Archive of Our Own ^beta

I

1

Jeongguk dumped his bag on the chair and carefully set his tea on the little round table. He stretched his now-free arms. Exaggeratedly. Then, he tilted his head from side to side to relieve his neck of cricks. Also exaggeratedly. Next, he twisted his torso towards his right side and then towards his left as cracking noises raced along his vertebrae.

He was still not done with the exaggeration.

He finally pulled out the other chair and placed himself on it with an almost audible sigh and a barely-there chin-jut at nobody in particular. All very exaggeratedly.

Jeongguk was being watched. Nothing new there, but Jeongguk still put on a show for his audience who did a very poor job of trying to sneakily ogle him.

Jeongguk liked to feel good, no, great about himself; the students around him like viewing things that looked good, no, great. It did not matter that Jimin ridiculed his antics and teased about how swollen-headed he was getting as a result, because all of this was obviously quid pro quo. Everyone was happy.

Jeongguk moved on the part two of his routine. He could almost feel people from the nearby tables hold their breaths as he took a lingering sip of his tea while reaching into his bag for his sketchbook with his other hand. This was Jeongguk’s favourite part of his “I’m-so-cool-you-cannot-reach-me-regime” -the part where he would lose himself to whatever sketch he was working on till his classes for the day began. He enjoyed himself and the activity matched easily and automatically with his cool kid act. Few things held more viewing pleasure than a good-looking man drawing with full concentration under the morning sun or a good-looking man strumming a guitar with emotion. Jeongguk had definitely given himself a number of mental hi-fives over the fact that he could pull off both aesthetics.

What a lot of people, even his most ardent followers did not know was that Jeongguk’s singing was better than his guitar-playing, but the world was not ready for that yet. At least that’s what he told his friends every time they asked him to sing after that one time Namjoon had haggled with him into singing for his track.

Jeongguk had to cut his second lengthy sip short because his fingers could not locate the familiar binding of his sketchbook. He set his drink down and pried open his bag with both his hands while his eyes searched among its contents. He almost pouted petulantly before re-arranging his features into a dignified grimace.

His sketchbook was missing.

Unlike the first time this happened, Jeongguk did not internally and externally panic. He zipped his bag shut with a sigh and decided to go look for a friend to bother.

This was hardly the first time a gutsy “admirer” had flicked his sketchbook in the hopes of getting a chance to talk to him while returning it with all too innocent eyes and smiles. It was his second year of college and Jeongguk was very familiar with this drill.

 ~~

Sure enough, a few hours later, he received a message on Twitter from someone called Hope @onthestreet.

Hi :)

You go to BTSU, right?

Normally, Jeongguk would have ignored messages from people he did not know, especially ones that had a “:)” in their text or had nonsensical handles, because he received too many of those on a daily basis and did not have time for desperate plebeians. However, considering how his morning had gone he had an inkling of what this message would be about. After all, the repeated disappearance of his sketchbook was the sole reason Jeongguk kept his Twitter messaging accessible to all. And to show off his guitar covers.

Jeongguk replied succinctly.

Yes.

The response was immediate and enthusiastic.

Good! I’ve seen you around, but I wasn’t sure.

Anyway, I have your sketchbook with me!

You’d left it at the cafe  near the Social Studies Dept.

Jeongguk groaned at his stupidity. He now remembered that he had taken his sketchbook out and had placed on a little table in the café while he checked his bag to make sure he had packed the bulky assignment he had slaved over for two weeks. He had then collected his tea and had walked out of the cafe to settle down at the outdoor seating area. Little had he realised then that his sketch book was merely a few metres away from him.

So, an admirer had not stolen it. He probably was getting a little swollen-headed.

Oh, right.

If you’re free now, can you come to the cafe ? I’ll collect it from you there.

Umm.

I actually have class in a bit.

:/

Jeongguk rolled his eyes. This Hope person was obviously prolonging the conversation. Maybe they were an admirer after all. An admirer who had got incredibly lucky.

Alright, so when will you be done?

In around an hour and a half.

I’ll meet you outside the cafe then.

You’re from the Fine Arts Dept, aren’t you?

Hope had done their research.

Yes.

I’ll bring it over to you then!

No, that’s okay. You can just give it to me outside the cafe.

For how vibrant it was, the Fine Arts Department was secluded from the rest of the university- a fact that many of Jeongguk’s admirers liked to take advantage of to trap him with a sense of obligation. “Oppa, I walked all the way to give this to you” had occurred one too many times before. Jeongguk’s policy, however, was Look But Don’t Touch.

But Hope clearly did not give a damn about his policy.

Don’t worry! I’ll bring it over, it’s not trouble honestly!

Class is starting. I’ll see you in 90 mins.

Bye for now!

Jeongguk was experienced enough in the categories of fans to know a persistent one. There was really nothing he could do about those. So, Jeongguk resignedly got comfortable on the large stairs leading to the entrance of his Department as he scrolled on his phone and willed ninety minutes to pass by quickly. Jeongguk thanked the heavens his assignments were done. He could not deal with a persistent fan and a heavy workload together in the same evening.

~~

Jeongguk was too absorbed in the webtoon series he was following to hear the approaching footsteps. A soft cough and a voice that asked, “Jeon Jeongguk-ssi?” was what broke his focus on the webtoon.

As soon as Jeongguk looked up, the man standing next to him smiled widely, all his pearly-whites on display. Jeongguk physically leaned away, partly to keep the away the eagerness wafting from the other man and partly to take a better look at the man’s face. He looked familiar. Jeongguk had definitely seen that face before. The farther he leaned away, the narrower he squinted his eyes in scrutiny.

Slowly, the smile in the familiar face turned uncomfortable at Jeongguk’s lack of a verbal response.

“I’m Jung Hoseok... I have your book... your sketchbook?”

So, Hope was dude with big smile and a familiar face, and not the shifty-looking girl Jeongguk had anticipated.

Jeongguk stood up languidly and replied in a similar fashion. “Oh, thanks, Hoseok-ssi.”

Hoseok deposited Jeongguk’s sketchbook in his outstretched hands almost immediately and made to leave with a nod. Jeongguk was surprised that Hoseok had not tried to make more conversation. Jeongguk mused it was probably his less than enthusiastic demeanour, but that had hardly deterred people before.

Jeongguk was puzzled for a moment before Hoseok spoke up, his body almost turned away, “Those sketches were really good. I didn’t mean to see them! I swear! I was only looking for the owner’s name.”

Jeongguk’s name was written clearly on the first page. Hoseok seemed to remember that too upon seeing Jeongguk’s cocked eyebrow.

“And... and I got curious so I flipped through the pages. And I couldn’t stop because they were SO good! I hope you don’t mind!”

Compliments on his art flattered Jeongguk beyond anything else. He quirked his lips into half a smile as Hoseok watched him with anxious eyes and he said, “Nah, it’s cool. These are just my doodles anyway.”

“Wow! You call those doodles? Your actual non-doodle stuff must fantastic then!”

Not only had Hoseok’s body reverted to its original position, but the man had also taken an excited step closer to Jeongguk.

Jeongguk answered that with a nonchalant shrug that he knew would come off as cool and confident as he inched away with tiny steps.

Hoseok looked awed and opened his mouth with what would have been fervent adoration, but before he could get that chance, Jeongguk ran down the stairs calling over another “thanks!” over his shoulder. It was best to shake these things off at the start.

Later, that night as he was congratulating himself on how well he had dealt with the situation his phone beeped with a notification.

Hope @onthestreet followed you

Oh no. Jeongguk knew this is where the obsession started.

2

“Guk!”

“Hey, hyung. You look too chipper for mornings,” Jeongguk greeted and held the door open for Namjoon before following him inside the café.

“This track I’ve been working on all night is finally coming together so beeeautifully! I just need some fresh air and more coffee and I’ll be done!”

Jeongguk grimaced at how crazed Namjoon sounded, obviously the result of far too few hours of sleep. He admired Namjoon as much as he did in freshman year when the older student with his sharp ears for talent had chanced upon Jeongguk’s vocals and had asked him to sing for him. But after months of friendship, Jeongguk was also allowed to be annoyed at Namjoon and his poor sleep and dietary habits.

Also, he would be disrupting Jeongguk’s cool kid routine for the day because Namjoon came a close second to Jimin in picking on Jeongguk for trying so hard to be a tease. None of them understood. Jeongguk just wanted his admirers to be grateful that they were stanning the right campus hottie.

Behind him in the line, Namjoon was rambling fervently, “I think I need to pee. Had too much coffee. But I still want more. This happens all time, you know. Where does it end? The vicious cycle of caffeine consumption and urinati-”

“Oh.”

“What “oh”?” Namjoon cut short his pondering and asked, following Jeongguk’s line of sight.

Jeongguk whispered over his shoulder, “The barista.”

So that’s where Jeongguk had seen him before.

“What about him?”

“He may or may not be a new... admirer.” If a bit of smugness crept into his voice, Jeongguk could not help it.

“Who, Hoseok? You think he’s one your fanboys? No way.” Namjoon gave him a look that said “lol dude”.

Jeongguk was slightly affronted. He turned around to face Namjoon and asked, “You know him? And what do you mean “no way”?”

“Yeah, we have loads of mutual friends. And you’re probably getting too worked up over that big-ass smile he must have given you or something. But that’s just how he smiles,” Namjoon explained.

“I am not getting worked up over anything. And he did more than give me a big-ass smile, by the way.”

Jeongguk paused for dramatic effect.

“He came and personally gave me my sketchbook when I’d lost it.”

Namjoon’s expression, irritatingly enough, did not change. “That doesn’t mean anything with Hoseok. He’s just a really, really super nice guy.”

Jeongguk did not give up. “He followed me on Twitter, hyung. Almost right away.”

“Trust me, it’s all innocent when it comes to Hoseok.”

“You don’t know fangirls and fanboys, hyung.” That was a lie. Namjoon had plenty of his own fans from the music shows he did.

Namjoon chose not to comment on that, but shot back nevertheless, “You don’t know Hoseok, Guk.”

The two of them glared at each other challengingly, till Namjoon broke.

“Shit, I really have to pee.”

With that he sped out of the line and towards the bathroom, leaving Jeongguk to focus all his attention on the cheerful barista. He had never observed Hoseok or any of the other baristas before because he obviously had better things to do like looking at his phone with his other hand in his jeans pocket- a confirmed drool-worthy pose.

But now, Jeongguk had something to prove. It was with that determination that he stepped when his turn came.

“Hi, Jeon Jeongguk-ssi!” Hoseok said brightly.

“Hey.” Jeongguk gave him only a ghost of a smile despite being secretly pleased that that Hoseok remembered his name before he placed his order.

Jeongguk noticed that Hoseok looked into his eyes the entire time, from the moment he had greeted him till Jeongguk had walked away to wait for his order after paying. Intense eye-contact obviously meant something. It was a pity that Namjoon had missed the scene, but that did not stop Jeongguk from grabbing his tea and blabbing about it the minute Namjoon exited the loo and joined the line again.

“He made eye-contact with me.”

“Huh?” Namjoon looked at him questioningly, seemingly already having forgotten their little squabble earlier.

“The barista. Hoseok. He smiled at me and made eye-contact. And it was, like, super intense.”

“Guk. Dude. He smiles at and looks everyone in the eyes when speaking. Look.”

Reluctantly, Jeongguk regarded how Hoseok dealt with the next few customers. Namjoon was almost right. Almost. Because Jeongguk swore that the smile Hoseok gave him was the biggest and he looked at him for far longer than he had looked at any of the other customers while keying in their orders. Jeongguk told Namjoon so.

“Oh! And he addressed me by my name. I don’t see him doing that with anyone else,” Jeongguk added in Namjoon’s ear as his friend’s turn came.

Namjoon rolled his eyes at Jeongguk and then faced the barista.

“Kim Namjoon!” Hoseok almost crowed. He continued, completely unaware that Jeongguk had gone stiff next to Namjoon, “The great Rap Monster! We are SO honoured that you decided to grace us with your presence, Mr. Rap Monster!”

“Dude, shut up. Everyone’s looking,” Namjoon complained but could not keep a smile off his face at Hoseok’s ridiculous ooh-aahing.

Jeongguk tried not to frown. Namjoon was now at the same level as him when it came to special treatment- smile, eye-contact and being-called-by-the-name.

That was until Hoseok handed Namjoon his change and playfully hit him across the chest. “Don’t be so modest Rap Monnie,” he said with a giggle.

Physical contact. Nickname. And a giggle.

Namjoon stepped away from the counter and turned to look at Jeongguk and said in a voice that was both victorious and sympathetic, “Oh Guk.”

3

Jeongguk was having a bad week. It was only Wednesday afternoon and he still had half the week ahead of him, but he had already gone and declared the week bad.

One of his professors had wanted him to rework parts of his History of Music assignment because he knew “Jeongguk could do better”, while another professor had sprung a surprise test on her students which Jeongguk was naturally not prepared for, having spent his post-assignment days (the same assignment he had to now redo) in a haze of gaming, boozing and belching. He had also missed two solid mornings of sketching-while-drinking-tea because Jimin being the mother that he was wanted his Jeonggukie to “sleep off his hangovers”.

Jeongguk had also gone and declared (to himself) that it was all Jung Hoseok’s fault. He had made Jeongguk look like a fool in front of Namjoon on a Monday morning. Of course his week was going to go miserably.

“Jeonggukie, why’re you being so frowny?” he heard Jimin whine from somewhere near him.

