Chapter 2
Killing time- YoonseokYoongi's life became topsy-turvy as the weeks passed.
ed up sleeping patterns became even worse, grabbing maybe two or even three hours here and there throughout the day. He was exhausted, but he couldn't say he wasn't used to it.
Throughout the week, Yoongi spent his time dwindling away the hours by spinning in his chair and checking Hoseok out.
The guy didn't speak much to Yoongi, instead he talked mostly to- surprise surprise, to the most popular boy in the damn place- Jimin. But still, the way his laugh sounded, the way his eyes scanned the magazine (almost always car magazines, Yoongi had realised), he couldn't help but be mesmerised by him.
"," Yoongi had growled exasperatedly, fidgety fingers rummaging for a cigarette.
"What?" Jimin had joined him on his break, opting for a quick smoke rather than the polite conversation and sparse walls of the break room.
"Hoseok. , he's... Jesus Christ..." Yoongi tried and failed to get a flame from the lighter, instead getting weak sparks. He threw it to the ground.
Jimin wordlessly held it out his own.
"What did he do?"
"Nothing! That's the thing!" Yoongi hard on the cigarette, burning it up to ash and embers quickly.
"You're not explaining yourself properly. Slow down," Jimin's hand was placed gently on Yoongi's shoulder, and he reminded himself to breathe, to relax.
"He's, uh..." Yoongi cleared his throat. "I... I like guys. And I don't even know if he does too and I need to find out and I'm probably freaking you out or I'll freak him out oh my god-" Yoongi's words were flying off his tongue, breath running out quickly. His face burnt almost as red as the flames of the sun across the sky.
Jimin just grinned.
"Relax, you're not freaking me out," Jimin rubbed comforting circles onto Yoongi's back, breathing in the cool, crisp air of the early morning. "I have a boyfriend myself."
Yoongi just stared.
"Y...You do?" Yoongi could barely believe it; this little kid was gay?
"Yeah, his name's Jungkook. He's really ing hot and so tall," Jimin's eyes sparkled with pride. "And the is am-a-ziiiiing! I'm so lucky."
Yoongi looked slightly horrified at the mention of Jimin's life.
"...Aaanyways," he continued, stubbing his cigarette out on the curb he was sat on. "I don't know what to do. He's driving me crazy and he's not even doing anything. I don't even know if he likes guys..."
Jimin stood up, offering him a hand to help him to his feet.
"Oh, don't worry," Jimin's smile seemed suspicious, as if knowing something Yoongi didn't.
"He definitely does."
---
Things changed after that. Despite Yoongi's newfound knowledge of Hoseok's uality, he was still far too shy to actually approach him, even after weeks of knowing that fact.
Not that he needed to.
"Well, hello there," Hoseok spun to face Yoongi in his chair, seeing him out of breath at the door.
"Someone's late today," Hoseok smiled, looking at the clock. Fifteen minutes... Namjoon was going to kill him.
"Don't worry, you can just do overtime with me," Hoseok winked then, and it made Yoongi feel so hot all of a sudden. "I'll take good care of you."
His words seemed so sweet now, more than just friendly.
'Wait a minute...' Yoongi thought in the middle of scanning a tired looking woman's shopping. 'Is he... Flirting with me?'
"Sir? Sir," a voice interrupted his train of thought, and he realised- much to his embarrassment- he had stopped scanning her items midway through.
"Is something wrong?"
A snicker from Hoseok behind him brought Yoongi to his senses. He cleared his throat.
"No ma'am, I'm very sorry about that," he continued working, trying to avoid eye contact. "I don't know what came over me."
As the woman left, Yoongi forced an awkward smile for her, before spinning to face Hoseok.
"Really?!" He asked exasperatedly, boiling with anger. He could punch that pretty face right off he was so angry!
"What? You were so cute, all flustered like that," Hoseok looked as though he was ready to explode from laughing so hard, not even trying to hide it at this point. People began to stare.
"Go yourself," Yoongi turned away from him, using the excuse of needing to reorganise the register to hide his red face.
"Yoongiiiiiiiiiii~"
"What do you want?"
He could hear Hoseok get out of his chair, his voice at his ear in an instant.
"You look pretty hot right now."
Yoongi turned his head, and Hoseok was right there, so close he could smell his cologne, feel his breath on his face. It threw him off completely.
