It takes him a while to tear his eyes away from yours, instead trying to find his phone. As he picks it up, the ringing stops, the call already dropped. Smiling up at you, he opens his mouth, as if to say something, before being interrupted by the ringing, again.
Laughing, you motion for him to pick up.

“Yes? Already here…… Great. Yea, I’ll buzz you in gimme a sec.”

It’s a very short call, his eyes never leaving you as he talks to his friend on the other end. The guys are early. For once. Of course, the one night where being late would be ok, or even good, that’s the one night were Jimin isn’t late.
It almost feels like the universe is sabotaging your impure intentions. Hoseok moves towards the door, buzzing in his classmates and friends. In the meantime, you decide to pump up the music volume and get the guys their usual drinks ready, might as well make yourself useful while you wait for them to come up.
The elevator is out of order and you live on the fourth floor, so you should have a few minutes.

*I wasn’t really sure about us
But now I’m pretty sure about us
Ooh, pull me closer
Cause I changed my mind*

As you take some beers and ciders out of the fridge, the chorus of one of your favourite songs hits and you can’t help but swaying along, your eyes closed as you put down the drinks on a table.
Suddenly, there’s hands on your hips, a forehead against yours, someone joining in your slow dance around the apartment.
Your bodies pressed against each other, you can feel his breath against your skin, smelling the drinks he has already had as you wrap your arms around his neck, your hand in his hair.
In time with the song lyrics, he pulls you closer, a small smile on his lips as he meets your eyes.
You see the way his eyes flit between your eyes and your lips, the question almost audible.
But before either one of you can actually make a move, Jimin and his friend Taehyung burst through the door, laughing and breathless, looking like they actually raced up the stairs.

“Oh! Is it finally happening? Y/n and Hobi? Friends to lovers? After all these years of pining?” Jimin laughs as the two of you rip apart as quick as lightning.
Your eyes on your best friend, you ignore the younger man’s joke, just trying to figure out how to actually move on from what just *almost* happened. All of a sudden, Hoseok is refusing to meet your eyes, instead he barks out a laugh, greeting his friends as the rest of the group starts pouring in. “Just shut up and get your drinks, I wanna go out dancing and we all know you need some alcohol to actually function at a club.” He slaps Jimin’s shoulder, a bit too hard for it to be just friendly, his eyes confirming your suspicion. Hoseok is mad. And as soon as Jimin sees it, he turns to you, to where the drinks are, a mild panic now in his eyes.

All in all, there’s 6 friends other than you in Hobi’s closest friend group. There’s Jimin and Jungkook who go to the same programme as Hoseok does. They’re dancers. Then there’s Taehyung, as far as you know he’s an art student and Jimin’s best friend, so he always gets dragged along. He is sweet and quiet and seems sometimes overwhelmed by the energy of the dance-hoes (as they call themselves), while other times he just joins in, a giggly mess of shenanigans when he is the mood. Somehow, Hoseok met Namjoon, Jin and Yoongi, even though they run in very different circles. Namjoon a history major, Jin a professional chef and Yoongi a music producer in his first year out of Uni, they somehow ended up in this mess of a clique.

