side table by the couch, powering it on and starting up some music.
“Is this… Tinashe?” Hoseok asks in surprise.
“It is,” Yoongi answers proudly. “I made up a playlist for your big day, using some of the songs I saw on your study playlist, and some other ones that I thought you might like.”
“Wow, hyung, you’re so cool,” Hoseok tells him. “Thank you so much.”
Yoongi rubs the back of his neck with his hand, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks as he avoids eye contact with Hoseok. “It wasn’t a big deal.”
Hoseok walks over and gathers the boy in a tight hug. “It really means a lot to me though, especially since I thought everyone forgot.”
Yoongi pats Hoseok on the back awkwardly. “Uh, you’re welcome then.”
“Alright, get your hands off my boyfriend,” Jimin protests with a giggle, before gently tugging Hoseok away and steering him to sit on the couch instead. “It’s present time!”
“Aww, you guys didn’t have to get me anything though,” Hoseok objects weakly, but still holds his hands out for the first gift that’s presented to him, a large box from Namjoon and Seokjin. He takes the top off, before looking inside and seeing a brand new gym bag, perfect for his dance lessons.
“Oh wow, this is so nice,” Hoseok says in awe, carefully extracting the new bag from the tissue paper and the box, and unfolding it so he can really take it all in.
“There’s a surprise inside too!” Seokjin says excitedly, gesturing for Hoseok to unzip the largest pouch. Hoseok opens up the compartment and finds two new shirts, the nice ones that wick away all your sweat, and a couple pairs of new socks.
“You guys this was perfect, how did you know I needed a new bag?” Hoseok asks, folding everything back so that it fits back inside the original box.
“A little birdie may have told us,” Namjoon answers simply with a wink.
By the tiny giggle that Hoseok hears at Namjoon’s words, he thinks he has an idea as to who the informant is, but he goes along with it. “Please give that little birdie my love and thanks then.”
“Our turn, our turn!” Taehyung exclaims, bursting through and handing Hoseok a bright and colorful bag that has a picture of a little dog wearing a party hat on it. “It’s from me and Jungkookie, but I picked out the wrappings.”
“I would have never guessed,” Hoseok says while Taehyung smiles sheepishly. Hoseok starts to pull out the tissue paper, which is rainbow striped to match the many colors on the bag, before finally getting to the bottom and finding a pair of khaki pants, some navy slacks, and also three new button down shirts in various colors and patterns. “Holy shit, these are fancy, how much did you guys spend on them?”
Jungkook waves his hand in front of his face to dismiss Hoseok’s question. “Taehyung and I pooled our money together because we knew you needed some nice clothes for your internship. Plus, my cousin works at the outlet mall and we got to use her employee discount.”
“Did the same little birdie also tell you about my lack of professional adult outfits?”
“Maybe…” Taehyung shrugs.
“Wow, if only I knew who this little birdie was, I’d give him such a big hug to thank him,” Hoseok says.
“Alright, I can’t hold it in any longer,” Jimin declares, jumping forward with his hand in the air. “It’s me. I’m the little birdie, I told everyone what I thought you’d want for your birthday.”
“Aww, Jiminie, you’re such a cute little chick, come here.” Hoseok pulls him down to sit on the couch next to him, smothering him with hugs and kisses until Jimin starts pinching his sides in retaliation to get him to stop.
“Okay, okay, I get it, you love me, now it’s time to open the best present, from me and Yoongi,” Jimin says, out of breath from Hoseok’s assault.
Yoongi comes out from Jimin’s bedroom holding a tiny box. “Here you go Hoseok-ah.”
Hoseok takes the small gift with a smile, and starts to peel off the wrapping paper. When he sees the Apple logo on the outside of the box, he nearly drops it on the floor. “Jimin you didn’t.”
“Of course I did, I’m the best roommate the ever was. Come on, open it up.”
Hoseok continues to unwrap the present, and holds up the pair of Airpods that he’s been wanting so much for the past couple of months up in front of face. There are tears in his eyes and he doesn’t even bother trying to stop them from falling as he says, “Jiminie you’re too much. How am I supposed to repay you?”
“It’s a present Hobi, you’re not supposed to repay me. That’s not the point of presents,” Jimin tells him with a laugh.
“Yeah, but these are like, so expensive. I need to pay you back somehow.”
“I saved up all of my money from working at the corn maze, and Yoongi helped out too, it wasn’t that bad. Plus, you pay me back every day just by being you and being in my life, by being my precious happy virus that always brightens up my day.”
Hoseok is full-on crying now, tears streaming down his face as he looks at all of his friends around him. His friends who just a couple of hours ago he was mad at because he thought they forget his birthday. His friends who worked so hard to prepare this surprise party for him, and who saved up their own hard earned money just to buy him nice presents.
Hoseok can’t believe he’s surrounded by this much love.
“Happy birthday sunshine,” Jimin says softly, noticing how emotional his roommate was getting. He pulls him into a hug, squeezing him tightly, and then suddenly everyone else is joining in, creating a huge cuddle pile on the couch, and Hoseok isn’t crying anymore, he’s laughing, and feeling so so happy that he gets to call these genuinely lovely human beings his friends.
“I love you guys so much,” Hoseok says between giggles. “Thank you for everything.”
“You’re welcome Hoseokie.” Seokjin ruffles his hair once everyone has detached themselves from the cuddle pile. “Now, let’s eat!”
And eat they do, everyone having their fill of budae jjigae, and laughing and talking about their classes or silly customers that have come into the yogurt shop. It reminds Hoseok incredibly of home, of sitting there with his mother and his sister, eating spicy noodles and rice cakes and spam, chatting about their day.
Hoseok loves his family with all his heart, but he thinks he can make room for six more people to love.
After eating, they have a mini dance party, where Hoseok beats all of them, obviously, and then they settle down to watch a movie (Moana this time, Hoseok’s choice), all of them snuggle together in a blanket fort on the floor in the living room.
Hoseok may be single right now, but he’s never felt so loved in his entire life.