*****Two years ago*****

 

Yoongi sat by himself in the break room eating his lunch. The usual loud atmosphere in the office was absent here, which is what Yoongi preferred. He had taken his usual early lunch so as to avoid the others who would only be a nuisance to him. This situation has become the norm for him.

 

Yoongi isn’t dumb; he knows what everyone in the office says about him. That he’s a grump, a jerk who cares about nobody but himself. But that’s not true at all— he just struggles with effectively communicating his emotions while also dealing with his anxiety. Jungkook, as well as Namjoon and Seokjin, had learned this, but everybody else hadn’t.

 

But it’s better this way Yoongi supposes. It doesn’t matter that everybody has the wrong impression, he gets more work done and doesn’t have to get scared that he’ll say the wrong thing. It’s less stress for him.

 

The door to the break room opens with a loud creak, interrupting Yoongi from his thoughts. The figure makes its way to him, and Yoongi scrunches his face in concentration, attempting to remember who this man is. Yoongi could have sworn he knew everybody in the office.

 

“Hello, my name is Hoseok and I just started working here as an accountant. The other guys told me you were also an accountant, so I figured I better introduce myself to you personally,” the man timidly told Yoongi with a shy smile.

 

Hmm, Yoongi must have missed it when Namjoon introduced the new guy. He has learned to tune out pretty much everything at this point. Plus, he sits in the corner by himself (after much complaining to Namjoon to get him away from Jackson) so it was easy to not notice things.

 

“I’m Yoongi,” he bluntly introduced himself.

 

Rather than leave like Yoongi expected him to, Hoseok sat himself directly across from him and started to get out his lunch from its bag. Yoongi stared at him with a mix of anger and confusion.

 

“Is it alright if I eat with you? It’s just that I don’t like being alone. P-plus, you looked like you needed some company,” Hoseok stuttered as he was obviously taken aback by Yoongi’s reaction, but he quickly traded his shocked expression for another bright smile.

 

Not wanting to make a rude first impression, Yoongi nodded back in confirmation. Hopefully he won’t talk too much, he thinks to himself.

 

Unfortunately, he did talk a lot, much to Yoongi’s annoyance. Hoseok sprung a plethora of basic questions upon him, which he responded to with short, curt answers. He hoped Hoseok would eventually give up on trying to make conversation, like everyone else had in the past.

 

But Hoseok wasn’t like other people, Yoongi came to realize— not at all. Despite his lack of response, Hoseok plowed on with his questions, determined to learn more about him. Hoseok’s beautiful smile (yes it was beautiful Yoongi confessed to himself) never left his face and he felt himself feel a bit warm at the attention Hoseok gave him.

 

Hoseok’s determination payed off when he brought up the topic of pets. It was impossible for Yoongi to contain his love for his dog Holly, and his excitement must have shown on his face, seeing at how flustered Hoseok got at his sudden outpouring of emotion.

 

The rest of their lunch break seemed to speed by as Yoongi actively conversed with Hoseok. Before he knew it, it was time to get back to work. Yoongi actually felt disappointed, a sentiment that Hoseok seemed to share, “Wow, time flew by fast! I really enjoyed talking to you Yoongi-ssi. Hopefully we could do this again in the future.. you know if that’s alright with you.”

 

“It is,” Yoongi started and before he could lose any nerve he spewed out the rest of his thoughts, “Thank you for this… I really appreciate you— I mean your actions.”

Hoseok gave him one last beautiful smile and a quick wave before heading back to his desk. Yoongi waved back as he tried to control his happiness. Hoseok had made him forget about everything; he had even managed to get him to display some emotion. Anybody else would have gotten annoyed with im, but Hoseok didn’t, and that’s what made him so special to Yoongi.

 

Namjoon is going to hate me, Yoongi thought to himself as he got up and made his way to his boss’ office. He’s really going to hate me.

 

Yoongi knocked on the door and entered once he heard the “Come in!” from inside.

 

“Hey, Namjoon-ssi,” he said with a weak chuckle, ”You know how I asked you to move me away from Jackson?... Well I just realized how silly it was for me to ask you to separate the accountants. I should probably move back— you know so that I can help out the new guy and stuff.”

 

Namjoon just groaned as he put his face in his hands.

 

            ********** Present Day ***********

 

The doors to the office opened with loud noise as Kibum came rushing in.

 

“You guys are not going to believe what just happened,” he yelled out to the entire office. When no one stirred at his outburst he hollered out a loud “Pay attention to me!!”

 

“What happened?” Taemin called out from his desk.

 

“You know how Seungri has been into real estate recently? Well, he just bought this entire building!! And that’s not it— He kicked all the other companies out of the building!”

 

Kibum noticed that Minho still wasn’t paying attention and seemed more interested to the music he was listening to through his earbuds.

 

Kibum hurried over to his desk and ripped out Minho’s earbuds,” Didn’t you hear me? What if Seungri kicks us out of the building as revenge for that one prank we played on him! Wait… what were you listening to”

 

The entire office sat in silence as Minho’s computer played a party song in a different language. Even Hyungwon stopped his game to stare at the man trying to sink deeper into his chair. The loud beat resonated throughout the entire building as Minho got redder and redder.

