Work Text:
Music is important to Yoongi.
It is, probably, the most important thing to Yoongi, over anything else. He's fought with a lot of girlfriends because of that, over what's more important, me or music, and why can't you make some sacrifices for me, and then ultimately broken up. So he doesn’t expect much when he and Seokjin start dating.
But Seokjin doesn't say anything even when Yoongi spends forever in the studio and doesn't come back until the next morning, sleeps through the day, wakes up at night, and heads back into the studio. He feels a little bad when he comes back to the dorms at 7 in the morning with Namjoon and he finds Seokjin bent over the small dining table they have, head resting in his arms, sleeping soundly with food prepared.
"Hey," Yoongi squats next to Seokjin, wincing at how cold his shoulders are. Seokjin blinks his eyes open, looking confused for a second, but he positively beams when he sees Yoongi. "You should've just went to bed."
"It's okay," Seokjin mumbles, smiling sleepily. "Can you guys eat? I can heat it up really quickly. Or if you're too tired, we can go to sleep, too, that's fine. Whatever you want."
Yoongi kind of wants to go to sleep, but his eyes scan over the table. Seokjin hasn't made anything big, or complicated, but he's still made something and he's waited all night for Yoongi to come back. "I can eat. Lemme go wash up a little and we can eat, yeah? Namjoon?"
Namjoon yawns but rubs his stomach. "Yeah, I'm hungry."
Seokjin beams at them and he picks up the dishes back into the kitchen, and Yoongi hears the stove being turned on and the microwave running as he slips into the bathroom. He and Namjoon make quick work of the wash, and when he comes back out Seokjin's already re-setting the table, humming lightly. He looks just as tired as Yoongi feels, but he doesn’t look like he's in a bad mood. Namjoon shakes his head as he comes to sit at the table. "I don't know how you're so happy taking care of other people and sacrificing yourself to do it."
Seokjin laughs. "You guys are people I care about. Of course it makes me happy." He pats the space next to him and Yoongi comes to sit. It's not anything fancy, like he said. Seokjin's made just regular kimchijjigae along with egg rolls and pulled out some side dishes, but when he starts eating suddenly he realizes how hungry he is and everything tastes like it's from a 5 star restaurant.
"When did you go to sleep?" Yoongi frowns, scooping up the last of the rice from the bowl. He's kind of considering getting more. Namjoon's already stealing some from Seokjin's bowl and Seokjin catches Yoongi's look and scoops out a bit from the parts he hasn't touched into Yoongi's bowl.
"Uh.. I'm not too sure? The last time I checked the clock it was like 5AM? I guess a little after that, because I don't remember checking the clock after that." He smiles sheepishly at Yoongi, and Yoongi frowns. He wants to say something, but he doesn't really know what's bothering him, so he just stops and just eats. It tastes good.
Namjoon's already stumbled into their room and Yoongi's about to do the same. He kind of just wants to pull Seokjin into his bed and just hold him until they both fall asleep, but Seokjin starts cleaning up and starts doing the dishes, even though he's wobbling because he's still not fully awake. Yoongi grabs him by the waist. "Hyung. Let's go to sleep."
"But the dishes.."
"I'll do them when I wake up, okay? Let's just go to sleep." He tugs Seokjin over and pushes Seokjin onto his bunk, and then curls around Seokjin. Seokjin smiles sleepily as Yoongi tugs the blanket around them, sliding his hands around Yoongi's chest as Yoongi tucks Seokjin into an embrace. He doesn't quite get to see when Seokjin falls asleep because he does it first, exhausted from staying up all night, but he's warm and comfortable.
He wakes up at around 3 in the afternoon to the kids fooling around in the living room. Seokjin's still dead to the world, sleeping soundly with his head making Yoongi's arm fall asleep. He nudges Seokjin awake and Seokjin buries his face into Yoongi's chest, muttering something about five more minutes, and Yoongi chuckles. "Hyung, I'm gonna go head back to the studio."
That makes Seokjin open his eyes. "Already? What time is it?"
"Almost 3." Yoongi doesn't let go of Seokjin, and if Seokjin says he wants to stay in bed a little longer, Yoongi thinks he just might do that, too. Seokjin must have read his mind because he delves deeper into Yoongi's arms, rubs his cheek on Yoongi's chest and whispers, five more minutes, Yoongi, yeah?
