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jooheon is tired. it’s almost three in the morning, and he clocked in at work at 6pm. he loves what he does, but damn if it isn’t exhausting work. this was never his plan, not really. he’d gotten his degree and was planning on finding a job but it’s just so competitive and frankly, jooheon never wanted to work in accounting. it just sounded safe. honestly, he found the concept of finding a permanent job scary – like he can never leave it once he has it. he knows it isn’t like that, but the thought made him so queasy that he never did his best when he interviewed for jobs. just kinda half-assed it and hoped they wouldn’t hire him. it worked.
so it was by a complete accident that he ended up at the sapphire lounge. he had one of those nights where he couldn’t sleep again. he had been laying awake until morning, too caught up in fretting about finding work to relax, and so he went for a walk to clear his head. how he ended up in that neighborhood he still isn’t sure, but somehow he did. if it was by luck or something else that he saw the ‘bartender wanted’ he doesn’t know, but he applied for it, and somehow, he got it. it’s not like he knew anything about making drinks outside of making some mean soju and beer combos, but it seemed like the owner, minhyuk, saw something in him that was enough to get him hired. and so, by accident, jooheon starts bartending.
his shifts usually consist of him running around the bar mixing and serving drinks, because for some reason – jooheon thinks it’s because minhyuk is stingy with his money - they’re always understaffed. they’re the only club in town that can make a decent drink, so it’s no surprise that they’re always packed full on the weekends, but fuck, sometimes he wishes he could be on the other side of that counter. he wants to just have one saturday where he can get so drunk he can’t see straight, maybe embarrass himself on the dance floor and god, what he wouldn’t give to get laid. but he doesn’t have time for that. not when the weekend shifts pay so well, and he has mouths to feed. so he just accepts it. resents it a little maybe, but it’s fine. acceptable.
he knows he’s damn good at what he does, so the bartending itself isn’t so bad, it’s more the fact that he’s never just bartending. he’s practically the handyman of the club. there's a problem? jooheon can fix it. the problem is that, of course, usually jooheon doesn’t actually know how to - he just wings it. hopes for the best and if it breaks again, somebody else will get the blame for it.
it can be fun too of course - his job. he loves talking to interesting people at his bar if he has enough downtime (which he rarely does, but when he does, it’s great), and his coworkers are amazing. especially hyungwon. he’s just so chill, and even on the nights they lines are practically outside of the club, he’s in no rush. takes his time to make every drink just right, and it’s the quality that bring people back, that gives them a job to do. so even if he might get a little stressed about just how slow hyungwon is, he can’t really say anything. he just deals with it. picks up his pace more and gets ready to pass out as soon as he gets home. which is what he’s going to do now.
the three flights of stairs to his apartment has never been longer, and he’s certain he’ll reach mount everest once he’s at his floor. he feels like he’s been dragging his aching body up the stairs for days. jooheon finally reaches his door, exhausted. he fumbles around for his keys in his coat, eyes closing as he finally unlocks the door. there’s nothing he wants more than to just collapse on his couch and watch some shitty rom-coms until he’s relaxed enough to pass out.
jooheon kicks off his shoes as he enters. he knows his apartment like the back of his hand, knows where everything is even in the pitch darkness. so he just keeps his eyes closed, too tired to open them as he shrugs of his jacket as throws in the closet. he notices then, that yoshi hasn’t said hello. hasn’t demanded food or cuddles and suddenly jooheon is wide awake. the terror that settles in snaps his eyes open, and he fumbles his way down the hallway, desperately calling out for the cat as he moves towards his living room.
there’s nothing that could’ve prepared him for what he sees as he almost trips into the room, body freezing in panic as he takes in the sight before him. there’s a man. in his living room. a strangler. an intruder. a whistling intruder. and that whistling intruder is fucking twirling around the room with his cat as hostage. a cat-napper. jooheon’s hands fumble around him to find something to protect himself with while he keeps his eyes on the man.
