Chapter Text
Hoseok wakes to the sound of a buzzer. It takes his sleepy brain a moment to realize someone must be at the door. He throws on a shirt and stumbles out of his room toward the front door, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. When he looks through the peephole, there’s no one there. He opens the door to be sure, and finds a package laying on the ground. He vaguely remembers ordering a fancy memory foam pillow online and assumes this must be it. He swings a leg out over the package and slides it back into the apartment with his heel, picking it up once he has the door closed.
Hoseok brings the package into his room, grabbing the scissors from his desk and taking a seat on the edge of his bed to open it up. He doesn’t need to be awake for another few hours, but he might as well make use of his new pillow if he’s going to go back to sleep.
As Hoseok gets the package open, he begins to feel confused. There’s a clear plastic bag wrapped around what Hoseok thought was his pillow, but he sees far more colours than there were on the item picture he looked at online. Blue, red, yellow - something is off. Hoseok pulls out the clear package and inspects it a little closer. It seems like some sort of outfit - some cosplay or something. Hoseok has admittedly never been great with anime, but it looks familiar to him. He checks the outside of the box - maybe Yoongi ordered it? He probably should have checked who the package was addressed to before opening it, but he had been so sure it was his pillow. Hoseok reads the name on the package and feels himself making an unhappy face. This costume - whatever it is - was meant for the infamous Kim Namjoon.
Hoseok has never actually met Kim Namjoon. Everything he knows about him has come second hand through his roommate, Yoongi, or Yoongi’s friend Seokjin. What he’s gathered about Kim Namjoon has developed into a less than stellar reputation. He hasn’t lived in this apartment in nearly three months, and he still gets mail and flyers sent here on nearly a weekly basis. Hoseok has listened in abject horror to more than one story of how Namjoon broke something precious and irreplaceable of Yoongi’s or Seokjin’s. Yoongi has known Namjoon since they were kids, and every new fact or event he relays about Namjoon only serves to boggle Hoseok’s mind as to why Yoongi still interacts with him at all. He left the room Hoseok now rents an absolute disaster, leaving Yoongi frantically putting the last of his things into garbage bags for him to pick up the morning Hoseok was meant to move in.
With a frustrated sigh, Hoseok gets up from the bed with the opened package and leaves it on top of the thrifted shelving unit they’ve been using for their shoes. He sends Yoongi a quick text explaining what happened and asking him to let Namjoon know they’ve got more of his mail. As he gets back into bed, Hoseok banishes all frustration and disdain regarding Kim Namjoon from his mind and does his best to settle back into sleep.
⌁
When Hoseok wakes up for work, he feels groggy and out of sorts. He’s always been a sensitive sleeper, and even though he was able to get back to sleep after grabbing Namjoon’s mail, it left him feeling even more sleepy than he had after getting up to get the mail in the first place. Hoseok makes a list in his head of all the many ways this is Namjoon’s fault as he brushes his teeth.
By the time Hoseok makes it out of the door, he’s on the verge of running late. Hoseok is nothing if not routined, and being out of said routine has him feeling utterly frazzled. When he gets to his local coffee shop, it’s busier than usual. Hoseok supposes that makes sense - that the universe would see him out of sorts and decide to find out what else he could handle.
Hoseok waits in line with as much patience as he can muster, and decides at the last minute to forego his usual peppermint tea for an iced Americano. He’s sleepy enough to need it. He waits near the serving counter with a few other people for his drink to appear, checking the time on his phone and trying to come to terms with the fact that he might be late. A to-go cup is set down on the counter and he grabs it with a quick thank you and he’s off, speed walking toward the door. He’s halfway across the shop when he takes a sip and nearly gags. The drink is so sweet Hoseok can’t even tell what it is. All he can taste is whipped cream and warm sugar. He stops in his tracks and tries to process the atrocity that has befallen his peppermint tea when the barista calls his name and sets down an iced americano on the counter. As realization grips Hoseok, his vision catches on someone a few steps away from him. He’s standing with a hand outstretched as if to belatedly stop Hoseok from subjecting himself to the drink. He’s got floppy blond hair and thick glasses, mouth agape. He’s a little taller than Hoseok, broader too he thinks. He looks like he’d be into rock climbing, like the sort of person who makes smoothie bowls just to post on instagram. He also looks utterly devastated and - okay, Hoseok feels bad but that seems a little dramatic, all things considered. Hoseok pats around in his jacket pocket looking for spare cash, and lucky finds some. He places it in the strangers outstretched hand and hopes it’s enough to cover another drink, holding out the glucose monstrosity and waiting for him to grab it with his other hand.
“Sorry,” Hoseok tells him, walking past him to grab his iced americano. On his way back past the still slack jawed man he adds “you should really watch your sugar intake.”
