It’s actually too hot to be wearing a sweater, Hoseok mused as he advanced another level on candy crush. It was colder this morning. He wasn’t even supposed to leave his house today. It was Sunday, Sundays were for getting up at 2 in the afternoon, wearing pajamas, playing video games until eleven and then frantically finishing homework in time to get a few hours of sleep before school the next day. That was the routine. But not today, because yesterday Nam Joon asked him for a favor.

“So,” Nam Joon started “Yoongi had this idea that Jimin’s classmate and I would hit it off.”

“Yeah,” Hoseok didn’t look away from the TV screen as he frantically pressed buttons.

“So he gave me the kid’s number and we’ve been texting back and forth for a few weeks,” Nam Joon continued, “He’s actually pretty cool, he likes to draw and listens to The Weekend.”

“Uh- huh,” Jin was button mashing from his spot on the floor.

“We’re supposed to go out on Sunday. But I have a thing so, Hoseok will you go instead of me?”

“Why would I go visit your boytoy? Take that Jin!”

“Nope,” Jin retaliated, “Eat green shells er.”

“Because I sent him a photo of you and said it was me.”

Hoseok paused the game. “Seriously Nam Joon?” Jin pouted, not that anyone noticed.

“I couldn’t find a good photo of me,” Nam Joon said pathetically.

“That’s because you never take off your sunglasses,” Hoseok slapped Nam Joon on the back side of the head.

 “Why don’t you tell him the guy in the photo isn’t you,” Jin asked.

“Just go on Sunday, please Hoseok?” Nam Joon begged, “It’s just one date. I promise I’ll tell him the truth afterwards.”

Hoseok sighed in resignation, he had never seen Nam Joon this desperate before. And he’s sure he owes his friend a few favor. Nam Joon always gets him out of trouble when they stay out past curfew, or get caught drinking, or when Hoseok’s parents find his report card. Hoseok unpaused the game, “Yeah sure, what time?”

He drove off the path, Nam Joon’s hug prevented his rescue. The repeated thank yous did redeem his sacrifice. Until he saw Jin’s -eating grin and victory fist pump. One tournament later and Hoseok was the official Mario Kart champion of the house.

Now Hoseok had to wait at ten in the morning because Nam Joon decided he wanted to be all romantic and have a zoo date even though it would have been their first time seeing each other. If they hadn’t gotten along, it would have been a long awkward date. Nam Joon had terrible ideas. He didn’t even show him what Jungkook looked like. All he said was, a pretty kid with blonde-ish hair. How was Hoseok supposed to find that?

“Nam Joon?”

Hoseok looked up. OH. He tucked his phone away, and stood up like the suave man he is. “You’re Jungkook?”  he asked.

The kid nodded. He had a nice smile, and thin pink lips, and big eyes.

“Hey, I’m Kim Nam Joon, future rapper extraordinaire,” Hoseok smiled and stuck out his hand.

Jungkook shook it with a disapproving look on his face. “I know, you said that in your texts.”

, Hoseok should have read the text messages. Too late now. “Right. Well then. After you.”

“You’re paying for the tickets right?”

“What?”

“It was your idea, you should be pay for the zoo tickets,” Jungkook smiled as he headed towards the line. Curse that smile. Hoseok prayed that he had enough money, he flipped through his wallet just to make sure.

~~

Hoseok had spent his childhood thinking he would die in the same place he was raised, Jeollado. This thought was shattered last year, when his dad came home late one afternoon and announced that they were moving to Seoul. The move wasn’t bad. He got teased for his accent but Yoongi, another Southern native, had helped him tone the accent and make friends. They didn’t travel on the weekend so most of Seoul was still new to him.

“I’ve never been to this zoo before, I didn’t know it was so big,” Hoseok said while looking down at the African exhibit.

“Really? I was eight when I first came,” Jungkook said. He held out one of the giraffe crackers he bought. A long purple tongue creeped between the boards and took it from him. Then he handed one of the crackers to Hoseok. Hoseok held the cracker out, but pulled it away when one of the giraffe heads came close to the gate. “Gross,” he laughed.

Jungkook laughed with him. The second time he successfully let the giraffe slobber all over his hand, then immediately ran to one of the sanitizer dispensers. All of the crackers were gone by the time he went back. They meandered over to the hippo exhibit. Hippos don’t do much, Hoseok realized, they just sat in the water, ate, and occasionally spit out water. Must be an easy life.

Jungkook tugged onto Hoseok’s sweater sleeve and they moved onto the next pavilion. The cheetahs were active and chased each other around, while the lions, to Hoseok’s disappointment, were just as lazy as the hippos  . One of them let out a giant roar. Hoseok roared back.

“That was pretty good,” Jungkook laughed.

“Hey maybe I was a lion in my last life,” Hoseok said.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I was the king of Africa and had a whole group of lady lions all to myself. And ate all the deer I wanted,” Hoseok beamed.