 

“A ella le gusta la gasolina! Dame más gasolina!”

“Como le encanta la gasolina! Dame más gasolina!”

 

Kibum eventually broke the silence, “What genre is that even?”

 

“Kpop?” Hyungwon questioned before shrugging his shoulders and returning to his game.

 

During this time, Seungri had finally arrived at work, “Say hello to the new owner of this building!”

 

“Are you going to get rid of us too?” Seokjin worriedly asked the question on everybody’s mind.

 

“What!? Of course not! I thought we established that you guys are my EVERYTHING,” Seungri responded with the familiar hand swipe against his chest. Everyone took a collective exhale in relief. “In fact, I plan to totally renovate this building and make it better for us here.”

 

“Can we get a food court?” Moonbyul called out.

 

“Oh, what about a coffee shop! And a gym!” Luna and Jackson added.

 

“Sounds good to me. Just give me your suggestions and I’ll take them into consideration,” Seungri replied, “Just keep in mind that these changes can only happen to the floors above us. I’ve already leased the floors below us to an entertainment company.”

 

“What entertainment company? SM? YG?” Taehyung asked curiously.

 

“Some startup named Big Hit. All I know is that they have a few male trainees for an upcoming boy group, so don’t get surprised if you see some youngsters around the building”

 

“Do you happen to have their business card? You know for business purposes…” Jackson trailed off as everyone eyed him curiously.

 

As Seungri handed over the business card to Jackson, Yoongi decided to use this time to make his announcement since everyone’s attention was already captured. Plus, Hoseok still hadn’t made it to the office, so it was the perfect time for Yoongi to address everyone. He stood up and cleared his voice, causing all the attention to shift to him.

 

“Before you guys go back to work, I just wanted to remind everybody that Hoseok’s birthday is coming up. So, obviously the party planning committee needs to get together to decide what we are going to do for his party,” Yoongi addressed the office.

 

“Wait a minute! Why does Hoseok get a party?! You never threw me a party for my birthday!” Jimin accused Yoongi. Taehyung nodded in support of his friend.

 

Because Hoseok deserves the world, Yoongi thought to himself.

 

“That’s because there’s a holiday in your birthday month! Did you really want to exchange the Halloween party for a birthday party? The same goes for you Taehyung! Are you going to rob everybody of their end-of-the-year party?” Yoongi shot back at the two in defense of himself.

 

“What about me! My birthday’s in July and nothing big happens in July! Why don’t I get a party?” Taemin questioned from the receptionist desk.

 

“There’s uhh..” Yoongi tried to come up with something.

 

“The Fourth of July,” Creed shouted out.

 

“Yeah, that’s right!” Yoongi agreed.

 

“But we don’t celebrate that here in Korea,” Namjoon interjected.

 

Damn you Kim Namjoon. “Well I thought it would be cool if we celebrated the Fourth of July this year. You know to…to...,” Yoongi struggled to come up with something.

 

“To expand our cultural understanding of the world around us,” Jungkook swooped in as he gave Yoongi a look of understanding, probably aware of his hidden intentions for this party.

 

Bless this boy. I definitely need to treat him to lamb skewers tonight, Yoongi mused to himself. “What he said.”

 

“Don’t worry Taemin. I’ll make sure to throw you the biggest party for your birthday this year,” Minho called out sweetly to Taemin.

 

“Wow, Minho. You’re such a great friend. I’m really lucky to have you,” Taemin responded back with a smile.

 

“Yeah.. friend,” Minho whispered to himself dejectedly.

 

“Well if Hoseok gets a party then I want one too! Make it a bomb- Gucci themed one,” Key quipped trying to distract everyone from the mental breakdown Minho was having at his desk in response to Taemin’s innocent statement.

 

“Forget about the end-of-the-year celebration— I want a Gucci themed birthday party too,” Taehyung added as he bounced in his chair in excitement.

 

“To wrap this up, the Party Planning Committee should get together to discuss Hoseok’s party later today... I guess. It’s not like anybody told me about this party even though I’m the boss, but whatever,” Namjoon replied a bit offended but used to it at this point.

 

“Make sure not to tell Hoseok about it or I’ll end you,” Yoongi closed up the impromptu meeting menacingly.

 

            *****************************************

 

“Yoongi-ssi we really can’t afford this. You’re going to waste our entire yearly budget on this one party if you keep this up,” Luna tried to reason with Yoongi. Her tone conveyed a sense of exasperation, which was different from her usual sunny disposition. It made Yoongi feel a bit guilty for making her feel this way.

 

“Okay fine! We’ll ditch the five-foot fondue machine, but we need to keep the chocolate cupcakes topped with gold flakes,” Yoongi tried to reason with the others.

