Chapter Text
hoseok has to be too good of a person. there’s being a good person and then there’s being this good of a person. there’s visiting your lonely grandmother and then there’s taking an indefinite time off from university to actually live with her in her creepy old house where to hoseok, everyone else in her town, apart from her, is a complete stranger. yeah. hoseok’s definitely too good of a person and he regrets it everyday.
hoseok loves his grandmother a lot - clearly. he phones her once a week and goes to his family home, where he can’t say he’s particularly welcome, at all major holidays just so he can see her when she’s visiting. (also because she buys people excellent christmas presents and hoseok is nothing if not an opportunist. is there really anything better than old people going spectacularly over the top because they think they’re dying and are just filled with their need to spoil everyone in their immediate vicinity before they pop their clogs? well, probably, but at christmas the answer to that is a strong no.)
so when hoseok’s grandmother had a little cry down the phone to him that she feels isolated from the people she really loves since his grandfather left, he packed his bags almost the exact same second. ‘left’ because despite hoseok’s admittedly crude mental preparation for his grandfather’s unavoidable death, instead his grandfather rather eloquently decided ‘fuck it’ a few months ago and divorced his grandmother and embarked on a solo trip around the world. yeah. bit of a dick move really, especially considering his now ex-wife and mother of his children – the grandmother to his grandchildren, obviously – was left completely alone in an empty house with no family in the immediate vicinity. sure, his grandmother made a lot of friends down at bingo nights on a thursday but that doesn’t quite match the comfort that comes from blood relatives.
hoseok pulled his car into his new home’s driveway with the musing that his main feeling should have been probably apprehension or nerves rather than just hunger. he’d spent the few hours drive singing along to his excellent driving playlist – one love by blue is certifiably a fucking banger of a tune – and thinking about food. not even craving his grandmother’s homemade food, to be honest, just fast food of any kind. the sound of hoseok’s suitcase dragging across the rough ground was just enough to put the actual realisation of what he was doing as he walked up to the front door but most of his mind was still thinking about something much deeper – kfc or mcdonalds? which did he prefer? does this town have either? he’s sure he saw a burger king about twenty minutes ago but everyone knows that burger king is probably the shittiest takeaway. who would choose to have a burger king if there were other options? not hoseok. hopefully not hoseok’s grandmother either. and speak of the devil –
“hoseokie! oh, my darling, you’re here,” a familiar voice finally took hoseok’s full attention off of obesity inducing carbohydrates and hoseok beamed back at her.
his grandmother and he shared the same overbearing grin – if you ask hoseok, he’d tell you that he inherited his sunshine smile from the sun herself. to be fair, hoseok’s grandmother would say that her grandson stole his smile from the sun itself. if you ask hoseok’s mother, she would probably tell you she didn’t have a son called hoseok. what a bitch.
“grandmother, my new roomie, how are you?” hoseok’s laugh echoed through the hallway before he had even got all the way inside, bringing life into an empty house before he’d even settled in as was the hoseok way. (he’d done the same in his uni dorm, the others had been quiet and subdued before his larger than life entrance had filled his soon-to-be-friends’ bones with excitement and comfort. honestly, hoseok’d managed to befriend nearly every single person he ran into on his campus - hoseok’s a popular guy, what can he say? he just screams ‘i am likeable it’s super great to be my friend’.)
a dog answered before hoseok’s grandmother did, a sudden black shape skidding around the corner, yapping and charging towards hoseok. in hoseok’s defence, it was terrifying and he had every right to scream and nearly piss himself right there. diving behind his elderly grandmother to sacrifice her to the monster first, though? slightly harder to defend. luckily, hoseok’s grandmother wasn’t overly offended that he was willing to hide behind her in the face of danger – that may only be because she was, unsurprisingly, aware of the dog in her house. if it was a serial killer or something, she would probably be less understanding.
“calm down, you baby, it’s just a cute doggy! her name’s momo,” hoseok’s grandmother cooed, leaning down to pet the over excited dog eagerly sniffing and jumping up at them. hoseok peered over his grandmother’s shoulder – well, her head technically considering hoseok was actually taller than an old woman – and narrowed his eyes at momo?
“why do you have a dog?” hoseok frowned, slowly side stepping out from behind his grandmother to allow the shiba inu to sniff at his hand, “especially, why do you have a meme dog? why do you have a meme dog called momo?”
hoseok’s grandmother sighed, gesturing hoseok to move and not just leave his suitcase in the middle of the hallway and actually drag it to his room, which he did reluctantly – he was kind of already in love with the black and tan pet licking his hand.
“it’s not my dog, you silly goose. she’s one of the nice boys who help at the bingo,” hoseok’s grandmother cheerfully chatted away, leading hoseok through her annoyingly large house to his new room, “they’re your age, i think. isn’t that lovely? young people helping out at the bingo. you should do that, follow their good example. anyway, little momo is yoongi’s. i know i’ve mentioned him to you before, such a lovely young man, you’ll be great friends. he was so embarrassed – he thought he had the day off but, could you believe it, he only had to go to work! and none of his friends were available – i’ve met his friends, all lovely boys – so he turned up here, all blushing and polite, asking if i could look after his little pup for the day. of course, i had said to him, i couldn’t say no. he truly is a lovely boy.”
