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Jung Hoseok is a likeable man. He knows he is.
He goes out of his way to be kind to everyone. He tells great jokes. He’s a good, responsible, open minded friend. His last roommate only moved out because he was getting married. Hoseok was there when Namjoon moved out of his parent’s house and Hoseok is like 99% sure Namjoon hugged him longer than he hugged his own mom. Seokjin threatened to get out the squirt bottle (whatever that meant) and he finally let go, but still . Hoseok takes his former roommate’s undying love for him to mean that he’s a likable person and a stellar roommate.
So when he placed an ad for a new roommate he expected to be making another fast friend. But it took awhile for anyone to respond (no one is really looking to shake up their housing in the middle of winter) and when someone did respond the guy had a long list of demands up to and including he wanted to use Hoseok’s car every day to get to work and he refused to pay for the electricity out of ‘protest for the environment’ (which apparently didn’t stop him from using the electricity... or driving himself to work everyday instead of commuting) so, sadly, Hoseok had to turn him down and finish out the rest of the semester without a roommate.
Now, he was standing at the free bar at Namjoon and Seokjin’s wedding wearing the world’s pinchiest Best Man Shoes, waiting for the signature cocktail of the night entitled the ‘Altar-ed State of Mind’ which was made from black raspberry liqueur, vodka, and lemonade with fresh raspberries floating around in the very tall glass it was served it.
The happy couple danced away in each other’s arms, executing a rather brilliant two-step that Hoseok had worked tirelessly on with them. Seokjin led beautifully and Hoseok only saw Namjoon looking at his feet once right before the first turn. Tomorrow they’d be jetting off to Hawaii and Hoseok would be watching their apartment for them for a whole four weeks. Dang, he wished he could find himself an available ‘son of a hotel magnate who was also gay’ to marry him and take him on a month long honeymoon.
Technically, he had found Seokjin first. But Seokjin wasn’t his type. That is to say that Seokjin was exactly his type if you considered the fact that handsome men with vast fortunes who could also cook were his type, but what he meant to say is that actors weren’t his type. Did he forget to mention Seokjin was an actor? Oh yeah, he was an actor who originally took the Beginner’s Jazz Workshop that Hoseok had been student teaching for his Choreography credit. That was back when Seokjin was still in school. Now, Seokjin played a secondary lead role as a chaebol’s son on a leading drama. And while Seokjin had flirted shamelessly with him, Hoseok had instead introduced him to Namjoon who in Hoseok’s opinion didn’t get out of the house enough. Well he was sure getting out of the house now. Right out of Hoseok’s house and into Seokjin’s.
So Namjoon was moving out of Hoseok’s apartment and into an expensive apartment on Hannam Hill where he would continue locking himself in someone else’s bedroom and write his screenplays instead of doing it where Hoseok felt compelled to check on him and stuff food in his mouth just in case he died.
Hoseok wasn’t jealous or anything. Seokjin was a great guy, but Hoseok was actually threatened by how long his eyelashes were and how vast his shoulders were and also did you know he could do like three backflips on a snowboard? So Namjoon could have him. Hoseok was happy for them, even if that did mean he was all alone in his two bedroom now and he’d blasted through all his savings since Namjoon moved out covering his half of the rent because he’d stupidly refused their offer to keep paying until he found a new roommate because Hoseok was a nice, responsible, likeable guy who should have found a roommate right away but didn’t.
He sipped his drink and wandered through the venue, looking at the fairy lights and the fancy centerpieces, thinking about how gorgeous the ceremony had been and, aw geez, he was not going to tear up again and-
Snap
The click of a shutter brought him out of the emotional tailspin that had included him pressing his tongue against the roof of his mouth, staring up at the chandelier, and trying not to cry.
“Did you just take my picture?” He asked the photographer, flabbergasted.
The man patted his camera, “That’s what they’re paying me five million won to do...”
“But I looked stupid!” Hoseok squeaked.
The photographer snorted. “You did not.”
“I absolutely did! So stupid! Delete it right now!”
The man smirked, tossing his head a bit to get his shaggy black hair out of his eyes.
“I promise you, I don’t take stupid photos. Besides, it’s bad luck to delete in the middle of a gig.”
“Show me.” Hoseok demanded.
“Excuse me?” The photographer smirked, “Show you?”
“Yeah, doesn’t that thing have like a preview screen or something?”
The man looked at him for a long moment and then shrugged,
“Okay, I’ll show you.”
He fiddled with the buttons on the camera as Hoseok came around behind him. He held the camera up for Hoseok’s inspection, and there, on the tiny preview screen, was a picture of him, sparkling cocktail in hand looking up at the sparkling chandelier with sparkling eyes. Even on the tiny screen the overall effect was… ethereal.
