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Ever since meeting Halsey, Namjoon and the rest of Bangtan have had a feeling. Like there’s a kindred spirit out there, a deeper connection, someone who just got who they were and saw past the pop packaging and the language barriers and their looks and felt their music. It didn’t quite prepare him for just how comfortable they’d all become around her. It could have stayed as simply a musical connection, someone they liked working with, but as they’re working on the Boy With Luv video, it’s clear that even those who can’t speak or understand what she’s saying feel at ease.
Namjoon for one, has been happily sat talking with her for over half an hour and only took ten minutes to stop apologising when he got some of his English muddled up or didn’t grasp what she was saying first time. He’s got some confidence with his English, but he always wishes it was just that little bit better, little bit neater and less clumsy. She’s still smiling and laughing with him though. They talked work, then they talked food, and America and she’s now talking about the group.
Jimin’s been past five times just to say “Halsey, I love you!” in a way only Jimin could do, all eye smiles and soft voice. Every time he does, she beams at him, laughs along with him and sings it back at him, before turning to Namjoon to ask if he does this to everyone.
“Not really – I mean kinda? But I think he doesn’t know what else to say, but wants to say something you know?”
“He’s so cute when he’s not laughing at me.”
Namjoon can relate more than he thinks he can express to her about this. It’s a similar explanation for why Taehyung keeps quietly bringing over warm drinks and propping them next to her, nodding quietly and simply saying “Halsey, for you.” It makes Namjoon laugh harder than it does to Halsey who seems to think that Taehyung is just the sweetest guy she’s ever come across.
“Not that you aren’t all sweet, but he’s like...a big puppy. I wanna pet him.”
“Do not – I wouldn’t tell him that.”
“Why? Would he like it?”
It’s here where he realises they really are friends because only with friends can you raise your brows like this and think, to hell with being polite and formal like he’s supposed to be. Halsey’s relaxing and he doesn’t think she laughs at them but with them.
If Namjoon were being completely honest with himself it might also have a small part of being kinda taken with her himself. She’s got eyes that sparkle whenever she talks, whether that spark is passion and dedication which...yeah, okay, maybe that’s a big turn on for him, or when she’s joking around she lights up too. So Namjoon is willing to believe she’s their friend and welcomes her into tiny inside jokes.
“Way too much, you don’t wanna know.”
There’s a split second where she pauses, looks like she’s having the same feeling of oh cool, are we friends now, we can talk like this? Then she laughs again and Namjoon is pretty proud of himself for pulling that reaction from her.
“Maybe I do wanna know! Then what!”
“Oh god – maybe I don’t wanna know then.”
She beams at him. “You’re okay Namjoon, not really gonna hit on him. You’re all gorgeous, but he’s still a puppy. Cute first.”
And maybe he’d normally argue that but maybe he quite likes that it means she doesn’t think of one of the most gorgeous men on the planet that way. He thinks he’s cute too, he’s never really been able to see Taehyung as anything other than the cute kid he first met, even as he becomes an adult with complex ideas and an honest beautiful mind.
It’s at this point that noise makes it’s way into their part of the set. Yoongi even raises his head from the couch across from them to check out it’s source, most likely wishing he hadn’t bothered as it’s a normal source. It’s Seokjin, currently being pummelled by Jeongguk’s boxing moves- sure they’re at half strength, but he’s still letting himself get punched on the arm by a man wearing two coats.
Ah. One of them is Seokjin’s. Explains the “Yah! Give it back!” and the “I’ll fight you for it!” followed by a gaze into one another’s eyes that frankly, takes far too long and the fist fight that becomes more tug of war against one another. And you know, Namjoon doesn’t mind them being like this, but they have a guest and really they haven’t left one another alone all day.
The sexual tension is palatable and honestly, Namjoon could do without it.
He’s about to apologise for it when Halsey turns to him, and he thinks here it is, he’s got to awkwardly work his way around the English language to explain that these two are normally much more discreet and he’s sorry she’s having to witness them do their weird as fuck mating ritual and honestly, she should be glad she isn’t in the hotel room next to them because he’s pretty sure the minute they’re back nobody’s gonna see them all night.