hoseok was a professional at zoning out at the right times. he managed to ignore all the unnecessary comments – he is not helping pensioners play bingo, sorry – and the constant repetition that always seems to come hand in hand with interacting with old people – isn’t that lovely? is yoongi a lovely boy? i bet yoongi is a lovely boy – and instead just absorbed the information he actually wanted. hoseok couldn’t lie, he was now curious about this yoongi. a man his age helping at the bingo, befriending old ladies and owning a cute meme dog? suspicious. very suspicious. hoseok had just decided that yoongi was probably a furry as his grandmother and he finally arrived at hoseok’s new room. hoseok’s grandparents both came from wealthy families, meaning that their house was closer to a mansion than a cosy home. despite all the old furniture and his grandmother’s aching bones, everything was clean and dust-free – hoseok’s grandmother then later supplied him with the information that a lovely boy called jimin would pop round and have a good clean up for a surprisingly cheap fee. he also found out that jimin’s boyfriend – namjoon, another lovely boy, would occasionally also visit and help his grandmother with paperwork and the bills.
the mention of the definitely-established-as-male jimin having a boyfriend had come as a pleasant surprise to hoseok, settling a worry he had in his stomach without even realising it. hoseok’s love of the same gender had been the final nail in the coffin for his relationship with his parents – he wasn’t officially disowned and they weren’t cruel to him, they were just - they were just ashamed of him and that almost hurt worse than being cursed at so he stayed away, didn’t talk to them unless he had to when he went home for those major holidays to see his grandmother at their house. their house, his parents house – he had lived there for the whole of his life until university but it wasn’t his house anymore and god, that realisation had that stung so badly. despite it all, hoseok’s grandmother had never turned her back on her grandson, instead, letting it bring them even closer together. hoseok didn’t think he would ever stop being grateful for her instant acceptance and unconditional love.
hoseok’s new room was plain and simple – a double bed, a desk, he had a television and a wardrobe and pairs of draws and, most excitingly, a comfy looking flower-patterned armchair in the corner. hoseok’s grandmother left him to unpack with a gentle pat on his arm and momo had followed him the whole way. she charged into the room before he did, still stock still in the doorway, and jumped happily onto the bed, rolling and wagging her tail. it snapped hoseok out of his stupor and grinning, he jumped on the bed next to her, the two of them playfully wrestling and cuddling, rolling in the fresh smelling sheets. with a gentle whisper, hoseok said to himself – and to momo – “home sweet home.”
he really hadn’t meant to fall asleep but here he was, groggily waking up with a dog jumping off his chest to leap at a man in the doorway that was definitely not his grandmother. the shock of a stranger woke hoseok up immediately, running a hand through his hair and standing up to greet – or possibly yell at – the shadow at the entrance to his room. hoseok stretched his arms above his head, still tired, his top riding up so his flat stomach could give a little ‘hello!’ to the stranger. (hoseok noted with pleasure that the strangers cat-like eyes were drawn to the slither of tanned skin. excellent.)
the stranger was also annoyingly attractive in hoseok’s honest opinion. with black hair to match hoseok’s but shorter and just fluffy enough that all hoseok’s hands wanted to do was ruffle the shit out of it, and a long black jumper that gave him endearing little sweater paws that contrasted to the seductive rips in his black skinny jeans. all in all, hoseok’s heart got an instant boner. to add to it all, momo barked for attention and the strangers beautiful face visibly softened, bending down to stroke her head and smile at her. hoseok kind of wanted to die – he was not prepared for this to (hopefully? if it wasn’t then hoseok was probably actually going to die) be the seemingly lovely yoongi, especially considering how actually lovely yoongi looked.
“are you yoongi?” hoseok’s voice was softer than it would normally be when meeting someone new but hey, yoongi looks like an angel and hoseok’s still tired, “sorry, i didn’t mean to steal your dog for a nap.”
a nod confirmed the man as yoongi and he smiled gently – just as soft as hoseok’s voice, oh fuck, hoseok is so screwed already – “and you’re hoseok, right? your grandmother was just telling me about you, welcome to town.” yoongi’s voice was deep and calming. hoseok wanted to go swimming in his voice and his smile and his overall presence. or just drown, to be honest.
“don’t worry about stealing momo – she’s a good cuddle buddy. besides, i only got here about ten minutes ago,” yoongi’s voice snapped hoseok out of his gooey thoughts and made him smile.
“ten minutes? has my grandmother really held you captive for that long already?” hoseok tried to do a cool laugh. he didn’t. he giggled. it was not very cool. adorable, yes, but it wasn’t cool. luckily, yoongi’s smile grew wider in return and hoseok felt his heart skip a beat, momo still licking up at yoongi’s face.
“she was telling me all about you,” yoongi teased, voice seemingly deeper than before and goosebumps ran up hoseok’s spine, “you’re an interesting topic of conversation, i’ll tell you that.”
is yoongi flirting? this sounds like flirting to hoseok. hoseok is good at flirting, he could flirt with a wall if he really wanted to, but he couldn’t tell yet if yoongi was really flirting or not. (this is a lie. hoseok is only good at flirting with people he doesn’t actually like. as soon as he had an actual crush formed, his flirting turned into high pitched giggling and squealing. luckily, hoseok’s attraction to yoongi was still only physical so he hadn’t lost his shit. yet.)
“i’d have to agree,” hoseok’s smile took on smirk-like qualities, “i am very interesting. though, i’m much more interesting to talk to than about, in my own humble opinion. what did she say about me?” hoseok got bored of standing and moved so he was crouched down like yoongi, joining him in stroking momo who was overly excited at the extra attention, tongue wagging like crazy.
yoongi’s smile turned into a large gummy one and hoseok almost cried, honestly, he could feel tears just starting to form at how fucking cute he looked, “she said you were absolutely lovely and made of actual sunshine but also a bit of a mess who gets lonely and you’re very homosexual, apparently. i won’t lie, she has told me all of this before but it’s a bit more real now that you’re actually in front of me.”
hoseok dramatically gasped, over the top – he wasn’t actually faking it that much, jesus, how much of a loose mouth does his grandmother have? – and yoongi laughed in response, hoseok meeting the angelic sound with a giggle, “god, what a bitch. i’m not a mess. how am i the lonely one!? god, no wonder granddad’s in fucking new zealand right now, i’m gonna join him, i swear.”