“Woah, is that me?” He said, stupidly.
The man laughed, a guffawing sort of sound that absolutely did his lopsided grin justice.
“Yeah, that’s you.” He dropped the camera, letting the strap around his neck catch it before it landed against his chest. “Min Yoongi, wedding photographer.”
“Jung Hoseok, best man of the Namjooning variety.”
“I’m aware, I took the group photos earlier, you know.”
Hoseok did not know. Hoseok had not been paying attention.
He smiled at Min Yoongi, “So-”
“There you are.” Namjoon’s sister materialized out of thin air. “They’re about to cut the cake.”
“Duty calls.” Yoongi waved as he followed Kyungmin through the crowd. Hoseok stared at him for a moment, feeling like he’d somehow missed a step walking downstairs all while standing completely still. Then-
“Cake?!” He yelped and took off after them.
---
“And remember to water Ferdinand.”
“Which one is that again?”
Seokjin rolled his eyes at him as if that was obvious, “The fern . Heather is the philodendron.”
Hoseok hesitated for a moment before saying, “And Maxine is…?”
“The Madagascar Dragon Tree! Oh, Namjoon, we can’t go!” Seokjin looked at his husband imploringly, holding a potted peace lily to his chest as if to protect it from Hoseok’s blatant ineptitude.
“Now, hyung, we talked about this-”
“I said we should hire a gardener but nooo you said it was silly to hire a gardener when it was just a bunch of house plants! Well say goodbye to your children, Kim Namjoon, because your best friend is going to over water them to death before we get back!”
“Uh, guys?” Hoseok squeaked, “Is this your first married fight? Am I a homewrecker?”
“He’s just nervous about flying-”
“I am not nervous about flying!”
“He gets like this every time and it offends his inner rich kid to admit that private jets terrify him on the inside-”
“I don’t hate flying I just hate being high up-”
“So we’re just gonna go! If you need anything don’t forget you can call Yoongi-”
“Wait, Yoongi? Photographer Yoongi?”
“Yeah, he was Seokjin’s roommate in college so he knows how to take care of all the plants-”
“Children, Namjoon, they’re your children . You married into this family and I expect you to treat-”
Seokjin was still going as Namjoon pushed him out the door, Seokjin’s rather harried looking manager following after them with the luggage. Hoseok would venture to guess that he, at least, was looking forward to the month off. Hoseok picked up the abandoned peace lily from the coffee table.
“Well, looks like it’s just you and me, uh…” He paled when he realized he’s already forgotten the plant’s name.
---
It was three days of plant food, humidity checks, and sunlight rotations later that Hoseok thought it might have been easier if they owned a dog. He used some of the emergency money Seokjin left to order some chicken (honestly, what kind of plant emergency required five hundred thousand won??) and he’d cracked open a bottle of wine from the ‘you’re allowed to touch this’ portion of the pantry. He was just settling in to watch the latest episode of Seokjin’s drama when he heard the telltale beep of someone entering the code into the keypad. The lock disengaged and Hoseok hung his head over the arm of the couch to see who it was. He hoped it wasn’t a crazed fan or a murderer because he couldn’t risk jumping up to stop them. If he got chicken grease or wine on Seokjin’s couch he might just divorce Namjoon and while his roommate problems might be over then he didn’t really want to be a homewrecker.
“See?” A voice said. “Nothing has burned down. There’s Penelope right there on her table in the shade where she likes to be. Her leaves aren’t getting too much sun and-”
Yoongi rounded the corner from the foyer, phone held up in front of him as he facetimed Seokjin, who was looking gloriously tan on some beach in Hawaii and was apparently losing his mind over his plants.
“-and there’s Hoseok-ssi. Right where you left him, see?”
Hoseok gave a little wave, hoping Yoongi stayed behind the couch and out of view of his dinner.
“Now go to your luau, you giant baby.” Yoongi hung up the call and eyed Hoseok where he sat on the couch. “Got any extra?”
Hoseok held him out a leg.
---
“-And he didn’t realize his mic was on so he just says ‘We should just shove her in a storage closet and then I could play Cinderella, too.”
Hoseok shrieked, “No!”
“The whole cast heard him. It was hilarious.”
“What did she do?” Hoseok asked, enthralled. Yoongi was currently regaling him with tales of when he used to be the stage manager for the company Seokjin started acting at. This particular tale involved a prank war amongst the cast where they kept switching each other’s mics on backstage at random during rehearsals. Seokjin had been cast as the Prince and he hated his leading lady and had been advocating for her dismissal since day one.
“She was a homophobic little cunt, but even she knew better than to start shit with Seokjin since his dad was funding like eighty-five percent of the show. In the end I think she quit, but not before she refused to kiss him in a scene and got her ass chewed out by the director.”