"What?" Yoongi floundered for words, his skin feeling even more flushed.
Hoseok rolled his eyes.
"I mean you look warm, from how red your face is," Hoseok began, laughing as if to brush off his own words. "But then again, you're not too bad looking either."
Yoongi could see his eyes scan down, falling to land on his lips, feeling a rush because he was, he was flirting with him, and he could totally just jump up and pull him in for a kiss and not care about how people would stare at them-
"I better get back to work," Hoseok's cheeky smile broke the spell, pulling himself up to stand at his full height. Yoongi let his gaze drop.
"Talk to you later, baby," He was so sure that was what Hoseok had said, and he got called baby and God, that blush may as well have been tattooed onto his face, because it wasn't shifting any time soon.
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It was two hours of absolute torture before Yoongi could finally go home.
Hoseok's playful flirting hadn't let up even a little.
"Hey, Yoongi!" Hoseok had called as he unloaded new paint cans onto the shelves, sipping on the poison this place supplied which they called 'coffee' but was far from it.
"What?" Yoongi replied with a scowl, trying to get his own work done (cleaning up the shelves), but failing. The eyes of the boy he'd grown so fond of made his skin feel hot.
"Which colour should we paint our living room?" He held up two paint cans. "Duck egg blue, or spring green?"
It was a good job the two were at the back at the store, far from the reach of human ears, otherwise they would've heard Yoongi attempt to slap Hoseok.
"Idiot," Yoongi's tone seemed irritated, but a smile pulled at the edges of his lips. "Creep."
"No need to be rude," Hoseok replied, laughter echoing around the walls. "I was just messing with you. I wouldn't ask you to move in with me yet... I'd need to buy you dinner first at least."
Yoongi's mouth came open with a laugh, smacking Hoseok on the arm playfully.
The boy who'd seemed so smooth and seductive upon their first meeting had turned out to be a total cheeseball.
But at least he could make Yoongi laugh.
When the two finished their shifts, eyes tired and legs dragging, Yoongi couldn't help but sigh in relief.
Flames of a golden and orange hue had begun to snake their tendrils across the sky, the gentle bustle of trucks and early risers signifying the beginning of the world's wake up. The air was still cool and the grass still dewy, and it felt so crisp and wet to Yoongi who'd spent most of his shift amidst the wooden shelves with stuffy air he couldn't help but breath in because of Hoseok making him laugh far too much.
The image of the tan, attractive man who worked beside him was gone, replaced by a sweet boy who made Yoongi's lungs hurt and cheeks ache from smiling. But maybe he much preferred this; he was such a goofball, and Yoongi had quickly developed a soft spot for him.
That same boy came to stand by his side soon enough.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" He asked, pointing towards the rising sun. Hoseok seemed softer now, subdued. Yoongi smiled faintly.
"Yeah, it really is," he breathed, relaxing as he drank it all in.
He was sure he could feel him move closer.
"So are you," Yoongi turned to Hoseok with a look of confusion, and he just gave a warm smile before turning back to let the sun wash over his face. "Beautiful, I mean."
"Wait, what?" Yoongi frowned, crossing his arms. "I'm a boy, y'know."
Hoseok rolled his eyes. "So? Boys can be beautiful, too. Male peacocks are the beautiful ones, that doesn't make them any less male." Turning to his collegue, Hoseok gave a grin that seemed to glow so much brighter in the early morning sun. "So you're beautiful, or handsome, or whatever you wanna call it. Rock it."
Yoongi didn't really know what to say, squeaking out a thank you before biting down on his lip.
"Don't worry about it. Want me to drive you home?"
Yoongi shook his head at the offer. "I only live about fifteen minutes away, so I'll be fine."
Hoseok just shrugged. "Then I could walk you home, if you want...?"
Yoongi had no idea what Hoseok wanted from him right now.
But he certainly wasn't going to pass up the opportunity of having an attractive and funny guy walk him home.
"Sure."
He had never understood the word 'beaming' in regards to someone's happiness, but it was the only word he could think of to describe Jung Hoseok. It seemed as though literal sun rays shot out of his face, blinding Yoongi a little but was so infectious he couldn't help but return it shyly.
