Chapter Text
Seokjin flips the "open" sign on the bakery's door with a content smile as he resumes to bustle around, looking forward to the morning rush of customers with coffee machines whirring and cakes, cupcakes and other desserts already cooling on the stands. Unknown to him a hooded figure observes the raven-haired male's every move with a satisfied smirk. The guy nods to himself before turning around to walk into the shadows, disappearing as if he was never there.
The shrill sound of an alarm blares through the tiny one room rooftop apartment, making the owner of said place, a blonde young man with sun-kissed skin and a haggard, tired eyes, get up with a groan. The desk is filled with all kinds of stuff, varying from books and dictionaries to random stacks of paper, all scribbled and written on. There are a dozen of honorary certificates and medals on the very top of the small bookshelf, all pushed together to take as less space as possible and on every one of them a name is written -
Kim Namjoon.
The blonde male staggers out of his home after making sure to lock it up, aware of the neighborhood rebels, who like to stampede around his place and make a giant mess he'll for sure want to kill them for later. With sluggish steps, he walks towards a bakery down the alley, just a good 10 or less minutes of walk away, seeing people of various age and group go in and out with smiles on their faces, except for the still sleep-walking ones, who just clung onto their cups of coffee like it was a lifeline.
"Cafe Heaven"
He just pushes the doors open and plops himself onto a seat beside the counter, burying his head into his hands, sighing tiredly. A cup of freshly made coffee slides over to him along with a plate of delicious looking pancakes, making the man look up with a small smile as he looks at his friend who just grins back at him in that angelic fashion of his, a sight that would make any grumpy person just involuntarily smile back. Maybe that smile is the reason the cafe is so popular, Namjoon thought sometimes though he was reminded every morning that it not the case as he takes a careful gulp of his drink, sighing in content at the taste, Nah, Seokjin is just good at whatever he does, coffee and pastries especially.
The blonde could never get over the fact that he and Seokjin were friends. If people told him he'd be friends with the goodie-two-shoes that is in front of him to Namjoon of 5 years ago years ago, he'd probably laugh right in their face.
Namjoon and Seokjin were very unusual friends, to say the least. They might even be the polar opposites. However, neither of them dwell too much on that as the two were the first ones to meet before their merry band of misfits came together.
"Did you spend the whole night drinking again?" the older asks with a slight frown, as Namjoon takes a sip out of his hot drink. The younger just nods, having at least the mind to look mildly guilty. He knew the older didn't like him spending night after night in such places but for his defense, he was there to make music and greet important people! Seokjin just nods before remembering something,
"We're all gathering here tonight, right? It's sleepover night." he asks with a hopeful smile. Namjoon grimaces a bit into his mug because his hyung looked so hopeful, making it practically impossible to say anything but "yes".
"I think so. They should come since we didn't get the chance to gather last week." he says just as a certain teen sleepwalks down the stairs, hair in all directions and clothes haphazardly put. The male then just walks into the counter, attaching himself to Seokjin's side, slumping onto him lazily,
"Hyung... feed me.." he rasps out, voice thick with sleep. The oldest just laughs quietly, running a hand through the kid's hair affectionately, "You could've slept a bit more, Kookie! I would've actually made you a full meal but right now we only have stuff for the cafe." he says, pushing the brat off gently, grabbing a mug to pour coffee and handing it to him. The kid just just nods lazily, taking the drink,
"Dun care, hyung..." he rasps out, shrugging slightly, head propped in his hand, the picture perfect of lethargy. Seokjin steps to the stands and grabs a pair of sandwiches, giving them to the kid after warming them up appropriately.
The older's eyes flicker to the wall clock once in a while as he takes orders from the various customers, leaving his two friends to finish their drinks. As the morning rush dies down, he nods in the direction of the younger boy,
"Jungkook, what are you gonna do today? It's Saturday and school's off?" he asks with a smile just as the younger shrugs,
"I've been thinking I'd go out with friends? Hyuk and Junhong said they wanted a game match since Junhong's mom bought him a new game we've been eyeing on." he says, still munching on the last piece of his breakfast. Namjoon kicks his stool slightly, finishing up his drink,
"Don't be late. Sleepover night, remember?" he asks, making sure to add extra emphasis on the last word as to send a secret message, 'say "no" and you're dead'. The brat blinks, staring at him in a mildly disturbed fashion before nodding quickly,
"Ha ha... Of course, yeah.. Sleepover night, I remember. Of course." he stammers and the blonde just wants to face-palm right there and then.
'Idiot.'
Seokjin just smiles although the action a bit more forced than usual but by a small bit so Namjoon thinks it's at least better than Jungkook fucking up like the piece of shit he is and upsetting the elder more. The eldest of the small gathered group just shrugs, face smoothing over into a more calm expression,
"So you guys will tell the others, right? I'm sure Yoongi will just sleep till the afternoon, Hoseok and Jimin might be practicing. Don't know about Taehyung, though." he quips and Namjoon has a moment to sigh in relief to himself because thank God Seokjin didn't decide to call the morons himself, because that would end tragically on Seokjin's end and would no doubt leave a giant mess Namjoon doesn't really have the patience to fix.
