Work Text:
Hoseok thinks that whatever higher power's out there must have it out for him. That's the only explanation as to why he's in this conference room with a tattooed, green-haired punk with too many piercings. And that's why the door won't open.
He tries it again, jiggling the knob viciously. No luck.
"It's stuck," Hoseok states simply, turning around. The man still sitting at the table looks up from his survey.
"What?"
"The door's stuck. It won't open."
The man leaps to his feet and rushes to the door, grabbing the knob and turning. Hoseok just sighs and goes back to the long table, watching the struggle between man and door. There's no use. Hoseok knows a jammed door when he sees one. God damnit. How was he going to feed Mr. Beanie tonight? Oh well, that cat's smart, no doubt he'll get into the pantry for the dozenth time, he thinks affectionately.
Hoseok spins nervously in his spinny chair as the green-haired man still struggles with the door. He was only supposed to be here for an hour as part of a focus group for some new marketing team, and had gotten a nice check as a bonus. Then, he was to return to his cozy cubicle as an intern at a tech startup. Simple.
This, however, complicates things. He shouldn't have stayed so long; he should've left right away with all the other people who finished their surveys immediately. But he had gone a little overboard in answering the questions, and now he's paying the price: locked in a room with a complete stranger for who knows how long. At least he should say hello.
"Uh, hi," he says over the jostling sound of the door. The man turns around.
It's the first good look that Hoseok has at the stranger. His hair is a mint green color, he's wearing a black leather jacket, and Jesus Christ, is that a neck tattoo? Countless studs hang from his ears, and his eyes are ringed in dark eyeliner.
Of course he has to be hot. Of course. Hoseok's convinced he must have sinned in a past life to have deserved this torture. He may not look it, with his crisp button down and horn-rimmed glasses, but Hoseok has a type. And it's standing across the room in tight pants and combat boots.
The man just slouches there, panting slightly from his exertion. Hoseok continues nervously. "Hey, I'm Hoseok... Uh, it looks like we may be stuck here for a while so I figured I should introduce myself."
The man frowns deeply. "Stuck here? For a while? Can't someone come help us?"
Hoseok shakes his head. "This was apparently the last conference of the day. Pretty sure we're the only ones left in the office."
The man's eyes widen. "Can't you call someone?"
Hoseok laughs. "Great day to leave my phone at home, huh? Do you have yours?"
The stranger digs his out of his pocket and taps at it vigorously. "Fuck, I thought so. Out of battery."
"Well. The next conference should be tomorrow morning. Guess we're in for a long night," Hoseok chuckles. How he's this cheerful is beyond him. Apparently it shocks the other man too, as he just stares silently. "Uh, anyways, what was your name?" Hoseok asks a little tentatively.
The stranger blinks a few times, then seems to remember his manners. "Yoongi. Min Yoongi."
"Nice to meet you," Hoseok nods. He pats the chair next to him. "Might as well sit down. It's gonna be a while."
They spend the next hour or so discussing possible means of escape, Yoongi suggesting ideas while Hoseok shoots them down. There's no way they could leave out the window; they're on the 30th floor and as eager as Yoongi seems to break something, there was no point in destroying an expensive window only to be faced with a 30 story drop. Yoongi suggests the air vents, and they examine the one blasting cool air into the room, only to discover that it could probably only fit a toddler, not a grown man.
"It's okay," Hoseok reassures when Yoongi slumps in his chair, defeated. "We'll get out of here soon. There's probably a janitor coming in tonight, and if not, we can just wait until morning. Keep your chin up."
Yoongi seems slightly less worried at that. Hoseok beams. If there's one thing he's good at, it's cheering people up.
Yoongi looks towards the center of the table. "At least we have provisions," he laughs softly. It's true-- there's a small mountain of water bottles and various fruits on the table, some of them partially consumed by the other focus group members who are long gone by now. Yoongi continues. "If only we had a bathroom, we'd be set."
Hoseok startles slightly. He'd failed to notice that there was no bathroom, and now that Yoongi's mentioned it, he kind of has to pee. Yoongi laughs at the look on the other's face. "Just use a water bottle. Hopefully you don't have to shit."