"Great! Which way?" When Yoongi pointed, Hoseok turned in that direction, gesturing for Yoongi to walk beside him.
It wasn't long after that that he felt Hoseok's fingers brush his own.
Yoongi almost jolted away at first from surprise, but he decided to let his hand sit there.
Gaining more confidence by the minute, Hoseok soon hooked one finger around Yoongi's, waiting for protest. When he received none, he carefully entwined their fingers, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. The two looked away with shy smiles, cheeks warming up as they felt so euphoric, squeezing each other's hands hard despite how their palms became slick with sweat after a while.
Yoongi watched the houses pass by them, most with the lights out. He felt the sun beginning to heat up the cool air, a beautiful sunny day oncoming.
He also noticed Hoseok peeking at him almost shyly out of the corner of his eye.
"What?" Yoongi asked, looking Hoseok straight in the eyes.
"I was just wondering what you were thinking, is all," Hoseok seemed a little sheepish, his free hand stuffed in his pocket.
Yoongi let his gaze drift back to the rows of identical houses passing them by, set apart by the lights now flickering on as people began to get up for work.
"I was just wondering about all the other people in the world, I guess," Yoongi shrugged, as if pushing his own thoughts away out of embarrassment. "What they're all doing right now, how they're feeling... There's billions of people I will never meet, and I wonder about them sometimes. Probably pointless to think about, but whatever."
Hoseok seemed to cling to Yoongi's words like he was the most fascinating person alive.
"That's not pointless, that's cool," Hoseok reassured him, giving his hand a quick squeeze before Yoongi's hand with his thumb.
"Well, there could be people just waking up, and there'll be some just going to sleep, some will be feeling happy and others sad, too," Hoseok's way of explaining was fairly poor in Yoongi's opinion, not that his own was much better.
But he could see how Hoseok made the same constellations with his thoughts as Yoongi did with his own, and it made him feel a little warm inside to find someone who was similar to himself in at least one way.
"Oh, and also," Hoseok's mouth creeped up into a smile.
"I know there's probably some random crazy guy, and he's crushing pretty hard on his coworker," Hoseok gave a sheepish smile, and God, Yoongi was melting, absolutely gobsmacked but also so ecstatic that he smiled so wide his teeth showed through.
"You're right... There's probably more than one like that, y'know. Probably two," Yoongi looked up through his hair to gauge his reaction, watching his lips part before turning to Yoongi with a smile that was a mixture of relief and excitement.
Yoongi stopped, and Hoseok was pulled along with him.
"This your place?" Hoseok asked, seeming a little dissapointed. Yoongi nodded.
"Uh... Thanks for walking me home," Yoongi felt a little awkward, not entirely sure what else to say.
"You're welcome!" Hoseok turned, taking a few steps back towards where his car was parked, but stopped. Steeling his courage, he his heels.
"...Hey, Yoongi?" He asked softly, almost not believing how his own voice had made its way out.
"Yeah?" Yoongi could hear the tone in his own voice; one of confusion but most prominently, of hopefulness.
"Would you, uh..." Hoseok cleared his throat a little, then gave a tight smile.
"Would you like to get dinner with me sometime?"
Those words. They were so sweet, so genuine... Yoongi wanted to take a moment to savour them, bask in their warmth for a few seconds.
But instead, Yoongi just simply said, "That would be great."
After scrawling down his phone number, Hoseok offered to call him during daytime hours.
"I have a day job, too," Hoseok's spirit seemed a little dampened by that, remembering his responsibilities. Yoongi just wondered how the hell he was so energetic with both of those jobs.
"So I'll need to text and call you and organise something. Is that okay?"
Yoongi just attempted a wink.
"It's a date."
Hoseok seemed to get a little thrill from those words, and the wattage of his bright smile seemed to increase by the second.
"Alright, baby," he nodded, reluctantly letting go of Yoongi's hand. His hand felt so empty without the petite and lightness of Yoongi's fingers laced between his own, he noted with an inward sigh. "I gotta get going. I'll text you when I know!"
Yoongi watched the back of Hoseok's head walk away, before quickly scrambling for the door to get in, slamming the front door and leaning against it. He slid down from his feet until he was sat on the floor, and ended up catching two or three hours of sleep curled up like that, his smile of expectation and excitement resting on his face throughout his sleep.
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