The guys were acting strangely hostile to each other lately, and, shockingly, to Seokjin more so. Even he himself wasn't quite on normal terms with the elder but to his defense, things have been rough lately, between the small gigs, with little to no recognition, and his shitty job, with the cranky boss and late-night hours. Cranky and stressed Namjoon didn't really find Seokjin's kind, helpful nature comforting but actually aggravating and even he was quite surprised by his own behavior. But he supposes he's at least better than the others, who sometimes would just outright snap at Jin out of nowhere, taking out their accumulated stress and anger on their oldest hyung just because the raven-haired male loves them too much to be mad at them for it.
Yes, he was certainly better than those immature brats, Namjoon concluded, frowning slightly, not noticing that the other two were starting to give him funny looks. Jungkook then kicks him on the shin, innocently staring at his mug as the blonde yelps (in a manly way, he did NOT squeak), effectively pulled out of his thoughts as he sees Seokjin staring at him with a half-puzzled, half-amused expression. Clearing his throat awkwardly, he nods right away,
"Uhh.. yeah I'll call them and tell them to not be late. Anything you want me to relay to them?" he asks as Seokjin shakes his head, smiling,
"Nope. Just tell them to text me what they want for dinner beforehand so I can have a heads up." he says with a smile, Namjoon nodding seriously before he has the mind to smirk, "So that means I can tell you that I want bean-paste soup for dinner now and you'll do it, right, hyung? Since I was first?" he asks teasingly, making Jungkook just shake his head at him in dismay,
"Jin-hyung won't make the food you want just because you asked for it first, Namjoon-hyung. If that was the case, we'd eat spicy bibimbap every time we meet." he says, having the gall to give him an unapproving look. The oldest just smiles wider at their antics,
"I'll see what I can do, Joonnie!~ Can't make promises." was all he says before going to the register to take an order. The brat just sits back just as his phone pings and he stands up,
"Ok, I think I'll go now, Hyuk says he's waiting at the park. Bye, hyungs!" he calls out, jogging off. Namjoon too stands up, stepping closer to the register to wave at the cafe owner,
"I'll be going, too, hyung!" he says, getting a small smile with a nod and a wave back.
Seokjin just sees his friends go away, smiling though not quite understanding the uneasy feeling in his chest.
Namjoon huffs, sitting in the small studio, working on his songs that he were yet to upload, needing to tweak up some things after he had some of his rapper hyungs listen and receiving a bit of technical advice.
The boys had all been alerted and mostly everyone had responded, except Yoongi, who must be still sleeping, it was only 3 o'clock after all, so Namjoon thankfully didn't need to leave incredibly long voice messages with the most colorful vocabulary his hardcore rapper mind could procure just to get them to respond. His friends were such brats sometimes, these days especially, and the blonde dreaded to think just how much Seokjin must be suffering.
He leaves a quick message for Jin, asking if the kids wrote him and goes back to his songs.
Maybe today wouldn't be so bad after all.
Hoseok and Jimin just both lay on the ground, panting, whole bodies covered in sweat after several hours of intense dance practice, feeling both exhausted and excited, something that was apparently possible. They'd always did this on free days, sometimes even at nights, just because they felt so close during their escapades, losing themselves to the beat of the music and letting their instincts take over as they created new routines with all their combined passion. It helped them get away from the problems they faced in their turbulent lives, a silver lining of sort.
Jimin after a while of lying on the floor, pushes himself up, groaning,
"I think we should go now, hyung." he says, taking out a towel, rubbing the sweat off his neck and face as Hoseok just lies there, eyes closed.
"Ok.... just a minute..." the older manages out, taking in the bliss of lying on the cold surface, every muscle and tendon in his body relaxing after hours of merciless practice.
"I wanna hurry to Jin-hyung's. I haven't had a decent meal in a while.." Jimin whines, putting his stuff into his bag, pouting at the elder. The other male huffs, standing up with a mighty groan,
"Ok ok, you bottomless pit. Geez. you're always hungry."
As much as he'd wanted to be happy at the thought of going to Jin's place, Hoseok couldn't quite shake off the uneasiness, glancing at his bag with a forlorn sigh. He just shuffles closer to his black duffel bag, taking out his towel and seeing the pocket that holds a small bottle, looking completely innocent to the unsuspecting eye. He just sighs for the umpteenth time that day , standing up completely, his bag slung over his shoulder, holding only his towel and a change of clothes and... other necessities. For more than once he feels like he'll break under the weight of his light bag.
Maybe he already was.
"Let's go, Jiminnie."
Hoseok turns to Jimin, who just gives him confused look, eyebrows furrowed.
A figure sits in darkness at a table, his surroundings pristine but antique, the whole room in a victorian-era style. As he sits there contemplating, a figure steps into the room soundlessly, a tall lanky-looking young man with ice in his eyes.
"It's almost time..."
The figure opens his eyes, dark irises tinted at the edges with blood red, as a small satisfied smirk makes his way to his lips,
"Good... Make sure to not let him know..." he mutters, voice low and dangerous as the guest slinks away as silently as he came in after a nod, leaving the man in his musings.
"Soon... Just you wait, my dear..."