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glassbangtan · 5 years

Text

Choosing You {Jung Hoseok x Reader}

Words: 17.3k

Summary: Being dragged to an eight am just to see a cute boy is not something you did everyday. However, you start to see the appeal when you lay eyes upon the TA - Jung Hoseok.

Genre: fluff - college!au

Notes: masterlist

---

“I can’t believe you’re making me go to an eight am just because you have a crush on the teachers assistant.”

Jisoo didn’t even have the decency to pretend this was not the case.

Her eyes were lit up as she led you through the hallway; never before had you stepped foot in the English building of your university, considering you dropped any and all literature subjects as soon as you were able to do so; science was your passion. Sure, the teachers were all a little old, and the teachers assistant had sticks rammed so far up their asses you could see the leaves when they opened their mouths, but it was the subject that interested you.

However, you would be lying to claim that Jisoo’s excitement hadn’t struck your interests just a little bit.

She had bounded into your room, jumped on the bed and immediately started talking about Mr Jung Hoseok, the brand new TA who apparently had absolutely no right to look as good as he did. You would be the judge of that.

But an eight am class? You were beginning to deeply regret your decisions.

Jisoo grabbed your hand, more to keep you from turning around than anything else. When the two of you approached the door to her literature class, you very nearly lost the ability to breathe with the sight before you.

The place was packed. It wasn’t even eight am on the dot, and yet students were already bustling towards their seats, struggling to find a place to sit. The board had already been drawn on, but there was no sign of any teachers.

Your eyes wide, you turned to Jisoo. She was already looking at you, grinning from ear to ear because she knew she had you; this was a big deal. She hadn’t been overexaggerating.

“They’re all here for him?” you asked, keeping your voice low as Jisoo started towards the front of the classroom - a place you liked to avoid, but you didn’t put up much of a fight at this point. By the looks of things, the front row was one of the few places in the room that actually had spare seats.

“Every single one of them,” she said. “Except me, of course. I come here for my love of learning and-”

“And you haven’t gotten laid in weeks.”

Jisoo frowned, kicking you under the table as the two of you took your seats.

The overall atmosphere of the classroom was unlike anything you had ever experienced during an eight am lecture. Though you tried to avoid the dreaded eight am, the times in which you had no choice but to drag yourself out of bed and go to class at that ungodly time, the air in the classroom was never like this; it was groggy, people complaining, people with their heads tucked into hoods, laying on the tables in any attempt to catch up on the sleep that was cruelly robbed from them that morning.

Here, everyone looked ready to learn.

Ready to learn. Even as you thought such a thing, you knew it was false. Nobody here was here to learn - apparently, Jung Hoseok had grabbed a bit more attention than anticipated.

The class started at eight am sharp, and the professor started the lecture. Jung Hoseok was nowhere to be seen. You were taking notes on a class you didn’t even take, trying to fight off your fatigue, slowly realising that maybe this whole thing had been a big, big waste of time.

You sighed, craning your neck so you could whisper in Jisoo’s ear. “Listen, I have a mechanics class at twelve, and I’d really like to catch up on my sleep before-”

“Just give him a few minutes!” Jisoo hissed, nudging you away with her elbow. “He might just be running late.”

“Or he isn’t coming.”

Jisoo shot a determined look towards the double doors. “No. Hoseok wouldn’t skip class. He doesn’t do that.”

You raised a brow but didn’t question her. Slowly, you moved back to your desk and continued making idle scribbles on the page. The professor continued to talk, your hope continued to dwindle, and when it really felt like you were going to get to the point of just standing up and walking out, the double doors opened.

“God, sorry, sorry. I’m sorry for being late. So sorry. How is everyone? Good? Good. Great. That’s what I like to hear.”

Your head whipped round.

And suddenly you understood.

The crowded lecture hall, the whispering, Jisoo’s insistence that you come with her just this once to get a look at the man she had been talking about for weeks now. You understood where it all came from.

You’d heard rumours, of course. Hoseok and his pals weren’t exactly the most quiet of people on campus, but you’d never seen them in person. Hoseok was in the year above you, meaning you had absolutely no reason to associate with him at all - so you didn’t. Never before had you been witness to his perfectly structured jaw, his doe-like eyes that were currently wide and blood shot from either lack of sleep or stress - either one would have been realistic, considering he was a student.

He stumbled into the lecture hall, his folder falling apart under his arm, his tie half undone and wrapped loosely around his neck, as if he’d decided this morning that he would just deal with it when he got to class. His brown hair was ragged, curled atop his head, draping over his eyes which were covered with a pair of oversized circular glasses.

The professor looked up from his slide show and raised a brow. “Everything alright there, Hoseok?”

“Fine. Everything’s fine!” Hoseok exclaimed, giving yet another thumbs up. New drinking game: take a sip every time Hoseok gives someone a thumbs up.

Hoseok stumbled up to the front of the classroom and took his place beside the professor. He fiddled with his folder for a few seconds before inhaling deeply, placing his hands in his lap. He didn’t look up, simply nodded at the table as a way to tell the professor to continue with his lecture.

The professor hummed. “Alright then. . . As I was saying…”

“That’s him!” Jisoo hissed, grabbing your arm.

You nodded. “I gathered that. The poor kid looks terrified.”

“He isn’t usually late,” Jisoo explained. “Contrary to popular belief, I think he’s actually a really good student.”

You raised a brow. “He hangs out with Min Yoongi. Aren’t them two known to be like, partners in crime, or something?”

Jisoo shrugged. “I don’t think Yoongi has any influence over Hoseok’s studying. Yoongi’s a music student, afterall.”

You hummed, tilting your head as you examined Hoseok a little further. Jisoo got sucked back into the lecture, but you couldn’t bring yourself to concentrate on whatever pointless information the professor was scrawling across the whiteboard now - you could only focus on Hoseok.

He was scribbling notes down in his notebook, his lip pulled between his teeth. Absently, he pushed a stray strand of hair out of his eyes, tugged on his excuse of a tie. He placed his thumb against his lips, gazing down at his page with furrowed brows.

“So!” the professor suddenly yelled, startling you out of your daze when he clapped his hands. “I want you all to write an outline based on the prompt on the board, using some of the techniques we covered this morning. Understood?”

The class murmured their understanding.

“Hoseok will be round to help if you need it.”

That perked everyone up. Hoseok grinned, looking up from his notebook before he rose from his seat and started his rounds. You ducked your head down when he passed your table, despite Jisoo sitting up impossibly straighter, making sure to exaggerate the Tupac shirt she’d put on this morning - her texts had been an array of “He said he likes Tupac and I have a Tupac shirt! It’s fate!”

You got to work, writing out a few paragraphs of bullshit that you hoped would get you through the rest of this class. All the while, you were painfully aware of Hoseok getting closer and closer to you - a little quirk of his you’d already noticed was he started his rounds at the back of the lecture hall and slowly made his way back to the front. In his hand, he held his folder; you wanted to know what was in it, but the idea of talking to him-

“Ooh, a newbie.”

You stiffened.

“I’m Hoseok, the TA. Mind if I look at what you’ve got so far?”

You swallowed thickly as Jisoo bit back her laughter. She knew you were no poet, and this was going to do nothing but embarrass you.

But he was looking over your shoulder, and you could barely hide the gasp of surprise that surfaced when he reached over you, his bony fingers brushing your page as he pulled it towards the edge of the desk.

He hummed. It was very close to your ear. “This isn’t bad, newbie.”

“Y/N,” you blurted out. Cringing, you slowly turned to look at him. “My name is Y/N.”

He smiled just slightly, regarding you with a tilt of his head. His soft brown hair flopped over to one side, a single strand poking him in the eye despite the protective barrier his glasses were supposed to provide. “Y/N. Nice to meet you. Did you drop a class to start the English course?”

“No,” you replied. “I’m not even meant to be taking English. I’m just here to - uh - support my friend.” You nudged Jisoo, who promptly decided she had never heard of you before, had never spoken to you before, didn’t even know your existence; she turned her head towards the board and started calling out questions to the professor.

You gritted your teeth and turned back to Hoseok, trying to seem as pleasant as possible, because he was pleasant, and you’d be damned if you did anything to hurt his feelings.

“You’re probably wasting your time trying to help me out,” you said.