The barista at the café near the Social Studies Department ruined my week. Jeongguk did not say that. He settled for a “it’s nothing” while clearly frowning at his lunch.

“Are you changing your wannabe smooth kid aesthetic to a grumpy mid-life crisis one? Gonna be honest, it’s not working for you,” Jimin tried again to change his mood.

“Yes, hyung. That’s exactly what I’m trying to do. Look like a forty-five-year old man. Just you watch me work it,” Jeongguk replied snappily.

Stupid barista at the café near the Social Studies Department.

Jimin reprimanded him at once, “Jeez. What real life situation have you been trying to ignore behind all the beer and violent video games? I know that’s how you mope and you’ve been moping for two whole days.”

It’s that barista at the café near the Social Studies Department’s fault.

“I have not been moping since the past two days.”

“He’s totally sulking over someone not being his fanboy,” came Namjoon’s voice as he happily pulled out a chair and sat with Jeongguk and Jimin.

“Aha! I knew you were moping!” Jimin looked elated. “But why, Jeonggukie? I thought you liked to keep your fans at a distance.”

“It’s because he’s all butthurt,” Namjoon answered for Jeongguk.

Jeongguk tried telling Namjoon that he was not welcome at their table, but unfortunately his roommate and his friend derived immense and mutual pleasure from being horrible to Jeongguk, so they obviously huddled closer to each other in preparation of laughing together at Jeongguk over lunch. Jeongguk wondered what his admirers would say if they saw the appalling life he actually lived.

“So, as I was saying before Jeongguk tried to be rude, haven’t you taught him any manners Jimin, Jeongguk thought that this guy, Jung Hoseok, was into him, but he actually wasn’t-”

“Wait. Jung Hoseok. You mean J-Hope sunbaenim?” Jimin gasped.

Namjoon gasped back, “You know Hoseok?” at the same time as Jeongguk who demanded to know, “Jung Hoseok is J-Hope?”

“I obviously know Hoseok sunbae. I’m studying dance in this college, hyung!” Jimin exclaimed to Namjoon who was now more preoccupied with asking Jeongguk, “You know J-Hope?”

Of course Jeongguk knew J-Hope. Jimin would not stop singing the man’s praises and swore that one of his most prized possessions was a blurry selca he had clicked with J-Hope. The nagging familiarity of Hoseok’s face made more sense now. Perhaps if he had watched some of the videos that Jimin kept trying to show him, Jeongguk would have recognised him in an instant. But Jeongguk had resolutely avoided the videos because he did not think it was healthy to mancrush that hard. Jimin called Jeongguk a filthy hypocrite in return muttering something along the lines of how J-Hope did not even have to try to get people to swoon over him unlike someone else. Jeongguk had no clue who he was talking about.

“Yeah, he’s like Jimin hyung’s idol. His sunbae goals or whatever,” Jeongguk mumbled as he realised with a suspiciously sinking feeling in his stomach that Hoseok belonged to the Fine Arts Department as well and getting Jeongguk’s sketchbook for him was not some out-of-the-way feat he had performed.

He did not have the chance to sulk over it much because Jimin quipped defensively, “He would be yours too if you saw him dance! I mean, he joined Neuron when he was in school. Neuron. Best street dance crew. When. In. School.”

He then turned to Namjoon and complained, “I keep trying to get Jeonggukie to come with me to one of J-Hope sunbae’s weekend classes, but he always says no. Hyung tell him to come!”

“Wait. Guk, you dance?” Namjoon inquired.

Jeongguk gave his signature trying-to-be-modest shrug, “Eh, a little bit. Just for fun.”

“Dude, if you’re even remotely into dancing and go to BTSU, you have to watch Hoseok perform! I didn’t know how much I needed that in my life till I saw him do some wicked stuff at one of our friend’s shows.” Namjoon looked up, recalling the memory, and let out a “goddamn” before getting back to compelling Jeongguk to go.

“Seriously, Guk you wouldn’t want to miss out on Hoseok teaching you dance.”

“And it’s sunbae’s final year, he won’t be taking classes at uni after this,” Jimin mourned loudly.

“Fine, fine! I’ll go this weekend!” Jeongguk said hurriedly when he saw Namjoon open his mouth again to undoubtedly eulogize Hoseok. The last time Jeongguk had seen Namjoon look this wonderstruck was when he had heard Jeongguk sing.

And Jeongguk was a competitive little shit. A butthurt competitive little shit.

~~

Jeongguk could not believe that Jimin was one of those people who skipped down the sidewalk. Oblivious to Jeongguk’s disbelief, Jimin happily pranced and gabbed away.

“You’re gonna be mindblown by J-Hope sunbae! And he’s such a good instructor! I mean, the university allows him to use the rec. centre to conduct classes. Do you understand how cool sunbae is?”

“You’ve asked me that fifty times already, hyung,” Jeongguk answered, fed up.

“I can’t believe you thought he was into you or something!”

“You’ve said that fifty times already too,” a fed up and offended Jeongguk grunted.

It was, after all, not all that out of the realm of possibility that another human would be interested in Jeongguk. In fact, experience had taught Jeongguk that such a situation was very much within the realm of possibility.

The recreation centre drew closer and Jimin’s excitement spiked like he had not been spending two hours of his Saturdays and Sundays in the same manner for more than a year.

“Ready, Jeonggukie?” Jimin asked as he pulled the door of the designated room open.

Jeongguk gave him a side-eye glance and stepped as confidently as he could into what looked like a dance studio with mirrors affixed along the walls and-

“What is this?” an extremely puzzled Jeongguk asked.

The room was occupied by the most heterogeneous collection of people Jeongguk had seen. There were children no taller than his knees, girls and boys dressed in clothes that screamed “preteen try-hard”, older kids who stood fiddling with their phones or chatting with the others and way, way older people- easily between the ages of thirty and sixty.

“What do you mean “what is this?” This is where the class is-”

“No, I mean who are these people?”

Jimin rolled his eyes at Jeongguk. “The other students?”

“Can they dance?” This time Jeongguk did not mean to sound haughty. He was genuinely taken aback.

“Not really. I mean this isn’t some pro class. It’s just beginners’ hip-hop. People just come here to have fun! No fuss, no registration, all good fun,” Jimin told him as he waved cheerfully to a woman in a bright pink tracksuit.

Jeongguk pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. If hyping up a dance class for months and having it turn out to be a place where dance noobs just bounced around was what Jimin meant by mindblown, then Jeongguk was definitely mindblown. And insulted.

Jeongguk was no dance major, but he was definitely above “beginners’ hiphop”. He had even carefully selected his outfit for the class to stand out among the other dancers who looked cool by default.

And maybe he also wanted to show the instructor what he had missed out on with his touching and giggling with Namjoon.

“Jimin hyung. What are you doing in a beginners’ class?” Jeongguk angry-whispered, unable to believe that this was how Jimin spent valuable weekend hours.

“It’s the only place sunbae teaches at!” Jeongguk wondered if Jimin had lost his mind. “And I’m not the only one, okay!”

Right then, more people beginning trooping in through the doors. They were definitely dancers. Jeongguk could tell from the way they dressed and carried themselves. A couple of them greeted Jimin by ruffling his hair and Jeongguk with a curious smile. He recognised a few of the dancers as Jimin’s partners from the performances Jeongguk had attended.

“Hey hey hey! I missed you guys all week long!”

By now, Jeongguk knew whom that loud voice belonged to. But he still turned towards the door to look at his teacher for the next couple of hours.

Jeongguk almost shook his head to make sure his eyes were not deceiving him. Hoseok looked like a different person altogether when not dressed like a typical college student or accessorised with an apron like a typical barista.

He walked in, clad in a white tank top that revealed a pair of toned arms and crotch-drop pants with zips running across the thighs. A snapback with “J-HOPE” written on it resting snugly on his head completed his outfit, making him look like a million bucks. The only way Jeongguk could confirm to himself that the man for whom the little crowd in the room had parted was indeed Jung Hoseok was by the dorky smile that seemed to be a permanent feature on his face.

“Ah! I see a new face,” Hoseok called warmly from the front of the class while Jeongguk tried to stop being so surprised at the dancer’s exposed arms.

“My eyes are up here, Jeongguk-ssi,” Hoseok said teasingly. Automatically, Jeongguk’s eyes snapped up to meet Hoseok’s. Hoseok did his typical intense-eye contact thing and Jeongguk had to try very hard to not swallow nervously. He had an image to maintain, an image that did not include him shying away because the dance instructor was hot, no, nice-looking.

Hoseok turned his gaze away when the rest of the students broke into titters.

Jeongguk immediately demanded from Jimin, “Did you see that?”

“See what?”

“He, Hoseok, J-Hope, whatever, he flirted with me!”

“He teases everyone like that Jeonggukie. Calm you tits.”

Just then, as if proving Jimin’s point, Hoseok called out to the woman in the pink tracksuit, complete with a grin and a double thumbs-up, “Looking really good, Yongsun noona!”

And then, just like that he was calling everyone’s attention with an “alright, alright guys, let’s get today’s Hope on the Street started”.

So that’s where the Twitter handle came from.

After Hoseok had led the class through the warm-up, a boy standing behind Jimin and Jeongguk spoke up.

“Saem! Noona refused to take me to watch your performance at The Big Hit last week.” He glared at another girl whom Jeongguk presumed to be his sister. “Can you show us your performance here? Please please please?”

Hoseok’s laughter seemed to erupt from his stomach. “Your noona’s doing the right thing. The Big Hit is no place for minors like you, Yoonoh. But because you said please, I’ll show you a bit,” he easily acquiesced.

Jeongguk found himself being pushed along towards the front as the people in the room automatically moved to form a semi-circular huddle around Hoseok who was getting the music started.

Hoseok let his arms fall loose and shook his legs a bit during the starting beats. As the music rolled into a faster pace he tore into action. He started with a chest roll and moved onto gliding along the floor with unbelievable smoothness. Hoseok then turned himself around while simultaneously lowering himself till his knees found the floor, all in one fluid motion.

Jeongguk’s breath stuttered when Hoseok twisted his legs under him to smoothly slide backwards whilst still on his knees. Just before he backed into the mirror wall behind him, he pulled himself back on to his feet without taking the support of his hands. If someone at this point had informed Jeongguk that J-Hope actually had no bones he would have readily believed them because Hoseok controlled his body with such impossible precision that he made it look like the beats and pace of the music changed to suit Hoseok’s movements and not the other way around.

Hoseok then danced his way towards his students and Jeongguk could suddenly hear is heartbeat above the music. When he was only a few feet away, Hoseok, the same guy who smiled at people at eight in the morning, ripped the snapback off his head and tossed it at the ground with alarming ferocity.

He then looked straight at Jeongguk and winked at him.

“That’s it for now guys,” a slightly breathless Hoseok said and Jeongguk quickly shut his mouth that had been hanging open for god knows how long.

Before he could do something ridiculous like throw his face into his hands and squeal into them, Jeongguk turned to Jimin and whispered, stunned, “Oh. My. God. Did you see that?”

Jimin, for his part looked extremely smug. “What do you think I’ve been screaming about for months. The way sunbae dances is something else, isn’t it?”

“No, I didn’t mean that. I mean, he’s dancing is wow. Like super hot wow. I’ll get back to that later. But did you see him winking at me? That has to mean something!”

Jimin snorted. “He wasn’t winking at you. It was for everyone. He’s a dancer performing for his audience. Contrary to what you believe, he’s not out to seduce you, Jeonggukie.”

~~

The routine they learned was nothing difficult and Hoseok’s passion, bad jokes and approachability kept the atmosphere upbeat and close-knit. Even though Jeongguk was semi-cold-shouldering Jimin for denying that Hoseok was hitting on him, Jeongguk had to admit that Hoseok’s class was enjoyable. Enjoyable enough for him to consider coming back.

Jeongguk bet Hoseok would be pleased to see him again.

It was nearing the end of two hours and Hoseok was walking among his students- both his fellow collegemates and his not fellow college mates- making gentle corrections to their movements as he deemed appropriate for their skill level before wishing them a good evening.

When he reached Jeongguk he hovered around him for a bit, carefully observing the younger man run through the routine without trying to look too conscious of being scrutinised.

Jeongguk pulled himself into the final pose and looked slowly towards Hoseok, silently asking him for his opinion. It felt strange, voluntarily opening himself to someone else’s critique because the only judgement he received was from his friends which he never asked for.

Hoseok immediately stepped extremely close to Jeongguk, as if Jeongguk’s gaze had been an invitation to do so and he had been waiting for it. Jeongguk had to physically restrain himself from leaning away from the dancer like he had done during their first meeting.

“You pick up things really quickly, Jeongguk-ssi.”

Hoseok then began slowly circling Jeongguk while maintaining the same level of proximity.

“I’ve had my eye on you since the beginning of class.”

Jeongguk was suddenly very aware of the sweat trickling down his neck.

“You just need to hold your suspensions a bit longer, because your form is perfect. Like right now.”

Hoseok had completed his circle and was now back in Jeongguk’s range of vision.

“I’d like to see you dance more, Jeongguk-ssi. Jeongguk. I can call you Jeongguk, right?”

Oh boy. Jeongguk hoped Jimin was watching and listening to everything that was going on.

“Yeah, no problem,” Jeongguk drawled the same way Hoseok had drawled his question.

“Ooh. I’m thirsty,” Hoseok said and Jeongguk felt his stomach drop to his feet. His brain almost hit the hyperventilate gear when Hoseok turned away and walked to the bag-and-bottle rack.