Except she smiles. “These two are so funny. Like when I talk to them they’re so quiet right?”
“...right, yeah, they’re...” He looks over at Jeongguk currently trying to wrap a leg around Seokjin’s waist in an earnest attempt to bring him down. “They’re shy. Believe it or not.”
“Exactly. But together they’re just like my brothers, it’s such a close bond, all the play fighting.”
Namjoon doesn’t really know what to say. Hobi takes this moment to sit in the chair next to him with a wave and a loud “Hi Halsey!!!” before asking Namjoon what’s going on. He translates it out of English for his friend.
“She says, they’re like brothers.” Hobi looks over at Seokjin and Jeongguk, lets his nose scrunch up at the mating ritual he’s witnessed too many times, but then back to Halsey before bursting out into laughter.
“What? What’s so funny?”
Namjoon looks at Hobi hoping that he’s going to offer an explanation for him, but he only gets. “Oh, wow, brothers.” Offered back in English. Why, oh why, is everyone like this. The selective English! He knows Hobi can do better than that, but he’s more interested in laughing at both of them right now, apparently enjoying that he can get away with playing stupid.
Which is why it’s kind of satisfying that Halsey leans over and prods at Hobi’s leg.
“I know you’re laughing at me, you should spill!”
Namjoon beams at him. She’s got you figured out bro, he tries to say with his face. He thinks the message gets put over because Hobi follows it with a string of Korean that he knows won’t be understood by the other woman.
“I’m not going to tell her that this isn’t what brothers do, it isn’t my business! Namjoonie, though, tell her that we don’t do it. Please. If she thinks the rest of us are like this, put it right!”
“What? What’s he say?”
“He says...don’t judge the rest of us by them. They’re....” Which is when he gets an idea. Why should he be the translator. Jeongguk’s been studying English and Seokjin understands more than he’s able to articulate himself...they’d know what she’s saying. They know enough words. They can be the ones to tell her that she’s witnessing one of Bangtan’s biggest kept secrets. “You know what. Hey Jeonggukie! Hyung!”
They are now in the middle of a tug of war over the coat. Or it would be, only it’s one handed and Jeongguk’s other hand has already snuck it’s way around Seokjin’s waist. It’s subtle but there. They both look up from whatever the hell they’re doing. Halsey looks a bit more perplexed.
“I’m guessing brothers is weird? I just mean you guys are close.”
“Oh yeah, no, it isn’t you. I just think, it’d be nice for them to hear it as you know, like you said they’re pretty shy and won’t hear you say it otherwise.”
And Namjoon and now Hobi too can enjoy how awkward it’s going to be. Hobi’s definitely set himself in for the drama, leant back in his chair with his legs crossed and iced coffee in one hand, grin in place permanently. The couple in question wander on over with question marks in their eyes, but both much quieter than they would be without Halsey there. Seokjin does a baby wave at the woman with just his fingers whilst Jeongguk leans on his shoulders, sniffs his hair and generally hides a little bit behind him.
“We were just saying – how nice, your friendship is.”
Because actually if they didn’t like Halsey, didn’t feel comfortable around her, they wouldn’t have been fooling around quite so obviously in the first place.
“Right!” It’s cute how Halsey slows down just a little bit, but not enough to be patronising. “I said you guys are like brothers.” The phrase hits Jeongguk first with wide eyes, a nod, and a bit of a flush. Seokjin is still processing with a small frown. “And these assholes laughed at me!”
The blush creeping up Seokjin’s neck is the sign that he’s understood. Jeongguk looks like he’s trying to shrink himself to be even smaller behind him. Namjoon feels rightly smug. Hobi looks downright evil sipping on his coffee. He thinks he can see a smile on Yoongi’s lips in the distance where he was supposedly sleeping.
“Oh! Ha ha ha! They bad guys.” Seokjin’s the first to try a recovery, with laughing it off.
“But what’s so funny!”
They’re both looking at Namjoon with a bit of a plea. “Namjoon-ah, tell her not to tell other people we’re like brothers, it’s sort of gross.”
“Tell her yourself.”
“Hyung, please...”