Hoseok tipped more wine into Yoongi’s glass. His hands were already a bit shaky, he never could hold his alcohol, however when he looked at his phone he realized it was only nine and there was no way he was going to bed at nine.
“Hey you wanna play a game?” He asked Yoongi, bouncing in excitement at the idea already.
Yoongi grinned at him, “Sure, what did you have in mind.”
“I think Seokjin-hyung has Uno!”
Yoongi blinked, “Uno?”
“Yeah, Uno!” Hoseok stumbled to the hall closet and crowed in triumph as he located the deck of cards. He plopped down on the far side of the coffee table leaving Yoongi to slowly lower himself to the floor next to the couch.
“Okay so like, draw two you gotta drink, okay? Draw four you gotta drain the whole glass. Revere and we gotta switch glasses, okay?”
Yoongi laughed, “What, you wanna make this a drinking game? I gotta warn you, I play a mean hand of Uno…”
“Don’t worry about me I can take you!”
Hoseok should have worried. Yoongi was ruthless. He’d had two more glasses of wine before Yoongi called out the first Uno.
It was well after midnight when Yoongi helped him to bed.
---
Yoongi didn’t come around again after that. Hoseok finished his plantsitter duty with nary a leaf dropped and returned to his half-empty apartment where he considered buying a peace lily. Or maybe a Madagascar Dragon Tree. Instead, he made one last imploring plea on the school’s student and alumni page looking for a roommate before the spring semester, his last semester before he earned his master’s degree, started.
Alas, he must psychically stink or something because no roommates were forthcoming. Maybe his apartment was in a bad part of town and he just didn’t know it?
Possibly. The science building was pretty closeby and those geeks could be vicious.
It was three days before the start of the new semester and his wallet was keening a death wail when there was a brisk knock on his door. It was the third time that week that a recently-freed- from-their-dorm sophomore had knocked on his door instead of the door of the apartment they were supposed to be moving into. Once, the girl had been so friendly he’d been tempted to lie to her and tell her she was in the right place, but he was decidedly not the same-age female friend she had been so looking forward to moving in with so he didn’t think she’d have believed him and then he would have been labeled as the apartment complex creepy man who tried to lure young girls into his apartment.
This time, when he opened the door it was Seokjin standing there. He smiled at Hoseok brightly.
“I got you a ‘thank you’ present for not killing any of my babies.”
“Oh really?” Hoseok perked up, thinking of Seokjin’s killer cookie platters. “What did you get me?”
“I got you a roommate.”
He stepped aside to reveal a sheepish looking Min Yoongi standing behind him in the shadow of his broad shoulders.
“Hey.” Yoongi said, his half-hearted wave matched his half-smile.
“My dear Yoongi-yah is in need of a new nest. The apartment next door to his caught on fire, you see, and-”
“There was a fire?” Hoseok asked, immediately concerned. “Are you okay?”
“No!” Yoongi held up his hands, “I mean yes . I’m okay. It wasn’t really a fire. Neighbors overloaded an outlet and it set their kitchen cabinets on fire? So I guess there was a fire, but it wasn’t, like, I didn’t have to be carried out by a fireman or anything. The point is that the wiring in our adjoining wall is toast and they gave me the option to either move into a hotel room until the damage is repaired or take my deposit and move out and Seokjin-”
Hoseok stared at him with wide eyes. Woah. That was possibly the most he’d heard Yoongi speak at one time since he met him. Color road high on the older boy’s cheeks and the tips of his ears burned red. He seemed to be in a staring contest with the tacky 1980s throwback carpet of Hoseok’s building hallway.
“And I told him that living out of a hotel room is hell, his apartment is crap anyway, and that I knew just the place. Because I’m a lifesaver, you see. A go-getter. A problem solver.” Seokjin continued to talk as he breezed past Hoseok and into the apartment. Yoongi, at least, gave Hoseok a small bow before he followed Seokjin inside.
Seokjin stood in the middle of Hoseok’s living room like he hadn’t been there ten million times, hands on his hips.
“Could use a plant.”
---
It turned out that Yoongi didn’t have that much stuff. Hoseok somehow found himself agreeing to the older boy moving in without ever actually remembering agreeing that he could move in. He just signed his name on the new lease right next to Yoongi’s after Seokjin frogmarched them both down to the front office. Then it was only a couple of hours later that the moving truck Seokjin had hired showed up, carrying Yoongi’s bed, dresser, desk, an impressive computer set up, and a few boxes of books, clothes, and knicknacks.
Hoseok made dinner while he listened to Seokjin badger Yoongi about where his bed should go.
“You can’t put your bed there .”
“Why not? Hyung, that’s where it makes the most sense-”
“That’s where Namjoon had his bed.”