“you’re such a drama queen,” and there she is. hoseok’s grandmother appeared like a ghost behind yoongi, each hand clutching a mug, “i didn’t say a single thing that wasn’t true, you watch your potty mouth around lovely yoongi here, please.”
yoongi hid his grin in momo’s dark fur and hoseok would have fought him for being such a traitor already if he just wasn’t so cute. god fucking damn. why did hoseok have to be such a sucker for cute boys? hoseok stood and his grandmother gave him one of the mugs, the comforting smell of hot chocolate flooding his nostrils. he sighed with content and took a sip, basking in its warmth.
hoseok’s grandmother got yoongi up on his feet and encouraged the two – technically three depending on your opinion on dogs – to sit downstairs with her and they obediently followed, casual chat being shared easily between yoongi and hoseok with hoseok’s grandmother occasionally adding a comment. they sat on sofas and talked and talked and talked until they realised how late it had actually become and yoongi sheepishly got up to leave, momo still excited as she was hours before.
(later, hoseok would realise how suspicious it was that his grandmother wasn’t leading the entire conversation and barely interrupted the two of them but for the moment he was so caught up in yoongi that an earthquake could have probably struck and he’d have thought it was just the vibrations of yoongi’s laugh shaking his bones.)
that night, despite the warmth in hoseok’s heart and the easy nap that he’d had earlier, hoseok’s sleep was plagued with nightmares. his mind had first given him an image of he and yoongi holding hands but then yoongi had turned to face him and all hoseok was allowed to see was spiders the size of hoseok’s hands crawling out of yoongi’s mouth endlessly, crawling all over yoongi’s face and jumping onto hoseok. hoseok could feel the legs upon legs upon legs swarming over his skin, getting in his ears and his mouth and his nose in his hair and under his clothes, yoongi’s mouth ever pouring out spiders. hoseok woke up with tears in his eyes and sweat on his forehead.
hoseok wasn’t expecting to see yoongi again the next day but alas, while hoseok’s sleep deprived self was munching on cereal, hoseok’s grandmother opened the door and barking alerted hoseok to momo, and, unsurprisingly because most dogs don’t know how to ring doorbells, yoongi’s presence. hoseok’s grandmother sat yoongi down at the table, in the seat next to hoseok, patting his head and telling yoongi to keep her grandson company while she visited her friend for the day. by the time her words had actually sunk in to hoseok’s head and he wasn’t distracted by how soft yoongi looked in a different oversized sweatshirt, his grandmother was gone and the front door was shut with her on the other side.
“sorry,” hoseok said embarrassed, rubbing at his tired eyes, “you don’t actually have to babysit me, i’m an adult, i swear. i’m not gonna be sticking any forks in any plug sockets.”
yoongi laughed as he drank from the cup of orange juice hoseok’s grandmother had given him, along with a bowl of cereal that yoongi had literally refused about four times but had, unsurprisingly, been ignored four times.
“hey, you can never be too sure, i’ll keep the cutlery away from you just in case,” yoongi teased, “no but, seriously, i don’t mind. it’s not a chore to be here.”
and maybe hoseok is just sleep deprived – he should be used to it by now, honestly, he’s had nightmares nearly every single night for years but he’d naively assumed that it might be different in a different house – but yoongi’s words went right through him, building a fire in his chest and spreading warmth all through him. hoseok really didn’t want him to leave. their casual conversation carried on, teasing and joking, getting to know each other slowly but surely, before there was the sound of a key in the door and the gentle sound of a wooden door swinging open.
“hello! don’t worry, it’s just me! not a burglar,” a high pitched voice that hoseok didn’t recognise but yoongi clearly did sounded throughout the house.
“and me, i’m also not a burglar,” a deeper voice followed afterwards, making yoongi and the higher voiced stranger laugh.
“that’s jimin and namjoon,” yoongi turned to hoseok, “did your grandmother tell you about them?” he asked, then smiled when hoseok nodded in understanding and was no visibly longer concerned, “they’re actually good friends of mine. we have a lot of things in common,” yoongi mused, perking up hoseok’s interest in what those shared interests could possibly be. hoseok had found out that yoongi loved making music and worked at a bookshop that had a little café in it – those things had spiked hoseok’s interest the most, hoseok loved music and also: café’s. yoongi said he was meant to just work in the book department but had ended up discovering he had a real talent for baking so ended up working in both of the sections.
the supposed jimin and namjoon walked into the kitchen, hands intertwined and smiles on their faces. hoseok felt his heart melt a bit at the height difference between the small pink haired man and the tall blond – smiles never fading, they introduced themselves to hoseok, the small man as jimin and the taller as namjoon. momo jumped up at the pair of them, excited as ever to see familiar faces.
“i’m just here to have a little clean! namjoonie was gonna keep you company because we knew you were coming but you have yoongi here now so joonie, you’re a bit redundant now, really,” jimin giggled, a small hand coming up over his mouth as namjoon gasped for dramatic effect, pretending to bite jimin’s hand that he was still holding. hoseok’s heart felt like goo. what is it with everyone in this dumb town being so annoyingly adorable? it’s bullshit, really, hoseok mused, no-one was ever this cute back at uni, he’s sure.
yoongi rolled his eyes good naturedly and told jimin to piss off and dust and for namjoon to take a seat, making namjoon sigh and jimin giggle even more. namjoon took a seat anyway as jimin zoomed off to the supply closet and start his job.
