Chapter Text
“That’s it, I’ve reached my limit,” Yoongi pants, out of breath, sitting down on the first step of the next flight of stairs once they get to the seventh floor. “You can keep going without me.”
“Yoongi, it’s only been seven flights of stairs,” Seokjin frowns, standing in front of him. “Are you really that out of shape?”
Yoongi ignores him. “Why did we think it was a good idea to live on the tenth floor and go out to eat on a Sunday night? Why has technology forsaken me?”
“For fuck’s sake,” Seokjin turns around, “hop on,” he says, and Yoongi is not about to miss the opportunity to get a piggyback ride to their apartment. “The building manager said they would repair the elevator first thing in the morning.”
Yoongi hums, watching the little sign that tells them they are on the eighth floor go by as Seokjin walks up the stairs. “Why are you not, like, dying right now?”
“You mean, even if I am carrying you up three flights of stairs?”
“Yes,” Yoongi rolls his eyes. “Thank you,” he adds quietly.
“You are welcome,” Seokjin pauses for a bit when they reach the ninth floor. “First, you and a cat weigh basically the same to me.”
Yoongi can’t argue that. “Understandable.”
“And second, I work out regularly. I teach pilates, remember?”
“On the side,” Yoongi adds pointedly. “When you are not telling people what to eat.”
This time it’s Seokjin who ignores him. “Maybe this is a wake up call for you to finally take on my offer of joining my pilates class. Get your exercise on.”
And maybe it is. Yoongi is twenty-five. Going up ten flights of stairs shouldn’t be a reason for him to wish death would just claim him instead of having to fight to get some air in his lungs. Maybe he should start working out. Even if it’s fucking pilates.
“You haven't sassed me up about it yet. Are you seriously considering it?”
Yoongi hops off when they reach their apartment and taps the code to open the door.
“The first class is free of charge, right?”
“So you can try and see if you like it enough to continue, yes,” Seokjin replies, taking off his coat and his shoes once they get inside. “Spoiler alert: you will.”
Yoongi snorts. “God, why are we friends again?”
And that is a Yoongi’s I’ll do it in Seokjin’s books.
Yoongi enters the fitness center Monday night feeling a little self-conscious, dressed in sportswear that he will actually work out on and not just wear to sleep, and the idea of exercising and sweating in front of a bunch of strangers makes him a little anxious, but he takes a deep breath and reminds himself this is for his own good.
He readjusts the strap of his gym bag on his shoulder and walks towards the reception, where he has spotted Seokjin leaning against the counter and flirting with the guy behind the front desk.
“Hey, hyung,” he greets, and they both turn to him.
“Oh my god, you look adorable,” Seokjin teases. “I feel like I should take one of those first day of school kind of pictures. I’m so proud.”
“Fuck off,” Yoongi grumbles. The guy is looking at him, amused, and Yoongi distantly remembers one of Seokjin’s rants about the new hot, tall assistant manager at work. “Hi, I’m Yoongi.”
“Namjoon,” he introduces himself with a dimpled smile. “Nice to meet you. First time here?” Yoongi nods. “Don’t hesitate to come and ask if you have any questions.”
“Questions like how to get a membership, since you are going to love my class so much,” Seokjin says confidently. “Namjoon can tell you all about it, he comes to my morning classes and it shows,” he adds, running his fingers from Namjoon’s forearm to his bicep with intent, lightly squeezing the muscle until a hand towel thrown from not so far away makes contact with the back of his head and he turns around looking about ready to kill.
“Sorry, my hand slipped,” the culprit apologizes and it is clear he is not sorry at all, picking up the towel as he walks past the front desk on his way out and smirking at Seokjin devilishly before he turns to Namjoon and his expressions softens with the cutest bunny smile. Yoongi is honestly impressed.
“See you tomorrow, hyung,” the guy says, and Namjoon waves him goodbye, maybe just as confused by the interaction as Yoongi is.
“Fucking Jungkook,” Seokjin mumbles, a hand rubbing the back of his head. “That actually kind of hurt, why is he so strong? He’s a child!”
“Are you ok?” Namjoon asks, genuinely concerned.
“Not really,” Seokjin pouts, resuming flirting position. “Maybe if you would kiss it better…”
Namjoon blinks. “Do you want me to kiss your head?”