Hoseok scoffed. “I like helping people. And what you’ve written isn’t even awful!” He pulled out the chair beside you and took a seat, his knee bashing against your own. You startled, straightening up, grabbing your page, but Hoseok’s fingers were already grabbing for it, so all you did was brush your fingers against his and holy fuck this is so cheesy and like every single romance movie out there but he doesn’t even know my second name and-

“The wording is a bit clunky,” he started to explain, pointing out separate examples. “Be careful with how often you use the word ‘that.’ More often than not, you don’t even need it.” He plucked your pen from your hand and started scribbling over the word ‘that’ at almost every point he could find it. “Prose can be difficult, but with work, we’ll have you on track. You’ll be a best selling author before the end of the school year.”

“I’m more of a science student,” you said.

Hoseok raised a brow, tilting his head even as he kept his eyes on the page. “But science is so difficult.”

“No it isn’t,” you scoffed. “Not as difficult as this.”

“This is just words,” he said, waving a hand over your page. “Putting them together to make sentences.”

“It’s more than just sentences. It’s prose. You gotta make it sound cool and flowy - I can’t do that.”

Hoseok frowned, tapping the pen against his lips. “Okay. I see your point.” He looked up, finally meeting your eyes. “But science is so specific. Restricting, almost. There’s rules and stuff - rules you have to remember, or else the whole thing gets put off.”

“Science is straight forward. You have something to do, and you do it. Then you record whatever results you’ve obtained.”

Hoseok scoffed. “Obtained. And you say you’re bad with words.”

Your cheeks warmed. “Okay then. What would you suggest I do about this, then?”

Hoseok slowly straightened up, sighing as he trailed a hand through his hair. He glowered at the page - now scribbled and drawn on - with pursed lips, but you were too distracted by the way his jumper rode up just a little bit to concentrate too much on what his final verdict might be.

“Come to the library at 3pm.”

Your eyes widened. “The library?”

Hoseok nodded. “I’ll be there. I can help you out for a few hours if that’s something you’d be interested in.”

“Hoseok, I don’t even like-”

Jisoo slammed her shoulder into your own, very nearly sending you catapulting into Hoseok’s lap. “They’ll be there!”

Your eyes widened further, but one look in Hoseok’s direction had you slamming your mouth closed, warding off whatever objection you’d wanted to place forward; he looked happy. He grinned a heart-shaped grin, was nodding even as he stood up, scooped up his bag and said his farewells. You watched him go, stomach churning with a fresh set of nerves that had absolutely nothing to do with the grade you would soon be getting for a subject you didn’t even take.

Jisoo patted your arm, leaning back in her seat. “And they say I shouldn’t play match-maker.”

-----

The school library was a place you had visited frequently, and not once had you seen Jung Hoseok.

Maybe you just didn’t recognise him all those times before. That had to be it, the most obvious answer considering, as soon as you stepped foot inside the library on this particular afternoon, he was the first person you saw.

Still wearing his dishevelled tie and jumper from earlier, he brought all the attention to him. He was a sight to behold, sitting next to a boy you didn’t recognise, grinning from ear to ear with a pen dangling from his perfectly shaped lips.

You inhaled, looked down at your watch and noticed the time; 3pm. You’d be late if you waited a moment longer.

You started towards him, shoulders drawn back in any attempt to seem as confident as possible. Hoseok didn’t look up at your approach, but his friend certainly did. Bright orange hair, sparkling eyes, looked to be in your year, however you could not pinpoint his name.

“Ay! There they are!” the boy exclaimed, startling Hoseok. He looked up from the textbook in front of him and met your eyes, grinning almost as soon as he saw you.

You stopped right by their table and smiled back, unable to help yourself. “Hi. Sorry if I’m a bit late.”

“The library not a place you visit often?” Hoseok asked, before nudging the other boys elbow. “This is Jimin. He was just leaving.”

Jimin’s grin faded, eyes snapping towards Hoseok. “I was?”

“You were.” Hoseok gathered up the textbooks and placed them in Jimin’s lap, before pushing him up and out of his seat. Jimin stumbled, casting a confused glance over his shoulder; Hoseok simply waved. Jimin rolled his dark eyes, sent you one final smile before he stalked away.

Leaving you and Hoseok all on your own.

You nervously messed with your fingers, unsure of what to say or how to go about this; in all honesty, you weren’t even all that sure as to what this was. A study date? Him genuinely just wanting to help you out with whatever he thought you needed help with?

Hoseok broke the silence. “Have you got your things?”

You nodded, pulling your bag off your shoulder and scattering your pens and papers across the desk. Hoseok raised a brow, looking down at the abundance of stationary that was now dumped in front of him.

You waved off his sceptical stare. “I’m a student. None of this goes to waste.”

“Right…” He picked up the sheet of paper holding your outline and placed it in front of him, before indicating to the seat beside him. You sat down, folded your hands in your lap, and waited for him to begin.

You would take this in stride. You would try your hardest to make a good impression, but if it didn’t work out, you wouldn’t even have to look in his direction again. You weren’t in his classes, weren’t in his year, had absolutely no reason to-

“If you don’t like English, why did you come to the lecture this morning?” His question struck you off guard. Your head snapped round, mouth open in an immediate response, but as soon as his question filtered through your mind, you took pause.

What were you even meant to tell him?

“Uh. . . Jisoo asked me to go. For moral support, I think.”

Hoseok raised a brow. “Moral support? What would she need moral support for? She’s been going to Mr Burk’s lectures since she was in first year.”

You shrugged. “Maybe this one was just something she wasn’t used to.”

“We’ve been doing technique for weeks now.”

“Look, I don’t know. I didn’t question it. I just went with her because I’m a good friend. Now-” You tapped insistently at the page. “Can we get started?”

Hoseok stared for a second longer before a glimmer of a smile appeared on his face. He ducked his head down and nodded. “Alright then. Let’s start.”

And so the two of you did just that. It was nice, in an odd sort of way. Maybe it was just odd because you didn’t realise this is how it would go - you half expected him to just take over the task himself, re-do your entire outline and send you on your way. But he did no such thing - he actually helped. He sat beside you, one arm draped casually over the back of your chair, leaning in every few minutes to make sure you were staying on track. Whenever he wanted to correct you, he would grab the top of your pen to stop you from writing, hum softly as he reread your words before giving you the edit he thought you needed to put in place.

It didn’t even make you feel weird.

You just felt productive, successful when you finally reached the bottom of the page, now able to say you’d finished. The outline in front of you was now something you could genuinely work with, something you could read over and be proud of.

Hoseok leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms high above his head, keeping his eyes on you as he smiled. “See? A little bit of hard work can get you anywhere.”

“Mr Burk might actually be impressed!” you said, turning to look at him, immediately regretting it when you saw the tiny lick of skin peeking out from his where his jumper had ridden up. “Maybe I’ll become a regular at these eight am lectures.”

“Oh good. I’d like to see you there again.” He sighed and let his arms fall back, hands clasping his head, flattening his wild hair to his forehead. He didn’t seem to think his comment was that big of a deal, so you refused to look into it any further, either. “You know, I don’t know if Jisoo told you about this, but the English department’s taking a field trip to the museum in a few weeks - I could always get you a letter if you wanted to go?”

You narrowed your eyes. “Hoseok, I’m not even part of the English department. I went to one lecture.”

He shrugged. “I can sneak you in. We’ll just say you’re my plus-one or something.”

“A plus-one for a field trip?”

He grinned. “Listen, I’m a TA. They’ll let me bring a plus-one if I want to.”

“I don’t know why you’d want to. I’ll be completely oblivious to everything going on.”

Hoseok scoffed. “I want to, because I think you’re pretty cool.”

You raised a brow, glancing at him over your shoulder. “Pretty cool? I didn’t realise we were both in second year again.”

Hoseok chuckled. “No. If we were in second year again, I’d be trying to hold your hand under the table, not asking you to accompany me on a field trip.” He paused, examining your face for a second before he lowered his voice and said, “So what do you say?”

You sighed, unable to think of a real reason to say no. In truth, the idea of seeing Hoseok again was enticing enough, and yet it sent a spiral of nerves through your system - there were people in that English class who had been dragging themselves out of bed at eight am just to see Hoseok for months. What had you done to deserve his attention after only one meeting?