“so, how are you enjoying your first full day here? this house is amazing,” namjoon’s voice was shockingly calming, it made hoseok want to curl up and go to sleep listening to him talk.
hoseok smiled, “yeah, this house is super pretty. i haven’t actually been out yet, though, so i can’t really say anything about anything else other than these rooms.”
namjoon hummed, “well, if you want to, you can come out today with us. we were gonna invite this grumpy old man anyway,” a tanned hand gestured to yoongi who scowled in return, “so it’d be super cool if you came as well.”
“with everyone?” yoongi’s voice was cautious but calm. if hoseok hadn’t spent so long listening to him speak yesterday and then spending every second thinking about his voice, he might not have noticed the hint of hesitation in his tone.
“yeah,” namjoon’s voice never wavered, his eyes calm as he turned to hoseok, “it’d be me and jimin, you and yoongi and then three of our friends – taehyung, jungkook and seokjin. i know they’d love to meet you but there’s really no pressure if you’re not up for it.”
yoongi’s subtle hesitation made him want to reject but at the same time, he really wanted to make friends as fast as he could so he nodded slowly, “sure! if that’s okay with you.” he didn’t mean to direct his last sentence towards yoongi but he did anyway, eyes accidentally glancing towards yoongi.
yoongi picked up onto this and nodded, smiling at hoseok, “yeah, you should come. it just might be a bit... overwhelming but it’ll be fun.”
“overwhelming?” hoseok tilted his head, there wasn’t loads of people, nowhere near as many as he’d met in his own dorm.
“they’re very excitable people,” namjoon cuts in, calm as before, “and we might accidentally end up talking about things that you don’t understand yet but if we do, just give us a hit on the arm or something. we’ll try not to - we’ll be careful.”
the last part of his sentence is directed to yoongi, yoongi meeting his eyes evenly before nodding slowly. hoseok knew he was making a rather unattractive confused face so he quickly shovelled another spoonful of cereal into his mouth to hide it. the conversation smoothed out from there, namjoon asking questions about hoseok’s past and his hobbies with yoongi occasionally popping in but mostly just listening. his eyes never left hoseok, one hand around his cup and the other stroking momo’s head. his gaze made hoseok blush – he tried to keep it down but he could feel the heat of yoongi’s eyes on his face, never wavering.
after jimin had finally stopped cleaning the big house, he came skipping over to them, his excitement growing even more when he was informed that hoseok and yoongi were to be joining them. it made the three of them laugh, any remaining tension completely fizzling out as they all got their coats and piled into the namjoon’s car. yoongi sat next to hoseok, squished into the backseat. the feel of yoongi’s leg against hoseok sent tingles up hoseok’s spine, his mind achingly aware of their skin touching through their jeans. god, he is so fucked, honestly.
jimin managed to distract hoseok momentarily from where the pink haired man was rummaging in his bag in the front seat. he took out sparkling and silver necklaces and bracelets and rings, expertly putting them all on, even putting in long dangling earrings that caught the light as they swayed gently.
jimin turned to see hoseok staring, his head cocked to the side and jimin let out a little giggle, “i don’t want to lose any of it while i’m cleaning, y’know?”
namjoon laughed as he drove, “he’s like a magpie, he loves anything shiny.”
“weird that he’s dating you then considering how dull you are,” yoongi monotones from the back, making namjoon squawk and hoseok cackle. jimin turned round to whack yoongi gently on the knee, giggling all the while. every finger was adorned and every time he moved, it was accompanied by the gentle jingling of all his bracelets sliding against each other on his skinny wrists.
hoseok laughed gently, “you look so enchanting with all your witchy jewellery.” it was teasing, it was obviously teasing, but the look of pure alarm in jimin’s face left him feeling taken aback. the look on his face was gone before hoseok could blink, instead replaced by the now common facial expression of jimin grinning. it took a second for yoongi and namjoon to laugh as well. hoseok had the feeling if he was looking at either of them, their faces would have mirrored jimin’s in that moment.
they eventually piled out of the car, ending up in front of the bookstore and café yoongi worked at –entitled ‘hecate’s library and food’. hoseok asked him about it, if it was weird to hang out here if he worked here and that was when hoseok found out that they all worked here – even the three he hadn’t met yet.
“namjoon actually owns it,” jimin piped in with, causing hoseok to gape at him, “i work as a waiter and general assistant. we kind of all just do whatever we need to, there really is only the six of us working here permanently so no-one really has a set job when we’re all friends as well, y’know?”
the door jingled as they walked in through, hoseok looking around in awe as the hundreds of books in front of his eyes and the quaint little café to the side – comfortable sofas and tables meant to look like tree trunks. there were a few customers, sitting with a book and a drink. the whole place gave off a vintage feel, all purples and hanging lights, plants everywhere. it felt like a portal into another world.
“maybe hoseok will end up working here too, if you like it,” namjoon teased, watching amusedly as hoseok took in his surroundings.
“god, if you ever want me, you can have me,” hoseok breathed out, cheeks then burning when yoongi audibly choked, “i mean, this place is amazing, look at it.”