“Oh my god, please just tell me where your class is,” Yoongi groans, but Seokjin looks like he is reevaluating his strategy so he is no longer paying attention to him. “You know, the one that starts in five minutes,” Yoongi insists.
“It’s one of those rooms down the hall,” Seokjin waves his hand vaguely towards the back, “with a bunch of young and middle-aged ladies in colorful clothes and the occasional fit guy that they eye like a piece of meat.”
“Jin-hyung!” Namjoon exclaims, trying to muffle a laugh.
“What? It’s true! I’ve been that guy. You are that guy in my morning class, Namjoon, except the ladies are not the only ones that want a piece of that.”
“That’s it, I’ll go warm up or something,” Yoongi announces as he heads towards the back.
There are three identical rooms, with women of all ages both inside stretching in small groups or outside chatting animatedly, but only one has a guy standing next to the door, engaged in a conversation with some of them, so that’s the room Yoongi chooses to enter. Also, the guy is hot, so Yoongi might do some eyeing of his own.
He takes out a hand towel and a bottle of water from his gym bag, placing them on the floor against the wall, and goes to stand in the middle of the room like he sees some of the women do, most likely to save a spot. Yoongi chooses strategically; third row and a little off center so he has a good view of Seokjin teaching the class but Seokjin may have a hard time keeping an eye on him.
Hot Guy enters, followed by the women who were waiting outside, and instead of leaving personal belongings along the wall or finding a spot facing the mirror, he drops his bag next to the sound equipment, connects his phone via an auxiliary cable and moves to the center of the room.
“Hello, everyone, I hope you had a great weekend!” Hot Guy greets as workout music starts playing from the speakers. “I see we have some new faces tonight, so we’ll start by warming up, stretching, then reviewing the basics. Are you ready?”
“Yes!” the women cheer in unison, startling Yoongi.
Fuck. This is not Seokjin’s pilates class and it’s too late to make a run for it.
“What class is this?” Yoongi asks the girl to his right in panic. She frowns like his question makes no sense.
“It’s Tae Bo,” she replies, goes back to following Hot Instructor’s directions.
Hot Instructor meets Yoongi’s eyes through the mirror. He smiles. Yoongi’s shoulders go up and down in circles and he counts to eight with the rest of the class.
“Are you ok?” Hot Instructor asks. Yoongi is definitely not pressing his forehead to the wall to cool down, panting, trying to get some air in his lungs after an hour of what to him is intense physical activity.
"Yeah, yeah, just, you know, chilling."
"Is this your first time doing Tae Bo?" Hot Instructor asks. "Or like, any physical activity at all?" He chuckles. God, up close Yoongi wants to kiss that smug smile off his face.
"I thought we didn't shame exercise virgins in this gym," Yoongi jokes along, making Hot Instructor laugh heartily. "But yeah, first time doing Tae Bo."
"It gets better," Hot Instructor smiles, adjusts the strap of his bag on his shoulder before leaving the room. "See you next class?"
"Of course," Yoongi replies without thinking, realizes what he has agreed to when it's too late. Well, he'll have to sign up now. He can't let Hot Instructor down.
“Min Yoongi!” Seokjin calls from the door, hands on his hips and a frown on his face. “What is the meaning of this!?”
“You sent me to the wrong room!”
Seokjin gasps. “I did no such thing.” He pauses. “You are uninvited from joining my pilates class. I hope you had fun with Hoseok,” he says, turns around dramatically and leaves.
Yoongi sighs. He already knows he’ll have to buy dinner for the rest of the week to make up for this. But…
“Hyung, wait,” he says, speed-walking to catch up with him. “So, Hoseok, right? When is his next class?”
Seokjin squints his eyes at him. “Why? Are you actually considering betraying me and joining one of his classes?”
“He teaches more than one class?”
“Tae Bo on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights and Zumba on Tuesday and Thursday nights,” Seokjin replies. He probably notices the way Yoongi is thinking he might actually exercise five times a week if it means he gets to see Hoseok’s body in motion for an hour each day. “You traitor,” Seokjin adds, puffing his cheeks. “No family discount membership for you.”
Yoongi thinks there is much more paperwork involved in getting a six-month gym membership than necessary but Namjoon walks him through it patiently and hands him a shiny purple card with his name on it when they are done. Seokjin did allow him to use his family discount and gave him his blessing when he manipulated Yoongi into admitting he might be just a little tiny bit attracted to Hoseok during breakfast.