He was literally thirsty.

Jeongguk hoped Jimin had not heard the last bit. He carefully turned to look at Jimin who, he noted with relief, was still perfecting adding his own twist to a step midway through the routine.

“So, are you just going to ignore that Hoseok was standing super close to me? And that he checked me out three-sixty degrees?”

“Jeez, Jeongguk. He was just examining your form,” Jimin’s voice squeaked with the exertion of pulling off the move and having to deal with Jeongguk simultaneously.

“But did you see how close he got?”

“Obviously, he’s gotta be close. How is he supposed to correct your alignments if he’s like five metres away?” Jimin asked.

Jeongguk countered Jimin’s tone of incredulity with one of smugness. “He asked if he could call me Jeongguk. Without the ssi.”

“Oh god, Jeongguk.” Jimin stopped whatever he was working on to facepalm himself.

“That’s just how he is. He likes to get comfortable with people really quickly.”

“But-”

Jimin raised his hand in front of Jeongguk’s face to stop him from speaking. “And even if he wasn’t like that, it’s no big deal that he wanted to drop the formalities. You’re younger than him and are his junior.”

“But-”

Jimin raised his other hand to cut Jeongguk off again. “It’s not like he told you to call him hyung, right?”

Jeongguk scowled. Jimin pulled a face back at him.

“Woah woah, what’s going on here?” Hoseok magically reappeared after his water break. “Jimin, you were practising something, weren’t you?”

“Oh right, right!” Jimin snapped out of his face contortion contest, looking and sounding very flustered. Hastily, he rearranged his body to execute the move he had been attempting.

“So, yeah, something like this. Does that look okay?” Jimin asked once he was done demonstrating.

“That looked excellent, especially that quick pencil turn you pulled,” Hoseok complimented him before stepping right into Jimin’s space.

“But I think it would look better if you held your arms away from your body in the end.” And with that Hoseok ran his hands down Jimin’s arms till they reached his wrists. He then arranged Jimin’s arms the way he had envisioned them to be and gave a satisfied nod.

“What do you think?”

“I think it looks better like this too,” Jimin said, regarding his reflection in the mirror.

Hoseok was still standing too close to Jimin and Jeongguk wanted it to just end already.

But of course it did not, for Hoseok reached for Jimin’s arms again and began stroking his biceps. He whistled lowly and added with admiration, “Wow, someone’s been working out.”

Mine are bigger! Jeongguk wanted to yell at the senior dancer. He was definitely wearing sleeveless next time.

“You’re such a hardworking kid, Jimin,” Hoseok was telling a poor Jimin who looked like he would pass out any second.

“Tha-thanks, J-hope sunbaenim,” Jimin managed weakly.

“Aish,” Hoseok said and messed with Jimin’s sweaty locks a little too fondly for Jeongguk’s liking. Hoseok was Jimin’s idol. He was supposed to act like it for crying out loud!

“We’ve known each other for so long now. I can’t believe you’re still calling me sunbaenim. Call me Hoseok hyung. I like that better.”

So much for wanting Hoseok to maintain an idol-fan relationship with Jimin.

Jeongguk did not want to look at Jimin as Hoseok walked away to attend to the few remaining students. But because of the mirrored walls, there was no escaping it.

When Jeongguk’s eyes met Jimin’s in the mirror, Jimin smiled, soft and sad.

“Oh Jeonggukie.”

4

“I’m telling you he was hinting at going on a coffee date! Nobody talks about coffee in that much detail!”

“Jeongguk.” Jimin said and took a very deep breath. “Hoseok hyung works as a barista.”

A frown made its way across Jeongguk’s face because Jimin had a point but-

“But he held my hand while speaking about how he likes his caramel macchiato! You saw that!”

“That’s because it’s his favourite drink and it excited him enough to grab whoever was closest to him. And that person just happened to be you.”

The two men looked at each other and then away in irritation, both confident in their version of the water-break chitchat.

It had been two weeks since Jeongguk had shot out of bed at two in the morning, realisation exploding through his skull that he had a crush. A real, actual, feelings-involved crush.

And like everything else, this was also Jung Hoseok’s fault.

He had then proceeded to wake up Jimin so he could have someone to panic to about having a crush because Jeongguk did not know what to do about that.

He knew how to walk with a swagger, clench his jaw in a way that showed off his chin nicely, look thoughtful as he sketched still-life figures and sweep his eyes disinterestedly over crowds in a way he know would elicit sighs from any admirer positioned nearby.

But, to be the person who did the staring and sighing? That was a very foreign concept to Jeongguk. Not that Jimin cared, because his sleepy and furious roommate had kicked him off his bed whilst unsympathetically informing him, “Get in line. It’s a very long one and there are tons of people ahead of you.”

That hurt. Jeongguk’s butt and ego.

And so, since that fateful night, he made it a point to describe in great detail to Jimin every instance of preferential treatment Jeongguk was sure Hoseok was giving him. It only caused Jimin to scoff at him and called him swollen-headed and its various synonyms. But Jeon Jeongguk was not backing down, no.

The only time he had backed down in the (very) recent past was in conceding that Hoseok might just rank above him in the Desirable #1 list, a list that very much exists, Jimin hyung.

The only reason Jeongguk had conceded was because he could not help but agree with whoever was responsible for the list-making. Hoseok was so sexy that a simple body-wave had Jeongguk ripping his hair out (when nobody was looking obviously). Hoseok was so adorable with how he was best friends with all the kiddies in his class and was everyone else’s adopted brother or son that it made Jeongguk wipe proud tears from his eyes that his crush was so well-loved.

(“What the hell are you so proud about?”

“That I’m stanning the right campus hottie, hyung.”)

Hoseok was so hot and sweet. (Huh, Jeongguk’s taste in food and men was identical.)

And it also helped that the hot and sweet campus hottie was totally putting the moves on Jeongguk, never mind that Jimin had dedicated his life to denying the same. That Hoseok was into him negated Jeongguk’s primal instinct to show the other person up, so Jeongguk could not understand why Jimin had such a problem. He complained that Jeongguk was too competitive and whined when Jeongguk was not being competitive. Seriously, what did Jimin want?

~~

“Hey, hyuuung,” Jeongguk started smarmily as he zipped his bag up. Ignoring Jimin’s reflexive sigh, he continued, “Do you know what’s Hoseok hyung’s favourite song?”

Yes, he was on hyung-calling terms with Hoseok now, a fact he had rubbed in an irate Jimin’s face who told him pointedly that everyone else was already calling the senior dancer hyung. But Jeongguk had got there in just a week, so Jimin could stuff it.

“No, I don’t.”

“But I do,” Jeongguk sing-songed. “Hyung told me himself.”

“I bet that’s because you asked him.”

Okay fine Jeongguk might have asked him during a water break.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that he told me.”

“People’s favourite song’s aren’t usually secrets, Jeonggukie.”

“Oh but he asked me for mine. And that means he’s looking forwards to bonding over our mutual love for music.”

Jimin was silent. He exchanged his shoes for a pair of flip-flops, sipped a bit of water, shut his bottle, zipped his bag and hoisted his bag on his shoulder, all very silently. He finally looked and Jeongguk and said, “I am stunned at the kind of bullshit your brain comes up with. How do you function on a daily basis with a brain like that?”

“Hey, my brain doesn’t come up with bullshit. Your brain is filled with horseshit because it can’t process what I’m saying.”

“Your brain is filled with elephantshit.”

“Your brain is filled with of a cocktail of shits.”

Both of them paused in their bickering to call out a “bye, hyung!” to Hoseok who was sitting on the recreation centre’s steps with a plump little girl on his lap, waiting for her to be picked up by her parent who was running a little late. Such sights always made Jeongguk want to clutch at his chest or click a picture and make it his wallpaper or something. His future boo was so precious.

Hoseok twisted his torso to look at Jeongguk and Jimin and called out, “Bye! See you next week!” He lifted his arm to wave at his students, but in doing so he knocked the little girl’s bottle out of her hands just as she had unscrewed its lid to take a sip. Orange-yellow liquid flowed out of the bottle and onto Hoseok’s pale blue t-shirt and a citrus-y smell filled the air around them. Hoseok caught the bottle in a jiffy and pulled his little student off his lap to keep her away from the spillage, while Jeongguk and Jimin rushed over.

The little girl started crying, fingers clutching the hem of her shorts. Hoseok capped the bottled and turned to her.

“Soojung-ah, don’t cry, princess,” he said apologetically, wiping away her tears. “Saem is sorry. Saem’ll get you more juice, okay?”

The crying did not cease. Soojung shook her head and sobbed harder instead. “I d-don’t like j-juice. But-but saem’s shirt is ruined because Soojungie was careless.”

“Awww,” Hoseok cooed. “I don’t like this shirt. So, it’s absolutely no problem, Soojung-ah. Don’t cry. Please?”

He wiped away all the tears that spilled down her cheeks while whispering “it’s okay’s” as Soojung calmed down slowly, breathing still stuttered. Jeongguk could see Hoseok wanted to hug her and comfort her, but could not because of the mess on his shirt. He looked so helpless. Obviously Jeongguk, the brave knight in shining armour stepped in.

He slowly knelt in front of her and carefully wrapped his arms around. She sniffled into his shoulder as he began patting her brown head soothingly. “You’ve done J-Hope saem a big favour,” Jeongguk said. “Now he has to throw away the shirt he doesn’t like. He’s super thankful to you. Now smile, okay?” He could feel her nod against his shoulder. When he pulled away, a teary smile rested on her lips.

“Good girl,” Jeongguk complimented her as he heard some distant honking.

“Appa’s here, Soojungie,” Hoseok informed her as he collected her half-empty bottle and bag and held his hand out to her.

The two walked to the car and Hoseok stood there for a while, probably explaining the little situation they had had. With a final fond head-pat Hoseok bid Soojung goodbye and made his way back to where Jeongguk was telling Jimin how Hoseok had looked at him with “pleading eyes”.

“Hey, Jeongguk, could you lend me one of your spare tees? This is really sticky” Hoseok said, holding his messy t-shirt away from him awkwardly.

Jeongguk did not need to be told twice.

In two seconds flat, Hoseok found one of Jeongguk’s t-shirts, neatly folded in a plastic cover, in his hands. He smiled amusedly at the lengths to which Jeongguk went to preserve his t-shirts before thanking him and rushing inside the recreation centre to change.

Jeongguk would have been upset at Hoseok not taking off his shirt right then and there, but he figured Hoseok did not want Jimin to see him like that. And anyway, Jeongguk had a point to make.

“He asked me for my tee. He wants to wear my clothes. Can he be more obvious?” Jeongguk questioned Jimin though he already knew the answer to that- no Hoseok could not be more obvious.

Jimin hit his head against the pillar next to which he was standing. “Oh my goodness, Jeongguk. His t-shirt was sticky and so he asked you for yours. He literally said that! There’s nothing more to it. Can you be more pig-brained?”

Jeongguk was undeterred. “But he knew I had spare t-shirts. He’s obviously been paying very, very close attention to me, if you know what I mean.”

Jimin hit his head against the pillar a few more times. How was it not hurting him? All the shit in his brain had probably numbed his cranial region, Jeongguk concluded.

Once he was done abusing his head like that, Jimin looked at Jeongguk and said, “Nobody needs to pay close attention to you to know that you carry spare clothes with you because you’re that weirdo who rushes to the bathroom to change his t-shirt every half an hour because he can’t stand the smell of his sweat. Literally, everyone in class has seen you pull out multiple t-shirts out of your bag, so shut your mouth.”

But Jeongguk could not. Because right then Hoseok jogged out, clad in Jeongguk’s large white t-shirt looking like the most perfect boyfriend-designate. If Jeongguk had known how much he liked Hoseok wearing his clothes he would have given him at least three t-shirts every class. Hoseok would have liked that too.

“Oh.” Hoseok suddenly stopped and gestured between himself and Jeongguk who only then realised that both of them were now dressed identically in white shirts and black sweats and black hoodies.

“Couple outfits!” Hoseok said cheerily and went to retrieve his bag from the corner of the staircase.

Jeongguk’s loud “eep” was drowned by Jimin’s louder groan. Which was a good thing because Jeongguk did not want Hoseok to hear him eep-ing about.

“Oh. Jimin!” Hosoek said suddenly and the man in question looked at him, alarmed that the loud groan had offended the senior dancer. “I almost forgot to ask. Tae wanted to know if you could drop by after class to pick up the notes you’d given him yesterday. He said you needed it for tomorrow?”

“Right!” Jimin’s face broke into a relieved smile at once. “Yeah, I’ll go pick it now.”

“Ahem,” Jeongguk coughed, reminding his roommate of his presence.

“You can come too, Jeongguk,” Hoseok spoke up instead of Jimin. “I’m sure Taehyung wouldn’t mind. Not with how much he talks about you.”

“Taehyung?” Jeongguk asked before something clicked in his brain. “You mean Taehyung hyung? Like Kim Taehyung hyung? You know each other?” Jeongguk was stunned that his grand total of three friends all knew Jung Hoseok. Where had he been all this time?

Right. Sipping his tea and hiding from extremely affectionate admirers. It was a difficult balancing act.

“Umm yeah? We’re flatmates. Would be a bit strange if we didn’t,” Hoseok replied.

“Taehyung hyung has a flatmate?”