“is this our new meat?” a new, nasally voice sounded out, followed by a different voice squeaking out ‘ooh’s’ and gasping. hoseok’s head turned and out of the library aisles came three more men, tall and elegant and all three covered in as much jewellery as jimin. the nasally voice came from another annoyingly handsome man, tall and slim with blond hair that shone next to his gold jewellery, “i’m seokjin, this one is jungkook, our youngest, and that’s taehyung.” jungkook was in all black like yoongi and unlike the rest, covered in more piercings than the others and hoseok was sure he could see tattoos under his sleeves and hidden under his turtleneck. he smiled at hoseok, identical to a bunny and any intimidation hoseok had felt had just died and buried itself six feet deep. taehyung was possibly the most intimidating, with his sharp face and strong eyebrows to match his dark brown hair.
taehyung spoke, making hoseok jump with his deep voice, “jung hoseok. it’s nice to finally meet you.”
hoseok didn’t miss the side eye that yoongi threw towards him but smiled anyway, “finally? have you been speaking to my grandmother then?”
taehyung hummed and opened his mouth to speak but jungkook elbowed him in the side and his mouth snapped shut, instead, choosing to shrug. hoseok blinked. is this why yoongi didn’t want him to meet them? because they are quite undeniably, well, weird?
“let’s sit down then,” namjoon’s voice made hoseok and seokjin jump, making them laugh sheepishly, “jimin’s popped into the kitchen to get us some cake. hoseok, i hope you like chocolate cake.”
hoseok sat down on a deep purple sofa, sighing as exhaustion left his bones as he sunk down. yoongi sat next to him, sighing similarly. “i fucking love chocolate cake,” hoseok sighed happily and yoongi nodded happily, eyes shut, as he let himself sink into the sofa like hoseok was.
“well, we know that,” seokjin tittered and hoseok’s eyes widened before his eyebrows furrowed. before he could even get the words out, yoongi instead spoke, “because who doesn’t love chocolate cake? especially ours, it tastes real fucking good.”
there was a moment of silence before jimin came squirreling over, chattering happily as he gave each person a plate of chocolate cake. the odd tension was dissolved as they all happily tucked in, more small talk and casual conversation – from everyone barring jungkook, who sat there silently, eating his cake and smiling but never making any actual noise. hoseok wasn’t going to ask, he was probably just shy and hoseok wasn’t about to be a dick and put him on the spot by asking personal questions.
despite hoseok’s initial hesitance about the new three, he decided quite quickly that he liked them. they were still strange and, true to namjoon’s word, said a lot of things that everyone else clearly understood but hoseok had no idea.
the others were deep in a conversation about a plant, well, hoseok thinks it’s a plant. he doesn’t know if he missed the explanation as to why this is a discussion for a group of young men or if they were just all really into agriculture but who was he to judge? he yawned, still so tired after his disastrous night sleep and yoongi looked at him concerned.
“did you not sleep?” yoongi asked him quietly, leaning forward slightly but no-one else was listening, too absorbed in their plant talk and the cake that hoseok was sure that they’d all finished eating already but clearly not judging by the full slice still on their plates.
“oh, it’s fine,” hoseok shrugged off, fighting down another yawn, “i have nightmares so i don’t tend to mind only having an hour or two of sleep.”
yoongi frowned, eyes glued to the dark bags under hoseok’s eyes. fuck, he knew he should have worn concealer today.
“yoongi, really, it’s fine,” hoseok grinned at him, “you can’t stare me to sleep.” with that, yoongi seemed to click back into life and rolled his eyes at hoseok, smiling slightly. yoongi opened his mouth to speak then shut it again. hoseok decided to wait for him to either speak or not.
“i have something that might make you sleep better? it’s, like, a kind of herbal tea,” yoongi said hesitantly, like hoseok was about to threaten him with throwing tea in his face and smashing a tea cup over his head.
“oh man,” hoseok stretched his arms over his head, “i haven’t tried herbal tea in ages. it used to work when i was younger but then i guess my nightmares are just too strong for even plants to handle.” it was meant to be a joke but once again, the joke seems to land flat as yoongi just frowns even more.
“there’s nothing plants can’t handle,” taehyung cuts in from nowhere, making hoseok jump and yoongi sigh, “plants are the strongest thing in the whole world if you use them right. well, maybe the second strongest. the strongest thing is words.”
hoseok stared at him. taehyung stared back. the others fell into a confused silence as they watched them stare at each other.
“okay,” hoseok said finally and taehyung smiled at him in return. right, well. like hoseok said – weird.
“yoongi,” jimin piped up, his voice reminding hoseok of a wind chime on a breezy day, “ask hoseok a question.”
hoseok turned to yoongi confused and yoongi frowned at jimin while the others – still minus jungkook – voiced their agreement.
“what does that mean?” hoseok asks, looking at each person around him and then back to yoongi. (then he’s sure he nearly died because it feels like whenever he looks away he forgets how beautiful yoongi is and every time he sees him again it’s like lightning just struck him right down his spine.)
“yoongi deals in riddles,” seokjin giggles, “we wanna see if you can get the answer to one.”
hoseok groans, flinging his head back against the couch, “i am literally shit at riddles, this will just be embarrassing for me.”
“it’s fine, you’ll get the answer,” taehyung says confidently, making hoseok grimace and namjoon sigh very quietly.
“go on then,” hoseok sighs dramatically, flinging his arms out and nearly whacking yoongi in the head, “make me look like an idiot.” yoongi’s hand grabs hoseok’s wrist before he can fling it about again, his long, warm fingers fiddling with the brown watch on hoseok’s wrist, making hoseok shiver.
“fine, let me think,” yoongi hums and hoseok turns his head from where its flung back to stare at yoongi again – well, trying to stare at yoongi’s face but instead, his eyes are stuck on the imagine of yoongi playing with his watch strap, his fingers accidentally stroking hoseok’s skin gently.