“That’s because that’s where a bed would logically go in this room-”
“If you put your bed there you’d be metaphorically sleeping in the same spot I had sex with my husband. Is that what you want, Min Yoongi? To be a metaphorical voyeur?”
Hoseok heard a lot of bitching and moaning for a moment, along with the sound of something heavy being shoved across the floor.
“There. Are you happy now?”
“I’d be happy if you moved your dresser to the other wall.”
“No. My desk needs to go there. It has the best light for-”
“Fine, if you want your spirit to rot because the Feng Shui of the room is all wrong then just be my guest.”
“That’s not even how Feng Shui works. ”
Eventually, Hoseok produced three passable plates of kimchi fried rice and deemed it sustenance enough. He called them back from the bedroom and they all sat around the smart little cafe style table his mom had found for him at a used furniture store then dragged all the way to Seoul from Gwangju one weekend. They ate their dinner as Seokjin prattled on about life on set. He kept looking back and forth between the two of them as they ate in silence. Once he glared at Yoongi particularly hard and when Yoongi glared back he kicked him in the shin. Hoseok had no idea what that was about, but he left them to it.
After dinner Yoongi made a quiet offer to wash dishes but Hoseok waved him away.
“You just moved in, you’ve been carrying stuff around all day. All I did was make some food, I can handle the dishes. Don’t worry about it, Yoongi-ssi.”
Yoongi still hovered behind him awkwardly as he washed three plates, three sets of chopsticks, and the small wok he’d bought at a surplus store. He set them to dry in the rack next to the sink and turned to Yoongi with a smile.
“See? All done.”
They stood looking at each other for just a moment before Hoseok smiled brightly again.
“It was nice seeing you again, Yoongi-ssi. I guess I’ll be seeing you almost every day now. I tend to stay out pretty late most nights, but I’ll always roll in before midnight. I don’t know what kind of hours you keep, but I’ll try to be quiet so I don’t wake you. Namjoon and I got used to our paths crossing only once in blue moon. Graduate students and all that. But if you need anything don’t be afraid to ask! Oh, let me see your phone!” Yoongi was looking at him really funny, now, like maybe he had a booger hanging out of his nose, but he still handed Hoseok his phone. Hoseok added his number and then sent himself a quick text. “There. Text me if you need anything and I’m not around.”
He handed the phone back. Yoongi still didn’t say anything. He was looking at Hoseok so intently, the furrow between his brows getting deeper by the second. Hoseok wondered if that was just his thinking face and it naturally made him look grouchy.
“Well.. I have class in the morning so I better get to bed..” He inched past Yoongi who still didn’t say anything. He just stood there, his phone held loosely by his side.
“Goodnight, Yoongi-ssi?”
“Goodnight, Hoseok-ssi.”
---
Hoseok was right when he said that he’d probably never see Yoongi. Hoseok was the advisor for the university's street dance team. He didn’t compete anymore, but he helped with choreography, scheduling, and over saw their three times a week late night practices in the basement studio of the Performing Arts building. He often stayed late and helped grade papers, review recital auditions, or anything else people might need of him. He was a people pleaser, but it made him happy. On the weekends he worked at the Community Center, teaching a selection of hip-hop classes starting with pre-school and going all the way up to a mixed bag of high schoolers and young adults. Since he didn’t get paid for his student teaching, the tuition his student’s paid at the Community Center went to covering his rent. The rest of his money he made by teaching private lessons to couples who wanted to do something a little flashier for their first dances. Western style weddings were trendy with young, rich couples in Korea right now so he taught several of those lessons a week. That, along with maintaining his GPA while also working on his thesis regarding the blending of traditional korean dance with modern western influenced dance styles.
Hoseok was busy.
Yoongi seemed like he was pretty busy, too. Weddings were his bread and butter, he shot at least one every weekend. Sometimes two if the celebrations were smaller. He left early in the morning to get to the venues and shoot the set up. He met up with his partner, a young lady named Yoojung who was still in school and had harassed him until he agreed to take her on as an apprentice. They worked well together as a team. She picked up on his style very quickly and now he used her to go into the bride’s dressing area, take first look pictures and all those fun things that women tended to not want a man around for. She had stopped by the apartment once and Hoseok had assumed she was Yoongi’s little sister. The face Yoojung had made at that was hilarious.
Yoongi and Yoojung spent a lot of time in Yoongi’s rented studio space where they also took family portraits and other more traditional photos. It wasn’t unusual for Hoseok to come home and find Yoongi still awake, music pumping steady from his headphones and he edited away at last weekend's wedding.
The bills were paid on time at the end of the month. They took turns grocery shopping, each of them adding wants/needs to the list on the fridge. Laundry was done in shifts and they never lacked for clean towels.