There’s a moment where Namjoon explains to Halsey that he’s getting them to tell her something, and no it’s nothing serious, it’s just that he’s sort of getting his own back on something. That seems to make the most amount of sense to her, like now she knows he’s in the middle of payback, and the joke really isn’t on her, she’s now his greatest ally. Seokjin and Jeongguk are having a hushed pow wow in front of them, mutterings of we could just tell her and you shouldn’t have stolen my coat in the first place, mixed in with Jeongguk massaging the back of the older man’s neck like it’s going to soothe the obvious tension.
“Well I’m going nowhere until I know what the big secret is.”
Namjoon’s crush just got a little bit bigger.
“We, not brothers! No brothers. Friend.”
Jeongguk is letting Seokjin do all the hard work proving that, if nothing else, Seokjin is well and truly sprung for the younger. Only love would make him take the entire bullet like this when Jeongguk’s English is much better. He’s getting whispered instructions in his ear.
“Well, duh, I know you’re not actually brothers...”
“Not actually – no, brothers. Definitely no brothers! He is, my friend, you know.”
“I know. I don’t see what the big deal is, you know?”
Namjoon can’t help the laugh that bubbles past his lips, even if he apologises for it as Halsey takes on Seokjin’s key English phrase with the same connotations that he always does it. It’s really cute normally, and he knows it’s Seokjin getting nervous trying to fill a gap and hope that the other person really does know. Halsey winks at him. Fuck he loves her.
“He- what?” There’s more tapping and whispering in his ear. Namjoon spares another long look at Halsey and if he’s reading her just right, he thinks she’s catching onto this and is now in the same place as he is and thoroughly enjoying herself. “You can talk too, you say it – He is, good friend. We, very very good friend. .... You know.”
“You’re all very good friends. You and J-hope are very good friends too.”
Hobi sits up and yelps a “Hey!” at her for dragging him down too. Frankly for all the laughing at her dancing he’s been doing, he totally deserves it. Namjoon’s cheeks hurt from grinning far too much.
“No! Not! He good friend! He is good good friend!” He doesn’t think he’s ever seen Seokjin go quite so blushy, and if it wasn’t rude to Halsey – which he doesn’t think Seokjin would ever want to do, not in a million years – he’d have just walked away from this whole situation right now. Instead there’s a burst at both Namjoon and Hobi. “What does she know already, did you tell her something!”
“Na-ah, we said nothing.” Hobi is laughing again as he answers. It’s loud and making him swing about a little wildly in his chair like Jimin gets when he’s got the giggles. He sort of wishes Jimin and Taehyung were here to witness this themselves, because fuck, Namjoon doesn’t know exactly what they’d do but when it comes to evil masterminded plans theirs are always much better than his.
“Completely innocent.”
Seokjin’s lips purse. “Sorry, Halsey.”
“You don’t have to be sorry. I am, just confused.” The acting is pretty great. “Maybe friend is lost in translation?”
It’s usually around this point that Namjoon might have given in and offered up a reasonable explanation that would cover the situation without being explicit to get them into trouble. Something along the lines he thinks that would say, the two are really close but not in a way like brothers. He’d probably explain quietly in his own time too, that people act strange sometimes when they have feelings. Because despite the teasing and the fact that sometimes the pair can be way too much for them to handle, there’s a lot of times where he’s actually glad they’ve got one another.
The mood they’re in today shows they’re both feeling great about themselves, about one another. There’s little gestures though, the way they obviously look out for each other. It’s a relief in the group that the pair are pretty undramatic. There’s never been a big blown up argument or drama about their relationship. Instead it’s nice to know that they’re always looking after one another. His two shyest, his hyung who doesn’t like to talk feelings and his youngest who’s so full of them take care of one another. It’s another stress off his mind.
Seokjin’s obviously getting deflated. Jeongguk’s more aggressively working the muscles on his neck like it’s the key to breathing life into him. And it’s with that, that Jeongguk finally picks up the bat now that Seokjin is losing all hope. Protectively stepping forwards, biting on his lip before he tries to talk.
“I love....everybody. Everybody is friend, is love.” A small bit of Namjoon is just fond now, at the way Jeongguk uses English. Has to stop himself from trying to help him out more. “They are – my brothers. But hyung is...”