“at night,” yoongi’s voice is deeper and raspier all of a sudden and hoseok finds himself sitting up straighter, entranced, “they come without being called. in the day, they’re stolen but not lost. what are they?”
hoseok can’t stop staring at yoongi, his fingers still fiddling with the watch and his eyes shut, the way the light shines in through the window and makes his strands of hair lighten – the way the sun catches the light from one of the many shiny objects around them and casts a rainbow against his skin. he looks untouchable, like hoseok could try and reach out to him but his hand would never reach him. yoongi looks like magic, like he’s from another planet, like he’s been sent from the –
“stars.”
hoseok’s voice is quiet. he clears his throat so he can be heard better, to almost try and diffuse the atmosphere he couldn’t really describe if he tried, “stars. the answer is stars, isn’t it?”
yoongi smiles slowly, eyes still shut. he turns his head towards hoseok without opening his eyes and nods once.
“i told you,” taehyung’s deep voice makes hoseok jump once again. he’d forgotten they were there, so focused, so absorbed on yoongi, nothing else, no one else but yoongi, only yoongi.
“yeah, you did, but we all knew neither you or hoseok were going to be wrong anyway,” seokjin simpers and jimin giggles slightly.
“we should probably get going,” yoongi speaks out, tone back to normal, “momo’s still back at hoseok’s house and you know i don’t like leaving her alone for too long.”
hoseok blinks, surprised, “oh shit! i’d completely forgotten about her, poor momo, she’s gonna be a sad shibe.”
namjoon stands up at the same time as jimin, “c’mon, we’ll drop you off on our way home.”
yoongi stretches and slowly gets off the couch, deadpanning, “you fucking better or we would have to walk back and i would literally murder both of you.”
“i need to get hoseok something,” yoongi suddenly mumbles like he’d forgotten and zooms off into the kitchen, leaving hoseok and the rest staring at the back of him in shock.
“oh,” hoseok realises, smiling, “he said he was gonna get me something to help me with my nightmares? do you guys do, like, herbal tea then here?”
“have you tried a yellow candle?” jimin’s bright voice, eager to help, makes hoseok smile, “burn a bright yellow candle all night – you gotta burn it with a match though! no lighters or it gets a bit risky, but it’ll nourish your spirit and call the sun’s energy to you during the night!”
hoseok realises he should probably just say ‘thank you’ and move on but he feels oddly frozen, staring at jimin whose words suddenly fade off, like he’s realised what he’s just said. the others are quiet as well and hoseok feels strangely guilty.
it’s when jimin starts to apologise in a small voice that hoseok finds his, jumping in and exclaiming, “i’ve never tried that! people always say i’m like sunshine anyway so i’m sure the sun itself would love me,” hoseok ends his sentence with a wink, making jimin giggle and noting with satisfaction that namjoon visibly sighs with relief. he reacted the right way. excellent. good job jung.
yoongi comes walking out, a little paper bag in his hand that he stuffs into hoseok’s, making hoseok jump once again at the smallest touch of yoongi’s fingers against his skin. it’s after they’ve said their goodbyes and are making their way to the car that yoongi whispers to hoseok, “it’s a mix of different flower essences. you can drink it straight or mix it with something else if you want it to taste different.”
something twitches inside of hoseok, listening to yoongi murmur about the specifics of the flower essences meant to soothe his nightmares.
the ride back is uneventful, just happy chatter filling the car and hoseok feels at peace. sure his new friends (?) are a bit weird but then, hoseok’s sure a lot of people think he’s a bit weird too so it’s not something bad – nothing deal breaking.
(at this point already, hoseok is sure that he would deal with the oddest people in the world if it meant he could stay close to yoongi.)
it’s quiet in the jung house when hoseok and yoongi get back, momo comes to life for five minutes or so before curling up in yoongi’s lap when he sits down and going fast to sleep. hoseok and yoongi chat about nothing but hoseok can’t stop yawning, exhausted.
“you know,” yoongi sounds amused, “you can go to sleep if you want. i don’t mind.”
hoseok protests vehemently, “i can’t be that bad of a host, i want to talk to you more.” he’s embarrassed as soon as he said it but yoongi just laughs gently so he waves off the cringe he felt at himself.
“i’ll be here when you wake up, just have a nap,” yoongi muses and hoseok wants to protest more, really, he does but yoongi’s voice is so soft and his couch is so comfortable and the room is so warm.
“should i take my flower essence?” hoseok asks gently, edging on the line between awake and asleep and yoongi shakes his head.
“save it for the night, you won’t need it now.”
hoseok falls asleep to yoongi’s tender whisper of “you won’t have nightmares if i’m here.”
hoseok wakes up to the sound of yoongi laughing quietly with his grandmother. while he’d been asleep, hoseok had replaced momo – it was his head that was now on yoongi’s lap with yoongi’s hand tucked firmly into hoseok’s hair. hoseok tries to stay awake, he does, but the movement of yoongi’s warm hand stroking his hair, his nails gently tracing his scalp slips him back into the world of sleep, dreamless and safe.
hoseok wakes again later, still in the same position but to a much quieter room. hoseok’s grandmother is gone and the curtains are drawn, only a lamp in the corner still on. it’s night, hoseok realises, how long had he been asleep on yoongi’s lap? momo is curled up asleep on the floor in front of them and hoseok gently turns to look up at yoongi. yoongi’s asleep, his hand still entangled in hoseok’s hair. he looks gentle and soft, the perfect image of calm. hoseok can’t help himself, he reaches a hand up and strokes yoongi’s hair in return, cooing internally when yoongi unconsciously nuzzles into hoseok’s hand. hoseok doesn’t want to go back to sleep, doesn’t want yoongi to have to fall asleep sitting up like this so he gently moves his hand and shakes yoongi’s shoulder until he awakes with a start.