Tonight, only the chaotic one’s came. Namjoon stayed home with some essay while Yoongi just straight up refused. They rarely join in the dancing and going out part of the friendship.
You send Yoongi a quick text, jokingly annoyed with him for leaving you alone with a bunch of chaotic drunks. You hear Tae and Jimin giggling at some Dad-joke Jin said as you, for the second time this night already, get surprised by someone’s hands on your waist. You turn to face what you expect to be Hoseok, but are even more surprised to find Jungkook, his eyes dark as he is obviously already drunk.
“I love this dress on you, y/n. You look tasty as all hell.” He says, his eyes focused solely on your lips as he pulls you a little closer.
With a small laugh, you pinch his cheek: “Aw, thank you, Kookie! I bought it today and I think it’s already one of my favourite dresses.” Looking over the younger man’s shoulder, you see Hoseok, slowly meandering towards where the two of you are standing, an angry frown on his face. You’ve seen Hoseok angry many times, but he’s never been this… possessive about you. So you decide to save Jungkook from your old friend’s wrath. With a featherlight touch and a big smile, you remove his hands from your waist and decide to show off your favourite part of the dress. Twirling a little to show off the flowy skirt, you bump into Hoseok, his muscular arm suddenly on your shoulder.
“How ‘bout some water for the baby? I don’t want them to not let him into the club.” He smirks at you, teasing his friend with the loathed nickname.
“Oh come on, you know he hates that nickname. Don’t be a just cause the alcohol has you feeling possessive all of a sudden.” A playful hit against his side, a smirk and you leave Hobi alone too.
You don’t know what’s gotten into you as you sit down next to Tae instead, his calm energy a much needed relief from the tension between you and Hoseok as well as Jungkook and Hoseok, who are still in the kitchen, lowly arguing it seems.
A few minutes later, the boys come to join the rest, Hoseok with an almost triumphant looking smile on his face as he winks at you, the younger one avoiding your looks as he plops down next to Jin, a glass of water in his hand.
Hoseok takes his place standing behind you, one of his hands lightly massaging your neck, as he tends to do so often.
As you lean in to the touch more, ignoring the looks from your friends, Hoseok suddenly speaks: “Okay my dudes and dudette. Next bus downtown goes in 15 minutes. I wanna go to a new club, is everybody ready?”
The guys whoop with excitement in answer, already moving to chug their drinks or fix their outfits and hair.
You just lean back further, smiling up at Hobi, who in turn winks at you, letting go of your neck to boop your nose. “Get your stuff, I don’t wanna miss the bus. I need your help herding these idiots.”
You decide to borrow Hoseok’s leather jacket since you’re dressing for coverage rather than warmth. It’s early summer so the nights are warm but walking around in a revealing dress is still not a great idea, even if you’re accompanied by 5 men.
As he sees you adjusting your bag over the bulky jacket, the look in his eyes is anything but platonic. His eyes full of hunger, a blush creeps on your cheeks, making you have to turn away from him before you make your way to the apartment door.
“Ok fellas, is everyone ready? Then let’s go.”
You hold the door open as they all make their way out, each with a drink for the way to the club in their hand as you hear their conversations and laughter sound through the corridor while they make their way towards the stairs.
Last one out is Hoseok, who waits until everyone has disappeared into the staircase to pull you back into the flat and slam the door shut.
Before you can say anything, his hands are cupping your cheeks, his eyes suddenly soft.
“Please don’t go home with anyone else tonight, y/n. I like you. Just come back home with me. Please.”
He’s… begging you. The surprise must be written on your face, a dry laugh escaping his throat as he continues: “You didn’t know? I have liked you for years…. You know, they say alcohol makes you stupid or brave. I guess it’s made me stupid tonight.” He pulls away, running his hands through his hair as he turns his back to you. “I never meant to ruin our friendship, I am so sorry. Just... forget what I said… I just thought.. After today...After the song earlier... And then the dancing… That maybe I am not completely delusional in hoping you might see me as more than just a friend. I am sorry, y/n.” He rambles on, clearly distressed by your silence.
“Alcohol makes you stupid or brave. That’s what you said, right? Then look at me Jung Hoseok. Don’t just assume you know my answer after dropping a bomb like that on me.”
With a sad laugh, he turns to you, his hands on the back of his neck as his eyes are wide with emotions and alcohol.
You take a step towards him, a tentative smile on your lips before you pull him towards you by his T-shirt. Your lips crashing into his, you feel a smile spread across his lips and his hands grabbing at your waist.
Finally pulling apart, both of you laugh.
And then his phone rings, which only makes you laugh harder.
With a small peck on your lips, he accepts the call, a broad smile still on his lips.
“What is it Jimin?”
You can hear the other man’s answer as he must be yelling into the phone.
“If y’all wanted to get us out of the flat so you could you could’ve just said so. Now come down so we don’t miss the damn bus. I am not waiting a half hour for the next one.”
Hoseok's eyes widen, the realization of the time already stressing him.
“Oh crap, we’re on our way.”
Hoseok grabs your hand as he shoves the phone in his pocket with the other hand, takes out the keys and locks the door behind the two of you without letting go of your hand for a second.
After a quick look at your shoes he grins at you.
“Good, you can run in those. We only have 5 minutes until the bus comes, and I really wanna dance with you at the club as soon as possible.”
You laugh and after another quick peck, the two of you are almost sprinting down the stairs.