Hoseok was thrilled. He thought things were going pretty well.
That is until one morning, their paths crossed.
Hoseok woke up a bit earlier on a Saturday morning than he usually did. His stomach was aching, a sure sign that he might need to take a break. His body tended to start breaking down on him when he was under a lot of stress. He’d drug himself out of bed in search of antacids, but what he’d found instead was Yoongi slumped over a cup of coffee at their little cafe table.
“Good morning, Yoongi-ssi.” He murmured, moving past him to dig through the kitchen drawer where he threw things like gum, breath mints, and tums. He shook a couple of the antacids out into his palm and chewed them up rapidly, trying not to gag at the chalky texture.
Yoongi grunted at him.
“Busy morning?” Hoseok asked.
Yoongi grunted again.
Hoseok could already feel the pout pulling at his lips. He tried to give the older man the benefit of the doubt. It was pretty early in the morning and obviously he wasn’t a morning person.
“Yoongi-ssi…” Hoseok called again, turning to smile at the lump of the table brightly, “Is it okay if I call you ‘hyung’?” He asked, “We live together now, we might as well speak a bit more closely.”
Yoongi raised his head up from the table, that same stormy look on his face pulling his eyebrows together into a harsh pinch.
“No.”
He pushed back from the table, grabbed his heavy equipment bag, and walked out the front door.
Hoseok looked after him, jaw practically on the floor.
What the heck was all that about?
Hoseok tried to think back, see if there was maybe any indication that Yoongi made it clear he wanted their relationship to stay distant. Obviously, Hoseok would respect his wishes, but it would be strange. He’d never had a roommate before that didn’t end up becoming at least a casual friend. He knew that there were people out there that had roommates they merely tolerated, hated even.
Did Yoongi… was Hoseok being ‘tolerated’?
The idea didn’t sit well with him.
Because Hoseok was a likeable guy.
Well, obviously the solution was to give Yoongi a reason to like him.
Hoseok smiled to himself. That, he could do.
---
“Can I help you?”
Hoseok gulped.
Yoongi looked at him with tired, displeased eyes. His headphones hung around his neck, music continued to play as he stared at Hoseok. Hoseok held up a coffee he’d picked up from a quaint local run place on his walk home from the Community Center, along with a big flaky pastry.
“I figured you might be hungry? The coffee is decaf, but I find that the taste alone is often a great late night placebo.”
Yoongi eyes the paper cup and the pastry wrapped in a little slip of wax paper. He swallowed heavily.
“I don’t want it.” He turned back to his computer and Hoseok deflated.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m not hungry.” Yoongi said, already putting his headphones back over his ears.
Hoseok hesitated, but it became obvious rather quickly that Yoongi wasn’t going to be turning around again, so as quietly as he could he left the cup and the pastry on Yoongi’s bedside table.
When he got up the next morning, Yoongi had already left. Hoseok sighed. Obviously, he wasn’t the kind of person to be swayed by food. It was going to make things a bit more difficult, but Hoseok could work with that.
On his way out the door, he noticed that the kitchen trash was close to full. He snatched it up and took it down with him. He went to tie it up before he threw it in the building’s dumpster when he noticed the empty coffee cup, the wax paper carefully stuffed inside it, hidden a bit deeper in the trash than it should have been.
Hoseok grinned.
---
“Yoongi-ssi!” Hoseok trilled happily from his place on the couch. He already had a movie queued up and ready to go along with a huge bowl of popcorn and a couple of bottles of beer. “Movie night?”
It was a Thursday, so he knew Yoongi didn’t have a wedding in the morning. Maybe a rehearsal dinner later in the evening, but his schedule should be wide open. Yoongi hesitated as he took in the scene before him. Hoseok patted the couch cushion, shaking the bowl of popcorn at him enticingly. Yoongi heaved at a heavy, put upon sigh but he did drop his bag and peel of his coat, hanging it on the hook by the door where he abandoned his shoes. He dropped onto the couch next to Hoseok, snorted when he pressed play and the opening to Despicable Me started up. Hoseok found that comedy was the best ice breaker. It took a few minutes, but eventually he dug into the popcorn as well and Hoseok had to keep himself from crowing in triumph.
Yoongi’s chuckle was deep and warm, the way he slouched down into the couch cushions comfortable and lazy in a very attractive way. Hoseok shook his head at himself. Yoongi didn’t even seem to want to be his friend and here Hoseok was thinking about how hot he was. Talk about creating an awkward roommate situation.
They finished their beers, the whole bowl of popcorn, and the movie. Yoongi stood from the couch, stretching his arms high above his head. His t-shirt rode up, revealing a thin stretch of his soft belly and Hoseok looked away, suddenly very interested in the credits.