Nonetheless, the excitement got the better of you. You nodded. “I’ll give it a go.”

Hoseok’s eyes widened. “Great! That’s great. I’ll just - uh - get you a letter and then we can - you know - sort it out from there.” He slumped back in his seat with a dazed grin. “Great.”

----

“I just think he’s being a little bit too kind to just want a platonic relationship.”

You frowned, taking a bite of your chicken wrap. Sweet chilli sauce dripped down your chin; Jisoo rolled her eyes, swiping her thumb across it.

“Don’t get me wrong,” she added, “I don’t see why.”

“He’s just being nice,” you said. “I’m the newbie in the English hall - he’s just giving me a head start.”

“You didn’t even plan on staying in that class until he started talking to you!” Jisoo groaned, swinging her head back in exasperation. “I’ve been asking you for weeks to join me for a few English lectures, and each time you’ve said no. Hoseok shows you the tiniest bit of attention-”

“I don’t plan on staying after the field trip!” you insisted, because it was true. Although part of you was particularly fond of Hoseok, and was slightly tempted to take English up as a permanent class, you had no interest in it. In the long run, you would regret that decision, and that was something you’d much rather avoid this late on in the year.

Jisoo shook her head, staring at you with her arms folded over her chest. “So this is it then? You’re an English nerd now?”

“No.”

“You’re in love?”

You scoffed. “Absolutely not. I’m too busy to fall in love.”

Jisoo tilted her head. “Can you at least admit you like him?”

“Jisoo, I barely know the guy. He helped me with my English outline once.”

“He invited you to the museum.”

“Big deal. It’s a school field trip - there won’t be any funny business if that’s what you’re hoping for.”

Jisoo sighed. “I don’t know. All of this just seems really. . . . weird. Hoseok isn’t the type of guy to just invite someone out like that - not from what I’ve seen, anyway.”

You shrugged, even as the words caused a ripple effect to wash over your body. “As I said, he’s probably just trying to help me fit in to this new environment.” You grinned, shoving your plate over to her. “Now, shut up talking about it and try this. Does the chicken taste off to you?”

---

There was not a single seat upon this bus that was empty.

Bar the seat beside you.

Try as you might to persuade her, Jisoo had insisted that she sit at the back of the bus with the rest of her friends. Though she claimed on repeat that you were her ride or die, her best friend for life, it was clear that her sitting elsewhere had some kind of motive.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what those motives were.

You could practically feel her eyes burning holes into the back of your neck when Hoseok finally clambered on the bus. He was talking, laughing along to something Mr Burk had said. He was casually dressed for once, an oversized white shirt placed alongside a pair of ripped blue jeans and platforms. He carried a clear bag with him, multiple key rings dangling off the zip that smacked off of every shoulder he passed on his way to you.

His eyes met yours, and it was clear exactly where he planned on sitting.

You shuffled over, trying desperately to pretend this was all planned out, that you had kept that seat specifically for him because the fact that Jung Hoseok wanted to sit beside you was absolutely no big deal. How could it be? He was a student, just like you. He was a person, just like you. The fact that he wanted to sit beside you, out of all the other students, was-

He slumped down in the seat next to yours, shoulder clipping your own. You stiffened, turned to look at him with a raised brow.

“Tired?”

He flicked his eyes to your own and shook his head. “Don’t even start me.” You nudged his shoulder, prompting him to sit up straight as the bus driver did a quick head count before starting the bus and the journey itself. “I’m going to start you. What happened? You look like you’ve ran a marathon and it’s only nine am.”

“I lost my shoes this morning,” Hoseok explained, picking his foot off the floor to show you the red and white platform. “I had to settle for these.”

“My heart breaks for you, Hoseok.” You pushed his foot down. “What shoes did you want to wear?”

“My Balenciagas.”

“Of course you wanted to wear your Balenciagas.”

“But they weren’t where I left them!” he exclaimed, before groaning and running a hand through his usually ruffled brown hair. “I spent far too long looking for them, so I was running a little late.”

“Aren’t you always?”

“Who told you that?”

You shrugged. “Well, you were late to the last lecture.”

“That was an accident.”

“That sounds like an excuse.”

Hoseok narrowed his eyes, looking at you quizzingly. You didn’t meet his gaze, instead kept your head turned towards the window in your attempts to fight off the smile that was slowly forming on your face; did this count as teasing?

“Alright then,” he said, poking you in the side. “Last time I checked, you aren’t exactly the best time-keeper, either.”

Your eyes popped open. “Who said that?”

“The entire science department!” He shook his head, laughing. “Did you not nearly get a 0 on your last bio exam because you slept in that morning?”

“That was - That was entirely an accident,” you said, grappling for an excuse. You’d forgotten about that little mishap, hastily ran through your list of classmates to try and figure out who could have gotten that information across to Hoseok.

Hoseok huffed, folding his arms over his chest. “That sounds like an excuse.”

“Awk, fuck you, Hoseok.”

He grinned. You rolled your eyes at the expression, slumping down and turning away from him. Throughout the entire trip, he smiled, clearly pleased with himself as you leaned your head against the window and counted down the seconds it would take to finally pull up outside the museum.

However, it would be a lie to claim the journey itself wasn’t fun enough.

Some point throughout the drive, Hoseok managed to reach into the overhead lockers and pull out a bag of Haribo’s from his backpack. You’d watched him with raised brows as he stood up on his seat, asking Matthew to hold his hips as he dug around in the overhead lockers. Mr Burk had yelled at him, but not before Hoseok managed to grab the goods.

He sat down beside you, offering you one before he’d even put his hand in. You couldn’t resist, had called him stupid even as you reached in and took his offering; the two of you had pigged out on Haribo’s for the majority of the journey, talking about the museum and what you wanted to see.

“I hope there’s something to do with Egypt there,” you said.

“I can’t imagine there wouldn’t be,” said Hoseok as he sucked on a Haribo ring. “What, you wanna see, like, hieroglyphs?”

“Anything,” you replied. “I went to a museum once that had a real life Mummy.”

“Wow. You don’t see those every day.”

“You certainly do not.”

“We’ll find something to do with Egypt,” he promised, nudging your arm. “Even if we have to sneak away from the group to see it.”

You raised a brow, glancing over at him. He seemed deadly serious - as serious as a man could look with a Haribo ring between his teeth and a sunflower key-ring dangling from his finger.

“What do you wanna see?” you asked.

Hoseok hummed, leaning his head back in thought. “I don’t know. Maybe something about World War Two?”

You nodded. “We’ll find something for you.”

Hoseok grinned, lazily tilting his head to look at you. “Good.”

----

The museum itself was quiet. Apparently, quiet was not something Hoseok enjoyed.

He walked beside you, humming an unfamiliar song as Mr Burk explained the complicities behind each and every artefact he deemed interesting. The two of you walked behind the rest of the group, Hoseok’s arm brushing against your own as he idly swung it by his side, clearly not intrigued by what he was being shown.

You, however, had always found history interesting. Though it wasn’t your favourite topic, you would be lying to claim it wasn’t something you enjoyed - writing the essays and trying to get good grades in the class had been exhausting, which was the main reason you dropped it. However, the content of said class was always something you looked forward to when you saw it on your time table.

You shot Hoseok a glare as the class rounded the museum to an area entirely dedicated to the Korean war. Mr Burk went off on yet another tangent, but your attention had been drawn elsewhere; Hoseok was smiling, idly looking up at a painting depicting the war in question.

You stepped up beside him, following his gaze. “It’s not World War Two, but this is interesting.”

“Mm.” He ran his fingers along the frame, tilting his head. “Do you ever wonder how much emotional turmoil a person has to reach to be able to create an image as vivid as this one?”

You froze, hands tucked into the pockets of your hoodie. “Uh… I can’t say that’s something I’ve ever thought about.”

He shrugged, letting his hand drop. “Maybe it should be something we look closer at.”

“Hoseok, your inner English student is showing.”

He blinked, looking down at you. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

You tapped the painting. “You’re analysing everything. Most people would just look at that picture and say ‘oh, cool,’ but you’ve just gone on at me about how the artist has to be in some kind of psychotic state.”

“Now, I never said psychotic,” he said, raising a finger. “I said they have to reach a level of emotional turmoil. Can you really say I’m wrong?”