Now, Jeongguk was astonished. Taehyung, Jimin’s classmate and best friend spent so much time holed up in Jimin’s room that Jeongguk had long forgotten that Taehyung had another place where he dwelled. He had found it odd initially, considering that Taehyung was rich enough to have multiple alternate spaces of dwelling. But after seeing him around so much Jeongguk had subconsciously accepted him as his second roommate.

Hoseok gave a from-the-stomach chuckle. “I know that’s a little hard to believe. He’s barely home. The only reason he's stayed put today is because the brat’s sick.”

“I told him not to accept Jin hyung’s ice-cream eating challenge. Of course he didn’t listen,” Jimin sighed.

But Jeongguk heard none of that. He was busy skipping internally (he was not Jimin to skip externally) that Hoseok had basically invited Jeongguk to his house.

Oh boy!

~~

"Ah! The Hyung Returns!” a cold-muffled voice called out the second Hoseok unlocked the door and stepped inside.

A pink-nosed Taehyung cheered when he saw Jimin and Jeongguk, “And he comes bearing gifts!”

“How’re you feeling, Tae?” mother Jimin asked.

“Terrible, Jiminie,” child Taehyung immediately pouted.

Jimin smirked. “Good. Serves you right.”

“Hey!”

Hoseok and Jeongguk laughed at the same time and Jeongguk immediately shut up because he wanted to hear Hoseok’s laughter unmarred. He should probably record it.

“Why are you out here infecting everything in the living room instead of suffering quietly in your room?” Hoseok asked, motioning for Jimin and Jeongguk to sit down on the armchairs he had just called infected. Not that Jimin or Jeongguk cared because the tired men sat down immediately.

“Because the T.V.’s here. And my phone was here too. I had to migrate when hyung called.”

Taehyung continued with a sniff or two. “It’s hyung’s birthday next week and all of you are invited.”

“Cool,” said Hoseok and Jimin.

Jeongguk was confused. “Uhh... but, I don’t know your brother.”

Taehyung waved off his concern. “Nobody knows each other at such parties. They just turn up for the food. Which is always delicious, by the way. And hyung asked me to bring all my friends. So you coming or not?”

Jeongguk who was sold at “delicious food” nodded and Hoseok laughed knowingly. What a connection the two of them had really.

Hoseok made his way of the room when Taehyung called out, “Nice to see you finally embracing hip-hop fashion, hyung. It’s high time really.”

Hoseok looked puzzled before he looked down at the enormous t-shirt he was wearing and grinned. “Oh, this is Jeongguk’s,” he informed and disappeared out of the room.

“Oh that reminds me,” Taehyung said to no one in particular before he raised his voice and shouted. “Hyung! Did you take my blue t-shirt with the psychedelic dog printed on it?”

Hoseok’s voice rang back from the interior of the house, “Yeah! But I got some juice spilled on it. I’ll try to wash it off. No promises though.”

“I hate you!”

“Don’t shout! It’s bad for your throat.” They heard a door being shut somewhere.

“I hate him,” Taehyung said, this time voice only slightly softer, to Jeongguk and Jimin.

“So, Tae,” Jimin began, sitting up straighter. “That blue t-shirt was yours, huh?”

“Yes, you genius.”

Jimin looked at Jeongguk trying to bite back a smile. “So, Tae,” Jimin said again. “Does Hoseok hyung wear your clothes a lot?”

Oh no. Jeongguk could see where this was going.

“Yeah,” Taehyung rolled his eyes. “Hobi hyung’s always wearing other people’s clothes. I saw him wearing a green checked sweater the other day and I swear it belongs to the ahjussi next door.”

“So it means nothing significant if hyung wears t-shirts that are not his?”

“Why are you being all stupid, Jimin? You sound like Gukkie.”

Jimin ignored Jeongguk’s “hey!” and pressed on. “Because Jeonggukie here thinks that hyung is into him because he asked to wear his t-shirt. Tell him it means nothing.”

“It means nothing, Gukkie,” Taehyung said so quickly that it stung Jeongguk a little.

So he fought back, “But he also talks to me a lot! And we bond over music and caffeinated beverages. And I know he’s always watching me, okay. And he makes me dance in the front of the class along with him sometimes. And and...”

“If you thought normal Jeongguk was crazy, then Jeongguk with a crush is downright insufferable,” Jimin explained to Taehyung who looked completely perplexed at Jeongguk’s indignation.

Taehyung’s eye’s widened. “Jeon Jeongguk has a crush? On Hobi hyung?”

“Yes and yes.”

“Thank you, Park Jimin, for asking for my permission,” Jeongguk snapped.

Jimin smiled sheepishly at him. “Sorry, Jeonggukie. It’s just Tae-”

Taehyung interrupted Jimin with a deafening sneeze that rattled Jeongguk for a few good seconds.

“Sorry,” Taehyung sniffed apologetically. Then, he grew serious and looked at Jeongguk.

“Gukkie, this isn’t good.”

Jeongguk was confused. That sneeze could shock anyone, it was no big deal. “What isn’t good?” he asked to confirm they were on the same track.

“You crushing on hyung and thinking that he likes you back.”

Jeongguk’s stomach sank a little. “Why? Is... there someone else?”

He had checked and double-checked and triple-checked. According to social media and his fans, J-Hope was single.

“No, no, it’s nothing like that,” Taehyung said and Jeongguk praised the heavens.

“What I mean is that... Hobi hyung, he’s different, okay?”

“Different? How?”

Taehyung collected his thoughts before speaking. “He’s really friendly and forward. That’s how he is.”

“Okay...” Namjoon had told Jeongguk the same thing.

“And he’s really vocal and physical. He... he touches a lot.”

Jimin had already pointed that out to him on his first day of class. “So your point is...”

“My point is... what we, you, me and Jimin and lots of other people consider as flirting, does not apply to Hobi hyung. None of it. The laughing, touching, cloth-sharing, intimate eye-contact, whatever it is that he does, it’s all without any... umm romantic intentions.”

“But hyung,” Jeongguk whined.

“Gukkie, trust me, I know what it looks like to you. I’ve talked to him before on how his actions can come across but he told me that that’s just simply who he is. I’ve lived with the man for three years and I know he isn’t lying about that.”

Jeongguk did not like how serious Taehyung sounded.

“But hyung-” he tried again, but was interrupted by Hoseok noisily announcing his presence with trumpet-like noises. He entered the room, dressed only in a bathrobe looking warm and freshly showered, hair a wet, scrunched-up mess.

What torture.

In Hoseok’s hands was a pile of clothes. A grin overtook his features as he stepped closer to Taehyung and said, “These are all yours and I’ve been wearing them for months. Look at how nice and clean they are. It would be such a pity if they were to get germs all over them.”

With that, Hoseok dumped the piled over the couch Taehyung was sprawled on, making sure they landed all over his used tissues and on his face, triggering another sneezing fit.

Hoseok snatched the box of tissues away from Taehyung’s reach and trumpeted to himself again as he exited the room while Taehyung sneezed and coughed over and into his shirts.

It was with dismay that Jeongguk counted at least twelve visible pieces of clothing. He was sure a few more had slipped behind the couch and some under it.

Once Taehyung was done sneezing and blowing his nose on a pair of boxers he sat up straight and rolled his shoulders in preparation to yell at Hoseok. But he took one look at Jeongguk’s face and sighed.

“Oh Gukkie.”

5

“Jeonggukie, we’re coming in and dragging you out. I don’t care if you’re dressed or not! Just come out already!”

That was all the warning Jeongguk got before his door magically sprang open. He shrieked and covered his body as best as he could with his two hands.

“What. The. Hell.” Jimin breathed angrily from the doorway. “You’re all dressed up and you look so good that it’s actually making me a little less pissed, but why on earth did you keep us waiting for so long?”

“I... I feel weird, okay? The shirt, the pants, the shoes, everything feels so strange. I don’t think I can come out like this.”

Jeongguk had belatedly been informed by Taehyung that the birthday celebration would be a rather formal occasion in keeping with Taehyung’s family’s standing in society, so he should dress appropriately. Jimin had translated that for Jeongguk and had told him to “wear your most fancy-fancy clothes.”

It was with a spirit of adventure that Jeongguk had set about pulling out his nice clothes, belt and shoes from the forgotten spaces of his wardrobe. But once he had put them on his actual person he was overcome with the most severe attack of awkward.

“Can you believe it, Jiminie?” Taehyung asked dramatically. “Our Jeongguk. Conscious of the way he looks. Incredible.”

“Truly,” Jimin agreed sarcastically. “Let’s get moving now.”

Jeongguk did not budge.

“Okay seriously what’s eating you? It’s not like you’ve never worn these clothes before since you’ve obviously owned for a while.”

Jeongguk mumbled something in reply.

Taehyung walked right over to Jeongguk and leaned close to him with his hand cupped around his ear and asked, “What was that hm?”

“I said Hoseok hyung’s gonna see me like this,” Jeongguk whispered nervously.

The thought had been driving him mad. Since they had first met each other, Hoseok had always seen Jeongguk in his nice, normal clothes. Nice, normal clothes that Jeongguk knew he looked good in. Who was Jeongguk without his ripped jeans, big t-shirts, beanies and Timberlands?

Moreover, Taehyung’s little talk the other day had put a little bit of a damper on his assertions. Jeongguk was still betting on “Hoseok luvs Jeongguk” make no mistake, but he was betting a smaller amount now.

All of this had him thinking what if Hoseok found his ensemble ridiculous? Because, frankly, Jeongguk felt ridiculous.

“Ew, you’re being gross,” Taehyung said and slung his arm around Jeongguk’s shoulders as Jimin did the same from the other side.

“Jeonggukie, you look very handsome in these clothes. The most handsome I have even seen,” Jimin said warmly and the three of them regarded their reflections in the mirror.

Sandwiched between the colourful duo who were dressed in vibrant turtlenecks and jackets, Jeongguk in his pressed navy blue button down and black trousers looked quite sombre.

“Yeah, you look so mysterious and cool,” Taehyung commented as if reading Jeongguk’s thoughts. “Very “come hither”.”

“I always look mysterious and cool, what are you saying,” Jeongguk replied.

“My point. You don’t look weird or out of place. You look like your extraordinarily good-looking self. Times fifty.”

“Only fifty?”

“Fine. Times hundred. Can we leave now?”

A nod from Jeongguk was all it took for his friends to bundle him up in warm outerwear and lead him outside.

~~

As he walked with his friends into the Banquet Room Jeongguk wondered exactly how rich Taehyung’s family was to hold a birthday dinner in a five-star hotel that looked like a palace out of a movie set.

What did his family do exactly? Why had he never asked Taehyung that? Should he ask him now-

“Wow. Jeongguk?”

Jeongguk spun around, heart working up an unsteady rhythm to face Hoseok whose eyes were running along the length of his body.

Come on. This was blatant checking out.

“You look. Great. Wonderful,” Hoseok breathed out.

Jeongguk could feel the awe in Hoseok’s voice and he wanted to compliment him return, but looking at him, Jeongguk had to stop himself.

Hoseok was wearing a deep blue sweater, the collar of a white shirt rising out of its neck. On the bridge of his nose rested the most adorable pair of round glasses that made Jeongguk worry that if he were to open his mouth right then he would ask Hoseok to put a baby in his belly or something.

“Breathe in, breathe out, Gukkie,” Taehyung whispered in his ear. “Don’t get all worked up now.”

But how could Jeongguk not get all worked up when the next words out of Hoseok’s mouth were, “Hey, we’re matching again. Couple outfits are totally our thing, aren’t they?”

Jeongguk felt a surge of confidence. He was now betting all his money, the cash in his wallet and the savings in his bank on “Hoseok luvs Jeongguk”. He was all in.

“You look great too, hyung,” Jeongguk started, a smile-smirk (he had not decided what to go with) growing on his face. “And your glasses are so cute. You’re so cute.”

He heard Jimin and Taehyung gasp very quietly behind him. They should be gasping. They were witnessing a great union in the making.

Hoseok slowly blinked at Jeongguk for a silent second before a smile lit his face. He brought both his hands to his sides of face and placed his chin on the cusp of the “V” where the heels of his palms met in the infamous “flower petal” pose and chirped out, “Thank you!”

Hoseok’s eyes seemed to catch something behind his friends. “I think I see someone I know. I’ll be right back,” he said and sped away before Jeongguk could whine “Come back here! I did not mean aegyo-cute. I meant please-check-me-out-and-let-me-check-you-out-on-a-long-term-basis-cute!”

With slumped shoulders Jeongguk turned to face his friends who were no doubt waiting to pick on him. He was however met with sympathetic eyes.

“Damn, that was a bold one you pulled there, Jeonggukie,” Jimin said, reaching up to place his hand comfortingly on Jeongguk’s much-higher shoulder.

Taehyung concurred, “Yeah man. For a moment back there, I thought something was actually gonna happen.”

Try living with that happening to you every damn week, Jeongguk thought bitterly.

Their grave mood was undone by the arrival of a handsome man who slipped into their group with a, “Hello, hello!”

“Hyung!” Taehyung squealed, while Jimin reached across his friend to shake hands with the man and wish him a happy birthday.

The Kim family had struck gold in the looks department, Jeongguk noted. Taehyung was easily one of the best-looking people Jeongguk knew (not that he was ever going to tell him that) and his brother with his wide shoulders, styled blond hair, groomed brows and white satin shirt with an artfully sequined red collar looked like a prince.