“Your membership is all access, which means you can come anytime during opening hours to work out using the machines and you can participate in any of the classes that we offer,” Namjoon explains. “You can also work with one of our personal trainers if you have a specific goal in mind. Would you like me to introduce you to Jimin?”
Yoongi follows Namjoon’s line of sight to a guy spotting a client on the bench press and giving him directions. It might be a good idea to work on his strength training as well, but he’ll start by improving his endurance with only aerobic exercise for a few days. Huh. So he subconsciously listens when Seokjin rambles about fitness and nutrition after all.
“Maybe another day,” he replies. “I’ll go change for the class that starts in fifteen minutes.”
“Ok,” Namjoon smiles, turning back to his computer. “Have fun!”
Yoongi leaves the locker room with ten minutes to spare so he looks around the vast selection of supplements and protein shakes displayed near the front desk. He’s about to ask Namjoon if these things really work when he spots the bunny smile kid from yesterday leaning on the counter, anxiously looking as Namjoon seems to read something behind the desk.
“So, what do you think, hyung?” Jungkook asks, nervous.
“I really like it, Kook,” Namjoon answers. “The design is cleaner and the colors match better with our concept. I think this is our final version,” he smiles. “You can send me the file so we can have these new brochures printed asap.”
“Ah, I’m so glad! You weren’t here when I came to work out in the morning, so I thought I could print a test version at school and swing by after classes to see you.” Jungkook stops, realizing what he said and how he said it. “Your reaction! To see your reaction in person,” he corrects, blushing.
“Oh my god isn’t he the cutest,” Hoseok coos, trying to keep his voice down, suddenly standing next to him and muffling a laugh when Yoongi curses and almost jumps out of his skin, arms in a boxing stance as per his usual fight or flight response. “Sorry, sorry,” Hoseok says, chuckling, “but you have to admit that is the cutest puppy crush you have ever seen.”
“You almost killed me,” Yoongi protests weakly, looking at Namjoon and Jungkook, now talking about school or the gym, who knows. “I need more context before I admit to anything,” he replies.
“Ok. Jungkook will graduate as a graphic designer this year, but he already does some freelance work from time to time. Namjoon found him on LinkedIn and hired him to help rebrand the fitness center about a month ago. The rest is history.”
“Hmm. Jury’s still out,” Yoongi says playfully.
Hoseok laughs. He starts walking towards the rooms down the hall since the class is supposed to start soon and Yoongi follows. “Wait till you see the way his eyes sparkle when he talks about Namjoon. You’ll be a believer then.”
“Noted,” Yoongi chuckles. “I’m Yoongi, by the way,” he says.
“I’m Hoseok, but you probably already knew that.” Yoongi pauses. Has he heard Seokjin and Yoongi talk about him? “My name is listed in the brochure for the classes I teach,” Hoseok adds, and Yoongi breathes a little sigh of relief. “Are you joining us for Zumba tonight?”
“Yeah,” Yoongi answers, nodding along when fellow students outside the fitness room say hi to Hoseok and he greets back with a smile. “Thought I might try it out.”
“I hope you like dancing! Latin rhythms are so fun and I always try to play around with the music for my classes. Fair warning, today’s playlist is pretty reggaeton heavy.”
“Ok,” Yoongi says. He has heard of the genre, but he’s not sure he has ever listened to reggaeton before. There’s always a first time for everything.
It was not ok. Yoongi had a hard time keeping up, not because he had trouble following the steps but because Hoseok doing them was just so damn distracting. At the end of the class some of the students asked him to freestyle to some reggaeton song and Yoongi thought he was going to die.
Seokjin is lounging on the living room couch watching TV when Yoongi opens the door to their apartment and steps inside, removing his shoes and getting into his house slippers.
“Hey, Taehyung called, he asked if we could babysit Yeontan this weekend,” Seokjin says, pausing when he gets a good look at Yoongi’s face. “Did they ask Hoseok to freestyle?”
Yoongi nods. “I’m not doing Zumba again. It’s not good for my poor heart,” he replies, plopping down on the couch next to him.
“Too bad. A little birdie told me Hoseok thinks you’re cute.”
Yoongi tries not to smile or let his excitement show. “Good to know,” he shrugs.