You rolled your eyes, grabbing Hoseok’s arm and dragging him away as the rest of the class continued on through the museum. Hoseok groaned, throwing his head back, stumbling after you.

“I’m getting bored,” he said. “Why don’t we sneak off and look for stuff that has to do with Egypt?”

“We’ll get lost.”

“Exciting.” He tugged your arm, dragging you back into his chest. “Let’s go. Before Mr Burk takes a second to breathe and notices we’re missing.”

You shot him a quizzical glance over your shoulder; he couldn’t really be serious, could he? The two of you didn’t know your way around this place, and what if the bus left without you? You were aware that Mr Burk treasured Hoseok, but that wouldn’t stop the man from leaving without you. In his eyes, you were two perfectly functioning adults, could easily handle yourself if you got lost.

But you had your doubts, considering Hoseok had fallen up the stairs outside and you tried to read the map upside down.

However, looking at Hoseok now made you realise just how serious he was being; he had his eyebrow raised, looking back at you with what could so easily be depicted as a smile, but most looks Hoseok gave you could be depicted as smiles.

He tilted his head in a most adorable manner. “So? What do you say?”

You looked back at your classmates one more time before your decision was made. Perhaps it was Hoseok’s hands on your arm, his fingers curled around your biceps that made you think he was sprouting good ideas, that this whole situation wouldn’t end up being the worst decision you’ve ever made.

You grabbed his hand from your arm and intertwined your fingers before the two of you burst into a sprint. Your shoes screeched against the floor, your laughter mingling with the god awful noise as you skidded round the corner and quickly ducked behind a statue.

You poked your head out. “Mr Burk hasn’t even turned around.”

Hoseok grabbed your hand and started off in the other direction. Your laughter grew louder, echoing through the halls, but the two of you didn’t care. You carried on running and running until-

“Hey! No running in the museum!”

You stumbled to a halt, giving identical smiles to the passing guard. He shook his head, flashing his flashlight in your eyes as a final warning before he stowed off again.

Hoseok exhaled heavily. “That was close.”

“God, I didn’t even think of the possibility of getting arrested.”

“We won’t get arrested.” Hoseok tugged you through the hallway. “At least, not for anything serious.”

You rolled your eyes, silently wondering why on earth you were letting him drag you through this; it seemed like a most idiotic idea, and yet you followed close behind him. Hoseok tried his best to explain the artefacts you were passing, but it was clear he was just reading off the tiny information plaques that were provided; you couldn’t help but giggle, which made Hoseok shoot you a warning glare before he started again.

“And tell me a bit about this,” you said, pointing towards a skull in the shape of a mammoth’s head.

Hoseok sidled up beside you, placing a pondering hand on his chin. “It looks like an elephant. With tusks.”

“I believe they were called mammoths.”

“Mammoths!” Hoseok clicked, nodding enthusiastically. “That’s the word I was looking for.”

“Elephants with tusks,” you scoffed, nudging his hip. “And you call yourself an English major.”

“Alright then, Herodotus.”

You narrowed your eyes. “What did you just call me?”

“Ah, so we’re both dense.” Hoseok tilted his head. “Herodotus was a famous historian.”

“Oh. So you were insulting me.”

Hoseok grinned, pinching his fingers together. “Just a lil bit.”

You scoffed and continued walking. It was only a few seconds before you heard the tell-tale signs of Hoseok following behind you, his platforms squeaking on the freshly cleaned floor. Together, the two of you paraded through the halls of the museum, ducking behind statues and glass cases filled with things so precious it made you anxious to just be near them.

“Ay, Y/N! Look!”

Your head whipped round, finding Hoseok first. He was stood on his tip-toes, pointing over the top of a glass case. “What is it?”

“I think that’s a mummified cat.”

Your eyes widened. “I beg your-”

He grabbed your hand and started towards the cat in question. You stumbled after him, casting quick glances over your shoulder in fear of Mr Burk appearing out of nowhere; however, all this worry disappeared once you rounded the corner and saw what Hoseok was talking about.

The area was coloured gold. It glistened, the window on the far side of the room placed perfectly to allow the sunlight in at this time of day. The walls shone, twinkled as you walked through them, and you were surrounded by histories upon histories. Hieroglyphs lined the wallpaper, tiny little scrolls and rubbings of old writings having been placed in glass cases to protect them from the grimy fingers of passers-by. You traced your finger idly over the glass, eyes widening at the sight - you couldn’t read what was written, but you would be damned to say you weren’t absolutely intrigued.

Hoseok read over your shoulder, humming. “I can see why you wanted to see this.”

“Isn’t it so cool?” you asked, nearly breathless. “God, it’s been ages since I studied Egypt. It was one of my favourite topics back in high school.”

“Do you know how to read hieroglyphs?”

You scoffed. “No. That was far beyond my capabilities, I’m afraid.”

“We can always imagine.” Hoseok stepped beside you and pointed in at the tiny scroll of hieroglyphs you were looking at. “This one says ‘Y/N and Hoseok are gonna get in big trouble.’”

Despite yourself, you laughed. Joining him, you pointed to the scroll beside it, browned with age but still decipherable for anybody who had the knowledge to read it. “And this one says ‘Hoseok’s platforms are ugly.’ Oh, and this one says, ‘He doesn’t need any more of a height boost. He’s just doing it to flex on Y/N.’”

Hoseok scoffed, pointing to another one. “This one says ‘Y/N’s height is adorable. Hoseok can rest his chin on their head if he wants.’” With that, Hoseok plonked his chin down on the crown of your head. “The Egyptians knew what they were talking about back in the day.”

You should have shook him off, rolled your eyes at his antics and carried on with your exhibition; however, the feel of him behind you was addicting, so you didn’t move. You continued to stare in at the scrolls, pretending to ponder over each one, even though your head was entirely elsewhere.

Hoseok started humming again.

“What is that song?” Your voice was softer than you intended.

When Hoseok replied, his voice was just as soft. “Fly Me To The Moon by Frank Sinatra. One of my favourites.”

“That’s such an old song.”

“I’m an old soul.”

You nodded, leaning back instinctively. Hoseok sighed into your hair, reaching forward to rest his palms against the glass case; he was caging you in, but you didn’t mind. Your back was pressed against his chest, his chin pressed into the crown of your head - you couldn’t complain.

“What’s your favourite song?”

You shrugged. “I don’t really know.”

“Pick a random one.”

“What? Right now?”

“Right now.” He leaned forward, lips inches from your ear. “Any song in the whole world. The first one that comes to mind will be your new favourite song.”

You raised a brow, glancing at him. He simply grinned, waiting for your response.

You pondered, mentally flicking through your playlist as quick as you could.

However, the song you picked was not one you had ever listened to of your own free will. It was not a song that adorned your playlist, was certainly not your favourite, but right now, it was the first one that came to mind. Right now, it was the correct answer.

“Fly Me To The Moon by Frank Sinatra.”

Hoseok exhaled, breath tickling your cheek as he laughed softly. “But that’s such an old song, Y/N L/N.”

You smiled, leaning back against him again. “I’m an old soul, Jung Hoseok.”

---

“I believe this is a bayonet.”

Hoseok pointed to the blade locked behind the glass. It was old, rusted and unclean, but marvellous to look at nonetheless. Clearly Hoseok found it intriguing as he pressed his fingers to the glass with his jaw open.

“They used to put them on the end of a rifle’s muzzle, you know,” he continued to explain. “Then when they shot it, the bayonet could be used as a spear.”

“Wow. Deadly.” You popped another piece of candy floss into your mouth before pointing to something you recognised. “Isn’t that a grenade?”

Hoseok whirled around, gasped at the sight before he threw himself towards it. “A real one!”

“Careful.”

Hoseok rolled his eyes. “You’re funny. Has anyone ever told you how funny you are?”

You simply grinned, strolling up behind him.

Hoseok turned back to the artefact and shook his head. “Can you even begin to imagine all the things this tiny little sphere destroyed when it was active?”

“It might have hurt people.”

“So many people.” Hoseok dramatically shuddered. “Buildings would have collapsed; fires would have started; poor, innocent people would have been killed.” He shook his head, swirling round towards you. “Or maybe it was dropped from an aircraft. Maybe it landed in a field somewhere, made a crater in the ground because their aim was off. Maybe a little boy found it somewhere and brought it home to his parents, and they kept it because they knew - they just knew - it would come in handy one day when the enemy came round looking for them.”