“Thanks for watching with me, Yoongi-ssi.” He said after a moment. “I had a lot of fun, that night over at hyung’s place. I don’t remember a lot of it but it was fun.” He snickered. “I’m sorry we haven’t had a lot of time to spend together since you moved in, but I hope that-that maybe one day you might consider me a friend?”
Yoongi regarded him for a long moment.
“You don’t remember?” He said quietly.
Hoseok chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.
“Yeah, I don’t hold my alcohol very well. A few glasses of wine is usually enough to get me pretty drunk and I think by the end of the game I must have had a whole bottle to myself.”
Yoongi nodded, looking like he was thinking about something pretty hard. Slowly, he reached out and patted Hoseok on the shoulder.
“That’s okay, Hoseok-ah. Hyung can drink for the both of us.”
Hoseok blinked, a slow grin building and he barely contained a squeal.
“Thanks, hyung. I’ll remember that.”
---
And maybe Jung Hoseok was written down as a synonym for ingenuous in some dictionary somewhere, because after that he really expected things to change.
They did change, but not in quite the way he expected. Instead of all the awkwardness falling away in a few easy evenings, it was like Yoongi had swung wildly in the other direction. Before, their interactions had been minimal and filled with lots of glaring. Now, they were more frequent, but instead of glaring Yoongi only seemed to be able to spend a few minutes with Hoseok without turning tomato red and blurting out some excuse to escape back to his room. Hoseok was worried the first few times that maybe Yoongi might still be unsure about him, but Yoongi seemed to be willing to be friends at least. It was just when Hoseok started behaving like, well, Hoseok , that he pulled away.
Hoseok was a tactile person. He liked to lean on people, he laughed with his whole body, he liked to hold the hands of his friends, squeeze their cheeks, kiss the crown of their head. Sometimes when they were eating a late dinner he would catch himself placing his hand on Yoongi’s hip as he worked around him, reaching over his head to reach something in one of the taller cabinets. The flush that creeped up Yoongi’s neck was instant and bright. It was cute.
A lot of things about Yoongi were cute.
The way he cleared his throat right before he said something really sarcastic, like he wanted to make sure the whole room heard how dry his wit was. The sweet way his gums took up the majority of his smile; the smile that came so much easier now but seemed to disappear just as quickly when he realized what he was doing. The way his face was so stoic at times, blank even, but Hoseok knew he was listening because Yoongi was always watching his face, watching his mouth. The way he fell asleep on the couch sometimes, often right before the movie ended, and he curled up into the tiniest ball, like a cat. The way he felt the need to take pictures of anything and everything, always wiping his phone out to snap pictures of interesting things he spotted on the streets.
Hoseok might be a bit infatuated with his roommate.
That had been a bit unexpected. There had been an undeniable attraction to the older man simmering in his gut since before Yoongi would even give him the time of day, but he was a bit blown away by how quickly ‘he’s hot’ and blown into ‘figure out a way to get him to date you’.
Frustratingly, it didn’t seem that Yoongi was into Hoseok. The things Hoseok might usually take for someone crushing on him- blushing, stuttering, nervous laughter- didn’t really add up to anything when that person seemed to be doing most everything in their power to avoid eye contact as they sprinted from the room as soon as Hoseok even attempted to flirt with them.
It was okay, Hoseok was honestly just happy to have him around. It would have been nice, but he didn’t need their relationship to be anything more than friends. Plenty of fish in the sea, as the saying went, and Hoseok was sure he’d get over his little crush before too long.
In the meantime, they both went about their daily lives. The occasional movie nights and meet-ups with friends were done together now. The grocery list was decided on with words, not paper, and maybe they mixed their socks in the laundry.
---
“What are you doing?”
Hoseok barely caught the shriek that threatened to tear free from his throat. He dropped the mop he’d been cradling in his arm, the wooden handle clattering against the floor. He laughed loudly, turning to look at Yoongi bashfully.
“Hyung! I thought you were asleep.”
“Nah, I was just resting my eyes.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?” Hoseok teased.
“I think you’re avoiding my question.” Yoongi snorted, “What were you doing to that mop, Jung Hoseok?”
“The rumba!” Hoseok leaned down to pick the mop up off the floor, giving his hips a little shimmy. “I got hired to choreograph the first dance for a couple that have a bit more dance experience than the couples I usually work with- oh I gave them your card- so now I have to spice up the steps a little bit. Moptilda here is a wonderful partner, but she’s a little bit stiff.”
“Well go on then.” Yoongi waved his hand at him, “Show me what you’ve got so far.”
Hoseok grinned, moving to grab his phone. He pressed play and then before Yoongi could protest he turned and pulled the shorter man into his arms. Yoongi hiccuped in shock as Hoseok pulled him close, but not too close.
