Chapter 14 – Morning After

It was nearly lunchtime when Hoseok finally decided to open his eyes. He’d been awake for some time now, but the mild pounding in his head had made him roll over in his bed a few times, trying to go back to sleep and forget the pain. Finally, he shoved the blankets away grumpily and tried to sit up, which made his head swim.

‘Urgh… why did you drink so much, you idiot…’ he told himself, swinging his legs out of bed and heading for the bathroom.

A shower and a few painkillers later, he felt a little more human and decided that food was probably the next best medicine. He threw on an old t-shirt and some black sweatpants, shoved his phone in his pocket, and made his way to the kitchen. It was empty and oddly quiet, for a Sunday morning in the Jung household, but then he realized it wasn’t really morning, but already nearly 1pm.

He poured himself a bowl of cereal and brought it to the sofa with him, where he munched on it, absentmindedly watching TV.

His phone buzzed in his pocket so he took it out. He saw he had at least 10 missed messages, most of them from last night, asking where he’d gone, but the most recent one caught his attention, seeing as it was from Jimin.

[What are you doing today, hyung?] the message read.

Hoseok smiled. He could just imagine Jimin’s happy face as he asked that. As he pondered what to answer, another message popped up in the kakaotalk window. ‘The kid must’ve noticed I’ve read the message, tsssch…’ thought the young man.

[Wanna hang out?]

Hoseok smiled and typed a reply.

[I just woke up]

[Hyung, it’s already 1pm!]

[I know… I drank too much last night. Sue me]

[How are you even up?]

[I went to the gym]

Hoseok shook his head. ‘Too much extra energy, that one…’

[Look Jiminie, I’d love to hang out with you, but I feel like crap. The most excitement I’m likely to get today is watching movies in my PJs]

[That sounds fun]

[Can I join you?]

Hoseok just stared at his phone in disbelief for a moment.

[You wanna come over???]

[Yeah! I’m bored already…]

[Hum… ok]

[Cool! I’ll be there soon!]

*

About 40 minutes later, the doorbell rang in J-Hope’s house. He made his way to the door, dragging his slippers on the floor as he did, and opened the door to reveal a smiling Jimin, dressed in b-boy gear and arms laden with plastic shopping bags.

“Delivery for hungover Hobi!!” called out the younger boy in a loud voice, as he pushed by his friend to make his way in. Hoseok chuckled as he closed the door behind him.

“Hyung, your house’s really nice!” chirped Jimin.

“And you’re really loud, you know” grumbled his friend, grabbing the bags in his left hand and putting them on the counter.

“Oh sorry…” apologized the boy sheepishly, “are your parents home?”

Hoseok shook his head and started fussing through the bags. “What’s all this?”

“Oh!” perked up the brown-haired boy, “I brought you some things!”

Hoseok couldn’t help but smile as his younger friend showed him the contents of his packages. He’d gotten some medicine, ginger soup his mom had supposedly made, and some movies from the rental shop, as well as another bag that was full of snacks.

“Jeez, Jiminie, what are you, my girlfriend?” joked Hoseok, making the kid blush.

“I just wanted to make sure you were ok… sorry if it’s too much…”

Hoseok put an arm around his friend and ruffled his hair. “Come on… TV’s back there.”

They spent the whole afternoon watching movies, and soon Hoseok found himself feeling a lot better. He was really happy to be able to spend time with Jimin like this; he’d been so surprised when his dongsaeng had suggested hanging out. It was the first time they’d really done anything together that wasn’t related to dance practice. And though he wouldn’t have admitted it to anyone, he was really, really happy.

His sister came back home at some point in the middle of the afternoon, but she didn’t really bother them. She only stayed long enough to greet Jimin and then shut herself up in her room, studying.

“Hyung…”Jimin said in a hushed whisper after she’d gone, “your noona is really pretty!”

“And off-limits” nodded the other boy, casting Jimin a meaningful glance.

Jimin laughed.

“I mean it, Jiminie. Try to seduce my sister, and you’re dead!” Hoseok mimed slicing his neck with a blade and it only caused Jimin to laugh more.

“Haha!” laughed the brown-haired boy, “as if you could ever do anything to me with that scrawny little body of yours…”

“Oh yeah…?” said Hoseok, before he jumped on Jimin’s side of the couch, wrestling with him and quickly pinning him down.

“Not fair!” whined Jimin, “you took me by surprise!”

J-Hope let out a silly evil laughter, but he’d cried victory too soon because in a moment, Jimin had flipped him around and was now straddling him, holding his arm behind him and letting out a mad cackle. “Victory!!!”

“How dare you treat me like this?!” retorted Hoseok, his voice half-muffled by the sofa’s cushions, “I’m your elder!!”

“You started it…” said the youngest with a smirk, although he did let go of J-Hope’s arms and got off his back.

Hoseok sat up and threw Jimin a dirty look, his nose scrunched up in an expression that made him look more funny than scary.