The price-lookalike noticed the pall of gloom hanging around Jeongguk and looked at him curiously, causing Jeongguk to snap out of it and remember his manners. He bowed and held out his hand. “Hello. Happy birthday. Thank you for inviting me. I’m pleased to meet you.”

The man shook his hand with a bit too much of force and replied, “Hi, “pleased to meet you”. I’m Kim Seokjin.”

“Hyung, no. Jeongguk’ll punch you if you crack such lame jokes,” Taehyung warned non-threateningly while Jimin giggled softly and Jeongguk tried his best not to roll his eyes at the warning or the joke or the fact that Jimin actually found funny.

“Of course he won’t,” Seokjin shushed his brother and looked at Jeongguk expectantly. “Especially after I tell him this joke about construction.”

“Uh, sure?” Jeongguk answered unsurely, not knowing what to expect.

“Actually, never mind, I’m still working on it.”

Jimin outright laughed at that and Taehyung’s lips were itching to break into a smile while Jeongguk wondered if possessing wealth was directly proportionate to the capacity to crack dumb jokes.

“Okay, okay I got another one for you Jeongguk. How does a penguin build its house?”

Penguins have a house, was the first thing Jeongguk thought. “No clue,” was what he said instead.

Seokjin smiled answered, “Igloos it together.”

Taehyung cracked up at that, joining Jimin who was already long gone. Jeongguk wanted to point out that even if he did not know whether penguins had houses or not, he definitely knew they did not live in igloos. Humans lived in igloos.

“Guys, guys, shut up,” Seokjin said jovially to his brother and Jimin. “I need to think of something that’ll make Jeongguk laugh. Something funnier than the joke about odd numbers. You’ve heard that one, Jeongguk?”

Jeongguk warily shook his head.

“Really? It’s such a funny joke I can’t even!”

Okay, who allowed this man into society, Jeongguk wanted to know.

Jeongguk’s unsaid judgement did not discourage Seokjin. In fact, the warm reception his jokes had received from Jeongguk’s friends who shared his equally poor sense of humour only made Seokjin excited to go on. He would have too if Jeongguk’s personal saviour had not popped up right at that moment.

“Wow, hyung. This place is great!” Hoseok said as he came to stand beside Jeongguk. “I heard the whole of the top floor is a suite room. Do you think they have a salt room here too?”

Jimin and Seokjin gave Hoseok looks of disgust while Taehyung abruptly ceased his wheezing to inquire if Hoseok still wanted his respect. But Jeongguk threw his head back and laughed out loud. When he felt he would topple over with how much he was leaning backwards, he threw his body forwards, slapped his thighs and laughed some more, a lot more, because goddamn if that was not the funniest joke Jeongguk had ever heard.

He heard Hoseok burst out laughing next to him. Jeongguk tried to curb his laughter because, hey, Hoseok was laughing and stood up straight and discreetly shuffled closer to Hoseok

“Come on guys, that was quite funny!” Hoseok addressed their little group with, lips still quivering with unreleased laughter. “My man Jeongguk here agrees.”

His man Jeongguk. Yes, thank you very much.

Jeongguk tried his best to telepathically contact Jimin or Taehyung to ask them to click a picture of him and Hoseok standing like this, almost leaning against each other, so that he could frame it and put it up when they bought their first house together. But the unhelpful twosome remained as untelepathic as ever, even if they did look a bit uneasy after what Hoseok had just said.

“Hyung, it’s your birthday. Stop frowning,” Hoseok was still cajoling Seokjin. “I can’t have the most beautiful man I know looking like that.”

Jeongguk tried to ignore the chill that stole around his chest. Seokjin was a very good-looking man. Hoseok was just being honest and nice in complimenting the birthday boy.

When Seokjin’s furrowed brows began to ease Hoseok pressed further, “You remember when I told you that you always were the best-looking man in any room? Years later, I still stand by my statement.”

Okay, Hoseok could stop with the compliments now.

Seokjin turned bright red. “Shut up, Hosigie.”

Yeah, shut up, Hosigie.

Hoseok wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “If you were single right now, hyung I would have-”

Jeongguk did not get to find out what Hoseok would have done if Seokjin was single because someone tapped Hoseok on the shoulder just then.

“Wow. You are J-Hope!” a round-faced boy exclaimed. “I’ve only seen you on Youtube. I’m a big fan. Can I click a picture with you please?”

Delighted at being recognised, Hoseok turned away from his friends and replied, “Sure!”

Once Hoseok and his big fan had moved a little away from the group, trying to find the perfect lighting, Seokjin sighed fondly, “Aish, this Hosigie. Has so many fans of his own, but still flirts with my old soul. Bless his heart.”

So, Hoseok did know what flirting was. And he exercised that knowledge on people. People who were not Jeongguk.

“Anyway, I still haven’t cracked you, Jeongguk. What do you get when you cross a-” Seokjin began but stopped as soon as shifted his gaze from Hoseok to Jeongguk.

Jeongguk tried not to look as crestfallen as he felt, but he was too slow for Seokjin.

“Oh Jeongguk.”

6

Jeongguk was having the worst New Year’s Eve ever.

Taehyung being the large-hearted chaebol that he was had collected his friends and had taken them clubbing at one of Seoul’s most popular establishments to celebrate his birthday and ring in the New Year together in one fantastic booze-and-dance-frenzy.

They had gained access to the club, easily avoiding the serpentine lines with ease. The music was superb, the food finger-licking good and the alcohol top-notch. But Jeongguk was still having the worst New Year’s Eve ever. The blame lay once again with Jung Hoseok who was being absolutely rude on the dance-floor.

Every functional part of Jeongguk’s brain had been thanking whatever superior powers that existed for the presence of the little kids at Hoseok’s dance classes because there was no way Jeongguk would have survived if he had to watch on a weekly basis the uncensored versions of the moves Hoseok performed for his students.

To make matters worse, Hoseok was a touchy dancer when put in an atmosphere of electronic dance music and strobe lights. Jeongguk, who did not know this, had been standing the closest to him, swag-swaying to the beat and trying to get his eyelids to blink while staring at Hoseok when the energetic man had grabbed him. He had then positioned Jeongguk against his chest and had started moving both their bodies in sync.

Jeongguk tried telling himself what his friends had been advising him for weeks. This is Hoseok, touchy-feely-affectionate Hoseok, being Hoseok. Nothing new, nothing special. But Hoseok was making it extremely difficult for Jeongguk to believe that with he hugged Jeongguk from behind and ran his long fingers across Jeongguk’s chest while happily imitating the EDM songs with his voice.

This was the closest he had ever been to Hoseok and Jeongguk wanted to die.

Which is exactly what he set out to do after Jimin and Taehyung had, upon seeing Jeongguk’s predicament, pried Hoseok off him.

~~

Jeongguk had settled permanently by the bar. This Jung Hoseok business was robbing him of his mojo. It had reduced him to a man who banged his head repeatedly against the bar’s counter to wallow in self-pity on New Year’s Eve. Jeongguk figured that if alcohol poisoning did not kill him then cracking his skull open would definitely do him in.

“The music’s that bad, huh?”

Jeongguk took a short break from his head-banging to look up at the man who had addressed him. His eyes were met with inky black hair, black facemask, black leather jacket, black t-shirt and tight black pants. The man looked so cool. The exact all-black aesthetic Jeongguk would love to achieve a few years down the line. If his attempts at brain damage had failed that is.

After gawking not too subtly, Jeongguk slowly shook his head.

“No man, but I got ninety-nine problems.” Which was a lie. He had just one problem and it rhymed with Fung Foseok. But like the stranger would judge him for dishonesty.

“The music’s good. Great actually,” he added.

“Thanks.”

“Huh?”

“I’m Suga. Your DJ for the night.”

“Wha-? Oh wow. That’s so coo-”

“Jeon Jeongguk! Here you are!”

A body flung itself across Jeongguk’s seated form.

The tipsy giggling pair of Jimin and Taehyung followed soon after.

“Sorry, Gukkie, we tried keeping him on the dance-floor” Taehyung slurred.

Jimin nodded sloppily next to him. “But he said he missed his Jeongguk and took off!”

Jeongguk’s senses were hyper aware as a tired but giddy Hoseok arranged himself on Jeongguk’s lap and threw his arms around Jeongguk.

“Yeah, Jeongguk. Where did you go? I missed you! Don’t leave me like that!” Hoseok whined to Jeongguk and honest-to-god nuzzled Jeongguk’s neck with his nose.

What was it that people said about alcohol lowering your inhibitions and giving you the courage to broadcast your true feelings? Those people definitely knew what they were talking about, Jeongguk decided as he whispered in Hoseok’s ear, “I won’t leave you.”

“Good.” Hoseok gave a dazed Jeongguk a lazy but satisfactory smile. “And who is this person you chose to spend your night with instead of your frie- oh my god Yoongi hyung!”

Yoongi? Who?

Hoseok sprang up from Jeongguk’s lap and took the two short steps to Suga.

“You stay away from me,” Suga threatened, holding up a straw he had acquired from somewhere as a protective weapon.

“No way,” Hoseok smiled devilishly. “It’s been long since I’ve seen you, hyung.”

“Seokseok-ah. No,” Suga ordered, trying to climb off his stool.

So Hoseok knew Suga. Is there anyone he did not know?

“Come here, Yoongi hyung!” Hoseok screamed and pulled the DJ into a suffocating hug.

“Get off me! Get off me!” the man being squeezed to death yelled. “Jung Hoseok. You imbecile. I hate it when you do this!”

“Oh really?” Hoseok asked, pulling his head back slightly. “Then how about this?”

And Jeongguk watched with his own eyes as Hoseok leaned forward and pressed a noisy, wet kiss to Suga’s nose.

What the hell man. Everything was going so well.

Suga kicked at Hoseok and pushed him off himself. “Disgusting,” he growled as he rubbed vigorously at his nose and Hoseok cackled almost louder than the music.

“Jeonggukie...” Jimin began.

“It’s okay. I’m fine, hyung,” Jeongguk lied.

Suga who was still wiping his nose on the sleeves of his jacket, observed the interaction and the shot glass gripped tight in Jeongguk’s hand with hawk-like eyes. He sighed, “Oh kid.”

Jeongguk hung his head.

“You two! Take this nutcase away” Suga suddenly ordered.

Jeongguk looked up to see him pointing at a still laughing, blissed-out Hoseok.

“I need to have a little talk with Chanjuk here.”

Jimin and Taehyung sprang into action and dragged away Hosoek. Jeongguk was pretty sure Taehyung saluted to Suga.

Once the trio had merged back into the crowd, Suga slowly swivelled his stool to face Jeongguk. Jeongguk swallowed. He did not like being left alone with an authoritative man dressed in all black.

“So, Chanjuk-”

“It’s Jeongguk,” Jeongguk blurted.

When he saw Suga’s eyes narrow at the interruption he quickly amended, “But my friends call me Chanjuk all the time, so it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. You’re name is Jeongguk. Be assertive. That’s what you need first and foremost if you want Hoseok to stop giving you all that heartache.”

Jeongguk asked quite pointlessly, “Does everyone know?”

Suga smirked. “You’re not the first case of whipped-for-Jung I’ve seen, you know.”

“Thanks. That makes me feel loads better.”

Suga’s eyebrows shot up at Jeongguk’s snark. “I’m just being honest and trying to help you out, kid.”

“Yeah? What’s in it for you?”

“Not less than five minutes ago you were testing the hardness of this counter against your head. You sure you want to keep up that attitude with me?” Suga asked coolly.

Jeongguk sighed, “Sorry Suga-ssi. It... it just gets frustrating.”

“Call me Yoongi. Or Yoongi hyung. Whatever,” the man said and continued, “And to answer your questions, I don’t want people brooding and dying over their dumb crushes when my music is playing.”

Jeongguk opened his mouth to speak, but Yoongi held up a hand to shush him. “Let’s get straight to it, shall we? I know how Hoseok can be, okay? He loves really easily and it may look like he’s leading you on-”

“I never said he’s leading me on.”

“Don’t interrupt me, Jeongguk,” Yoongi growled.

Dang.

“The point I was getting at is what are you doing about it?”

“Huh?”

“What are you doing for Hoseok for him to even consider you?”

“I... uh... I fill his water bottle for him. And this one time a hugged a little girl for him... And... and...”

“Thought so.”

“What’s that supposed to mean,” Jeongguk asked, feeling annoyed with Yoongi’s clipped comment.

Yoongi regarded him with a fixed glare. “You’re a good-looking man. Bet you get lots of attention, huh?”

“Yeah, so?”

“So guys like you think that you can get just about anything in life without trying. But then suddenly, they’re faced with a situation where they have to work for something and it’s sooo difficult. Oh boohoo.”

“It’s not like that,” Jeongguk snapped.

“Oh but it is, isn’t it?” Yoongi snapped back. “Look at Hoseok. Look at how special he makes each and everyone feel. What have you done to make him feel special, huh, beyond drooling over him dancing and hitting on him for how he looks like every other fan does?”

“I. Actually. Really. Like. Him. Okay.”

“So what?” Yoongi’s voice was raising. “Other people actually really like him too. That’s the problem with all of you. You think that just actually really liking him is enough. Enough to deserve him. Enough to make yourself the tragic hero when he can’t see that you like him because you haven’t done anything to show him that you actually care about him as a person. So conceited.”

Jeongguk had been called conceited many times by Namjoon, Jimin and Taehyung, but the way Yoongi spat it out shook him, made him feel weak like he could not shake off the insult with a shrug of his shoulder and confident smirk. He had no answer.