Jungkook snorted, “One, they are no deer in Africa. There’s,” he read the sign, “those gazelle things in that corner. And second, you wouldn’t have a harem of lionesses.”

“Why not?”

“We wouldn’t be here right now if that were true,” Jungkook smiled. Hoseok was getting used to that smile, to small pink lips stretched across his face and crinkled eyes.

He followed it around. Every time Jungkook tugged on Hoseok’s sweater sleeve or shoved his shoulder they would walk to the next area. And every time an animal roared, be it a wolf or a tiger or a bear, Hoseok would growl right back. He scared the young kids more than the animals did, but Jungkook didn’t reprimand him, he just smiled and pulled him somewhere else. They barely looked at the birds, neither one was fascinated by painted feathers and shrieks. Hoseok did hoot at the howls, that was fun. After twenty minutes, Jungkook convinced Hoseok to gave up in his quest to find out what the fox says. Hoseok wanted to stay longer, but Jungkook’s pout was hard to ignore.

Their conversations flowed easily, diving from school life to questioning the concept of an afterlife to an in depth analysis of the Attack on Titans finale. Nam Joon had failed to mention that Jungkook was in middle school (well Jimin was in middle school so Hoseok should have expected that.) But with each shared step, he found himself minding the age difference less. Or maybe it was with each blank stare. Or every time he would mindlessly chew his fingernails. Or how clingy he was.  Once they got over the initial awkwardness he would cling on to Hoseok’s arm whenever he would talk. It was nice.

Hoseok’s favorite moment was when they were at the ape cage. Jungkook cut through their howling and spoke, “When I first came to the zoo it was for a school trip. There was a group of us trying to talk to the chimpanzees. One of them spit on me. After that incident my friends said I was the chimpanzee’s enemy, a monkey. Some of them still call me that.”

Hoseok teased, “Can I call you that?”

“Nope.”

“All right, monkey,”

“I heard that!,” Jungkook shouted. He shoved Hoseok before walking off. Hoseok chased after him with apologies and pleas. Jungkook never forgave him, but he also didn’t stop him when he held onto his hand.

~~

They wrote on the message board before they left. Well, they started out writing but gave up when the couldn’t think of something meaningful to write. So they drew animals instead. “That is the worst giraffe I have ever seen,” Jungkook said.

“At least you can tell what I drew. What is that blob on your paper?” Hoseok retaliated.

“It’s you.”

Hoseok stopped scribbling, his face turned crimson, “What?”

“Yeah, it’s you and that dumb fox that wouldn’t talk so we could leave. I am writing a complaint so maybe they’ll trade him for a more talkative fox,” Jungkook explained, “It’s too dark to walk through the rose garden now. We would have seen the flowers if it wasn’t for him.”

Hoseok smiled, “We can go to the garden next time, okay?”

Jungkook hesitated, “Sure.” He smiled, but it wasn’t a full one.

Hoseok drew a stick figure Jungkook feeding the giraffe. He almost signed the drawing as Hoseok, but caught his mistake and wrote Nam Joon’s name instead.

Nam Joon.

Jungkook was Nam Joon’s date. After today Jungkook would know that Hoseok had lied to him and wasn’t the Nam Joon that he had been texting back and forth. Nam Joon would take Jungkook to the Rose Garden next time. And get pulled around. And call him monkey.

With that realization, Hoseok decided that he would make the most of their night. Because today, Jungkook was Hoseok’s date, and not Nam Joon’s. Therefore, he could hold Jungkook’s hand as they walked around. He could buy Jungkook a hamburger, and then steal his fries when he looked away. He could give Jungkook his hoodie when he complained about the cold. He could take corny photos with him at the Japanese sticker booth and draw moustaches on their faces like the mature adult he is. Anything, so that Jungkook could remember him. Even though Nam Joon met him first, that doesn’t mean Hoseok didn’t have a chance, right?

Jungkook fell asleep on Hoseok’s shoulder on the bus ride home, making it impossible for Hoseok to relax. Not when Jungkook’s dirty blonde hair brushed against his skin or when his scent was everywhere or when he was so close that Hoseok could count every eyelash. He almost resisted the urge to brush his bangs to the side. Almost. Jungkook’s hair was just as soft as it looked.

The bus ride ended too soon and they were back in downtown Seoul. Hoseok wanted to hug Jungkook when he was rubbing the sleep from his eyes because no human being should look that adorable. Instead, he said, “I had a great time today.”

“Yeah, it was more fun than I expected,” Jungkook gave a small smile, “Do you want your hoodie back?”

“It’s still cold. You can give it to me next time.”

It was only for a second, but Hoseok saw the smile slip off his face. “Yeah, next time. Thanks.”

Jungkook stepped onto the subway.

He was gone.

Hoseok felt more alone than he should.

A/N:

It's only two parts. I'll upoad the second part on Friday.

Before you message something is wrong, it's wrong on purpose. You'll find out why in the second part.

Thank you for reading this ^_^