Hoseok laughs. "Yeah, just pee, thankfully." It's gross, but it has to be done. This is a life or death situation, no room to be squeamish.
Yoongi opens up more easily than Hoseok expected. He's apparently a tattoo artist from Daegu who owns a shop only a few blocks away. He also makes music on the side.
"Wow, do you play any instruments?" Hoseok asks eagerly.
Yoongi nods. "Bass and keyboard."
Hoseok's heart flutters. If there's one thing he likes more than guys with tattoos and piercings, it's bass players with tattoos and piercings. I'm going to gay baby jail for sure, he thinks, lightheaded. "Oh, that's cool," he manages to say.
"Yeah, I guess. What do you do?"
They chat like that for a while, and Hoseok talks a bit more about Mr. Beanie than most people would tolerate. But Yoongi only laughs and begins to gush about his cat, Whiskers.
Hoseok laughs. "Creative name."
Yoongi blushes. "Shut up. My niece came up with it and it stuck, okay?"
"Yeah, okay, sure." Hoseok reaches over and ruffles Yoongi's hair, somewhat surprised by his own boldness. He isn't usually this handsy so soon after meeting someone, but there's something about being locked in the room, just the two of them, that makes the outside world seem to disappear. And to his surprise, Yoongi doesn't flinch away. He only looks down, blush rising even further up his cheeks. Hoseok keeps his hand in the other's green hair. It's surprisingly soft and smells kind of minty and spicy.
Yoongi coughs softly, and Hoseok jerks like he's been shocked, realizing that he's been lingering a little too long. They both laugh nervously.
Hoseok breaks the awkward silence. "So, how many tattoos do you have?"
Yoongi perks up eagerly. "Wanna see?" He takes off his leather jacket to reveal a thin, loose white tank top underneath, and Hoseok sweats a little. Yoongi has full sleeves on each arm and countless tattoos dotting the amount of chest that Hoseok can see. They're all stunningly elegant, fish and birds and flowers decorating pale skin. Hoseok marvels at them in a totally not-gay way.
"Wow, do you have any more?" He asks.
Yoongi nods. "Yeah, all over."
"Can I see?" Hoseok requests eagerly. To his dismay, Yoongi slips his jacket back on.
"Sorry, you must be a level 4 friend to access those tattoos," he says with a smirk. Hoseok blushes.
"Oh yeah? What level friend am I?" He asks.
Yoongi considers for a minute. "Hmmm, I'd give you a solid negative 8."
Asshole. Hoseok pulls his best heartbroken puppy face. Yoongi sighs. "Pass me an orange and I'll promote you to negative 7."
The sun sets and the conference room is plunged into darkness. The light switch works for an hour or so before the office power shuts off automatically, probably to save energy and keep people from working too late. So now it's dark and Hoseok is freaking out.
"Yoongi hyung, I swear I heard something," he whispers to the figure dozing off on the floor.
Yoongi groans. "I'm trying to sleep, trust me, it was probably just the wind."
Hoseok hears it again. "That wasn't the wind. What if it's a ghost?" He whispers urgently. At this point, Yoongi's wide awake. He sits upright and brushes his hair out of his face.
"You know what," he says, "maybe it was a ghost." Hoseok gasps, making Yoongi smirk. He knows the elder's just messing with him, but he can't help the shiver creeping up his spine.
Yoongi continues, a twinkle in his eye. "You know, there's a saying that people tend to haunt the places they died. What if someone died of exhaustion in this very office?"
"Oh my god, stop," Hoseok whimpers.
Yoongi laughs softly. "Sorry, sorry, I'll stop." They're silent for a bit, but Yoongi speaks up after a minute.
"You know what's the scariest thing ever?" He asks absentmindedly, talking more to himself than anything else. Hoseok listens intently, curiosity getting the better of him.
Yoongi continues. "There's this manga, The Fault of something whatever, I forget the name, but it's just this short manga about this fault that suddenly appears after an earthquake. And it's full of people-shaped holes. And this guy goes to investigate, and suddenly people start climbing into the holes. It's like the holes were made for them. And they don't come out of the holes. It's super creepy, they're like entranced and stuff. And then the guy finally can't resist, and climbs into his hole, and he comes out the other side months later.... all bent and shit. Like noodles."