Yoongi slammed the counter with fist and walked to Jeongguk. He leaned towards Jeongguk and whispered threateningly, “Listen, Jeongguk. Hoseok is worth way more than some dude who thinks he can get Hoseok to fall for him simply because he exists. You want Hoseok that bad? Then become worthy of him. And if you know anything about Hoseok then you know that’s gonna take some hard work.”

Jeongguk looked at the cold fire in Yoongi’s black eyes. As much as he wanted to punch the man for scolding him like that Jeongguk also realised that Yoongi was showing him a way out. A way out and towards Hoseok.

“I’ll-I’ll work for it, hyung,” Jeongguk mumbled.

“Sorry what?” Yoongi asked, settling back on his stool.

“I’ll work for it,” Jeongguk said louder and more surely.

Yoongi leaned away from Jeongguk and said, “Still can’t hear you.”

“I’ll work for it! For Hoseok!” Jeongguk bellowed this time. “God, you’re such a DJ,” he muttered under his breath.

Yoongi gave him a miniscule smile. “Yeah, you do that.”

Jeongguk gave him a quick smile of his own.

“You’re really scary, hyung.”

Yoongi shrugged. “It gets the work done.”

~~~

~~~ 

II

1

Hoseok loved the feeling of being packed in layers of warm clothing when the weather was cold. It made him feel invincible as the man who had bested nature. Not that he wanted to test the true prowess of Mother Nature or anything.

Anyway, it was with cheer in his heart and warmth under his skin that Hoseok trekked his way to the Fine Arts Department one cold January afternoon. The new year, albeit only ten days old, had been treating him well. For the first time since he had begun receiving higher education he had started post-winter break holidays without any backlogs, the end of college was only months away (good riddance because he had been done with college at least two years ago) and the new routine he had been crafting for his beloved weekend classes was coming along nicely.

The walk to his Department was a long one, but it was far from boring. Hoseok took it is an opportunity to practise the routine as he hummed the song loudly to himself. Although his arms were occupied with a few books that he held against his chest, he powered on awkwardly through the straightjacket version of the dance. He wanted his muscles to memorise the movements before the next class because there was nothing more embarrassing than forgetting steps and having to make up something on the spot. Not that he had a problem with that because Neuron obviously did not accept him into their crew only because he had a smile that could soil underwear (quoting verbatim from a love letter he had received in sophomore year).

Hoseok just did not want to give the kiddies of his class who looked up to their J-Hope saem anything less than the best.

He went from humming to singing the lyrics out loud. Boy was he in a really good mood. Next thing he knew he had opened his arms wide and his books shot out of his grasp and onto the snowy-pavement.

Oops.

Hoseok had got too caught up thinking about his tiny students. It was hard not to get caught up thinking of them when Soojung had the cutest pout while trying a relatively difficult step or when Minhyuk huffed and puffed and whined throughout warm up because “can we get to the real dancing already?” or when Chan demanded after every class if he was Michael Jackson yet or...

Oh god. This had to stop. Instead of collecting his books Hoseok had got caught up thinking about how he had got caught thinking about the kiddies and had now been dopily staring at his fallen material for nearly a minute.

“Hoseok hyung! Are you okay?” a voice called out to him from behind and a few seconds later a frantic-looking Jeon Jeongguk was panting in front of him, breath coming out in white puffs.

“Yeah yeah!” Hoseok quickly assured him and started to crouch down to finally retrieve his rather wet books.

“No, let me,” Jeongguk said and with lightening speed he assembled Hoseok books in his own arms. He asked with an amused smile, “That was quite the performance you delivered back there. What was all that arm-waving and book-throwing about?”

“Oh that... That was me practising the new routine and forgetting that my arms were otherwise engaged... I got really into it. It’s a good one, you’ll see,” Hoseok replied and reached forward to collect his books from Jeongguk.

Jeongguk made no move to hand the books over; instead he stepped away and said in a mock-horrified tone, “You can’t let books come in the way of a smashing routine!”

When Hoseok laughed at Jeongguk’s funny outburst Jeongguk continued with a lop-sided grin, “How about you make the most of the distance to the Department brushing up on the routine with completely free hands and I’ll be your temporary book-carrier, hmm, hyung?”

Jeongguk’s “hmm, hyung” had been downright adorable and he looked so cute with his doe eyes and his cold-pink nose and cheeks that Hoseok could not deny his junior the request even though it meant assigning Jeongguk more weight to carry in addition to his own bag. But Jeongguk possessed a well-muscled body and Jimin had more than once elaborated on how his roommate enjoyed torturing his body at the gym. As the two resumed their walking , Hoseok mused that Jeongguk probably got a kick from putting his biceps and triceps to good use.

He was a weird dude. A weird but cute-hot and helpful dude.

~~

“Sorry, did you say something?” Hoseok asked in confusion, shifting all his books to one hand and pulling out his earphones with the other as Jeongguk suddenly appeared next to him.

Jeongguk flashed him a winning grin and repeated, “I said, your book carrier-is here!”

What?

Oh.

Hoseok remembered what had occurred three days ago and shook his head. “I don’t need to practise that routine any more. We already did that one last class. And wasn’t your position supposed to be temporary, anyway?”

“You never know when inspiration’ll strike you and you’ll suddenly find yourself in need of both your hands,” Jeongguk said as he lifted the books out of Hoseok grasp.

“No, that’s-”

“Let me carry your books for you, hyung. Please?”

Hoseok could not control the way something in his chest tightened at Jeongguk’s sweet gesture.

“Alright, alright,” he agreed with a smile. “Why, though?”

Jeongguk looked at him sheepishly as answered, “Don’t laugh, hyung, but it’s kinda symbolic of how we met.”

“Huh?”

“You found my sketchbook and kept it safe, remember? I’ll safeguard your books now, okay?” Jeongguk said and puffed his chest out exaggeratedly.

Hoseok chortled, “You’re so silly Jeongguk.” He reached to tweak Jeongguk’s nose and added, “I like silly people.” He expected Jeongguk to swat his hand away, but his action was received with a toothy grin.

Hoseok liked it when Jeongguk smiled like that- not with smouldering eyes and quirked lips but with crinkled eyes and carefree, bared teeth. It made the something in Hoseok’s chest expand and contract and expand and contract again like an out-of-control accordion.

“I went to the café looking for you,” Jeongguk picked up the conversation.

“For me?”

Jeongguk looked Hoseok directly in the eye and said, “Yes, for you, hyung.”

Hoseok looked Jeongguk right back in the eye because eye-contact was important while speaking. Taehyung could take his, “don’t do that, it’s so creepy!” and stuff it. Hoseok had no problem with people looking at his face while speaking like normal humans should. Jeongguk’s head however, snapped to the path they were taking and he fumbled over his words, “My-my classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday this semester, they begin after l-lunch... and...and...”

What had suddenly gotten into the guy, Hoseok wondered but did not ask because that would be impolite. Perhaps Jeongguk really was as strange and mysterious as people made him out to be.

“... and I know your shift ends a bit before that and I wanted to see if we could walk to our classes together...”

Cue inexplicable, uncontrolled accordion feelings in Hoseok’s chest again.

“...I mean, we’re headed the same way after all,” Jeongguk concluded in a rush.

The accordion spluttered to a stop.

“Yeah, sure... That’s umm... logical and practical of you,” Hoseok said at the same time Jeongguk muttered something like “way to go” under his breath.

“We-we can walk back together after classes too..?”

“Oh but my classes end kinda late, so-”

“I’ll wait!” Jeongguk said immediately.

“No. You’ll have to wait for more than an hour.”

“I’ll go to the library or something. I’ll wait for you, hyung,” Jeongguk said stubbornly.

“Alright then!” Hoseok clapped his hands. “You’re such a sweetheart!”

“I am?”

Hoseok smiled warmly. “ Of course. You’re such nice guy, Jeongguk. A really good friend.” Hoseok meant it. Jeongguk was always filling his water bottle and ready to indulge his thoughtless chatter. He said the most encouraging things on Twitter despite its character limit, and now he had appointed himself his book-guardian.

The world needed more nice guys and good friends like Jeongguk.

2

“Yo, Rap Monster!” Hoseok called and threw himself at his friend. “First show of the year! How did it feel?”

“Great!” Namjoon choked under Hoseok’s stronghold. Once he had indelicately shoved Hoseok off, he asked, “What did you think about it? Did my flow match the tempo of the beats? I wasn’t too sure if-”

Hoseok covered Namjoon’s mouth and said loudly over the screechy feedback from the mic located on the other side of the club, “I loved it, Rap Monster!”

“Why do you always call me Rap Monster?” Namjoon groaned.

Hoseok squealed gleefully, “Because the name’s so funny!”

Before Namjoon could narrow his eyes at him Hoseok spoke again, “Don’t take offence, bro. You know I’m your biggest fan. Although...” Hoseok looked over Namjoon’s shoulder discreetly and whispered as loudly as one could whisper loudly, “... the girl with the purple hair has been heart-eyeing ever since you got off the stage. Maybe I should make myself scarce?” he asked Namjoon with a suggestive look.

Namjoon sighed and looked at his watch. “I wish, but yeah, that’s not gonna happen. It sucks that you’re trying to be a badass rapper but you have to get to bed early because you have morning class the next day.

Hoseok laughed in agreement. “I know how that feels, Rap Monster,” he said as the two made their way from the back of the club to its exit.

“And why does the Department have to be so far away. It’s so bloody cold I don’t want to get out of bed, forget walking all the way to the godforsaken place early in the morning,” Namjoon grumbled once they hit the streets, fresh, cold air rustling past them.

It was moments like this when Namjoon was being a whiney, blanket-loving child that Hoseok could see extra clearly the hilarity of his friend’s stage name.

“I feel you, man,” Hoseok said sympathetically. “It’s just as bad in the evenings. I’m so thankful Jeongguk gets me hot caramel macchiato to drink on our way back.”

Namjoon halted next to Hoseok.

“Jeongguk?”

“Uh, yes?”

“As in Jeon Jeongguk? As in the geodude guy with the golden voice?”

“I haven’t heard him sing, but he’s studying music and his guns are no joke, so sure that guy!”

Namjoon’s jaw dropped but he quickly collected himself and said conspiratorially, “Jeongguk doesn’t buy anything for anybody unless it’s like their birthday or something.”

Hoseok said carelessly with a ridiculous wiggle of his eyebrows, “Maybe I’m special.”

“You’re right,” Namjoon gasped as if he had just had an epiphany. “He likes you oh my god I can’t believe it!”

Hoseok almost choked himself in the process of tightening his scarf around him. “I was just joking, dude. Jeongguk does not like me.”

“Hoseok, you have no idea how many times he’s refused to buy me coffee because that’s “not how he rolls”. He obviously likes you.”

“He’s probably just saving money.”

“By buying you freaking caramel macchiato every day?”

“It’s not every day,” Hoseok replied immediately.

Namjoon continued unbothered, “And you do realise that the closest place you’ll get caramel macchiatos is eight and a half minutes away from the Department? He has to walk there, wait, then walk back, and has to make sure that the drink is warm enough for you. What the hell do you think that means, Hoseok?”

“He’s just being a nice dongsaeng. You don’t know niceness, Rap Monnie,” Hoseok replied, pulling his phone out to have something to focus on other than how hot his neck region suddenly felt.

“You don’t know Guk, Hoseok.”

Hoseok muttered, checking his notifications, “It’s nothing like that. You’re making a big deal out of nothing.”

He saw Jeongguk had retweeted something and he tapped on the notification. His Twitter opened up to show the minute-long video he had posted of his latest dance practice along with Jeongguk’s words “if u think this is good then let me tell u J-Hope irl is godly! #fighting”.

Hoseok immediately typed out a reply. “@Jeongold THANK YOUU! <3 <3 <3”

He heard Namjoon snort and looked up to see his friend reading the tweet over his shoulder, which, hello, is extremely rude.

“This means nothing, okay.”

Namjoon gave him an annoying, knowing smile. “Oh Hoseok.”

3

“Where’s Jeongguk?”

“He isn’t here already?” Jimin asked, looking as confused as Hoseok felt. Jeongguk and Jimin always arrived before time and together for class. But now one of the duo was missing. Hoseok wondered disappointedly if the boy he had grown so fond of had found better things to do during the weekend. Hoseok would not blame him but the potential loss of talent saddened him. As did the loss of the chance to subtly check out Jeongguk.

Jimin was speaking exasperatedly. “I can’t believe he’s not here. I was over at your place to study with Tae. And I warned Jeongguk a million times not to lose track of time watching videos of-”

Someone hurtled through the doorway and towards Hoseok before collapsing in a heap right in front him. “I’m so so sorry, hyung!” the Jeongguk-pile gasped. “I-I lost track of time.” Deep breaths. “Did I miss too much!”

“Woah, woah, calm down,” a very concerned Hoseok replied. The red colour on Jeongguk’s face was alarming. “We haven’t even started. Collect your breath first. We’ll start in five.”

“You are a merciful god!”

Jimin snorted in disgust and kicked unceremoniously at Jeongguk who was still heaving on the floor. “It was the videos again, wasn’t it?”

Jeongguk looked at Hoseok quickly before his eyes jumped to Jimin. “Yeah, yeah. It was...” Jeongguk responded so bashfully that Hoseok felt his insides squirm thinking of the type of videos that seemed to rob all of Jeongguk’s attention. His multitalented, funny, stunning, weird student-slash-friend was a porn-maniac. Who would have guessed.