They fall back asleep and don't wake back up until much later, and Yoongi checks the clock again to see that it's now well past 6. He carefully dislodges himself from Seokjin and makes his way down the ladder, yawning even though he's slept for so long. A day off well fucking spent, at least, he thinks, brushing his teeth. Namjoon staggers in, looking like he's just woke up as well. "Studio?" Namjoon asks, already low voice even lower with sleep, and Yoongi nods. "What about Seokjin hyung?"
"Let him sleep. I think he barely slept any last night, waiting for us."
"No, I meant..." Namjoon pauses to squeeze toothpaste onto his toothbrush. His next words are muffled. "Wouldn't he want to, like, spend some time with you? I mean, you two are dating, right?"
Yoongi pauses to spit out the toothpaste and rinse his mouth out. "Yeah, but.. he knows this is important to me. He'll get it." Seokjin hasn't brought up the whole what's more important your music or me argument yet, and Yoongi's hoping he's not going to have to deal with that anytime soon.
He shoves his arms into his jacket but then Seokjin wanders out of the room, rubbing his eyes. "Yoongi, you're leaving?" He doesn't sound sad, which surprises Yoongi a little. "Do you have time to eat something before you go? I can make something really quick. Maybe just ramen?" He stifles his yawn and stretches, and he looks expectantly at Yoongi. He doesn't look disappointed that Yoongi's going back to the studio on their day off. He just acts like that was supposed to happen, like he isn't finding anything out of the ordinary, or... anything.
"I can eat," Yoongi says, examining Seokjin's reaction.
Seokjin beams. "Great! I'll have it really fast, kay?" He rushes into the kitchen and soon enough he and Namjoon hear the clacking of their knife against the cutting board soon enough.
"Wow," Namjoon raises an eyebrow, "you really did mean it when you said he gets it."
"Yeah," Yoongi shrugs, like it's no big deal, except it kind of is a big deal. Seokjin's back pretty soon holding a pot of ramen with oven mitts and Yoongi and Namjoon scramble to set the table. Seokjin's put eggs and rice cakes and spring onions into the mix, and it's probably the best ramen Yoongi's ever tasted in his life. When they're done and Seokjin's taking the pot back to the kitchen, Yoongi grabs him. "Hyung, you... wanna come with?"
Seokjin's eyes blow wide. "Really? I can come?"
Yoongi fidgets. "Of course you can come. I don't know if you'd want to, though, it's kind of going to get boring... I don't know how much attention I can give you while we're working."
The pot clatters out of Seokjin's hands into the sink and Seokjin runs to their couch. "Give me a second, okay! I just - I just have to get dressed. I just - Give me a second, I'll be done really quick, okay? Don't leave without me."
Namjoon laughs as Seokjin grabs a pair of clean sweatpants and a hoodie and then disappears into the bathroom. "Yoongi-hyung, I think you hit the jackpot with Seokjin-hyung."
Yoongi, kind of feeling numb with glee, agrees.
--
Seokjin looks awed as they enter the studio. "You've seen us work before," Namjoon points out. "You've worked with us before, too."
"Yeah, but not when you were working on your own solo songs!" Seokjin answers, sitting carefully down on a seat. "I'm so excited."
"It's not going to be that interesting." Yoongi scratches his nose. “In fact it might even get a little boring.” But Seokjin just beams at him, patting the seats next to him, and Yoongi comes to sit. He glances over at Namjoon, who just shrugs and starts to get to work.
It’s kind of the tedious part of their work, where they listen to one part over and over again and tweak it a little each time, and Yoongi kind of suddenly wishes he brought Seokjin over when they were starting so Seokjin could’ve actually seen stuff being made instead of them switching out a flat or putting in an extra rest beat.
But Seokjin looks genuinely fascinated. Not only that, he listens attentively, giving legitimate feedback on what sounds better. It’s actually useful because Namjoon and Yoongi have heard everything so many times it’s kind of getting mixed up, and Seokjin seems to be actually having fun listening to one stanza a billion times over. When they finally move on, Seokjin beams. “You guys are so talented,” he gushes, excitedly watching Yoongi pull up the next segment they want to fix.