Hoseok faltered when he noticed your grin. You popped another piece of candy floss in your mouth, chewed thoughtfully before saying, “Carry on.”

Hoseok scoffed, snatching a piece of candy off you before he turned on his heel and started back through the exhibit. “You know what? I think my stories finished.”

“You’re really into this kind of thing, aren’t you?” you asked, jogging to catch up to him. “I mean, I enjoyed my Egyptican studies, but you take this to a whole new level.”

He shrugged. “I used to read a lot.”

“Used to?”

“I’m more of a writer now.” He pushed his circular glasses further up the bridge of his nose. “I like a good book every now and then, but I don’t read nearly as much as I used to.”

“That’s disappointing.” You frowned. “But I suppose writing stories and reading stories kind of come hand-in-hand. When you’re writing, you’re also reading - it’s just your own work.”

Hoseok paused. “I guess so.”

“So that makes you extra smart, because you do both.” You nudged him. “You’re a good multi-tasker.”

“I’m also a dancer.” The words sprung from his mouth as if he’d been waiting for the right moment to say them. You frowned, glancing over to see his cheeks glow bright red with his sudden outburst; awkwardly, he scratched the back of his neck and said, “You know, if you’re interested in that kind of thing.”

You raised a brow, unable to hide your grin of amusement. “My goodness, Jung Hoseok.” You grabbed onto his arm dramatically. “Is there anything you can’t do?”

“Alright, alright,” he grumbled, shaking you off. “Do you like dance?”

“I wasn’t all that interested in it,” you replied. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t fully expect you to show me an entire routine when we get back to campus.”

“I’m not cheap.”

“I won’t come to the next English lecture if you don’t.”

Hoseok paused. “Fuck. You got me there.”

You grinned, looping your arm through his. “You know, this wasn’t as bad of an experience as I thought it was going to be.”

Hoseok raised a brow. “You thought this was gonna be bad?”

“I expected us to get lost, or arrested, or killed.”

“Or chased through the halls by dinosaurs that we somehow managed to bring back to life.”

“Or that, yeah.”

Hoseok nudged you. “I’m glad you had a good time. I didn’t want to invite you out here and then have Mr Burk make it boring.” He paused, as if pondering over his next words carefully. “I like my dates to be eventful.”

It took a moment for you to catch on to what he’d said. The two of you continued to walk for a few seconds before your eyes snapped open, your head whipping round to look at him. He was staring straight ahead, but even on his side profile you could make out the tiny little smile that indicated he knew exactly what kind of reaction that would pull from you.

You swallowed thickly and turned away, squeezing his arm even though you didn’t really mean to; he didn’t seem to mind, simply continued walking until the two of you had finally arrived in the lobby, where your classmates were gathered around Mr Burk with bags full from little treats from the gift shop.

Mr Burk span round, eyes immediately widening at the sight of the two of you. His face was beetroot red when he stormed over, pointing a chubby finger in your face. You were too distracted by Hoseok’s words to really care.

Hoseok raised a hand, silencing Mr Burk with an authority you did not think he had. “I’m sorry, Mr Burk. It was my idea. Y/N just went along with it, because they’re my plus-one.”

Mr Burk opened his mouth to reply, took one look at Hoseok’s amused features and exhaled heavily; it was clear he had given up. He left with a simple, “Don’t do it again,” before telling you both to get on the bus. He then span on his heel and exited, calling out students names on his way by.

You looked over at Hoseok, not sure what to say or how to ask the million questions storming through your mind right now. He looked back down at you, eyes glimmering before he said, “Are we sitting beside each other on the way back?”

----

Jisoo raised an eyebrow. You chose to ignore her.

It was so much easier that way. Pretending she wasn’t in the room as you pondered over the pages of your textbook gave you peace of mind, whether it was honest or not.

She kicked your desk chair again. An empty packet of crisps drifted to the floor. You ignored that, too.

“So you’re telling me,” Jisoo said, even though you hadn’t spoken. “You and Jung Hoseok - Mr TA Jung Hoseok - just decided to ditch the group and go off on some random adventure in the middle of a field trip?”

You bit your lip, fighting off the wince that threatened to reveal itself.

Jisoo hummed, slowly leaning back in her own desk chair; it creaked loudly under her weight. “And you fully expect me to believe that there was no funny business going on between those shelves?”

“I can guarantee that there was no funny business,” you said. “Although…”

And this was where you knew you’d tripped up - Jisoo was your best friend. You’d known the girl since you were little, meaning it was almost second nature to tell her everything. As you grew older, you realised that secrets weren’t such a bad thing. Sometimes they were needed, and yet you were still unable to keep anything from her.

She lurched forward at the small sound of uncertainty, slamming her hands against your textbook to shove it roughly out the way. Your eyes widened, head snapping round to scold her, but her excitement made her much quicker than you.

“Although? What do you mean although?” she demanded. “I was just kidding, you know. I didn’t actually think you’d slept with the guy in the middle of a museum, but if that’s what-”

“Would you shut up?” you hissed. “We didn’t have sex!”

Jisoo raised a brow. “You… Kissed?”

“We didn’t do anything,” you said. “But he said. . .” You inhaled, pondering on how to make this sound less than what it was. “He said it was a date.”

Jisoo paused. Her black eyes never left your own, her hands stilling against your desk.

“A date,” she repeated.

You nodded. “A date.”

“And you just. . . Let that comment fly without so much as a response?”

“What was I supposed to say?”

“Oh, I don’t know! ‘I’m free next Tuesday?’”

You winced. “I’m not free next-”

“Y/N L/N, you are hopeless!” Jisoo threw her hands up before clapping them back on her head in exasperation. “Do I literally have to hold your hand through everything?”

“He could have easily been taking the piss,” you said. “I barely know the guy!” “Which is why he didn’t kiss you. He’s taking things slow. He’s being a gentleman, and you’re sitting here telling me you barely even acknowledged his flirting!”

“F-flirting?”

Jisoo leaned forward, lowering her voice. “Yeah. Flirting. That thing people do when they want to get in another persons trousers.” She raised her hands. “Or want to have an actual relationship.”

You blinked. What Jisoo was saying made sense, of course. You weren’t completely oblivious to the advances of people, but this was a different situation. Hoseok was . . . Well, he was Hoseok. Mr TA Jung Hoseok, the boy people woke up at eight am for.

Actually, more specifically: The boy college kids woke up at eight am for.

You walked into his class on one lonely Tuesday morning, and it was you he’d taken an interest in? It didn’t seem likely.

In fact, it seemed downright impossible.

“Maybe you should flirt back a little bit,” Jisoo commented, now back to idly picking at her packet of Cheese and Onion crisps. “Show him you’re interested. Get the ball rolling.”

You raised a brow. “Who said I was interested?”

“The fact that you’re putting up with him is enough proof.” Jisoo smiled, looking at you through the tops of her eyelids. “Not everyone has the patience for a guy like Hoseok, Y/N. I think he’s extremely attractive, but the idea of hanging out with him on a school trip? The idea of potentially spending the rest of my life with him-”

“Okay, slow down-”

“It isn’t appealing, because he’s a puppy.”

You narrowed your eyes. “A puppy?”

“He’s. . . energetic. I think it comes with him being a dancer.” She shrugged. “Either way, you put up with him for hours on your own yesterday, and judging by the shit-eating grin on your face when I saw you, you enjoyed yourself, and not just because he has a good face.”

She wasn’t wrong. In fact, most of what she’d said had been an understatement - you had enjoyed your time with Hoseok, more than you would be able to explain with your head in the confused state it currently was. Of course, during your first meeting with the man, you’d acknowledged his good looks, had even been compelled by them, but you had barely even thought of such trivial things during your time with him at the museum.

You pursed your lips and slumped back in your chair. “Okay, so maybe it isn’t so far-fetched to believe I have a crush on him.”

Jisoo grinned, popping another crisp into her mouth. “Good. The first step of overcoming any obstacle is admitting there’s something in your way.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Now that you’ve admitted your feelings.” She slowly leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. “You can do something about them.”

---

You planned on ignoring Jisoo’s advice.

