Work Text:
Everyone’s thoughts are different. Namjoon’s resembles vines when he’s overwhelmed. They wrap around him in silence and pulse with green light. On the bad days, they resemble thorns and on the good days, they are colorful flowers. They bloom about his shoulders when he laughs, all bright pinks, oranges and yellows.
Jimin’s are birds. Sometimes, his thoughts are so jumbled that they become a flock. They flap and squawk about him, a twister of feathers and darkness. They’re so loud that he can’t seem to hear anyone else. It’s hard to reach him on those days.
But when he’s happy, they're relaxed—just a few fluffy birds that perch on his shoulders and twitter softly. They’ll even flutter about and sing songs with him on stage. Sometimes, Jungkook catches himself trying to pet one before he remembers no one else can see them.
But Hoseok’s are Jungkook’s favorite. When he’s excited, his thoughts remind him of shooting stars, the way they zip around, all bright and beautiful and fast. Other days, the calmer ones, they’re a soft glow of faerie lights above his head.
Like today. Right now, they’re glittering. On days like this, it’s hard to pay attention to what Hoseok’s saying with the butterflies in Jungkook’s tummy, with Hoseok being so close and his thoughts so bright. They're together on Jungkook's bed, Hoseok's back pressed against the wall and Jungkook's head in his lap.
“Jungkookie, did you sleep last night?”
“Eventually." The word comes out as a sigh as Hoseok threads his fingers through his hair. "I was up late."
A small laugh. “Playing Overwatch?”
“No ... just thinking.”
"Oh." He stops playing with his hair. "About what?"
"Work."
It's true. He kept tossing and turning well past midnight about how his voice cracked on stage. It hadn’t been his best performance, even after he had gotten up thirty minutes early to practice. The guilt of it all kept telling him the same thing—to focus. To be better.
Even with his eyes closed, Jungkook can see Hoseok's thoughts burning behind his closed eyelids. He can hear them.
Jungkook is so dedicated to everything he does, but he needs sleep like everyone else.
I'm not sure what he's worried about ... His performance was beautiful last night ...
"I hope you're not beating yourself up about anything," he says.
“I’m okay.” Jungkook pouts and tugs Hoseok’s hands back to his head. “Please? Keep going?”
And so, Hoseok brushes back his bangs and lightly scratches his nails along his scalp.
Jungkook sighs, his eyes going hazy. He could fall asleep like this—surrounded by the fresh vanilla sheets, from Hoseok’s soft touches. It feels like warmth. Feels like safety.
“I’m always here if you need to talk about something bothering you. You know that, right?”
Jungkook nods, half-listening. He can’t help it. He’s distracted by the thoughts glittering at Hoseok’s shoulders like fairy dust.
He’s so cute when he’s sleepy.
I hope he can take a nap ...
He really does work so hard.
I love him so much.
Jungkook’s eyes fly open. “What?”
Hoseok blinks. “I said you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.”
I think I’m in love with him.
A wicked blush burns into Jungkook’s cheeks. He shouldn’t be listening anymore, not when Hoseok’s thoughts are so intimate and vulnerable, but now they’re bleeding into each other, a big sizzle of golds and sunbeams.
Shit. Did I say that out loud? Does he know?
He looks like he knows.
I must have said it. Did I say it? I don’t remember saying it.
“Oh.” Jungkook’s mouth has gone dry. He licks his bottom lip, trying to get a hold of his racing heart. “Thank you… You’re right, I should be easier on myself …”
But Hoseok stills. He’s looking at Jungkook like he’s never seen him before. “You … you too?”
Jungkook sits up. He turns to face him, confusion wrinkling his face. “Me too what? What are you talking about?”
Hoseok says nothing. Jungkook tries to keep his eyes on his face, but his thoughts are glittering about like a swarm of dragonflies—they’re going by so fast that he can’t make sense of them.
“You love me,” Hoseok says. His voice is small, near a whisper.
Everything in Jungkook's body goes still. "What?"
“R… right?” he sounds unsure now. His thoughts are unsure.
Jungkook doesn’t know what to say. He doesn't remember saying that. He wonders if his thoughts are there, all shadows and panic. He wonders if they resemble frost that builds and cracks across his skin like spiderwebs. Or maybe they pour over him like rain.
“No,” Hoseok mutters. He looks around and then abruptly snatches something across the bed. He beams and presents it to Jungkook with cupped hands. “Look.”
“I don’t see anything.”
“Maybe another way,” he mumbles, and his thoughts are calmer now, a steady hum of city lights. How can I show him? How can I show him?
“Ah!” he says, and Jungkook hears the idea flash above his head before he says it. “Give me your hands."
“Okay?” He glances over Hoseok’s head, but the thoughts aren’t there now. He can’t see anything.
Hoseok lunges across the bed again and drops something in Jungkook’s hands. “Do you see it now?”
“No…?”
Hoseok hums. He frames his palms around Jungkook’s and waits.
A bunny slowly manifests itself in Jungkok’s hands. White as clouds, soft as whipped cream.
“Do you see it?” Hoseok giggles, delighted. “You do, right?”
“What is this?”
“Your thoughts, of course.”
Jungkook feels his blood pulsing in his ears. The bunny’s nose twitches against his palms. “I don’t understand.”
“You can see mine ... right?” Hoseok’s grin is earnest and shy. He shrinks back a little, a flush crawling into his face. “I thought that’s what you meant when you thought…”
“Thought what?”
“When you thought ‘I love you too.’”
Heat burns Jungkook's cheeks and crawls all the way up into his ears. He thinks he can feel his thoughts hopping about the bed—excited, quick, untamed. “I thought that?” he whispers.
“You did.”
“And ... and you heard it?”
“I did,” he says, laughing this time.
Jungkook glances down at the little ball of fluff in his hands. He’s never seen his own thoughts before. They’re sweeter than he expected, all full of softness and … a lot of love for Jung Hoseok, who now reaches over and scratches the thought behind the ears.
“You’re the only one I’ve seen with bunnies.” He smiles at him, sunlight curling at his shoulders. “They’re adorable.”
“I didn’t know you could see people’s thoughts. I thought I was alone.”
“Me too.”
Jungkook lets the bunny go, and it disappears as soon as he does. He brushes Hoseok’s cheek with his fingertips, tracing down his jaw. His eyes linger on the freckle on his lip.
He wants to kiss it. He really, really wants to kiss it.
“What?” Hoseok lets out a bark of a laugh. “Why? That’s so random.”
“What do you mean why? Your freckle is cute.”
Hoseok groans. He tucks his face in the corner of Jungkook’s neck and shoulder before Jungkook wrestles him out of hiding. He pushes him down onto the mattress, earning him a squeakier laugh, this time.
“Don’t hide,” Jungkook says. “Please?”
“Fine,” Hoseok huffs. Not that he could anyway. He’s pinned to the bed with Jungkook’s hands cuffing his wrists, his thoughts shooting off like sparklers. “But you can you know.”
“Can what?”
“Kiss me.”
You can kiss me anytime you want.
“Really?”
“Really.”
And so, Jungkook does. He kisses him until his brain spins and Hoseok's thoughts are sparkling over their heads like fireworks. Kisses him until when they both pull away, they're flushed and grinning at each other like fools.
Hoseok nudges his nose with his. "Will you tell me what my thoughts look like?"
Jungkook giggles. He nods and presses another kiss to his top lip. And as he watches Hoseok's thoughts settle into twinkling stars, he does his best to tell him.