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Hoseok hates valentine's day.
It's nothing personal, just that he's been working at the company for over six years, but never once received any valentine's chocolate.
It's a custom at their workplace to leave valentine's chocolate in the compartment lockers so the recipient can find it first thing on the big day. Maybe it's stupid that something so silly irks him to such an extent. But every year is the same. All his co-workers open their lockers to find an assortment of chocolates and letters, while his remains painfully empty. Hoseok doesn't even get any obligatory chocolate, and that just ruins his whole mood for the day.
What makes matters even worse is the fact that the guy in his neighbouring cubicle, Kim Taehyung, gets the most chocolate out of everyone else in the office. He decorates his desk with his many conquests, pretty glittery boxes in the shapes of hearts and flowers, vainly flooding his narrow desk. There's a bunch of pink and purple love letters too, all tied with pretty ribbons, very aesthetic.
Very fucking annoying.
No matter though. This year, Hoseok promises himself that he won't have any expectations. This year, he's not going to whine about his lack of popularity among the ladies. (Besides, he prefers men anyway.) This year, he's going to smile back when Taehyung wishes him a happy valentine's day, instead of nodding his head and turning around to scoff into his fist.
This year will be different.
This year, Seokjin takes the day off to spend valentine's with his boyfriend, Yoongi. So Hoseok offers to sacrifice his peace and go to work an hour early, to receive some fax for his seonbae.
He frowns through the whole bus ride, already dreading opening his locker and finding tumbleweed. He wonders how many gifts Taehyung will receive, the amount of clutter on his table grows exponentially every year. Hoseok hopes he gets cavities from all the candy he gets. That would serve him right for being such a good looking bastard.
His feet drag like lead against the ground as he forces himself to walk towards the elevator, head hanging low, a sullen pout fixed permanently on his face. He doesn't want to go to work at all today. The dread just gets worse and worse every year. He wants to turn around and go back home, call up Seokjin and say Fuck you, you have a boyfriend, I'm not doing shit for you!
But Hoseok is unfortunately an all-round nice guy. So he forces his feet forward, one step at a time. He pulls off his earphones when he reaches the plywood door to the office and takes a deep breath. He holds the door knob and closes his eyes, taking another deep breath before pulling it open and walking inside. He only exhales when he closes the door behind him. A soft gasp breaks his silent bubble and he frowns when he turns to see what the source of the sound is.
It's Kim Taehyung.
And he's emptying out a locker full of chocolates. Lucky fucker! Why does he have to arrive so early and rub his loot in Hoseok's unpopular face? Hoseok tries not to frown as he walks forward. He's about to fake a smile and nod his head in greeting when he notices how Taehyung looks like a deer caught in headlights, eyes comically wide, mouth open in a silent prolonged gasp of shock. Hoseok frowns, blinking in confusion, before he zeroes in what's actually going on.
Taehyung is taking chocolates out of Hoseok's locker.
Hoseok's mouth hangs open in shock, he raises his finger and points accusingly at Taehyung, unable to form any intelligible words.
"You!" He shouts, the sound bouncing off the walls. There's thankfully no one else in the near vicinity to witness their dramatics. "It was you all along?" Hoseok asks, or more like accuses, Taehyung in shock. "Oh my God! You've been stealing all my valentines all these years?"
Suddenly, everything clicks into place. How his locker is always somehow cleaner than it was the day before. And how Taehyung has far too many gifts than any mortal man should receive. Those were a combination of what he received as well as what he stole from Hoseok.
"I can explain!" Taehyung squeaks out. He makes a clumsy motion with his hands and the chocolates topple out and fall to the floor in a pile. Hoseok stomps his feet in indignation, before running forward and bending down to help pick up his chocolates. Taehyung stares at him in terror, his mouth opening and closing in agitation.
"Go ahead," Hoseok spits out, irritation licking at his skin. He picks up a heart shaped box of chocolate wrapped in shimmery red, and his heart swells. Seems like he wasn't as unpopular as he thought.
"It's not what it looks like," Taehyung begins. But then he stops and stares unblinkingly at Hoseok, his face twisting into a constipated expression. "Okay, maybe it is what it looks like. But I can explain!"
"You keep saying that, but you still haven't explained shit," Hoseok grunts out. He quirks an eyebrow and waits for Taehyung to reply.