he’s still obvious to the fact that jooheon is there, eyes glazed over as he spins around, and he probably didn’t even hear him enter. while it’s too dark to really see more than this strangers outline, he can see that he’s big enough to put up a decent fight. jooheon is tired and angry and scared, and he really doesn’t want to fight, but what else can he do when his child is being threatened? his hand finally comes into contact with cool porcelain, and he grabs the vase, raising it over his head to use it as a weapon if it get’s that far. he hopes it doesn’t. but the sinking feeling in his stomach reminds him that people usually don’t break in unless they want something, and this person seems unstable, unpredictable.
there isn’t much of value in his apartment, maybe his shitty old tv, but that’s it. and somehow, that scares him even more. what if he gets angry that there’s nothing he can steal? what if he tries to hurt him, or even worse, tries to hurt yoshi? no, he won’t let it come to that. won’t let that stranger touch his cat any longer. jooheon’s blood is boiling, the adrenaline morphing his fear into anger as he takes a few steps in to the room.
“let him go!” jooheon’s voice booms in the nearly silent apartment as he flips on the lights. maybe hopes some of his neighbors will hear his voice if it’s loud enough and call the police. but people like to mind their own business too much, and he can’t rely on that. jooheon can finally see his intruder clearly, and his heart squeezes painfully when he sees just how ripped this guy is. the vase in his hand feels heavier, arm shaking as he holds it tighter. the man finally stop spinning when the light is switched on. he just stands there, eyes squinting at the sudden light.
yoshi worms his way out of the mans hold, easily drops to the ground and trots over to jooheon, happily meowing and purring as if he wasn’t just held hostage. the man groans as he seems to be trying to steady himself, probably dizzy from spinning around so much, arms flailing around to help him find his balance. the clothes he’s wearing don’t really seem all that good for breaking in, not that jooheon would really know, but from his extensive spy movie collection, he thinks the man should have at least had dropped the blue flannel for something, well, more black.
apparently the guy got the memo on the rest of his clothes though, his t-shirt and jeans are dark, and from what jooheon can see, very tight. not that jooheon pays more attention to that than he needs to, of course. in fact his jeans are so tight that jooheon catches himself wondering how this dude can even move around in them – but they’re probably good for worming in through windows without getting caught, since there’s nothing to get caught on after all. he just notes that they seem excessively tight. but maybe that’s the burglar fashion trend right now for all he knows. the stranger finally stills, finds his balance as he groans, arms slightly flexing as he lowers them.
the man's got muscles bulging in all the right places and fuck - he’s pretty - staring at jooheon with wide eyes and black hair and god, if jooheon was less angry maybe he would be willing to admit that he’s a little attracted to his intruder but since he is angry - he’s not going to. just boxes away the thought as soon as it hits him.
“what do you want?” jooheon takes another step in, trying to shoo yoshi out of harms way in case the man decides to assault him. the man is still staring at him wide eyed, mouth slightly agape.
“what do y’mean?” the man slurs, and the strong stench of alcohol finally hits jooheon as he takes another step closer. it’s a smell he knows all too well from bartending, and shit, is this man drunk? that seems like a poor decision when you’re trying to rob someone.
“why are you in my apartment?” jooheon hisses, narrowing his eyes as he tries to look for any weapons. he can’t find any of course, the clothes on the man doesn’t leave anything to imagination and if he does have any weapons, jooheon would rather not know where he stores them.
“this isn’t your apartment! this is kihyun’sss!” the man huffs, crossing his arms and maybe jooheon’s mouth runs a little dry at the sight of his arms flexing but he doesn’t have time for that. because that names sounds familiar.
“i’m telling you dude, this is my apartment,” his teeth are grinding at the audacitythis man has, to break into his home and then tell him he has it wrong. yoshi is rubbing himself along jooheon’s legs, pitifully meowing to get his attention. but jooheon doesn’t have time for that right now, can’t really set aside a minute to feed him, because there’s a goddamn stranger in his home.