“yoongi,” hoseok whispers, “let’s go to sleep in an actual bed.”
despite his half awake state, yoongi manages to greasily wink at hoseok, making him giggle. hoseok slowly gets up and yoongi follows him. hoseok takes yoongi’s wrist in his hand – in the morning, when he’s more with it, he’ll realise that yoongi knows this house better than hoseok and feel the embarrassment – and leads him up to his room, gently pushing yoongi into his bed before getting in on the other side.
just like yoongi promised, hoseok falls quickly back into a nightmare free sleep with yoongi by his side.
hoseok’s expecting things to be a bit awkward in the morning with yoongi; the pair of them having fallen asleep in the same bed, waking up with their legs entangled together, it’s all a bit of a recipe for morning wood and awkward eye contact, really. instead, they’re awoken by momo jumping on them, yipping happily and hoseok’s grandmother calling them for breakfast. momo licking each of their faces in turn is too adorable for anything to be awkward between them and the first thing yoongi said is a complaint of hunger and not a complain of anything else.
it kind of feels like it was meant to be. fate.
they eat breakfast side by side, listening to hoseok’s grandmother rattle on about the day she had with her friend from bingo and all the quality family drama happening in this poor old woman’s life. it’s almost too domestic to bear when yoongi and hoseok start giggling to themselves as they work together to feed momo as much bacon under the table as they can without hoseok’s grandmother noticing and scolding them. hoseok can’t help but beam every time he catches yoongi’s eye and yoongi always blesses him with that luminous gummy smile in return. it’s all a bit perfect, in hoseok’s opinion. he’s not used to it but he sure could be.
days pass and yoongi visits hoseok every single day without fail, he even takes him to work with him and hoseok has a marvellous time eating the seemingly never ending chocolate cake and watching when taehyung and jungkook get pulled out from behind the bookshelf they were meant to be stacking by yoongi himself, their hair messed up and faces red with shame and god knows what else.
weeks pass and hoseok ends up working in the book section of ‘hecate’s library’, ringing up books that people buy and scanning library cards for the books that people were borrowing. it’s good fun and hoseok gets to spend his day chatting with people and staring at yoongi when yoongi’s not looking. to be honest, he stares at yoongi when yoongi is looking and they end up in more staring matches than socially allowed, but one of them always breaks and they end up laughing from halfway across the store. it’s a bit more than perfect, in hoseok’s opinion.
there’s still questions hoseok has. there’s still the question of why doesn’t jungkook talk and why did the flower essence work and why did yoongi’s presence itself work to keep nightmares away? there’s the question of why does taehyung often already know what’s going to happen? hoseok’s sure he once caught seokjin singing to one of the many plants and a flower had bloomed right in front of his eyes. hoseok’s even sure that he watched namjoon get a paper cut once because he winced and he definitely bled and hoseok was just about to get the first aid kit when jimin had skipped along, chastising namjoon with a tap on the nose, kissed his finger and it had healed.
hoseok wants to ask but he’s not really sure what the protocol is or how to word it in any other way other than ‘hey, what the fuck?”
hoseok wants to ask yoongi why he still comes to spend time with him every day, even when momo is with jungkook (hoseok has learnt that along with taehyung, nothing makes jungkook the tattooed pierced boy in all black smile more than any form of dog. it’s irritatingly sweet.) and his grandmother is at home in her room so there’s not even the excuse of dog-sitting together or keeping hoseok company. he wants to ask why yoongi has a tendency of stroking hoseok’s hair and why he always smiles at hoseok even when he’s in a bad mood and he wants to know why he’s the only one that gets to hear yoongi’s music before he thinks it’s perfect. hoseok knows what he wants the answer to be. he just doesn’t know if he’s going to get it.
it’s after a while that hoseok finally asks what they are – well, he asks when he’s already a hundred percent sure of what the answer actually already is so it’s a bit of a cowardice move, really. he’s actually gone in the café’s kitchen for the first time because he has learnt very quickly that seokjin’s shortbread biscuits are possibly better than any form of mcdonalds or kfc. possibly. so hoseok had walked in, ready to swipe some shortbread before one of the others could pop up like dora and tell him ‘hoseok, no swiping!’. he was prepared for it to be a bit messy, sure, but he was also expecting it to just be a kitchen. he wasn’t really expecting in the corner to see what could only be a spell book floating gently in the air as jimin stirred in a suspiciously red, thick liquid into a cauldron while namjoon chanted words hoseok couldn’t understand. with his eyes glowing gold, by the way, and also tattoos that hoseok knew namjoon didn’t have glowing the same bright gold all across his arms neck and face in swirly patterns like the roots of a tree.
“oh, that’s super fucked,” probably isn’t an appropriate response, hoseok knows, but whatever, sue him. he feels like he was allowed to be a little shocked. it’s a pretty upsetting sight, to be honest. it had caused jimin to jump at hearing his voice, making him accidentally splash the definitely-unidentified-because-hoseok-couldn’t-handle-it-if-it-is-what-he-thinks-it-is-liquid all over himself and namjoon which in turn made namjoon jump and shriek quite a lot.
it was that night when they had shut the shop, all seven of them sat in the café hoseok had grown to love, on the sofas that hoseok had napped on far more times than professional – he couldn’t help it, he didn’t have nightmares even without his flower essences if the others were around – and told hoseok the truth.