"Stop. Stop. Holy shit," Hoseok trembles. Yoongi looks up.
"Oh my god, I didn't mean to scare you, I was just spacing out. I'm sorry," Yoongi apologizes. Hoseok looks white as a sheet. "Come here," Yoongi says, opening up his arms. Hoseok comes down from his spinny chair to the floor and sits next to Yoongi. His warmth is comforting, especially when he puts an arm around Hoseok's shoulder. Already, he's a bit less scared.
"Hey, wanna see the rest of my tattoos?" Yoongi offers. Hoseok brightens up a little.
"Does that mean I'm a level 4 friend?"
"Yeah, if you wanna be. Here." Yoongi takes off his jacket and proceeds to remove his tank top. Suddenly, Hoseok can't find it in himself to give a shit about ghosts, not when Yoongi's shirtless in front of him. He's lean and pale with beautiful Dutch filigree across his abdomen. He turns around, and Hoseok can see in the dim light a full-back tattoo of a dragon, with Chinese characters on his shoulder blade.
"Wow," Hoseok breathes.
Yoongi clears his throat. "Y-you can touch if you want."
That's all the encouragement he needs. Hoseok reaches out and traces his fingers along the curves of the dragon, chuckling a little when he notices goosebumps raising up on Yoongi's skin. "Gorgeous," he whispers. Yoongi turns around, letting Hoseok touch the tattoos on his chest and collarbones. There go the last remaining shreds of my heterosexuality, he thinks distantly.
Yoongi shivers. Hoseok considers himself a pretty good flirter, and damn does he want Yoongi. And from the look in the other's eyes, the attraction may not be one-sided.
Okay, Hobi, game on, he thinks, giving himself a mental pat on the back. Before he can reconsider his words, he murmurs, "Is there a friend level higher than 4?"
Yoongi blushes. "I mean, yeah."
"Oh really? What does being a level 5 friend entail?" Nice, Hoseok, doing good, he congratulates himself.
Yoongi smiles shyly. "Uh, well, I haven't really had one in a while."
Hoseok cards his hand through Yoongi's hair softly. "Me neither. Maybe it's time for one?" he suggests.
Before he can cringe at how disgustingly corny he's being, he leans in and kisses Yoongi softly. For a second he's worried he's made a mistake when Yoongi tenses up, but then he melts like butter against Hoseok's touch and all the confidence is back. Yoongi parts his lips and invites Hoseok in, and Hoseok slips his tongue into the other's mouth. Yoongi moans softly and wraps his hands around Hoseok's neck, and Hoseok traces his fingers softly across Yoongi's ribcage, eliciting a shiver. When Yoongi breaks the kiss to mouth at Hoseok's neck, he just about loses it. He's not sure how far Yoongi wants to go, but when the other runs a hand up his thigh--
There's a knock at the door.
They leap up, Yoongi putting his shirt back on while Hoseok rushes to the door. "Hello?" he asks.
A voice sounds behind the door. "Hey, it's the janitor. Are you guys okay?"
Hoseok sighs in relief. "Yeah, we're just stuck in here. Can you let us out?"
With a lot of pushing and pulling, and some much-needed WD-40, the two are finally free. They take the elevator down together, watching the full moon out the windows. Hoseok had never been so relieved to breathe fresh air when the two of them step out of the building into the cool Seoul night.
"So, uh, we should do this again sometime," Hoseok says with a nervous laugh to Yoongi.
The other smiles. "I'd rather not get trapped in a conference room overnight again, but..." He pulls out a scrap of paper and a pen and scribbles on it, handing it to Hoseok. "Call me? And try not to leave your phone at home anymore."
Hoseok smiles. "Next time, remember to charge yours." He's about to leave when Yoongi steps forward and kisses Hoseok's cheek tenderly.
"See ya."
(The next day, they meet for lunch and both report that their cats were perfectly okay being alone for the night.)