Yoongi couldn't remember the last time he'd got a full night's sleep.
Hours were spent, staring up at the ceiling and wishing to feel tired again, but as soon as he tucked himself under the sheets he seemed to feel wide awake.
His eyes became droopy and dark shadows formed beneath them, skin becoming pale and sickly.
So he came up with a plan.

He checked catalogues and shop windows, sending in applications where he could. It wasn't long before he was accepted for night shifts.
So, on the following Monday, he came into the building in which he would be working, dwindling away the hours, killing time.
It seemed to be some sort of home improvement store, what with shelves stacked high with cans of paint and endless aisles of things his own house probably needed. And, of course, it was almost completely empty aside from a chattering group of staff.

"You must be Yoongi," Said a deep, smooth voice from close behind him. Yoongi swivelled around, startled.
A tall and well dressed man stood with perfect posture behind him, a small, benign smile on his lips. He had caramel coloured hair that was carefully styled atop his head and a suit that he was sure would cost far more than all of Yoongi's clothes combined.
Yoongi gave a slight nod.
The smile twitched and became wider.
"My name is Namjoon, also known as your manager," Namjoon began to walk, and Yoongi scampered behind him, feeling very much like a lost puppy. "You will be working from 10pm until 4am every evening. If you feel your hours need adjusting for whatever reason, please let me know and I will take that into consideration." Namjoon spun back to face Yoongi, and he almost ran straight into him.
"Any questions?"
Yoongi cleared his throat, his voice sounding strange even to his own ears. "No, sir."
The two began walking again.
"Good," Namjoon's smile was there again, so polite and formal that it didn't reach his eyes, didn't really look like a smile at all. "Then I'll hand you over to one of our staff. Jimin!"

A boy with strawberry coloured hair and round spectacles snapped to attention. "Yes, sir?"
Namjoon gestured to Yoongi. "This is our newest employee, Yoongi. Please could you show him around and introduce him? I'd be incredibly grateful."
Yoongi was taken aback by how polite Namjoon seemed to be to his employees, feeling a smile threaten on his lips. Even if he didn't make friends here, even if the job was ty, he was making money and had a reasonable boss. So it couldn't be that bad, right?

"Of course, sir," Jimin threw a bright grin in Yoongi's direction, one that made his eyes crinkle up and was in complete contrast to Namjoon's not-quite-a-smile smile. Yoongi felt a little bit of tension unknot from his shoulders.
"Follow me!" Jimin began leading him away at a quick pace for someone with such short legs, and Yoongi had to quicken to a jog to keep up. They were soon far away from Namjoon, hidden by cans of paint and other homeware goods.

"He's only being so polite because you're new," Jimin mumbled, as if afraid of getting caught. "He's usually a bit of a hardass."
Yoongi felt his comfort with Namjoon melt away.
"So... He's not a good boss?"
Jimin quickly pulled a face.
"Oh yeah, he's a pretty good boss! Well, as long as he doesn't catch you slacking when there's to be done. He may as well murder you if he does."
Jimin paused, before slapping Yoongi on the back with a hearty laugh.
"Quit looking like you've just seen a ghost!" His face crinkled up with that sweet smile, and Yoongi felt himself relax a little, basking in the warmth of it. "It's not so bad here, as long as you can deal with the tiredness."
Yoongi huffed out a breath of laughter through his nose. He had plenty of practice when it came to tiredness.
Jimin seemed to stiffen.
"Alright, that's enough chit-chat, I guess. Don't really fancy the idea of having my grilled today, so let's begin our spectacular tour."

Jimin lead him through the aisles stacked as far as the eye could see with wooden shelves, showing him where everything was and how to reach it.
"It's your first day, so don't worry if you don't remember it all right away," Jimin had reassured him.
He also learnt a lot about his tour guide. Jimin was younger than Yoongi, and he was still studying even at nineteen.
"I wanna work in forensics," Jimin added with a sparkle in his eyes that was often seen when it came to explaining dreams. "Which is looking at crime scenes and stuff. Or a scientist," Jimin had pulled his eyes away from Yoongi as if out of embarrassment, and Yoongi could feel himself warming up to this kid.
"That's a cool dream to have," Yoongi said with a grin, and he saw Jimin's eyes widen. "Just work hard, okay?"
Jimin's eyes lit up like fireworks.
"Don't worry, I will!"