"I just— I didn't want you to find these." Taehyung groans, cupping his face in his hands and shaking his head in mortification.
"Why the hell not?" Hoseok frowns, still confused, still very much annoyed. "They're meant for me. What gives you the right to take them, Taehyung-ssi?"
"I'm sorry," Taehyung whispers. He looks a little heartbroken and Hoseok wonders if he was being too harsh. But he has years and years of frustration that he needs to take out on someone, and Taehyung, being the root cause of his suffering, deserves it!
"I was jealous."
Taehyung's words are whispered in such a soft tone, voice so low, so deep, that Hoseok barely catches it. He blinks to collect his thoughts. It's a little flattering to know that someone who looks as handsome as Taehyund would be jealous of Hoseok and a bunch of mostly obligatory chocolates that pop up in his locker once a year. Besides, the sum total of Taehyung's chocolates is always so much more than the ones they're picking up right now.
"Why would you be jealous of me?" Hoseok scoffs, annoyed that he has to spell out how much better Taehyung has it in life. "You get so much more chocolates than I do, and a bunch of love letters too. There's nothing for you to be jealous of, Taehyung-ssi. You're really attractive, I'm sure anyone with eyes would be more than a little infatuated with you."
"No, Hoseok seonbae, that's not what I mean!" Taehyung's ears are a bright red when he speaks. "I don't mean I'm jealous of you." Hoseok frowns in puzzlement, but Taehyung keeps talking, cheeks now as red as his ears. "I'm jealous for you."
Hoseok blinks, squinting to take in the flustered expression on Taehyung's face. "You're jealous for me?" A light bulb turns on in his head as he pieces everything together. "Wait—"
"Yeah, I didn't want you being someone else's valentine," Taehyung stutters out. "It sounds so stupid when I say it out loud like this. I'm so sorry, seonbae. I don't know what to do—"
"You have a crush on me?" Hoseok asks in bewilderment, his hands waving frantically in the air, chocolates cluttering even more onto the ground. He should be mad at Taehyung for pulling this kind of dumb shit for so many years. But to his shock, he finds it cute, he finds it rather endearing .
"Yeah," Taehyung says, hands fisted into his lap, digging into his pants hard enough to tear the cotton of his pants. "I'm sorry—"
"Why didn't you just tell me?" Hoseok sighs, rubbing his forehead in annoyance. His eyes widen and he snaps his head to look Taehyung in the eyes. "My God, you've had a crush on me for six years ?" Taehyung nods in shame, biting into his lower lip, eyes tearing up. "Why didn't you fucking tell me? Oh my God!"
"I was scared!" Taehyung shouts in reply. "You're way out of my league. And I didn't know what to do, I'm so fucking dumb. And then I was going to give you a love letter the first year, but I opened your locker and you got so many letters and chocolates and it made me so mad!" Taehyung groans, tugging at his hair and messing it up. "And I panicked and stole them so you won't see. But then, I felt guilty so I didn't give you mine either— Hyung, why are you laughing?!"
"You're so silly," Hoseok says, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. He hums in resignation, feeling a mountain of grudges and resentment fall off his shoulders. "You should've just asked me out. I would've said yes."
"Wait— For real?" Taehyung looks scandalised. "You would've said yes?" He looks like he's going to cry. “To me?”
"Yeah, you're cute." Hoseok, smiles, casually, nodding his head. He heaves himself up and turns to walk into the office. "In fact, I'm still down for it if you're still into me—"
"Oh my God! Really?" Taehyung stumbles to his feet, the chocolates piled up messily in his hands. "You'd go out with me, in spite of all this?" His voice is laced with awe, and his eyes sparkle with unadulterated adoration. Truth be told, it's quite an ego trip for Hoseok.
"Yeah.” Hoseok nods his head, humming in reply. “I'm single and you're neat." He winks before turning around and walking into the office. He needs to thank Seokjin for this sometime later, but then again, he's already busting his ass by covering for him this early in the day so they're pretty even. Hoseok freezes in his tracks and turns around to look at a gobsmacked Taehyung. He chuckles, endeared by how smitten Taehyung appears.
"You can take me out for dinner tonight, if you want." Hoseok smirks when Taehyung starts to nod his head vehemently.
"But get me some valentine's chocolates first. You have six years worth of making up to do."
The End