“Come on, hyung, it’s not hard. Two quick steps and one slow. Just follow my lead.” He started to move to the music and Yoongi was too startled to protest, following the movements of his body as Hoseok grinned down at him. “There you go, now move your hips a bit. Follow the motion of the steps with your hips, give it a little bit of side-to-side.”
Yoongi leaned into the next step, letting his body sway to the music. Hoseok could tell he felt the need to look down at his feet, but Hoseok kept his eyes locked on Yoongi’s and the older man didn’t seem to dare drop his gaze.
Hoseok shifted his hand on Yoongi’s ribs, holding him a little closer as he led them into a turn. Yoongi gasped and then chuckled. Before he started learning ballroom, Hoseok had always wondered why they called it ‘leading’. Hoseok’s movements were so strong and sure, so commanding that as long as the steps were simple, Yoongi had no problem letting the dancer direct his body.
The song crooned from where his phone rested on the counter and Hoseok smiled slightly to himself as he sang along, gazed locked with Yoongi’s.
“ You’re just too good to be true...can’t take my eyes off of you… ”
Yoongi flushed, color riding high on his cheeks. His breath was coming in shallow bursts as Hoseok led him across the kitchen floor and then he gasped as suddenly Hoseok swept him off his feet, spinning him around in a simple lift.
The minute his feet touched the floor Yoongi sprang back from him like a spooked cat.
“I just-I just remembered that I have to-”
He rushed from the room without ever forming an actual excuse. Hoseok stood there, his heart galloping in his chest, as the last few lines of the song piped from the speakers.
---
Hoseok had royally fucked up.
Yoongi still hadn’t come back. He’d left the house in such a rush Hoseok wasn’t even sure if he had his wallet or keys. It was edging close to one o’clock in the morning and Hoseok hadn’t gotten even so much as a text from him.
He’d tried to text him a few times. He’d asked if he was okay, then if he should wait up, and then if he was coming home at all; but there was no response. The two calls he’d placed had gone straight to voicemail. He figured out pretty quickly that Yoongi was dodging his calls. He tried not to let it eat at him, he really did, but in the end he found himself dialing Seokjin’s number.
“Hello?” Seokjin answered after a few rings, “Hoseok? It’s the middle of the night! I have to be on set in the morning.”
“I know, I’m sorry. Have you heard from Yoongi-hyung?”
“No, why?”
“I think-” Hoseok shoved his hand through his hair in frustration, “Well we didn’t have a fight but I think maybe I upset him?”
“What, did you kiss him and then never talk to him about it again?”
Hoseok blinked,
“What?” He said slowly, “What-I-We never kissed?”
“According to Yoongi-yah you did.”
“When?” Hoseok squeaked.
“When you were housesitting, the night he stayed over.”
“I didn’t...wait-” He froze, thinking back on that night hard . So hard he felt like he probably had cartoon smoke coming out of his ears. They’d eaten some chicken, drank three and a half bottles of Seokjin’s wine, and he’d lost spectacularly at Uno. After the last hand he’d pouted profusely that Yoongi had taken pity on him and had called an end to their impromptu game night. Hoseok hadn’t been able to get up off the floor on his own, it was like his legs would obey his brain and so Yoongi had hoisted him up and led him teetering down the hall to Seokjin’s guestroom.
Hoseok had stumbled to the bed and flopped on the sheets with a grateful sigh, glad he’d changed into something comfortable before his food had arrived. Yoongi had reached out hand, to do what Hoseok didn’t know. Probably ruffle his hair or something equally benign, but Hoseok-
He remembered then.
Hoseok had grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him down onto the sheets next to him.
“You’re pretty…” He’d said, reaching out to stroke the side of his hand down Yoongi’s cheek.
Yoongi had flushed then, too, just like he did when Hoseok got too close to him now.
“I think you’re a bit drunk, Hoseok-ssi.”
“I’m not that drunk… ‘m a little drunk I think, but maybe not that drunk…” He smiled lazily at Yoongi who grinned back at him, fond. “Y’know I think that if-if Kyung-ah hadn’t intarupted- uh, interdrupted- uh, bothered us at the weddin’, I think I might have taken you home that night, Min Yoongi…”
Yoongi had smirked, “Oh really?”
“Really…” Hoseok had breathed, leaning across the small space that separated them on the bed to press their mouths together. Yoongi had indulged him for a second, tilting his head to accommodate the kiss, savoring the silken slide of Hoseok’s tongue and the lingering bitter notes of wine before he’d broken the kiss.
“We’ll talk about this when you’re sober.” He whispered against his lips.
“I’ll call you.” Hoseok had promised.
And then Yoongi left.