Her speech had gone well into the night, and you’d let her talk. You had nodded and even added your own two-cents into it all, but there was no way in hell you’d be doing anything she suggested. Flirting with Hoseok seemed impossible - he just didn’t have that kind of aura. He wasn’t the type of boy you walked up to and just flirted with.

It was a shock on this particular morning when you awoke to the sound of someone knocking on your dorm room door. Eyes creaking open, you tugged your dressing gown on over your pyjamas and shuffled into the front room, pulling open the front door before you’d even registered what was going on.

“I haven’t even had coffee yet,” was the first thing you said.

Hoseok tilted his head. “Sorry. I guess it is a bit early.”

Your heart plummeted to your feet.

With a start, you slammed the door closed. You could feel your heartbeat in your damn collarbones as you leaned your head back against the door, silently praying that you were still in some wild state of sleep and this was all just some. . . strange waking dream.

Hoseok knocked again, softer this time. “Uh… Y/N? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” you squeaked out, running a hand through your dishevelled hair. “I thought you were someone else. I would have gotten a little more presentable if I’d have known it was you.”

“I don’t mind,” said Hoseok. “Can you - uh - open the door?”

You squeezed your eyes closed. You couldn’t just say no - not without looking like a total idiot.

And so, it was with gritted teeth that you turned and pulled the door open again, shyly hiding behind the frame. Hoseok raised a brow, leaning forward to get a better look at you; you awkwardly shuffled further back.

“It’s not Tuesday, is it? I didn’t miss the lecture?”

“No…,” Hoseok drawled.

“So you just get up this early every day?”

“Y/N, it’s half nine.” Hoseok chuckled, stepping into your dorm. You tried to shuffle further round the door, but eventually there was nowhere else to go; Hoseok stood in your dorm room, looking utterly incredible, and you were in a bath robe and pyjamas.

He’d really gone all out today, as if he’d somehow been made aware that you were not in your best attire. He wore a light grey V-neck jumper with a sunflower yellow collared shirt beneath it. The sleeves were rolled up to reveal a set of tanned forearms, and his circular glasses and dishevelled hair just made the whole ensemble fit together perfectly.

Plus his smile. You were convinced that he could make any outfit look good, just as long as he was smiling.

“I really didn’t mean to catch you at a bad time,” he said, grinning down at you. “I was just walking through, and I remembered I promised you a choreography.”

You narrowed your eyes. “Wait, what?”

“You don’t remember?” He shook his head. “You told me you’d come back to the English lectures if I showed you some dance moves. I thought today would be a good time to do it, considering the dance hall is empty.”

Oh shit. That’s right.

You straightened up, awkwardly brushing a lock of hair out of your face. “Oh right. Okay. Yeah. That sounds. . . Great.”

Neither of you moved.

Hoseok tilted his head. You tilted your own.

Finally, the spell broke. You pointed to the messy sofa behind you and said, “Have a seat if you want. I just need to - you know - go get ready.”

Hoseok nodded, strolling oh-so-casually towards the aforementioned sofa. You closed the door, sent him one final smile before sprinting upstairs.

How could he do that? How could he possibly like you in that way and still be so casual around you? It was a conundrum, considering you were a complete mess whenever you were around someone you found even mildly attractive. If Hoseok had asked you to take a seat in his living room, you were certain you would merely faint then and there.

Quickly, you took a shower and got dressed. There was an internal debate as to whether or not you should wear something formal - quite like him - but you eventually decided to throw on a hoodie and jeans, rolling up the cuffs to show off the bright pink socks you were wearing.

He was still sat on the sofa when you finally arrived downstairs, hair freshly dried and swept away from your face. You grabbed a beanie on your way into the kitchen, and Hoseok grinned at you when you walked past.

You narrowed your eyes. “What?”

“I made the effort to get dressed up for you,” he said, motioning towards the fancy jumper he was wearing.

“You always dress like that,” you pointed out. “I didn’t know you were trying to impress me.”

Hoseok scoffed as he stood up, tucking his hands into his jeans. “I’m always trying to impress you, Y/N. Hopefully that’s something you learn quickly.” He didn’t give you a chance to respond to such a statement before he was looping his arm through your own and leading you towards the door, continuing on the conversation like nothing happened. “So, the choreography I plan on showing you isn’t exactly new, but you didn’t exactly give me any time to come up with something different, so you’re just gonna have to bare with me. Some of the moves may look simple, but it’s just ‘cause they’re old.”

He continued this road of explanation all the way to the campus dance hall. It was a place you certainly didn’t frequent, considering you loathed anything to do with physical activity - being a student was draining enough without the added haste of extracurriculars. Hoseok, however, walked with a skip in his step, had energy constantly overflowing from him, so it was no surprise when he walked in the hall and greeted every single person he walked past as if they’d been friends for years.

The whole time, he kept his arm looped through yours. Now, you gave it a small tug.

“Hm?” he asked.

“How does every single person here know who you are?”

Hoseok raised a brow, looking down at you. “Not everybody knows who I am. There’s a new guy working the front desk - remind me to introduce myself when I get the chance.”

“I’m guessing you come here often?”

“When I’m not in lectures or classes, I’m here.”

“How are you not exhausted all the time?”

Hoseok simply grinned in response - it was the best answer he could have possibly given, and you understood it wholeheartedly.

The two of you entered the dance hall, smiling at the young couple who were leaving. Hoseok patted the man on the back, gave the woman a small hug before the door closed behind them and you and Hoseok were left entirely to your own devices. For some reason, it didn’t feel awkward. Your heart wasn’t fluttering with anxiety like you’d expected it to - in fact, you were fairly calm, happy to be here.

You strolled over to the far wall, setting your bag down on the bench as you inspected the pictures hung up above it; multiple of them had Hoseok in them, grinning from ear to ear, just as he always did. He had his arm wrapped around a little boys shoulders, whilst a little girl hung from his neck.

Hoseok appeared beside you. “That’s Christopher and Mindy. They were exchange students from America who were a fan of my stuff and wanted me to teach them some things.”

“So you have fans, hm?” You folded your arms. “That’s cute.”

Hoseok grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. “Do you think you’ll be a fan of mine after this is done?”

Jisoo’s words rang out in your head, the word flirt replaying on a continuous loop. You had a chance. Hoseok had been flirting with you, and you had the perfect opportunity now to repay the favour.

“I’ve been a fan of yours for a while, Hoseok,” you said. It didn’t sound right. It sounded clunky, pre-rehearsed, and you were quick to move on. “But go on. Show me this choreography you dragged me out of bed to see.”

Hoseok chuckled, span on his heel with a dramatic flourish before he sauntered into the centre of the room. You giggled, sat down beside the radio and clicked ‘PLAY.’ Almost immediately, a song you didn’t recognise started blaring through the speakers, startling you with the volume. Hoseok caught the small jump of your body and burst out laughing, but he was already moving and there was no stopping him now.

With that grin still playing on his face, Hoseok started dancing.

You would never be able to describe just how fluid Hoseok’s motions were. They were. . . something else. Different. Something you needed to be deemed worthy to be able to see - at least, that’s what it felt like. Sitting there, watching him sway and bolt around the room with the grace of a feather, you felt like you needed to do something to gain this kind of luck.

He didn’t dance with his eyes closed. He didn’t lose himself to the song - he grinned and he pulled facial expressions and he stuck his tongue out at you as he swirled around before bending backwards with an unknown type of flexibility. You hissed a breath in between your teeth, covering your eyes for only a second before the need to see him overpowered anything else. Your hands dropped into your lap, and you lost yourself to the sight of him for as long as it took before the song faded to a finish.

Hoseok was panting.

You stood up, clapping loudly. The grin on your face was massive. The beat of your heart was erratic.

Hoseok awkwardly ducked his head down. “Thanks.”

“Jung Hoseok, that was incredible!” You jumped towards him, wrapping your arms round his shoulders before you could think twice about what you were doing. He grunted at the sudden contact, but was quick to hug you back, arms slung around your waist, head buried in the crook of your neck. “How have I never seen you dancing around campus?”

Hoseok chuckled, his breath tickling your collarbones. “It’s not exactly the kind of thing a person does, is it? I’d probably get bullied.”

You pulled away, raising a brow. “Clearly you haven’t heard the things people say about you.”