“no .. this is kihyun’s ..” the man’s voice gets smaller the more he looks around. he stumbles a step, seems to catch himself, and then looks at jooheon with fear in his eyes. “who are you? what d’you do with kihyun?” he cries as he goes into a defensive stance, hands in fists in front of his face like he’s planning on holding a boxing match and god, jooheon is too tired for this.
“i’m telling you, this is my apartment!” he throws his hands out in frustration. ”that is my shitty couch, my shitty tv, and my shi- wait, put him down!” somehow, yoshi has decided that jooheon is taking too long to feed him, so he’s moving along to his next target, and apparently this stranger, this intruder was a good second option. frankly, jooheon is offended. but also panicking, because why the fuck is this man picking up his cat again? what does he want? he puffs his chest up as he surges towards the man, vase raised high and ready to take a swing - but he stops, suddenly, confused, at the sound that’s coming out of the man’s mouth.
is he .. fucking cooing at his cat? the stranger makes little kissing noises as he buries his head in yoshi’s fur and petting him happily. he’s so confused. and yoshi is purring. louder than jooheon has ever heard before.
“aren’t you the prettiest kitty ever?” the man is looking at yoshi with stars in his eyes as he slurs his words out and jooheon feels like he’s intruding on a moment that he isn’t meant to see. which is rich, because that is his cat, and this is his living room. ”what the fuck,” he mutters and the man seems to suddenly remember he’s there.
“oh shit,” he takes a step backwards, clutching his cat tighter to his chest and he closes his eyes as he sees the vase jooheon still has over his head. ”don’t hurt the cat! she’s innocent!” he’s cowering, twisting his body around so that jooheon can’t touch yoshi, and for a moment his heart does a weird flutter. this stranger is protecting his cat. ”he,” jooheon corrects him, letting his arm fall down to his side, his bicep slightly aching after holding it there for so long.
“s’what?” the stranger throws him another fearful look over his shoulder, and jooheon realizes that this man isn’t going to hurt them. he’s just drunk of his mind.
“it’s a he. his name is yoshi. and he’s my cat. and i’d appreciate it if you could let him down,” jooheon collapses down in the couch, fingers rubbing his eyes to chase the tired out of them for a little while longer.
“oh,” the man seems to contemplate for a while until he finally puts the cat gently down to the ground, eying jooheon warily as he does so.
“how did you get in?” jooheon suddenly remembers locking the door before he left, so how did he get in? getting in through his window seems a bit much, even for a burglar, since he lives on the fourth floor and there’s no way for someone to climb up unless they’re a fucking ninja.
the man stares at him incredulously. “the door you dummy,” he raises his eyebrows. “i picked it, kihyun doesn’t mind,” he rolls his eyes as he takes a step back, hands flying out again to balance himself.
“you what? this isn’t kihyun’s apartment!” jooheon can’t stop the shock that seeps into his voice. he picked his fucking lock? he’s going out to buy extra chains and bolts and whatever first thing in the morning. the man only shrugs, but there’s a smugness in his expression that jooheon doesn’t care for. not when it’s his apartment that got picked.
yoshi runs back to jooheon, rubbing against his legs and begging for more attention. ”traitor,” jooheon grumbles and he hears the stranger suddenly gasp, ”don’t be mean, he’s done nothing wrong!”. the man is slightly swaying in place and he’s starting to look a little green and hell no, he’s not throwing up in his apartment, no way.
“dude, please leave. it’s late and i’m tired,” jooheon sighs.
“but kihyun?” the name finally clicks into place for jooheon. his neighbor across the hall is named that. ”you mean yoo kihyun?” he asks, and the stranger lights up at the mention of the name, eyes bright and smile wide as he stumbles his way over to the couch. jooheon sits up in alarm as the man crashes down on the couch next to him, way too close for comfort.
“you know my kihyun? where is he?” he looks around the room like kihyun might just pop out, an excited grin on his face. ”i don’t know dude,” jooheon has to lean back to see his face properly. he tries to ignore just how warm the man feels pressed up against him. this isn’t the time. the man pouts, actually pouts, and jooheon’s heart melts a little more.