“Sorry hyung…” said Jimin, his shoulders shaking with the laughter he was trying to contain.

Hoseok ummptfft-ed and reached for the remote, to start the movie again. As he extended his arm he cried “Omo! Omo… my shoulders…. Aaah… it hurts….” dramatically, casting a side look at Jimin, who rolled his eyes.

“Sheeeshh… you’re such a baby…” complained Jimin, hopping over to him, and starting to give him a massage.

“Aahhh…” sighed Hoseok, “a little more to the left…”

“Honestly, who’s the elder here, I wonder??” Jimin asked the heavens, and Hoseok chuckled.

“Still me.”

They continued watching movies and exchanging cheerful banter like this, and Hoseok couldn’t have dreamt of a better way to spend his Sunday. Jimin had called his parents to tell them he’d come back late, and they’d kept on their marathon after having devoured the pizza they’d ordered for dinner.

Later, Hobi opened his eyes drowsily and stared at the TV, which was rolling credits to the last movie they’d been watching. He glanced at the clock on the DVD player’s clock that was flashing 21:48.

‘I must’ve fallen asleep…’ he thought to himself, rubbing his eyes and trying to sit up.

As he did, he realized that something was laying nearly on top of him. Not something – someone. Hoseok looked down and saw that Jimin lay down next to him, his head resting against Hoseok’s thigh as he breathed softly.

‘When did he…’ the dark-haired boy thought to himself, in a breath in surprise.

He looked at Jimin, not daring to move, and then gently nudged him so that the younger boy’s head rested on his lap. Jimin mumbled something but didn’t wake up, and Hoseok just stared at him, his face full of a very complicated emotion.

“How dare you just fall asleep on me, eh?” he told the sleeping boy, risking running a hand through Jimin’s hair.

And then he thought to himself, ‘How dare you make me feel this way? You stupid, beautiful boy…’

He stayed like this for a few minutes, playing with Jimin’s hair, contemplating how the moment was really perfect.

“You know, if you never woke up, I could just stay like this and pretend you’re my boyfriend…” he said aloud, and then gave a big sigh.

Jimin stirred and Hoseok quickly pulled his hand away, pretending to yawn. Jimin opened his eyes and looked around in confusion.

“Oh, hey, you’re up?” he told the blinking boy on his lap.

“Did I fall asleep?” asked Jimin, sitting up and looking around and yawning.

Hoseok pressed his lips together as he tried not to laugh at how cute his friend was like this. He looked even younger than he normally did, his eyes all puffy and his cheeks a little red.

“Yeah,” he said, and Jimin just nodded, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“What time is it?”

“About 10pm.”

“I guess I should head on home then,” mumbled the younger, standing up from the couch and checking his pockets to see that nothing had fallen out.

“Right, wouldn’t want mom to worry,” teased J-Hope, getting up as well.

“Yah!” Jimin play-punched him and Hoseok laughed, his eyes crinkling into little slits.

“You feeling better though?” asked the younger boy with a considerate look, taking him by surprise.

“Oh yeah,” answered the elder, “much.” He gave Jimin a soft smile.

“I’m glad” the shorter boy smiled back. “Well then…” he added, grabbing his backpack from the floor.

Hoseok nodded and led Jimin back to the front door.

“Thanks for coming Jiminie” he said, holding the door open for him.

“Nah, it was fun. Let’s do it again sometimes” Jimin winked at him, which made Hoseok’s heart beat a little faster, but he brushed it off by laughing nervously as he nodded.

“Definitely.”

Jimin headed out, turning around a few steps later to wave a last goodbye at his hyung, who stood on the threshold, waving back with a big smile. Hoseok stayed there staring at his disappearing shape probably longer than he should have, so he was surprised when he heard a voice just behind him.

“He’s cute.”

Hoseok turned his head to see his sister’s chin almost directly on his shoulder, and she turned to smile at him.

“It’s not like that…” he mumbled, grumpily walking back into the house.

“It’s not? I saw you guys cuddling on the couch…” she said with a faint smile on her lips, following him back in.

“It’s really, really not” said the dark-haired boy, plopping down on one of the stools at the kitchen counter. “He’s straight.”

“Aaaaah….” commented his sister with a sympathizing expression, as she took a seat next to him and gave him a big side-hug.

“I just wish I were normal…” sighed the boy, letting his head fall onto his sister’s shoulder, looking sadder than anyone had ever known J-Hope to be… besides her.

“Oh, baby bro, don’t say that…” she said, petting his hair softly, “you’re not abnormal… you’re just different.” she added, with deep sympathy in her voice. “It’ll be ok… you’ll see… it’ll be ok…”

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Sooo, Hobi's love is revealed!! Somehow this chapter makes me really sad even though it's really cute.
Did you like it?

Oh and a lot of people have been asking... I promise that Insook is coming back in the next chapter!!