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For the record, Hoseok only screamed a little when the apartment plunged into darkness.
A crackle of thunder follows the surge of dark, booming overhead close enough to rattle the knickknacks Hoseok knows are there but can no longer see. They had just been watching TV, catching up on a few idol variety shows, and the change from laughing and all the noise to silence aside from the rain and thunder has all of Hoseok's senses scrambling.
His heart pounds in his chest as his eyes desperately try to acclimate, and Hoseok sits stock still on the floor, not wanting to move because what if something, or someone, is out there? What if they have knives? Oh god, what if they have knives and they're coming right for him and he can't see and he's completely defenseless and-
Something touches his shoulder.
Hoseok screams much louder this time, but it's only a moment before he hears a familiar fond, bright laugh. Then his heart races for a different reason.
(It's relief, right? Just relief clearly, nothing else to be felt here.)
The touch returns, though this time Hoseok knows it's Jungkook's hand, and he grasps it desperately. "Don't laugh at me," he says, voice watery. "What happened?"
"Power went out, hyung." Jungkook's hand turns over so they're palm to palm and Hoseok can clutch him tighter. "I'm gonna see if it's just us or if it's everyone else too, okay?" He slips his hand out from Hoseok's grip. Hoseok is so disoriented, his vision only just starting to spot and track the vague shadow of movement.
"Jungkook-ah," Hoseok whines. He feels about blindly. The couch is to his back, the only solid thing here, and- He's pretty sure that dark shape moving to his right is Jungkook, but he can't be certain. It's so dark. What if Jungkook trips? What if Jungkook trips and hits his head and bleeds out and Hoseok will just find him like that- "Jungkook-ah, please say you're okay. I'm- It's really dark, and you need to be careful, okay?"
And just like that, there's a bright light illuminating the room. The iron band around Hoseok's lungs loosens, the ability to place his surroundings a comfort he hadn't counted on losing, and he smiles sheepishly up at Jungkook, face illuminated by the light of his phone.
Their apartment isn't big, just a one bedroom that Hoseok and Jungkook cram together in because Hoseok doesn't like to live alone and Jungkook had started apartment hunting with him and said things like, "Well, we'll fit together better in this one," and "hyung, look at the windows here," and "think this kitchen's big enough for the both of us?" and "if we just get one bed we can fit a dresser in here," and what was Hoseok to do? Tell him no? Jimin had been inconsolable until his boyfriends got off their collective asses and actually invited him to move in too, but that was a whole different debacle and it was Seokjin and Yoongi's problem now.
"Is this better?" Jungkook asks, all kindness and only minimal teasing.
Hoseok nods.
Nodding back, Jungkook moves to the window of their apartment, shifting the blinds to the side.
"It's the whole building, hyung," Jungkook reports. "I don't see any lights in any of the windows or nearby." He leans forward, his nose smushing against the glass a little. "Not for the next few streets actually. Reports are saying the power could be off for the rest of the night."
Well damn. They could go to sleep then, but-
Overhead, thunder rumbles ominously. It and the rain falling outside fill the empty space where the subtle hum of electronics usually is. Hoseok shivers.
"You should turn off your flashlight to conserve battery, Jungkook-ah. We have some candles around here..." Hoseok squints into the shadowed apartment, so familiar but so foreign right now. All of his half-blind three-am water ventures have prepared him not at all for wandering around in the dark. "Somewhere."
Jungkook hums. "Take my hand."
Hoseok sputters, forming half a dozen starts to protests that never fully culminate, wanting to claim that he doesn't need his hand held, that he doesn't need the comfort, he's tough! But there's another bright flash of lightning and Hoseok is squeaking and grabbing onto Jungkook's outstretched hand before he thinks twice.
(He's tough, but he ain't that tough.)
"Stop laughing," he whines as Jungkook hauls him upright with ease. Hoseok pokes Jungkook's side, not focusing on how Jungkook's obvious strength makes him flush.
Wriggling but not letting go of Hoseok, Jungkook starts searching. "I will, I will. C'mon, this way. There's the scented one in the bedroom."
"Is the smell going to bother you?"
Jungkook shakes his head as he flicks the lighter once, twice, thrice, before it catches and a steady orange glow fills the room. "Not if we just light one."
Hoseok looks up and-
His breath catches in his chest.
He isn't any different in the darkness than he is in the light, but there's something captivating about the angles of Jungkook's face when lit by a candle. Lit along the edges, flickering with the unstable light. Hoseok's chest feels tight, fighting against the intimacy of the moment and unable to escape it, every breath hitched and quiet and shallow. Jungkook cocks his head, hair falling into his eyes, and Hoseok reaches out to brush them away without really thinking about it, letting his fingers tangle in the thick strands, softly, softly.
Jungkook's eyelashes cast long shadows on his cheeks. He blinks slowly, trusting, like he's never once considered that Hoseok could hurt him. And Hoseok wouldn't, really, not on purpose, but there's always room for making mistakes.
"Hyung?"
His gentle voice startles Hoseok out of his introspection. "Yeah?" he asks breathlessly. He smooths his thumb across the tilt of Jungkook's browbone just to see the way his eyelashes flutter.
A quirk at the side of Jungkook's mouth. "You gonna kiss me, or just keep thinking about it?"
Hoseok freezes. Laughs a little, nervous, his heart fluttering. "You want to?"
"I moved in with you. I know I'm not the best at saying things sometimes, but I'm here for good."
"Well then."
Well then, indeed.
Hoseok tilts up into Jungkook's space, nose brushing cheek as he gently kisses the soft swell of Jungkook's petal pink mouth. Jungkook hiccups, like he still wasn't expecting it even after something so sweet, and Hoseok chuckles. "And here I thought you were gonna be bold."
"I used it all up to ask you to kiss me in the first place," Jungkook admits, gratifyingly breathless. He makes a little noise in the back of his throat that Hoseok is pretty sure he only hears because he's so close, and then they're toppling over onto the bed, landing side-by-side. Squirming, Hoseok ends up nose to nose with Jungkook.
He smiles. Traces the contours of his face with his fingertips again. "What are you thinking?"
"Oh, y'know. We're here. We're kissing. We could... would this be pretty? And like," and Hoseok spots the flush spreading across Jungkook's cheeks, ruddy and endearing, "Y'know, intimate."
"Jungkook," says Hoseok, tender and fond and a whole host of other blooming feelings, "we are absolutely not fucking with the candle going."
Immediately, Jungkook pouts. "We could make-"
"-We are also not "making love" with the candle going! What if we knock it over and it sets fire to the bedspread, hm?"
"Wow, hyung, how athletic are you planning on being? Wall-shaking? Are we going to be those neighbors?" Jungkook's eyes glitter with the wide force of his smile, and Hoseok kisses him to muffle the embarrassed groan coming out of him because yes alright so Hoseok has had ideas but none of them are more important than this, right now; that he gets to kiss Jungkook again and again, that he can look at him in all kinds of light and reach out and know there will be something solid and safe to hold onto. That he's made a home and Jungkook has come inside to live with him. That he's happy here, blowing raspberries on Jungkook's cheeks before leaning over and letting the darkness in.