“why not?” he inches closer to jooheon, the little distance he put between them earlier is gone. the closer the man gets, the more jooheon pulls back, and it doesn’t take long before the man has caged him in, strong arms on either side of his head on the couch. jooheon feels his cheeks heating up by how good-looking the man looks over him and he coughs, tries to cover his face so he won’t see how affected he is by the close proximity.
“shouldn’t you know where your boyfriend is?” jooheon raises an eyebrow. the man makes a disgusted face, shaking his head so vigorously that he might fall off the couch.
“no! that’s nastyyy,” he whines, looks at jooheon with those pretty eyes again. ”he’s my younger brother,” he rests his head against his own arm, eyes fluttering shut as he hovers over jooheon. he can’t do much other than stare, really. stare at his exposed neck and long eyelashes and jooheon accidently lets out a sound in the back of his throat because who allowed him outside, looking so pretty? The mans eyes open at the garbled sound, studying jooheon as a faint smirk ghosts over his lips.
“oh,” jooheon knows his response is a few minutes too late, and he can tell that this man knows too, even if he’s piss drunk.
“what’s your name?” he asks, the words slightly mixing together. jooheon's nose crinkles as the strong smell of alcohol washes over him, but suddenly the man drips his head a little closer and jooheon’s mind just blanks.
“jooheon,” he mutters, eyes travelling back to the man’s lips as he smiles. “jooheon,” the man repeats in a slow drawl, really dragging each syllable out and fuck – jooheon tries to distract himself because otherwise he’ll do something he’ll regret. he tries to think about anything else but how close his guy is, how attractive, how strong – and he fails. obviously. the man cocks his head, eyes glimmering dangerously in the low light from the one shitty light fixture jooheon forced his landlord to install.
“i’m hoseok,” jooheon didn’t ask, doesn’t need to know, but he gets a strange satisfaction that the stranger, hoseok, tells him anyways. jooheon nods, lightly chewing on his bottom lip as watches hoseok’s face get even closer, his eyes hooded. jooheon thinks he might be dreaming. maybe he’s actually passed out on the couch right now and this is just some fever dream conjured up by his exhaustion and lack of human contact. but hoseok’s breath fanning over his face tells him otherwise. he keeps inching closer and closer until his nose is almost pressed again jooheon’s.
“jooheon,” he whispers, and jooheon gulps, struggles to swallow all the drool that’s been pooling up in his mouth the longer he’s been looking at him.
“yes?” jooheon’s voice squeaks, but hoseok doesn’t seem to notice. he’s looking at him in a way jooheon can’t place and it’s making something stir in his stomach. not good
“m’sleepy”, hoseok whines, and jooheon doesn’t even have time to register his words before hoseok let’s go of the couch and flops down on him. jooheon’s breath is slightly punched out of him as hoseok’s body hits him, strong arms and legs surrounding him immediately, hoseok’s face pressed into his neck. what the fuck. jooheon just lays there in shock as hoseok tangles them together, mind reeling at the speed of light as he tries to make sense of what’s happening. is hoseok, a drunk stranger who literally broke into his apartment and almost cat-napped his cat, cuddling him?
“just gonna rest for a bit,” hoseok’s lips ghost against his collarbone as he speaks, and it sends shivers down jooheon’s spine. he feels hoseok breath calm down in seconds, soft puffs of air hitting his neck. oh uh. “dude, hey,” jooheon grips hoseok’s shoulders as he tries to shake him awake. hoseok doesn’t stir.
“hoseok,” he tries again. the name feels foreign as he says it, but it doesn’t feel unpleasant. “shit,” jooheon groans as he drags his hand over his face. he's exhausted, and this isn’t something he’s willing to deal with right now. he untangles a leg from hoseok, shooing yoshi away as he tries to entice jooheon into feeding him.