⌁
When Hoseok finally gets home he feels so exhausted he isn’t sure whether he wants to sleep, eat, or cry. As he drags himself into the apartment, Hoseok smells something wonderful cooking and decides Yoongi has made the choice for him. Hoseok puts his shoes away and slips into his shoes as he takes a deep sniff and half yells across the apartment “Smells good, hyung!”
Hoseok hears Yoongi snort with laughter from the kitchen as he goes to drop off his bag and change out of his work clothes. “It’s just onion and garlic frying in oil,” Yoongi tells him, sounding somewhere between exasperated and fond.
“Well,” Hoseok starts, wandering back through the living room toward the kitchen as he pulls a t-shirt over his head, “you’re doing a great job.”
Yoongi comes into his view just in time for Hoseok to see him roll his eyes, poking at the aforementioned onion and garlic with a wooden spoon. “Sometimes, you’re so much like Namjoon it’s scary.”
Hoseok leans against the counter opposite of the stove and hums noncommittally. He likes Yoongi, not only because he just happens to accidentally cook too much on a regular basis. He’s blunt, but not unkind. He’s actually one of the most thoughtful people Hoseok knows - though he tries his best to hide it. He’s an amazing judge of character, which is why it’s so weird that he seems to think so highly of Namjoon. Hoseok doesn’t want to push it though, who Yoongi calls a friend is really none of his business, even if Hoseok worries Namjoon is taking advantage of him. Still, though. He can’t quite keep from saying something. “From all the stories I’ve heard I can’t quite tell if that’s an insult or a compliment.”
Yoongi grins at that, “that’s definitely mine and Seokjin hyung’s fault. Can you put some water in that pot over there?” Hoseok obliges and Yoongi continues, raising his voice to be heard over the frying pan and running water, “we tell all the worst stories. He’s really pretty great, though you can’t tell him I told you that or he’ll have an emotional moment.”
Hoseok still doesn’t feel entirely convinced, but he doesn’t press any further. “Did you get my text about his package?” He wonders what Namjoon might possibly need that kind of an outfit for. Convention? Leisure? Kinky roleplay? He decides it’s probably not worth thinking about.
Yoongi peers at the ceiling for a moment in thought before remembering, “oh yeah, yeah I did. I know you’re sick of him getting his mail sent here - don’t look at me like that’s out of left field, your face hides nothing Hoseok - I know it bugs you and we’ve made him out to be kind of a terror but honestly Namjoon’s one of the best people I know, and I kind of feel bad that I’ve convinced you otherwise.” Hoseok is thinking up a way to assure him he doesn’t need to feel bad when Yoongi’s entire face lights up. “I’ve got it - Namjoon has finally got some time away from work now, Seokjin and I were going to meet up with him on Friday night to catch up and give him all his mail. Why don’t you come along?”
Hoseok tries and fails to think of a good enough excuse to get out of it, but comes up short. He smiles faintly and agrees, at a loss for any other option.
⌁
The restaurant Seokjin chose seems nice enough. It’s not so fancy that Hoseok feels uncomfortable or out of place, but it’s also nice enough that the low lighting and tall, spaced out booths create an overall nice atmosphere. He’s running late because his computer decided to auto update a few minutes before he was meant to leave and he had to stick around to find out if he’d lost what he’d been working on. His work was fine, but the extra minutes set him off schedule - again. He hopes this isn’t some sort of new normal he’s created for himself, but he figures Seokjin and Yoongi are familiar enough with his usual timeliness that this one-off won’t ruin their trust in him. And he doesn’t really care what Namjoon thinks of him, if he’s being honest. He knows that’s not fair, and he promised himself he will try to give Namjoon the benefit of the doubt for Seokjin and Yoongi’s sake, but he’s never been great about getting over grudges. The hostess leads him through the restaurant and points out the correct booth before leaving Hoseok to find his own way. Hoseok spots a stranger he assumes is Namjoon turned to talk to Seokjin, and something about him is strangely familiar. Hoseok speeds up, mentally preparing his explanation as he gets closer. Seokjin hasn’t spotted him yet, and he can only see the back of Namjoon’s head at this point, but he starts to pick out Namjoon’s voice as he animatedly tells some sort of story.
“... and he just handed me a crumpled to-do list and my drink. I’m serious! Then he told me to watch my sugar intake .” A strange feeling sweeps through Hoseok, and he stops in his tracks. Before he can process it, Seokjin spots him and is waving him over.
Hoseok watches in what feels like slow motion as Kim Namjoon turns to get a look at him. His hair is styled today, brushed back off his face. His glasses have slid down low on his nose, and as his eyes meet Hoseok’s, his face shifts from pleasant and open to shock to thinly veiled disdain in a matter of seconds. Hoseok isn’t sure what his own face is doing, but it must be equally incriminating as Seokjin clears his throat with little subtlety. “Ah,” he starts, “it seems introductions won't be necessary?”