“People say stuff about me?”

“All types of things,” you replied, adrenaline still running even though you hadn’t been the one dancing. “They love you, Hoseok. Why else do you think people drag themselves out of bed at eight am to go to a dumb English lecture?”

Hoseok furrowed his brows, pouting. “I don’t think it’s dumb.”

“‘Course you wouldn’t. That’s why you signed up to be the TA.”

Hoseok scoffed, pulling away to run his hands down his sweat soaked face. “Well, I don’t hear anyone saying anything about me, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

“Okay, okay,” you chuckled. “I just thought you’d want to know. You could probably burn the building down and people would still be all over you.”

Hoseok rolled his eyes as he packed up his stuff. You watched him, examining his side profile; there was a faint smile tugging at his mouth, something he was trying to fight off but with little success. It brought you joy to think you were the one making that smile so eager to appear.

His head suddenly snapped round towards you. “What do you say about going to see a movie?”

You froze, hand halfway to your pocket. “A movie?”

He nodded, standing up. “Yeah. I mean, not right now - I have class, and it’s only half ten, but how about later on? Are you free?” He coughed, glancing away. “Do you want to?”

You did. You one hundred percent wanted to go to the movies with him, and that was the only thing you could think of right now.

You didn’t even think about your schedule when you nodded, a grin forming on your face that probably would have looked desperate to anyone but Hoseok. However, you were lucky enough for it to be Hoseok asking you, meaning he took your grin as a good sign - he smiled right back, nodded enthusiastically.

“Really? You’d wanna go with me?”

“Yeah! I mean, why not?”

“Exactly. W-why not?” Hoseok scratched the back of his neck. “Can I walk you home?”

You tilted your head. “I thought you had class?”

“I do, but I wanna walk you home.” He said it as if it were so simple. He didn’t give you a chance to say anything else before he picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder, placing one hand on the small of your back to guide you out the door. “What do you say I pick you up at seven?”

“Seven sounds great.”

Hoseok grinned. “Great.”

---

Hoseok had cleaned up well. Yet again.

Opening the door, you thought you knew what to expect; he was Hoseok. He was fashionable, had proved that many times. However, opening the door at 7pm, you were greeted with the fact that Hoseok certainly made more of an effort when he was trying to impress someone.

He wore a white shirt, a little loose around the middle, flowing off of his torso like water. The top few buttons were undone, revealing a set of necklaces that sat perfectly against his tanned collar bones. Along with those, he wore a pair of baggy blue jeans and a brown belt, along with a pair of brown boots.

Slightly heeled.

You swallowed thickly, looking down at the dress shirt and jeans you’d decided to wear - it was the fanciest thing you could pull together that didn’t consist of something that would leave you frozen by the end of the night. With your sleeves rolled up and your hair neatly pulled back, you thought you looked pretty decent.

But at the same time, it had been an awfully long while since you’d been made to dress up.

Nonetheless, the way Hoseok’s face lit up at the sight of you set your anxieties at bay. He shook his head, grin spreading across his features in a way that made your stomach turn, your skin heat up. You looked down at the floor, awkwardly slumping against the door frame.

“Wow,” he said. “You look amazing, Y/N.”

Y/N. The way he said your name - it made you feel so special, like there was nobody else in the whole world.

“You don’t look too bad yourself, Hoseok,” you replied. “Shall we go?”

He looped his arm through your own. “We shall.”

He led you to his car, parked on campus, and the two of you set off. Throughout the entire journey, Hoseok asked you questions, talked about his family and friends, asked you even more questions - there was a perfect balance, and you never wanted it to end. A part of you was disappointed when he pulled up outside the cinema, though that disappointment was trumped by amusement when he leaped out of the car and rushed to pull open the passenger side door.

You giggled, hastily stepping out and accepting his hand. “You know, if I was any less wise, I’d think this was a date.”

Hoseok blushed. “I was kind of hoping I’d made that clear.”

You nudged his side. “You did. And I still said yes.”

Was that flirting? You couldn’t really tell, but it sounded right. It made him blush - a little bit of payback for what he’d been doing to you for the past two weeks straight.

Hoseok bought two tickets to Annabelle and a large bag of popcorn - “We’re meant to share popcorn on dates, aren’t we?” - and the two of you settled in to the theatre. Hoseok immediately reached into his back pocket, pulling his phone loose.

You frowned, nudging him. “It’s rude to text during a date, you know.”

He shot you a quizzical look, as if in disbelief that you would think so low of him. He didn’t even say anything as he turned his phone off before tucking it back in to his jeans.

You raised a brow. “You actually turn your phone off during a film?” Hoseok motioned towards the screen, currently playing adverts. “It’s what it tells you to do.”

You grinned, unable to hide your amusement. Shaking your head, you said, “You are something else, Hoseok.”

Hoseok rolled his eyes, and perhaps it was the tiny bit of affection you let seep into your words that gave him the confidence, but he reached over and took your hand in his own, resting it on the arm rest between you. Your heart thundered, your mind racing at a million miles per hour - it was difficult to concentrate on anything other than the heat of his body next to your own, the way he shifted ever so slightly so that he could lean over and whisper in your ear, asking if you wanted a drink, or if you were comfortable. Every now and then, he’d wince and look away from the screen, very nearly tucking his head in the crook of your neck when a jump scare appeared from nowhere.

You weren’t even talking to each other, and yet you were having the best time.

It was easy to do that when it was Hoseok. You were beginning to figure this out more and more.

The movie finished after an hour. Hoseok groaned when the credits started rolling, jumping out of his seat and all but trailing you towards the exit door. Teenagers laughed at him - you joined in, pressing your head into his shoulder to show him you meant it lovingly.

He pressed his cheek to the top of your head, closing his eyes. “Never let me watch a scary movie again.”

“It wasn’t even that bad!” you exclaimed, slapping his arm playfully. “The doll was in it - like - four times.”

“Four times too many!” he hissed, before ducking his head down when a teenager giggled at his outburst. “Jisoo was telling me you liked horror films, so I thought I’d give it a try.”

You paused. “You were talking to Jisoo?”

“Well, yeah,” he said. “That’s kind of the rule, isn’t it? I’ve gotta get the best friend input before I can ask you out.”

You narrowed your eyes. Hoseok caught your confused expression and sighed, tugging on your hand. “She didn’t say anything bad, don’t worry. She was just giving me pointers.”

“And she didn’t say anything inappropriate?”

Hoseok blushed. “Well, there were a few. . . vulgar suggestions.” His eyes snapped up. “But I wouldn’t do anything you weren’t entirely comfortable with. And not this early on, anyway.”

You giggled. “Early on in what?”

He paused, staring into the distance for only a second before he pouted and nudged your arm. “You’re only doing that to wind me up.”

“Sorry, sorry. It’s just so easy sometimes.”

Hoseok rolled his eyes. “Ha ha. Funny.”

He drove you home that night, opening and closing your door for you each and every time. He walked you up to your dorm room, and it was there that the night finally came to an end - a tragic end, considering Hoseok looked most handsome with the moonlight cast upon his face, his brown hair ruffled from the amount of times he’d run his hands through it. The amount of times you’d run your hands through it.

He leaned against the door frame, smiling down at the floor like they do in the movies; it didn’t look cheesy when Hoseok did it. He looked natural. He was the person all the swoon-worthy boys were based off. You were convinced of it as you looked at him now.

Finally, he looked up and said, “I’d really like to do this again sometime.”

“I’d like that,” you replied. “I’d really like that.”

You were stalling. You didn’t want him to leave, but there was nothing else to say. He shuffled from one foot to the other, clearly thinking the same thing as you.

It was only then did you realise you wanted him to kiss you.

Your face warmed at the mere thought. Hoseok noticed your sudden change of demeanour, quickly stood up straight and rubbed the back of his neck.

“It’s getting late,” he said. “I should probably get going.”

“Yeah. Yeah, of course,” you replied. “I’ll see you on Tuesday.”

His face lit up. “You’re coming back to the lecture?”

“I promised, didn’t I?”

He grinned. “Yeah, you did. I’ll see you on Tuesday then.”

---

“I can’t believe you’re going to my eight am because you have a crush on the TA.”