“not now,” he grumbles as he tries to maneuver hoseok off him. he doesn’t really care if he wakes him up, actually, he hope he does – but he’s still gentle as he flips them over and shimmies off the couch. hoseok stirs, scratches his chest as he moves around on the couch, and then promptly falls back asleep, a soft snore escaping every now and then. jooheon sighs as he stares at the handsome stranger asleep on his couch. he almost reaches out to brush hoseok’s dark hair out of his face, but catches himself, slightly horrified that he would even think about it.
he picks up yoshi instead, running his hand through his fur as he carries him out to the kitchen. yoshi starts purring the moment he sees the bowl, realizing he’s finally getting his food. jooheon keeps getting distracted by his couch, eyes somehow always finding their way back no matter how much he looks away. he ends up pouring in way too much dry food, much to yoshi’s delight.
“enjoy it, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he murmurs, running his hand down yoshi’s back a few times before he goes back to the living room, eyes trained on hoseok’s sleeping form. he considers going across the hall and knocking on kihyun’s door to make him come and collect him. but at this point it’s 4.30 in the morning, and he’s sure he’s going to wake up the entire building if he does that. and he’s so tired. he yawns as he watches the steady rise and fall of hoseok’s chests, and decides that he’ll deal with it in the morning. hoseok is out cold and probably will be for a while, so it’s only fair that he gets some sleep too. he drapes a blanket over hoseok’s legs and turns off the light. he’s pretty sure hoseok is harmless, but he still locks his bedroom door after ushering yoshi inside. as he lays down in bed still fully dressed and too tried to do anything about he just thinks, better safe than sorry.
jooheon wakes up to the sound of a crash and yoshi scratching at his door to get outside. the memories of the day before come flooding back and jooheon tumbles out of bed, groaning as he rushes to unlock his door. he flings it open, staring wide eyed as he finds hoseok laying sprawled out on his hallway floor, clutching his head. he rushes to his side, hand hovering over hoseok’s arm as he hesitates.
“you okay dude?” he’s caught off guard when hoseok suddenly scrambles back, knocking his head against the wall in the process. he stares at jooheon bewildered, wincing as he holds his head. jooheon lets his hand drop, biting his lip as he contemplates on what to do.
“where am i?” hoseok’s voice is coarse, deep. it sounds so nice that’s jooheon thinks it’s unfair. jooheon coughs, running his hand through his hair as he wonders on how to approach the situation. judging by the dark circles under hoseok’s eyes, he’s guessing he doesn’t remember much from the night before, “my apartment,” he settles for the easiest route. “i left the door unlocked by accident, and you came in thinking it was your brothers apartment, kihyun, was it? – and then you passed out on the couch,” he doesn’t mention the cuddling part. he can see the tips of hoseok’s ears burning, and he decides it really necessary to embarrass him even further by mentioning it. hoseok is still tense though, shoulders almost touching his chin as he’s pressed against the wall, and jooheon can’t really blame him. not when he practically had the same reaction the night before. yoshi makes his entrance before hoseok can answer. he trots over to them, jumping into hoseok’s lap and making himself comfortable as he purrs. jooheon is almost jealous.
“kitty! i think i remember you,” hoseok's face softens as he pets yoshi, and there’s a sliver of shame in his eyes when he looks back at jooheon
“i’m so sorry,” he winces when he moves his head, “i usually don’t get so wasted, and when i do, i normally go home,” he smiles when yoshi butts his head against his hand. jooheon realizes he has pretty hands too. well, fuck.
“you scared the shit out of me, but it’s okay, can happen to anyone i guess,” hoseok and jooheon both know it doesn’t, but neither feels the urge to add that.
“you alright though? seemed like you fell pretty hard earlier?” hoseok winces again as he touches the side of his head, “yeah, just got a bit surprised waking up in a strange place,” he pauses, grimaces before he adds, “guess I’m still a bit drunk, my feet aren’t working properly yet”. jooheon bites back the laugh that threatens to spill out. yoshi allows hoseok to pet him a bit more before he runs off back into jooheon’s bedroom, leaving them to awkwardly look after him
hoseok groans as he tries to stand up, halfway collapsing against the wall. jooheon’s hands shoot out to steady him before he even knows what he’s doing, and he ends up with his hands curled around hoseok’s biceps and damn if they aren’t as firm and mouth watering as he imagined.