yoongi told hoseok they were witches and hoseok responded with “okay”. jungkook is mute because he was cursed as a child to have no voice until someone willingly gives over theirs but he is one of the most powerful of them all and hoseok says “that’s sad.” jimin can heal anything within reason because it uses up his energy if he tries to heal too much and hoseok says “huh, that’s really neat.” seokjin’s great great great great grandmother was a wood nymph so seokjin is all green witch and is essentially completely at one with the plants and hoseok says “haha, you must be really helpful at twenty past four.” (yoongi whacks him in the head for that one a bit too hard and jimin shuffles over and heals it for him with a little kiss on the crown of his head and it’s a bit fucking strange but mostly fucking great in hoseok’s eyes.) taehyung can see the future because that’s what he does and he was born like that and he could tell you the lottery numbers but he won’t because he doesn’t want to and hoseok responds with “you bitch, i want to be rich.” namjoon was essentially born ancient – blessed with ancient runes that allow him to conquer old magic and older languages. he is the most powerful of them all and hoseok just tells him “i always knew you were an old man on the inside.” yoongi tells him that he has magic in his words especially but also in his fingertips and that he’s the closest thing to fae, even despite seokjin, or maybe even an angel, despite jimin, and hoseok replies with “i could have told you that, you’re made of magic, yoongi.”
hoseok adapts quickly. the others don’t hide around him and no longer is he pushed away when one of their more unusual customers comes in asking for something that hoseok doesn’t understand. hoseok still can’t serve them because, y’know, he’s still fucking clueless about the ways of being a witch and all he really knows about is ‘fifty shades of grey’ because he read them in a week for fun. he calls yoongi his ‘angel prince’ and ‘my little fairy man’ because it makes him blush and it’s the closest thing to ‘babe’ that hoseok can get, to be honest. hoseok likes to ask taehyung what he’s about to do next and then kick him in the shins just because it makes hoseok laugh and then jimin has to pop up out of nowhere and make him feel better and jungkook always gives hoseok the middle finger because he can’t say ‘fuck you’ aloud.
(seokjin also does become very helpful at twenty past four one day and he and hoseok become completely useless because turns out, magic makes weed a lot stronger than the non-magical kind of weed. hoseok feels like a naughty child when he returns home only for his grandmother to instantly get a second hand high off the smell he brings with him and he’s forced to sit outside until it goes away. it wasn’t all bad though, yoongi phoned him and gently rapped his new lyrics to hoseok and hoseok alone and it made hoseok cry, just a little bit.)
hoseok does spend more time thinking about jungkook, though. from what namjoon’s said, they’ve pretty much accepted the fact that jungkook may never be able to talk. they believe in a lot of good things but they don’t believe in someone sacrificing their voice for jungkook. hoseok doesn’t blame them. it makes him cry a lot and once, he had tearfully told yoongi that maybe he should give it to jungkook. yoongi had gaped and pulled him close and firmly said “no, because i can’t go back to living in a world where i don’t get to hear your voice” and hoseok had cried more.
eventually, hoseok tells his grandmother about his witch boys and she just rolls her eyes and tells him ‘yes dear, we know, we always talk about it at bingo’. that was a bit of an odd conversation. it ended up with him crying though, and it makes the others cry as well, as hoseok’s grandmother promises that when she ends up on her death bed, she would do whatever she had to in order to sacrifice her voice for jungkook’s. hoseok had sobbed openly, at the thought of her dying, the thought of her last wish to be to give one of his best friend’s a voice and then they had all cried because they knew, they knew she really meant it. jungkook cried silently, clasping at taehyung, as if the harder he gripped the more likely sound would be able to leave his mouth.
(taehyung cried the most. hoseok forced himself to pretend that taehyung didn’t know something that he didn’t. he couldn’t think about what that could mean, he wouldn’t.)
hoseok has the answers to all his questions in his palm except one.
he gets the answer, finally, when he and yoongi are closing up and the doors are shut and there’s no-one there but them and the gentle glow from the lamps lighting up yoongi’s face and casting his shadow on the wall. he makes his shadow dance for hoseok without having to move his body and hoseok just watches, entranced.
“yoongi,” hoseok whispers, when yoongi stops his shadow from being alive and is now just sitting next to hoseok, their sides completely touching, “i really think you’re magic.”
yoongi’s sharp intake of breath is loud enough for hoseok to hear and hoseok can feel his own heart beating rapidly like it’s about to explode.
“yoongi?” hoseok’s voice is shaky and he can’t look at yoongi but he can’t look anywhere else either so he just faces where he knows yoongi is but with his eyes firmly shut. he’s prepared for this, he’s practiced for this but fuck, fuck he feels like he’s going to die.
“what is it?” yoongi’s voice is even quieter than hoseok’s.
“it dances and skips,” hoseok’s voice is barely more than a whisper but he knows yoongi can hear him, he knows yoongi knows the answer already because he knows words better than anyone else and his riddles are fuelled by literal magic but hoseok knows he has to do this, “it’s read in the eyes but cheats with the hips. if it meets it’s match it’s easily caught, but worth nothing if it’s bought. what is it?”
“it’s a heart,” yoongi’s voice is shakier than hoseok’s.
hoseok opens his eyes.
“and mine belongs to you, yoongi.”
hoseok thought he had found perfection in his life but nothing compares to the feeling of yoongi’s lips against his own and yoongi’s hand holding his and yoongi breathing out “i am so in love with you that i would give everything all up in a second if you wanted me to” and hoseok being able to reply with “i would never ask you to give up anything, i love you. i love you more than anything.”
hoseok isn’t magical. he can’t do spells or incantations and he can’t heal with a touch or make plants grow with his voice. he only knows one language and he can’t even win in a game of rock, paper, scissors. he’s also pretty shit at bingo but still refuses to stay at home while yoongi and his grandmother live it up with their scorecards.
hoseok wasn’t born with magic in his veins but yoongi thinks he might be the most magical being he’s ever met because hoseok makes him feel like he's holding the sun in his hands.