 

“Yoongi, you really need to chill out here. We know what this party means for you and we promise to make it something Hoseok will like, but we can’t spend this much money,” Seokjin calmly took him. Yoongi didn’t fail to notice Seokjin’s reference to his true intentions.

 

Neither did the others, seeing as how they all shared a knowing glance with each other. Taehyung even had the nerve to smirk at him.

 

It’s official, Yoongi was going to end them all.

 

“Look man, the only reason we added you to the Party Planning Committee is because we knew you would knock some sense into us if we ever overspent for a single party. You can’t go changing your spending habits on us now!” Key waved his hands as he shouted.

 

“Fine,” Yoongi glumly agreed, ”I promise to not go overboard. It’ll only be a little bit better than the other parties.”

 

“That seems about as good as we’re going to get with him,” Seokjin conceded, “Moving on, we need two people to go to the party store to pick up the supplies for tomorrow.”

 

Taehyung seemed to have gotten an idea as he glanced at a familiar bickering pair in the office through the window in the conference room. He smiled mischievously at the group.

 

“We’ve already spent sooo much time deciding the basics of the party, it’s only fair if we send people outside of the committee to do some work. You know, spread the work evenly. Why don’t we send Jungkook and Jimin! I’m sure those two could do with some time outside the office.”

 

This boy is good, Yoongi thought to himself.

 

“What a great idea Taehyung-ssi,” Luna chirped.

 

This time, Yoongi actually took part in the knowing glances shared among the committee.

 

            ******************************************

 

“For the last time, we’re not going to buy only green supplies! There needs to be a color scheme!” Jimin shouted between the aisles of the party supplies store.

 

“I’m just trying to follow Yoongi-hyung’s orders,” Jungkook sighed as he pushed the half-filled shopping cart behind Jimin.

 

Jimin’s gaze alternated between the excessively stocked shelves to the list the Party Planning Committee had given them, giving Jungkook some time to observe the guy. The dim lighting of the store made it seem as though a spotlight were shining upon Jimin, highlighting all of his perfect features. Jungkook tried to keep his chuckle in as he watched Jimin struggled to reach a pack of streamers on the top shelf, his face screwed up in pure concentration as he stepped on his tippy toes.

 

“Try to be nice and don’t mess this up,” Yoongi had warned him before he left. He had tried to be nice to Jimin earlier, but the boy knew just how to rile him up. Making Jimin like him was a hard task. Getting Jimin to stop fighting with him was a lot harder.

 

If he was going to be completely honest, Yoongi was right (not that he would ever admit that). Jungkook seemed to be making no headway in changing his relationship with Jimin. He guessed it was time to properly change tactics since being mean was going nowhere. Well here goes nothing, Jungkook mused as he went to help Jimin reach the streamers.

 

Jimin stretched his fingers out to their fullest capability, yet he still couldn’t reach the streamers. Suddenly, another hand reached out beside him to grab the pack of streamers. Jimin looked over to see Jungkook holding the packet.

 

“Is this the color you were trying to reach?” Jungkook asked as he handed Jimin the packet.

 

Jimin had expected Jungkook to take a jab at his height, but was surprised to hear the sincerity behind his question. There wasn’t a single ounce of sarcasm. Weird.

 

“Yeah that’s the one.” Jimin wandered into the next aisle to look for more supplies. Upon turning the corner, a bright assortment of colors greeted his eyes.

 

“Oooh look, they have a whole aisle of flower crowns!” he shouted back to Jungkook. Jimin grabbed a crown with purple flowers and immediately placed it upon his blonde head.

 

“Wow Tae should’ve joined us, he would’ve gotten a kick out of these flowers,” Jimin said as he pulled out his phone and began to take pictures of himself.

 

Jungkook stared at the scene in front of him with a look of adoration. It was times like this that Jungkook was reminded exactly why he had fallen for the other.

 

Jimin paused his photoshoot and glanced back, only to find Jungkook staring at him with a weird look in his eye.

 

“What are you looking at?” Jimin questioned, breaking Jungkook out of his trance.

 

Instead of responding, Jungkook walked up close to Jimin, to the point where he was a few inches away from the man.

 

Jimin in his breath as Jungkook reached a hand out behind him.

 

Oh no, is he going to do that cliche k-drama wall slam kiss thing?, Jimin nervously wondered as time seemed to stop.

 

Jungkook locked eyes with Jimin and they stared at each other for what seemed like hours, neither one moving away. Jimin was sure Jungkook could hear the loud thumping of his heart. He started to hyperventilate at the close contact until Jungkook pulled his hand back only to reveal a pink, rose flower crown.

 

“Pink looks with looks better with your blonde hair,” Jungkook shyly muttered before turning away.

 

Disappointment coursed through Jimin’s veins and he let out a sigh. Jungkook had only been reaching out behind him, nothing else.

 

Jimin is not entirely sure why his heart started to beat faster during the whole ordeal. He also doesn’t know why he expected Jungkook to kiss him or why has was disappointed when he didn’t. All he knows is that he needs to have a serious talk with Taehyung to discuss what had happened.