“i think i should sit down for a minute,” hoseok mutters, and jooheon doesn’t need to be asked twice. he helps hoseok back to the couch, fingers lingering on his arms a bit too long but he hopes hoseok doesn’t notice that. hoseok turns his head as he looks around the apartment, eyes curious as he takes in his surroundings. jooheon does a double take when he sees a drop of blood near hoseok’s ear, fingers reaching out to brush against his hair before he can stop himself. hoseok hisses at the contact, shooting jooheon a glare as he pulls back.
“blood,” jooheon states as he stares down at his fingers. “you’re bleeding,” he tries to push down the nausea in his stomach as he looks the area of his fingers that are stained red.
“what?” hoseok confusedly touches the same spot as jooheon did, hisses again as he comes in contact with the wound. “oh”, he whimpers as he sees the blood on his fingers, eyes panicking as he turns back to jooheon.
“hold on, i think i have a kit somewhere,” jooheon rushes off to the bathroom before hoseok can say anything. don't throw up, don’t throw up, don’t throw up, he chants to himself as he quickly washes his hands, scrubbing a bit too hard as he tries to calm his breathing. he can’t stand blood. it's his biggest weakness. after rummaging around bathroom for a while, he finally finds the old medical kit he had bought years ago. seems like it was finally going to make itself useful. he hurries back to the couch, sitting down as far away as it’ll let him. he finds what he needs, some disinfectant and a band-aid and turns around to hoseok who’s eying him warily.
“you know what you’re doing right?” he doesn’t seem convinced, maybe he’s noticed how badly jooheon’s hands are shaking.
“of course,” huffs in annoyance, trying to hide the fact that he doesn’t, not really, but hoseok doesn’t need to know that.
“alright,” he turns his head to give him access, crossing his arms as he waits. jooheon dips a cotton stick in the disinfectant, biting his lip as he tries to move hoseok’s hair away enough to get to his wound. it’s not big, barely a nick, and it’s stopped bleeding – so that’s reassuring. at least he won’t bleed out in his apartment. jooheon dabs the disinfectant on slowly, carefully as he gauges hoseok’s reaction. his jaw tenses, but he keeps still, letting jooheon apply it properly. jooheon moves on to the band-aid, trying and failing to attach it multiple time. There’s just so much hair and – “you’re too far away,” hoseok grumbles and he moves closer until his leg is flush against jooheon’s. jooheon tries his to ignore how nice hoseok’s leg feels as he finally smoothes down the band-aid and it sticks, quickly scooting away to give himself some distance.
“all done,” he murmurs as he packs up the kit. “thanks,” hoseok smiles at him, maybe the most genuine smile jooheon has seen from him yet, all of the earlier wariness is gone.
“don’t mention it,” jooheon waves his hand. “do you .. uh, think you could help me to the door?” hoseok scratches his neck, ears bright red again as he smiles sheepishly. “don’t trust these yet,” he pats his thighs. jooheon’s breath gets caught in his throat and he almost chokes as he focuses on just how thick hoseok’s thighs really are and god, fuck – “yeah, sure” he squeaks out, almost jumping out of the couch as he extends his hand to hoseok.
hoseok’s hand is colder than he expected, his own feels like it’s burning in comparison. he hauls hoseok up, slowly bringing an arm around his waist to see if he oversteps any boundaries as he steps closer. hoseok throws his arm around jooheon’s shoulders, grabs a fistful of his shirt to make sure it doesn’t slip off. it's not far from the living room to the door, and they arrive there way too quickly. jooheon curses himself for not having a bigger apartment.
hoseok has been pressed up against him the whole way, basically making him carry him to the best of his extent, but he starts to pull back as they reach the door. jooheon doesn’t let him though, only pulls him closer as he unlocks and opens it, practically drags him across the hall to the door that says ‘yoo kihyun’ on it. hoseok doesn’t protest either, so he figures he hasn’t done something too stupid. hoseok knocks, and jooheon suddenly feels nervous. what is his brother going to think when he opens the door and finds hoseok all over a stranger? is he going to think he drugged him? hurt him? jooheon starts to panic just as the door opens. a man sticks his head out and he squints at them, hair all tousled and messy and it seems like they woke him up.