“I hope people who listen love out stuff as much as you do,” Yoongi smiles, raising his hand to brush the strands poking into Seokjin’e eyes. He’s excited that Seokjin’s excited about their music. He can’t quite believe it. He knows Seokjin’s not a music maker. Seokjin likes singing and being an idol, and he likes penning lyrics, but he doesn’t know much about composition or production, and Yoongi has never really gotten the impression that Seokjin wanted to learn.
But here he is. And he looks genuinely interested. Namjoon’s telling him about chords and instruments and whatnot, and he’s listening with rapt attention. “You guys are seriously amazing,” Seokjin sighs, when they finally decide to take a break. “Yoongi, I’m just – so proud to be your boyfriend.” He’s beaming like a Christmas tree and Yoongi can’t help it – he grins back.
“You know,” Namjoon grumbles, “I’m part of this production, too,” and Seokjin laughs. They decide to go on a convenience store run, and it’s 2 in the morning. Namjoon’s reaching for his coat, but then Yoongi gives him a meaningful look and Namjoon hesitates. “Jesus. Okay, okay, I get the hint.” He throws his hands up.
Seokjin laughs. “Sorry, Namjoon.”
“I notice you’re not inviting me over even if you’re apologizing,” Namjoon teases, and Seokjin blushes. Namjoon waves it off. “It’s fine. I get it. Woes of being single and all that.”
Yoongi takes Seokjin’s hand as they leave the studio. It’s cold in the late fall, but Seokjin’s hand is still warm from the inside. There’s no one out at 2 in the morning, especially not when it’s mid-November, and Yoongi walks close enough to Seokjin that people won’t be able to tell anyway. “This is so nice,” Seokjin sighs, breaths coming in white cloud puffs. “Yoongi, thanks for bringing me. I wish I could come every day to just watch you work.”
Yoongi raises an eyebrow. “What’s stopping you?”
Seokjin looks surprised. “I.. You wouldn’t mind?”
“No, I- I’d like that a lot, actually.” Yoongi frowns, fumbling with his words, and then sighs. “Actually, you know how I had girlfriends? We always broke up because they’d always complain about how much time I was spending on music instead of them, and I thought honestly that.. you wouldn’t like music much, either.”
“You thought we wouldn’t last that long,” Seokjin says quietly, and Yoongi bites his lip.
“That’s not – that’s not what I meant.”
“It is, though, isn’t it? But that’s all right.” Seokjin smiles, and his smile is warm and kind. It makes Yoongi’s chest feel all warm and fuzzy. “Yoongi, I like you a lot. I like you more than you like me, but that’s okay because I knew that to start with. And I know you’re starting to like me more and more, too.” Seokjin beams as they walk into the convenience store, hands still clutched tightly around each other’s. The part-timer at the counter’s too busy texting to notice they’re holding hands. “And I like everything you like doing. I’m not making that up. I like spending time with you and watching you just.. work. You look so alive when you’re working on music, and I like that. I want to be a part of that.”
“Hyung, I like spending time with you, too,” Yoongi whispers, squeezing Seokjin’s hand. “I mean that. And I… I like you a lot. I do like spending time with you, too. I really do.”
Seokjin laughs, pulling junk food and drinks into their basket. “I know. That’s why you stayed with me when I asked you to. Yoongi, you don’t have to apologize for what you like. That’s part of a relationship, balancing out the before with the after, and I know how important it is to you. I spend almost all my time with you, anyway, when we’re promoting. So it really is okay. I promise.”
They walk back, hands still clutched tightly around each other’s. Yoongi steals a kiss in the elevator back down to their studio and Seokjin blushes happily when Yoongi smacks baby kisses on his lips, over and over again until the elevator doors open with a ding.
A few hours later, it’s 6 AM and Yoongi pauses his music to look down. Seokjin’s fallen asleep, head resting on Yoongi’s lap. Namjoon’s snoring like a freight train on the couch, but it doesn’t seem to bother Seokjin. He’s sound asleep, with the throw blanket Yoongi managed to fish from the couch without bothering Seokjin’s sleep. Seokjin looks impossibly young when he’s asleep, hand curled up on Yoongi’s knee and his lips just slightly parted. Yoongi takes his headphones off and plays with the stubborn locks of hair that keeps sliding over Seokjin’s eyes, no matter how many times Yoongi keeps pushing them away. He smiles a little before sliding his headphone back on.
Seokjin is important to Yoongi.