Jimin face-palmed himself. “I can’t believe how obsessed you are with the virtual stuff when you’re kinda living the real deal.”

Hoseok regarded Jimin suspiciously. Was Jeongguk a participant in the process of adult film production? Is that what he did with his free time?

“Uh, what?” he asked with a cosmetic smile.

Jimin gave a big smile and opened his mouth to reply but was stopped by Jeongguk who jumped to his feet and physically picked Jimin up and threw him some five feet behind him. “Nothing!” He exclaimed and gave Hoseok an obviously fake smile. “Time to start class, hyung!”

~~

Hoseok was beyond curious now. If the cutest-hottest boy he knew could be found in various stages of undress online Hoseok wanted to know. He commenced his quest to glean more information after class.

“So, what were the videos were you guys talking about?” He asked Jeongguk and Jimin.

“Oh god, hyung, Jeonggukie is freaking addicted-” Jeongguk rushed to cover Jimin’s mouth with his hands. Jimin of course licked his way to free speech. “Jeongguk’s always watching your videos, hyung. I remember a time when I couldn’t get him to look at them for even a second and now that’s all he does!” he squealed excitedly as Jeongguk wiped his hands on Jimin’s shirt and applied sanitiser over them for good measure.

“My-my videos?” Hoseok was puzzled.

“See! You’ve gone and made it all weird!” Jeongguk grumbled to Jimin before he turned to Hoseok. “He’s made it all weird, hasn’t he?”

“Uh.”

“I swear I try to control myself. But, hyung, I can’t stop myself from watching you. I mean have you seen you dance?” a flustered Jeongguk tried to explain.

“Wait wait wait.” Hoseok had to clarify. “The videos you’re obsessed with... are videos of me dancing?”

Next to Jeongguk, Jimin nodded joyfully. “Hyung! He’s seen all of them! The Neuron ones, all performances, the Twitter videos, all fancams, all of them!”

“Woah” Hoseok said, surprised, while Jeongguk pinched Jimin on his side. It was not like Hoseok was not used to having people be in awe of him. But this was Jeongguk. The Golden Boy who could do anything and everything. And here he was, fanboying over Hoseok.

Part of him felt vindicated. Jeongguk looked up to him as a senior dancer and nothing more like Namjoon had suggested. Another part of him found the information disheartening. Hoseok told that part to shut up and joked “Oh... I thought it was only the videos on Twitter!”

“But how could I stop at Twitter, hyung?” Jeongguk was now eagerly telling him, his earlier mortification completely forgotten. “Hyung, when you dance... wow. I’ve never seen anything like it. And it’s not just what you dance. It’s-It’s how you dance. With so much passion!” Jeongguk was almost choking over his words. Jimin thumped him encouragingly on his back.

Hoseok could not keep his hands to himself. He reached forward and pinched Jeongguk’s cheeks and cooed, “You’re so cute, you know that?” So what if Jeongguk had been viewing Hoseok only from the perspective of a fan? He was an adorable fan. Hoseok could be okay with that. Maybe.

This egged Jeongguk on. “Seriously hyung, you inspire me so much. To live a life full of passion and love for one’s art. I’d rather die than live without passion.”

Jimin’s retching noises were drowned by Jeongguk’s ringtone.

“Oh.”

“Oh?” Jimin asked, mid-fake-vomitting.

“It’s Yoongi hyung,” Jeongguk mumbled and walked away.

“Jeongguk and Yoongi know each other?” Hoseok inquired. It made him feel strangely happy that the hyung he admired and respected and was scared of the most was close enough to Jeongguk to call him up. Why Yoongi’s approval-of-sorts made him happy he had no idea.

Oh screw it. He knew exactly why it made him happy that his friend sort-of-approved of Jeongguk.

“Yeah. That hyung’s been helping Jeongguk with. Uh. Something,” Jimin answered very not casually.

“Ooh! What thing?” Hoseok asked eagerly.

“To get close to you of course!”

Hoseok coughed violently.

“This Jeongguk really takes everything to the extreme, doesn’t he? I mean, he got to Yoongi to get closer to me? He takes this fan’s business to another level.” Hoseok chuckled weakly.

“Oh but, hyung, this isn’t just about being a fan,” Jimin stated. “I mean he is your fan. Probably your biggest, I still can’t believe he kinda beat me to it after teasing me about it for a year, but anyway. The point is... this ...” Jimin seemed to struggle a bit. “You’re not just his idol, hyung,” he said finally.

Hoseok pointed out, “But he just said that. He looks up to me and all...”

“That he does! But, oh god, this isn’t my place to say it... but, hyung, you need to consider that his feelings are more-than-fan feelings.”

“Yeah right,” Hoseok said sarcastically.

“Why is that so hard for you to believe?” Jimin frowned.

“Have you met Jeongguk? He’d definitely have more-than-fan feelings for people waaay better than me. Someone equally skilful, equally funny, equally kind, equally good-looking as him and-”

Jimin was indignant when interrupted, “But you’re sunbae goals!”

“And Jeongguk is human being goals.”

“Okay, so you’re just going to ignore all the obvious and suggestive attention Jeongguk’s been showering on you?” Hoseok had never heard Jimin speak so much in all of his life put together. The kid was getting agitated over nothing. Just like Namjoon. No wonder Jeongguk complained about how the two had hit it off instantly.

“There is no obvious and suggestive attention. He’s just being normal. And friendly.”

“Hyung, your normal and friendly is very different from our normal and friendly,” Jimin said, sounding a lot like Taehyung.

“Go home, Jimin. I’ll see you next week,” Hoseok said. He was done with such types of conversations and their impossible scenarios.

“You’re not going to believe anything till Jeongguk tells him yourself, are you?”

“Never gonna happen,” Hoseok sang over his shoulder. As he walked away he heard Jimin mumble.

“Oh hyung.”

4

Hoseok was having a wonderful birthday. His friends had obliged his sincere plea for a peaceful birthday without any demands of birthday treats. He knew his friends would find numerous other ways to make him pay repeatedly for their meals as the year progressed but for the day, at his request, they had leave him be. Hoseok liked it when his birthdays were simple, quiet and ordinary the best. There was something grounding and humbling about that.

“Happy birthday, hyung!” Jeongguk bunny-smiled at him as the two met after their classes. “I though we could do something for your birthday, so-”

“Thanks, Jeongguk, but I really don’t like celebrating my birthday,” Hoseok began to apologetically elaborate.

“Hyung, chill. I know how you like your birthdays. I just got some takeaway to eat together. We can do that, right? I already called Taehyung hyung and told him not to wait for you for dinner. So, is this okay?”

“Yeah,” Hoseok smiled at the boy’s meticulousness. “This is okay.”

~~

Jeongguk laid out the food on a large bench they had come across on one of the many detours they had fallen into taking as they days had passed. Despite the cold and added distance, Hoseok quite liked the detours because he had with him a caramel macchiato and an extended period of Jeongguk’s company.

“It’s not much but I hope you like the food,” Jeongguk told Hoseok.

Hoseok snorted. Not much his ass. Jeongguk was still pulling containers out of the massive takeaway bag. “Wow. Mountains of food from the most expensive eatery on campus. I bet every college student is so jealous of us right now.”

“Well,” Jeongguk shrugged, “You deserve the finest fine-dining this place has to offer.”

“And to think-” Hoseok paused to take a bite. Goddamn that was good. He should invest in edible meals more often. “-that people say you don’t like buying food for others.”

“I actually don’t,” Jeongguk admitted. “You buy them food. Then tradition dictates they buy you and then you buy them and then they buy you. It has no end. And then trying to make your expenditure match the others and all that headache. Everyone, just buy your own shit.”

Jeongguk abruptly shut his mouth like he was afraid he had said something wrong. “But it’s different with you, hyung,” he said, soft and shy. “It’s-it’s special.”

Hoseok wanted to a drill a hole into the earth and melt to death in its interiors. Jeongguk was the most perfectly awkward man he had ever seen. Ugh what a catch he would make.

“Seeing as it’s my birthday.”

“No, no!” Jeongguk shook his head mildly. He prodded his meat with his chopsticks and whispered, “Everything is special about you. Birthday or not.”

“Why are you so sweet?” Hoseok whined and threw his arms around Jeongguk who suddenly fell extremely still in his funny embrace. When Hoseok pulled away after a few seconds, Jeongguk was still sitting stock-still.

“Jeongguk?” Hoseok snapped his fingers in front of him. “You okay, buddy?”

Jeongguk pulled out of whatever daze he had slipped into with a “yeah, buddy is okay”. He searched around his pockets for a bit before holding something out. “This is for, hyung. Happy birthday again!”

“Jeongguk you didn’t have to get me anything. I don’t like gifts-”

“Hyung, please accept this. I made it myself for you!”

Hoseok gave in to the pleading eyes. He collected the pen-drive and examined it. “Wow. You made this pen-drive yourself? That’s severely cool.”

“What? Hyung, no,” a slightly affronted Jeongguk said. “I didn’t make the pen-drive. I made whatever’s on the pen-drive.”

“That’s severely cool too! Whatever it is I’ll love it!” Hoseok responded immediately.

“I hope you do. I thought of you and how much you inspire me the whole time while making it,” Jeongguk said and gave him a hopeful little smile.

~~

Hoseok yanked his shoes off and flew into the house, the anticipation of Jeongguk’s gift killing him. He did not make it to his room, choosing instead to plop down in the middle of the drawing room with his laptop slowly blinking to life. He stuck in the USB and waited for it to reveal its contents.

There was a single .mp3 file titled “For Hoseok hyung”. Begging his heart to take it easy with all the overspeeding, Hoseok clicked play.

A soft guitar intro played before Hoseok heard a soft intake of breath. What followed was a melodious voice singing in English. Was that Jeongguk?

Hoseok shut his eyes and let the voice fill the space all around him. It was supple in a way that Hoseok could see it physically twisting around the music. It was very different from the music he usually listened to, but it was so gently incredible that Hoseok found himself replaying the second it ended. He did not understand a word but his voice and heart were already softly singing along to the chorus.

You give me purpose. Yeah, you’ve given me purpose.

“What is that heavenly sound?” an astounded Taehyung ran into the drawing room. When he caught sight of Hoseok his large eyes widened. He pointed a shaking hand at his roommate and asked, “Is-is that Gukkie’s scarf around your neck?”

Hoseok looked down, surprised. He did not remember this happening. All he remembered was making an insignificant comment about the weather being chilly. “Yeah, I guess?” he answered, wondering when and how Jeongguk had managed to slip a piece of clothing around his neck without Hoseok asking or noticing it.

“Oh. My. God. That’s The Scarf.”

“What?” Hoseok did know what the big deal was. He was always wearing other people’s clothes and other people were always wearing his.

“The scarf his grandmother knit! He’s super possessive of it and doesn’t let anyone touch it. Not even Jimin with gloved hands! And here you are, just wearing it around your neck, just like that! And-”

Taehyung’s eyes finally left Hoseok and fell on his laptop. He fell to his knees with and audible thump and whispered reverently, “Is that him singing?”

A bemused Hoseok nodded. “Yeah, he made it for my birthday.”

Taehyung crawled to him and said in a concerned tone. “Hyung, hyung, hyung. If you-you don’t think of Jeongguk the way he thinks of you, you have to tell him right away, okay?”

“But he thinks of me as a friend and I think of him as a friend too? And we’re mutually fans of each other, so, everything’s cool I guess?”

“Are you crazy?”

“Hey, I’m your hyung! And it’s my birthday!”

Hoseok’s frown did nothing to change the look of incredulity on Taehyung’s face. “This is Jeongguk. Who tells people the world is not ready for his singing but in reality is too shy to sing for others. And he, voluntarily, recorded an entire song for you. And you’re gonna shrug it off as “mutual friendship” or whatever you said?”

“Friends do those sorts of things, okay.”

“Hyung, Jeongguk is different.”

“Different? How?”

"He’s a bottle-upper. He’s not friendly and likes to keep his feelings to himself. He does not let people breach a certain line. That’s how he is.”

“And you’re telling me this because..?”

“Because what you consider a normal act of friendship- the walking together to class, the buying each other food, the sharing clothes- it does not apply here.”

“Look, don’t start on the whole Jeongguk-likes-you tangent. I’ve already got it from Namjoon and Jimin.”

“Hobi hyung, trust me, in the two years I’ve known him he has never rained affection on anyone like he does with you. This is way beyond a silly schoolboy crush and I can’t believe you can’t see it.”

“Because there is nothing to see!”

“And I bet this song he sang for you is about how much he likes you! Hyung, he’s putting himself out there for you. Don’t... don’t ruin it for him.”

“I do not have that power,” an exasperated Hoseok said. “Because Jeongguk. Does. Not. Like. Me. He’s being a nice guy, a good friend. That’s what this birthday dinner and song and everything is about.”

“You might want to take a look at the lyrics,” Taehyung said and handed his phone to Hoseok.

Hoseok’s eyes ran across the verses and his heart sprinted, spluttered, jumped in different permutations and combinations. The meaning behind the words was heavy and emotional.

“This-this is about... gratitude. Yeah, that’s what it’s about,” Hoseok mumbled to Taehyung.

“Oh Hobi hyung.”

5

Mid-terms was smothering students from all disciplines alike. Hoseok and Jeongguk had taken to toiling away together at a small 24x7 eatery near Hoseok’s flat, both having come to the conclusion that they could not study in the utter quietude of libraries or silent houses (not that Jeongguk found silence at his place what with Taehyung always “turning up” with Jimin).