He’s looking to the sky. Namjoon looks to Halsey who is biting back a grin of her own, tongue holding back her lips, and then to Hobi who now Jeongguk is speaking seems to have the same feeling that it’s just not as funny any more.
He kinda hopes he hasn’t just come across something in their relationship either, because Jeongguk could just say he loves Seokjin like everyone knows he does, but he obviously stops and is avoiding those words and – oh. Yeah. Ah, maybe he should step in before they’ve caused an actual drama out of no drama.
Jeongguk looks around him. Looks at Seokjin. Leans in and presses a kiss to his lips like he means it. Namjoon puts his head in his hands. Hobi cackles next to him. Halsey on the other side whoops and claps in her seat.
“Oh! I see! You could have just said.” Somehow Seokjin now looks tiny next to Jeongguk who’s beaming one of his fattest, brightest smiles at her proudly for making his point nice and clear. “Congratulations guys, love is love and all of that.”
“Very good friend!” Jeongguk keeps beaming. Seokjin’s trying to hide his face in his shoulder but giving a thumbs up to Halsey that basically confirms that the meaning is completely correct.
“Real good friends, I got it.”
Halsey is seriously the coolest person he might have ever met. Namjoon has given up pretending like he’s not just watching her fondly for now, because he’s got all the time in the world to be fond of his friends. He might only have a few days to enjoy this and he’s wondering if maybe she’d wanna hang out but then doesn’t know what sort of thing to invite her to do, because maybe she doesn’t like art galleries, or maybe she’s a huge fan of seafood and hates steak like he was planning on getting if he asked her out to eat.
“Namjoon-ah, I actually hate you. Come on JK, Hyung is tired.”
“Hyung, I saw popcorn in the snacks, lets get some.”
Their mood as they move away is quieter. It’s a bit of a relief, maybe they’ll settle down now and just go raid the snacks.
“Sorry, that’s – really cool of you though. Thanks.”
“You guys should have just told me. You know I’m cool with this stuff.”
“Namjoon – Secret.” Hobi’s voice cuts in, a bit more terse and commanding to remind Namjoon to stop looking at Halsey with starry eyes and convey the most important part of this entire thing. That she’s now part of the secret inner circle and that this cannot go further than the eight of them.
“Oh yeah, so, it’s not public. I know you wouldn’t, but keep it to yourself. Nobody else, we can’t – it’d be a risk and we really don’t want to ruin it for them. They’re usually pretty discreet but, they like you and keep forgetting not to-“
“Namjoon, chill, it’s fine. I promise, I understand. People are savage assholes, I’m not gonna turn my friends over to them.”
“You’re so cool.”
“You’re worse than they are, I’m going.” The insinuation is completely wrong, at least he hopes so, cannot imagine that anything is worse than watching the lovebirds mating rituals. Still, Hobi’s up and off, but not without stopping to drill Halsey on the one part of the dance she keeps getting wrong, a five six seven eight and making her do the arm movement before he beams. “Nice!!!”
“Is he always like that?”
There’s really no difference. English language barrier aside, everyone has been reassuringly themselves all day.
“You got us as we are. This is us, the real deal. Not so cool are we?”
She leans over, more in his space than he anticipated, all pretty eyelashes and pink hair and a waft of perfume that takes Namjoon by surprise because it’s fresh and almost minty smelling rather than florals. And it’s just so fucking cool and awesome.
“I dunno, you know what would be cooler?”
“I don’t, no, I really am not the guy to talk to about cool.”
“How about I give you a tour of the town tonight?”
Halsey is really fucking cool. Bangtan, including Namjoon is not. But she’s still like some sort of soulmate, a kindred spirit who reads his mind and laughs when he’s laughing and goes along with his lame jokes and dammit, now she supports them being who they want to be and are. Namjoon just hopes that he doesn’t take to showing his affection by locking her into headlocks and trying to wrestle her against walls. It’s not that he hasn’t had a crush before, but it’s been a while and he hopes that being around idiots so much hasn’t rubbed off on him. After all, he doesn’t want to be a brother either.
“I would say, I am totally up for that.”