Jimin began to bound back to their starting point.
"And that concludes our spectacular tour!" Jimin led him back to the Cash checkouts. "Are you excited?"
Yoongi just nodded, unsure.
"Well, you shouldn't be, because 's about to get boring!" He continued in such a cheery tone that made Yoongi laugh, and he couldn't help but feel like he'd achieved something by at least making a sort-of-friend.
Jimin pointed to one of the empty cash checkouts
"And that's where you'll be working!" Jimin made his way over and pulled Yoongi with him, a cheerful child pulling a disgruntled adult.
"Do you know how to work a cash register?"
Yoongi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Just. "Yeah, my dad taught me."
Jimin nodded. "That's good! Let me know if you need any help, okay? I'll introduce you to all the others when you get your break. Have fun!" Handing him an apron emblazoned with the store's logo, Jimin gave him a quick nod before rushing off to continue his own work.

Yoongi nodded, a grin forming on his face. This wasn't so bad! Okay, so maybe it would be a little boring, but he was getting paid and doing something productive with those hours in which sleep evaded him.

Yoongi looked around, and wasn't surprised; the place was empty aside from staff, echoes of the machinery used to lift items from the top shelf reaching his ears as whispers.
Yoongi had come out in a fit that was a mixture of teenage rebellion and terrified curiosity in his freshman year. He'd had relatively few boyfriends, the only 'proper' relationship being with a biual guy in the grade above him, Kim Seokjin (and Yoongi was slightly suspicious that after he'd left Yoongi for some skinny blonde who's name he couldn't remember, his sleep patterns had become ed because of him), and even they'd never said 'I love you' but Seokjin was far more than willing to take Yoongi's first time.
And even despite how handsome Seokjin had been, despite being pretty sure he'd been the most handsome guy in the world, in fact, nothing could prepare him for when he turned to his left.

A man sat rather nonchalantly at at the next checkout, feet thrown up on the desk and eyes scanning a magazine. He had tanned skin that looked like he'd been kissed all over by the sun, soft black hair trailing down to brush his strong jawline. Yoongi resisted the urge to let his jaw drop.

But the magazine did.

Deep brown eyes turned to meet Yoongi's, and he felt himself go a little lightheaded.
"Hey there, new kid," his voice was so husky, and Yoongi just wanted to hear it against his skin, the lips of this stranger all over him, and God was his glad people couldn't read minds. Or at least, he was pretty sure they couldn't. "How's it going so far?"

Yoongi struggled for an answer for a moment, flustered, before giving an embarrassed grin.
"Uh, hi," Yoongi cleared his throat, sure his face was a little red. "It's going well, thanks."

The hot guy just nodded, a smile on his lips.
"Good, good," Yoongi was sure he could feel his eyes all over him, knowing that either he was making up in his head or this guy was checking him out, too.

"Sure you don't wanna quit yet?"

Yoongi couldn't help but give his own smile, one that he'd always found embarrassingly gummy but would come out by itself. He shook his head.
"Nah, it's okay here so far. I like it."
The stranger laughed, and Yoongi could honestly say it was one of the nicest things he'd ever heard.
"Well, I don't blame you; there's people like me working this job, so you won't ever get bored."
This guy seemed to be pretty nice too, and God was he hot... He seemed to be a bit of a dork, though.
Even so, he had Yoongi smiling.

The two chatted back and forth, mostly the stranger just explaining to Yoongi how this place worked.
"We go to that room over there when it's break time," Hoseok pointed to a door on the far left of the building, painted such a similar shade of grey it almost blended into the wall. "You'll know when break is, because-"
A bell cut him off.
"Well, you'll hear that bell," The man laughed, and they stood up together. Yoongi followed him towards the door almost shyly, using his broad shoulders almost as a shield.

"Yoongi!" Jimin bounded over to him, that bright smile in place. "How was the first part of your shift?"
Yoongi felt awkward, like everyone in the room was staring. "It was good, thanks."
Jimin grabbed him by the arm and pulled, introducing him to people around the room. A blizzard of names bombarding him all at once. Yoongi stopped, feeling dizzy, in front of the hot boy from earlier.
"I never did introduce myself, did I?" He asked, reaching out and grabbing Yoongi's hand.
"I'm Hoseok."
Hoseok. Finally, a name to put to such a handsome face.
Yoongi shook his hand steadily, breathing in Hoseok's sweet scent, and despite the sleep deprivation, he'd never felt so alive and awake.