“kihyun-ah!” hoseok grins, and the man just groans in response, cursing under his breath. he seems to finally realize that jooheon is there too, eyebrows raising as he sees the arm around hoseok’s waist.
“not again,” is the only thing kihyun says before he opens the door wider, arm reaching out to grab hoseok. jooheon lets his arm drop as hoseok is dragged inside. he suddenly feels a little cold.
“sorry, he tends to do this,” kihyun gives him an apologetic look as he shoos hoseok further into the apartment.
“break into people’s apartments?” jooheon grimaces and kihyun only nods, “yeah, sorry. i'll make sure he doesn’t do it again.”
“that’s probably for the best,” jooheon forces out a smile because suddenly he thinks he wouldn’t mind finding hoseok in his apartment again too much. but then he also thinks that he should chill – because he barely knows him aside from that’s he’s nice to his cat.
“thanks dude, owe you one,” kihyun gives him a small smile in return as he closes the door. jooheon barely catches hoseok waving at him before it shuts, and the yelling starts. jooheon just keeps standing there, feet planted to the ground as he listens to the voices inside. he’s not eavesdropping, he just not sure of what to do. go home, he reminds himself.
he turns, starts walking back to his apartment when the door behind him is opened again. he turns as he sees hoseok hobbling out of the apartment, a brilliant smile on his face as he stops in front of jooheon. a few bills is suddenly tucked into his hand and jooheon is more confused than ever, especially by how nice it feels when hoseok’s fingers brush against his.
“for the vase,” hoseok bites his lip as he looks down, his ears a little red again. “what?” jooheon feels dumb. pretty sure he is a little dumb at this point.
“broke it this morning when i fell,” and like that, the crash that woke him up makes sense.
“what?” he repeats because even though he heard it breaking, he didn’t see any broken vases laying around.
“it only broke into like, two pieces, so i kinda .. pushed it under the couch,” his cheeks are dusting in the prettiest pink colour jooheon has ever seen and he can’t find it in himself to be angry. not when he got the vase for 2 bucks and has detested it ever since. hoseok is backtracking – well, back stumbling as he retreats back to the door.
“it’s fine, i didn’t like it anyway,” hoseok stops at his words, eyes shining as he looks at him.
“really?” he asks. “yeah,” jooheon confirms as he tries to hand the money back, but hoseok just raises his hands and shakes his head.
“keep it. think off it as my payment to you for letting me crash at your place after i .. broke in,” he cringes at the words, and jooheon can’t help the chuckle that escapes him.
“buy yoshi something nice,” hoseok grins as he walks back to kihyun’s apartment, hands resting on the handle. jooheon’s brows furrow. he told hoseok yoshi’s name last night. but he couldn’t remember where he was when he woke up, so that means he can’t remember anything .. right? jooheon's stomach does a flip.
hoseok smile widens as he slips inside the apartment, door nearly closed as he says, “sorry again. but you’re a good cuddler jooheon,” he winks, closes the door, and jooheon is left there in silence, mouth gaping as he clutches the paper in his hand.
he basically sprints back to his apartment, slams the door shut as he slides down against it until he’s sat at the floor. hoseok remembers. and now it’s his turn to be embarrassed.
“oh god,” he murmurs as he rubs his flaming cheeks. he knows he hasn’t done anything wrong, but it still feels awkward – last night starts feeling more intimate the more he thinks about it and hoseok called him a good cuddler and - yoshi walks over from the living room, tail swishing as he rubs up against jooheon’s legs, meowing as he begs for food.
jooheon picks him up, petting his fur as he tries to calm the butterflies in his stomach. he stands when his legs doesn’t feel shaky any more, and as he brings yoshi to the kitchen, he thinks he has to start paying more attention to his neighbors. a lot more attention.