And Hoseok never called him.
“Oh, fuck .” He swore, “I’m an idiot.”
“Yeah.” Seokjin agreed, “You are. I had to listen to him pine over you for weeks. I thought maybe you just needed a confidence boost so I suggested you guys do the roommate thing. Then after that I figured you’d changed your mind about him, which would have been a dick move, but something I could live with. But Jung Hoseok, did you seriously forget?” Seokjin sounded like he was laughing a bit now, barely hiding a snicker of fiendish delight.
“Hyung, I’ve got to go.” Hoseok moaned, god, he didn’t think he’d ever fucked up so bad before.
---
It was almost two o’clock in the morning when Yoongi cracked open the front door. He peeked inside, like a kid trying to sneak in after curfew. Hoseok sat on the couch watching him cautiously.
“Hey, hyung.”
Yoongi startled, his hand flying to his chest.
“Hoseok-ah… don’t you have to work in the morning? I thought you’d be in bed by now.”
Hoseok shrugged, “My first class doesn’t start until ten, I’ll be fine.” He patted the couch cushion next to him, just like he had when he invited Yoongi to join him for movie night. “Wanna play Uno, hyung?”
“Uno?” Yoongi froze in the act of trying to edge sneakily towards the hall.
“Yeah, I’m not really tired. I thought maybe we could play a hand…”
“Okay…” Yoongi said slowly, rounding the coffee table to sit next to Hoseok who was busy shuffling cards. He counted out their cards. Yoongi was still staring at him like he thought that there was a distinct possibility that Hoseok had lost his mind.
“Wanna make this interesting?” Hoseok asked casually.
“...interesting how?”
“Reverse cards make it so hard to play with only two people, so lets give them a consequence… for every reverse we play we have to tell a secret.”
“A secret?” Yoongi repeated, raising an eyebrow.
“Sure.” Hoseok shrugged. He laid down the first card.
They went back and forth until Hoseok laid down a reverse card and said,
“When I was fifteen I borrowed my sister’s school uniform and sent a picture of myself wearing it to a guy I had a crush on.”
Yoongi snorted, “What? Why?”
Hoseok giggled, “I thought that’s what guys were into.”
“Did he like it?”
“Yeah, but he was fifteen he would have liked anything.”
And so the game continued,
“I locked myself out of my apartment one night and slept in the hallway because I was too proud to call anyone to help me.” Yoongi said, laying down his card. “The neighbor’s dog peed on me.”
Hoseok wrinkled his nose up in disgust.
“Ew, hyung. I hope you showered.”
“No, Hoseokie, I haven’t showered in three years.” Yoongi rolled his eyes.
Hoseok flushed at the affectionate way he called his name, feeling braver by the second.
He threw down his card.
“I was way more drunk than I thought I was that night and completely forgot that I kissed you, but I’d really like to kiss you again.”
Yoongi stilled, holding the card he was going to play out in front of him like it was a weapon.
“What?”
“I forgot. I didn’t remember it at all until Seokjin told me that you told him just a few hours ago. I’m sorry.”
Yoongi sighed, lowering his hand of cards to his lap.
“I kind of figured… at first I thought you were messing with me. Like maybe it was one of those ‘pretend like it never happened’ deals, but I figured it out after-after I stopped being mad and started paying attention.”
“You’re not still mad at me?” Hoseok asked, laying his own cards down and sliding a bit closer to Yoongi on the couch.
“No, I couldn’t stay mad at you. You’re harmless. It would be like being mad at a puppy.”
“Earlier, when you left-”
“I’m sorry, I panicked. I didn’t- I’ve been trying to deal with all of this-” He gestured between them, “Without getting my hopes up. You’re a hard guy to read, for all the friendliness. I could never tell if you were- If you were just being nice or- and then today, that stuff in the kitchen-”
“I really want to kiss you.” Hoseok interrupted him, “Can I? Kiss you?”
Yoongi’s lips parted and he nodded, suddenly feeling a bit shy. Hoseok moved closer still. He hesitated for just a moment before he lifted his hands, one landing on Yoongi’s thigh and the other moving to cup the back of his neck. He pressed their mouths together carefully, a soft press of lips just to test the waters, but it wasn’t long before Yoongi was raising his own hands, twisting them into the fabric of Hoseok’s shirt as he deepened the kiss with a groan.
Yoongi freed one hand, scrambling around for his cards in his lap. He found the one he was looking for and dropped it on the pile, another reverse card.
“Reverse. You said that if we hadn’t have gotten interrupted at the wedding you would have taken me home. I looked for you that night, after the reception ended, but you must have already gone. I would have let you take me home.”
Hoseok pressed his forehead against Yoongi’s chuckling.
“Maybe next time we should just play Yahtzee.