Hoseok and Jeongguk’s study sessions were more than mounds of used cups and plates; they were interspersed with jokes, complaints about their friends, discussions about class and some sneaky staring by Hoseok when Jeongguk’s head was bent over his textbooks. He really had to get that under control.

“Hey Jeongguk, why did the sloth fall off the tree?” Hoseok asked when he had come to the end of a reading.

Jeongguk thought for a bit before answering seriously despite a smile growing on his lips. “Because the branch broke?”

“No, because it was dead,” Hoseok shrugged nonchalantly.

Jeongguk looked stumped for a moment. And then peals of laughter broke out of his mouth. “God that was so bad that it’s actually good!” Jeongguk’s hand brushed Hoseok who tried very hard not to think about it.

“Okay, so why did the second sloth fall off the tree?”

Jeongguk’s moved his hand and slowly lowered it on Hoseok’s. “No clue,” he said with an apprehensive smile. Hoseok gave him a wide smile in return and turned his palm over to hold Jeongguk’s hand in his. Jeongguk, like everyone else, knew how much Hoseok liked skinship. And in spite of liking it when people kept their hands to themselves, here he was, reaching out to Hoseok. Such an understanding and accommodating friend.

“It was hanging on to the first sloth,” Hoseok giggled. Jeongguk giggled back, a faint pink colour spreading across his cheeks. It was moments like this that made Hoseok want to ask Jeongguk if the song he had sung had indeed been a “confession” like Taehyung had insisted on calling it. It made him wonder if he ever made Jeongguk feel the way Jeongguk made him feel when he had called Hoseok cute and had caused him to rush to the nearest washroom to squeal into his fist and collect his bearings.

But of course he never asked that. That would be silly.

“I can’t believe he’s laughing at your jokes. He didn’t even smile at my most spectacular ones. And yours aren’t even jokes!” Beside their table stood Seokjin with a funny frown on his face.

“J-Jin hyung! Hi!” Hoseok managed as quickly as possible. “What are you doing here?”

“Feeding myself, what else?” Seokjin answered as his eyes trailed to where Hoseok and Jeongguk’s hands were clasped together.

Jeongguk hastily withdrew his hand. “Need a refill,” he muttered and bolted away, leaving Hoseok’s hand and heart empty.

“Tae didn’t update me on your relationship status, what the hell,” Seokjin whined.

“Ah no, no! My relationship status is the same, hyung.”

Seokjin quirked a perfectly-groomed eyebrow. “Then what did I just see a few seconds ago?”

“Oh that. That... we’re good friends,” Hoseok clarified.

“That hold hands?”

“Hyung, don’t be like that. Friends hold hands all the time. I’ve held your hands so many times!”

“But from what Tae’s told me Jeongguk isn’t the type to, is he?”

Hoseok replied with a doubtful shrug of his shoulders.

“Hosigie. You like him, he likes you. What’s stopping you?”

“Hyung, he doesn’t like me.”

“Why are you so convinced of that?”

Why was Jeongguk talking so long with his refill? Ugh.

“Look, hyung, Jeongguk’s this guy who’s got it all. Literally. There’s this one part of him that’s fascinated with me as a dancer and another part that likes to chill with me as a friend. I’m not-not... wholesome like he is.”

“Hosigie, don’t say that-”

“I’ve seen it before, hyung,” Hoseok admitted it finally out loud. “People who take a liking to me move on to more interesting things eventually. I’m a phase. Temporary. There are better people out there.”

“Hyung, is everything okay?” Hoseok lifted his head to see that Jeongguk had returned.

Hoseok shook his head immediately. “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. It’s nothing.” He did not dare to look at Seokjin and he prayed the other man would not say something to raise Jeongguk’s suspicions. Someone somewhere must have heard his prayers because Seokjin only patted his head and sighed, “Oh Hosigie.”

6

Exams were over and there was literally nothing that could stop Hoseok from throwing his hands cheerfully and screeching in the middle of the dance-flooring, scaring the other dancers a good three metres away from him.

“Wow, hyung, you cleared so much space!” Jeongguk’s voice laughed somewhere near him. The boy had finished his exams earlier but had to wait a few days before celebrating because his older (and only) friends had still been slogging it out.

Hoseok laughed back loudly and pulled Jeongguk close to him. “Let’s dance!” he shouted above the music. Yoongi’s beats were seriously no joke.

Hoseok and Jeongguk danced with each other and many other people. But no matter how many partners they went through, the two of them always drifted back to each other. Hoseok liked this familiarity. There was something so different about the way Hoseok wanted to share his dance space with Jeongguk. It was nothing like how he felt when performing with his peers. This was far more intimate and personal.

They danced for minutes, or perhaps hours, before Jimin gate-crashed their little one-on-one revelry. “Jeonggukie!” he screamed and fell headfirst into Jeongguk’s shoulder. “Hold my hair back! I’m gonna puke!”

“Woah. Easy there, hyung. You need to get home. Where did Taehyung hyung go?”

“He found some hot chick and disappeared. I should go look for him,” a determined but drunk Jimin declared and tried to walk away but he tripped and collapsed into a giggling heap on the floor.

Jeongguk sighed, frustrated. “Looks like I’ll have to take you home.” He turned to look at Hoseok apologetically.

“Yeah, sure sure! Go on, fulfil your roommate obligations. I see Yoongi hyung’s taking a break, I should go say hi,” Hoseok reassured, waving boldly to the DJ who was stepping away from the turntables. “I’ll see you later then.”

Before Hoseok could walk away, he felt Jeongguk hold him by the elbow. “Yes?” Hoseok questioned.

Jeongguk blinked a few times before he asked, “Let’s go out for dinner tomorrow, hyung?”

Hoseok gave him a puzzled smiled. Jeongguk wanted to meet up and study over dinner even though exams had just ended? But he answered without hesitation, “Sure!”

Jeongguk’s face bloomed with a smile. “Great! I’ll see you tomorrow then!” He said and leaned forward and kissed Hoseok on the cheek. Then he spun around rapidly, lifted Jimin in his arms and dashed out of sight before Hoseok could release the breath he had inhaled and forgotten about.

~~

“So, what was that about?” Yoongi asked, sounding uncomfortably sly, peeping from under his beanie and over his beer.

“Wh-what do you mean?” asked Hoseok.

“That Jeongguk kid. He kissed you.”

“Yeah, but, like, on the cheek. It was just an affectionate farewell.”

Yoongi looked at him sceptically. “We’re not French, you know.”

“Hyung, not you too.”

Yoongi set his beer down and blew his fringe out of his eyes. “Ah I see what the others told me about you being in denial is true. So, what then do you think led him to kissing you?”

“I don’t know!” Hoseok groaned. “Maybe it’s the alcohol. Maybe he’s just excited to study together over dinner-”

“Hold up. Jeongguk asked you to dinner to study together?”

“Well, he didn’t say study together. But that’s kind of implied-”

Yoongi rolled his eyes. “I cannot believe you. This kid is going to go to bed, giddy with happiness that he’s going on a date with the man he’s been working so hard to impress and you’re just going to play dumb and say it’s because he wants to “study together”?

“Woah. Woah. Jeongguk does not need to impress me. I’m already mighty impressed, by just his existence. But, it ends there.”

A glower stole across Yoongi’s face, “So you’re just going to lead him on then, huh? Is that the kind of man you are?”

Hoseok squared his shoulders at the accusation. “Wha- I’m not leading him on. I. Actually. Really. Like. Him. More than he could like me.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean? He’s crazy about you! I do not understand why you’re so adamant about refusing that? Or are you actually that stupid to not see it? I remember giving that kid a piece of my mind over how his whole approach was wrong, but what did I know that you were the one who’s so thick-skulled.”

“Hey!” Hoseok called angrily before he remembered who he was speaking to. “I mean hyung. I’m not being stupid or thick-skulled. But I know how this plays out. It’s happened before and you know it. People lose interest when they see that there’s more to it than the cool person they see on screen.”

“Seokseok-ah, look, I know what it’s like to be well-known and have people be disappointed when they figure out that you’re an actual person too. But after letting Jeongguk get to know you as, Jung Hoseok the person behind J-Hope the performer- you’re going to still say that he’ll ditch you once he gets to know the real you? What even is the real you, huh?” Yoongi looked at Hoseok challengingly.

“I-I-,” Hoseok fumbled.

“See what I mean? You’ve sat and convinced yourself that there’s nobody out there who’ll actually like you for who you are that even when somebody does you play it off as them being a fan or a friend or whatever other excuse you use.”

Hoseok could feel his head pounding. From the music and Yoongi’s words. He looked down at his hands, unable to come up with a response. Yoongi had hit too close to the heart.

“Oh Seokseok-ah.” Careful fingers lifted his chin. “I know how used you’ve felt because of people in the past. But it’s unhealthy to numb your feelings behind a happy, cheery, oblivious personality. Stop running away from Jeongguk.”

“What...” Hoseok took in a shaky breath. “What makes you think Jeongguk will want me around longer than the others did?”

“Anyone who isn’t a bloody fool would want you around for as long as you’d let them. Jeongguk, while he isn’t the brightest bulb around and gets too excited over little things like “Hoseok hyung’s notes are organised by colour!”, he’s not bloody fool. I mean he finds your study habits thrilling for crying out loud! The kid’s half in love with you.”

Yoongi gave Hoseok an encouraging smile. “Give Jeongguk a fair chance. Give yourself a fair chance. Both of you deserve it, okay?”

Hoseok would be lying if he said the idea did not make him nervous. But he decided to take a leap of faith and said the word aloud. “Okay.”

“Good,” Yoongi nodded approvingly.

“Hyung, I’ve never seen you like this before” Hoseok said tentatively. “You’re really scary.”

Yoongi waved off Hoseok’s concern with a “It get’s the work done.”

~~~

~~~

III

“I can’t believe Captain America is your favourite Avenger!” Jeongguk wailed to Hoseok as the two left the theatre after. “What kind of a person likes him over Iron Man?”

Hoseok chortled at how distraught Jeongguk was, “Well, the person you’re dating does.”

At that, Jeongguk froze mid-step. Alarm bells started going off in Hoseok’s head. That was until Jeongguk turned to him and whispered, “I can’t believe I went on a date with you!”

Hoseok laughed, feeling free and joyful. Their date had been a simple dinner and late night movie. And boy was Hoseok glad he had not turned up for dinner with a bag full of books. God that would have been embarrassing. And heart-breaking.

This version was so much better.

“I have to admit, I was half convinced you had misheard me at the club and said yes by mistake. I’m glad that wasn’t the case,” Jeongguk said and remembered the adrenaline that coursed through his veins when he had, without pausing to think, kissed Hoseok. He happily took Hoseok’s hand in his. Wow, their hands looked good together.

Hoseok decided that he would let Jeongguk in on everything that had gone down between him and his friends later, while Jeongguk made up his mind that telling Hoseok about the desperate lengths to which Hoseok drove him could wait for later dates.

Later dates. Jeongguk felt beside himself at the thought.

“Hoseok hyung.”

“Hmm?”

“I really really like you, hyung. A lot. And... and, yeah, I just wanted to tell you that.”

“More than as a fan or a hoobae, right?” the persistent sceptic in Hoseok asked.

“Of course! Jeongguk reassured him. “J-Hope sunbae is cool. But I’m in like with Hoseok hyung.”

Hoseok could not remember the last time he had felt so elated, from head to toe. He stopped Jeongguk from walking further and kissed him right there in the middle of the side walk.

Jeongguk responded enthusiastically for a second before he pulled away. A thought had suddenly struck him. “Wait a second, hyung. I just need to make sure. This... this... you kissing me is unique, right? It’s not like you casually platonically stick your tongue down Taehyung hyung’s throat when you’re particularly happy or something, right? This means something, right? Please tell me it means something.”

Hoseok’s lips were pursed from the effort of keeping himself from laughing. When he could not keep it in any longer he let out a bark of laughter and assured Jeongguk, “I know I get too handsy and touchy with everyone, but no, this kiss means something. It means hyung’s in like with you to-”

Jeongguk did not wait for Hoseok to finish the sentence before pulling him into a kiss. The two broke apart after a few frantic seconds, turned away from each other and squealed into their respective hands.

Then their lips found each other again.

~~~

At a distance from where Hoseok and Jeongguk stood, devouring each other’s faces, five binoculars were lowered and five long-held sighs were released in a black, nondescript car.

“Finally, those dorks got their shit together!” Yoongi said and reached for more popcorn. The popcorn was almost over, so Yoongi tipped the remaining bits directly into his mouth.

Namjoon agreed. “Yeah, I know-”

“He finished the popcorn!” Seokjin pointed and screamed.

“What the hell hyung!” Jimin said furiously.

Taehyung rounded up on Yoongi. “I didn’t get to eat even one piece of popcorn.”

Namjoon scowled at him, “None of us did! And you just hogged on all of it!”

Yoongi was alarmed at how the other four men had cornered him into a small portion of the backseat. There was nothing humans loved more than spying on their friends and cheap snacks apparently. “Woah, woah, back off will you, there’s more under that seat.”

Only after Jimin had confirmed that there indeed were more packets stashed away at their designated place did everyone slowly back away while muttering phrases like “good, there better be”, “I would have beaten his skinny body to pulp otherwise”, “who even colours their hair green?”

Yoongi breathed with relief and said, once he had enough room around him, “You guys are really scary, you know?”

~~~