Work Text:
Namjoon looks up from his book the moment his door beeps. He has been waiting. He has been expecting. He was tired, his eyes were heavy, and no one promised him anything, but he waited anyway. He just knows. His gut knows.
The door swings open and a cloud of alpaca cushion enters before Seokjin.
Namjoon smiles. A pure reflex.
“God,” Seokjin breathes out after spotting Namjoon, “Why are you all so allergic to resting?”
“I’m not,” Namjoon answers while putting his book and glasses away, “Was waiting for you.”
Seokjin climbs to Namjoon’s bed and slips under the blanket. “I didn’t ask you to.”
“I didn’t say you ask me to.”
Seokjin hits Namjoon with RJ. “I might have fallen asleep in my own room, you know?”
“I know,” Namjoon takes RJ and gives it back to Seokjin gently, “I don’t mind.”
Seokjin groans. “You all need sleep.”
Namjoon chuckles. He slips under the blanket too and turns the light off. “And so do you, hyung.”
“But it’s my birthday,” Seokjin counters, hugging RJ and rolling to face Namjoon, “I needed to do the live. The rest of you could have just sleep.”
Namjoon hugs Seokjin and buries his nose to Seokjin’s hair. “It’s not like we’re unused to lack of sleep.”
“Don’t act like our rehearsal earlier didn’t kill you,” Seokjin bites, “Our old dances are hard and we’re getting old. I swear exhaustion will eventually cost someone a misstep and an injury one of these days if no one listens to me.”
“You are getting old,” Namjoon smirks, “It’s your birthday.”
“Oh, God, if only they didn’t mess my bed up, I’d be going back to my room now.”
“No, you won’t,” Namjoon laughs and ducks to kiss Seokjin’s forehead. He then hugs Seokjin tighter, reveling the fact that he can. That Seokjin is here. That Seokjin is his. “Happy birthday, hyung,” he says, planting another kiss on the top of Seokjin’s head, “Is there anything that you want for this birthday?”
“For you to shut up and sleep,” Seokjin answers in a heartbeat.
Namjoon laughs. He knows there’s no venom in the words and so it’s just purely funny. Purely Seokjin. His subconscious has expected this kind of answer but it still has the same effect on him. He still laughs like it’s the funniest thing in the world. Because it is, for him.
“For real, though,” Seokjin says, tone softer but heavier, thinning Namjoon’s laughter in an instant. “I mean, the fame and the riches are nice and all, but you know that’s not the most important thing for me here, right?”
The silence envelopes them while Namjoon takes Seokjin’s words in. Seokjin worded it in a nonchalant way, but Namjoon can feel something deeper in it. It’s a glimpse of Seokjin’s heart. A genuine wish. A newfound fear. A gnawing worry.
Namjoon has a hunch that Seokjin’s sudden persistence in shooing them to sleep isn’t just his new favorite topic in pestering them, but now this confirms it.
Seokjin is worried. Truly, sincerely, genuinely, worried.
“So, yeah, that’s what I want. Just take good care of yourselves,” Seokjin continues, letting go of RJ and circling his arm around Namjoon, “I’m aiming to annoy you guys for a long, long time, you see? So just– let’s do this for a long, long time.”
Namjoon hums–an immediate assuring response because he knows Seokjin needs it. He pulls Seokjin closer and runs his palm across Seokjin’s back.
A long time, the words resonate in Namjoon’s head. A long time, huh?
“If by ‘this’ you mean the stardom and being the worldwide group, you know I can’t promise it,” Namjoon says in a whisper. “And, you know, I can’t exactly speak for those 5 either.”
Seokjin tenses. He whips his head up and protests are already at the tip of his tongue, but Namjoon shushes him.
“But if by ‘this’ you mean being together, then I promise you I’d do everything in my power to make it happen,” he continues, rolling the words out slowly because he means it. “Because I’d love that too. I’d love a long, long time too. With you. With them. A long, long time.”
Seokjin still tenses for a few more seconds but then he exhales the longest breath. It’s a relief. He is relieved. Namjoon doesn’t know what exactly happened that makes Seokjin suddenly this worried about this, but now Seokjin is relieved, so it’s okay.
“Start by sleeping now, then,” Seokjin says, pushing RJ to Namjoon. “You need to get over tomorrow first to get to that long time.”
Namjoon smiles, heart a little bit lighter because Seokjin’s is too. He makes a mental note to actually do something about this tomorrow. To review their resting schedule and to talk with the members. To remind everyone to take it easy on hard jumps. To eat properly and relax properly.
It’s all for tomorrow, though. Because now Namjoon has a birthday wish that he has to fulfill.
“Aye, aye, Cap’n,” Namjoon says, chuckling under his breath. “Good night, hyung.”
“Good night, Joonie.”