You rolled your eyes, tucking your bag neatly by your feet. In front of you sat a cute little notebook and an abundance of coloured pens - one black, for convenience, and multiple glitter ones, for aesthetic.

Jisoo leaned over, plucking one of the glitter pens from the pile. “Since when did you like to jazz up your notes?”

“Give that back.” You snatched it from her hand and dropped it back in the pile. “I thought I’d make an effort today.”

“For Hoseok?”

“For my own personal reasons.” You shot her a glare. “None of which concern you.”

“I was the one who introduced you,” she said, leaning back in her chair with folded arms. “Without me, you wouldn’t even know Hoseok existed, and vice versa.”

“You don’t need to remind me that Hoseok is ten times more popular than I am.”

Jisoo scoffed. “You know that’s not what I meant. You’re a science student - your halls are halfway across campus. You two never would have even been in the same room as one another if it wasn’t for me.”

You didn’t humour her with a response; first, what she had said wasn’t conversation worthy. You didn’t want to discuss your and Hoseok’s growing relationship, mainly because you had no solid facts to give just yet. Give it time, and you and Jisoo would be gossiping about it all through the night, but for now, you wanted to wait and see how everything turned out. It could go to hell. It could crash and burn. Hoseok could realise that there were a hundred other people waiting for him to notice them, could take his pick amongst anybody-

You squeezed your eyes shut, cutting those thoughts loose before they could get too big.

Secondly, you were exhausted.

Eight am rolled around, and Hoseok and Mr Burk strolled into the classroom. As per usual, Hoseok was wearing his argyle jumper and a pair of casual jeans, circular glasses perched on the end of his nose, brown hair a wavy mess. His eyes met yours as soon as he stepped in the classroom; you smiled at him, shyly offering a smile which he responded to by shifting his folder from one arm to the other and returning it with an overenthusiastic wave.

Jisoo scoffed. “You’ve already got him whipped?”

“Shut up.”

“Good morning, everyone!” Mr Burk cheered, heading for his desk. “I hope everyone’s ready to do some actual writing today - and I also hope you’ve all prepared your outlines. You’re gonna need them.”

Hoseok, as he passed your seat, leaned in and whispered, “You’ve got yours prepared, yeah?”

You nodded at him. He winked down at you before continuing on up the aisle towards his seat beside Mr Burk’s desk. Jisoo stared at you in disbelief, but you couldn’t bring yourself to look at her - you simply smiled, straightening up in your seat.

Mr Burk continued to explain the ins-and-outs of todays class; you would finally be taking your outline and making it into something coherent - he said finally as if you’d been waiting your whole life for this moment. You looked down at your outline in confusion, wondering how on earth you were meant to make something from it.

Looking back up, Hoseok met your eyes again. He raised a brow, nodding towards the sheet of paper.

You smiled and gave him a thumbs up - you were fine. Sure, English wasn’t your best subject, but you could give it a go. It couldn’t be that difficult.

The class began. Hoseok, as per usual, started his rounds at the back of the class, though he moved a little quicker today. It was something Jisoo noticed and insisted on pointing out to you, prodding you with the back of her pen.

“He wants to seeeee youuuuu,” she cooed.

You nudged her away, keeping your head down as you scribbled away.

Finally, however, Hoseok did indeed reach your desk. Jisoo shuffled away, not even giving Hoseok a chance to offer his help before she was pointing at you and saying, “I think the newbie’s struggling a little bit.”

You shot her a glare, but the expression melted away the moment Hoseok’s face came into view; he looked at you with a raised brow, feigning concern even as the corners of his mouth twitched into an amused grin; he could tell just by looking at you that this was not your strong suit.

You awkwardly smiled. “Uh… She’s not wrong.”

Hoseok chuckled, tugging a chair out and sitting beside you. “What’s the problem?”

“I’m not a writer.”

“Ah. I’m afraid that’s gonna take a little longer than an hour to fix.”

“How do you do this?” you grumbled, ducking your head into your hands. “The outline was easy enough-”

“The outline is always easy enough,” he said. “Because it’s your language. You can write curse words and abbreviations and it doesn’t matter - as long as it makes sense to you.” He leaned forward, plucking at the edge of your page. “The actual story, on the other hand, has to flow.”

You peeked at him through your fingers. “Flow?”

“Flow,” he repeated. “It’s got to sound right.”

You straightened up, narrowing your eyes at the sheet. “So I have to change my vocabulary to get this thing to work?”

“No,” Hoseok said, chuckling. “The story is still going to sound like you. Just. . . You if you were posh.”

“Ah.”

“How about we start from the beginning? How would your character start this story?”

You frowned. “Well, I’d start it first by saying-”

Hoseok raised a hand, silencing you. “I didn’t ask how you would start it. I asked how your character would start it.”

“Well. . . . I don’t know. I don’t really know them well enough to-”

“That’s your first issue, then.” He leaned back, pointing his pen at you. “You can’t start a story unless you’ve got a grip on who you’re writing about. How are you meant to write about someone’s actions if you don’t even know what they’d do in certain situations?”

“I guess so.” You glanced at the clock. “But the class ends in half an hour, and Mr Burk clearly said that we need to get the first few paragraphs done.”

Hoseok scoffed, leaning forward. “Forget what Mr Burk said. Take your time. Take this lesson to get inside your character’s mind, and then I’ll help you next week to start the story.”

You raised a brow. “Who said anything about me coming back next week?”

Hoseok grinned. “What if I promised you another date if you come back?”

Your face warmed. Jisoo choked on air at the side of you. Hoseok continued to smile, his eyes wandering your face, basking in your embarrassment.

Awkwardly, you plucked at your page and nodded. “Okay. I guess that’s a fair deal.”

“Good.” He tapped the sheet of paper. “Now, do some character profiles for your protagonist. Interests, family tree, what they want, why they can’t have it, what their biggest turmoil in life is at the moment.”

You nodded, watching as he stood up and started back up the aisle. He turned only once, giving you the tiniest of winks before his name was called and his attention was forced elsewhere.

You hollowed out your cheeks, slumping back in your seat. He’d given you a task to do, and you knew you should have gotten on with it then and there, but your heart was beating at a million miles per hour and it was difficult to think when you could still smell his cologne.

Jisoo didn’t even say anything, but one look in her direction told you that she’d heard every word. A tiny little smile adorned her features.

You sighed. “Guess I’m coming back next week.”

“Mm. Guess you are.”

---

“Do you like poetry?”

You glanced over. Hoseok lay beside you, head framed by blades of grass and dandelions - one of the first nice days in Korea this year, and you were spending it on campus grounds, laying in the grass with Hoseok.

Perfect.

You sighed, looking back up at the bright blue sky, eyes protected by the canopy of leaves above you. “I like some poetry.” You shrugged. “I follow a few poets on Instagram.”

Hoseok snorted. “Have you ever read a poetry book?”

“I cannot say that I have.”

“I could let you borrow some of mine, if you want.” He rolled onto his side, leaning his head against his hand as he regarded you. “Or you could come over and we could read some together.”

You grinned, looking up at him, so tempted to pull him down and kiss him - but that was forbidden territory at the minute. Whatever it was the two of you had, clearly was not big enough to result in kisses just yet.

You were willing to wait.

“That’s scandalous,” you said.

Hoseok raised a brow. “How?”

“Me? In your dorm room?” You placed a dramatic hand to your chest. “I’m afraid you’ll have to propose first.”

Hoseok scoffed, slumping back in the grass. “You can’t start getting picky about where we go on dates. We’ll run out of places soon enough.”

“Oh? So you plan on taking me on more dates? I am spoiled!”

“When are you gonna take me on a date?” Hoseok turned to look at you, corner of his mouth quirked.

You pouted, looking up at the sky as you pondered on his question. “There’s so many places I could take you, Jung Hoseok.”

“Like where?”

“The moon,” you said. Hoseok didn’t interrupt, didn’t laugh, but continued listening to your suggestions. “Mars, even. We could live on a star.” You shrugged, bringing one hand behind your head. “We could go to Australia. Japan. My Mum’s house.”

Hoseok snorted. “Your Mum’s house sounds lovely.”

“She’d cook you beef stirfry,” you said. “And then she’d ask you a bunch of overly personal questions, slag you off when you leave-”

“I think she’d love me.”

“Oh, she definitely would,” you said, nodding. “But she’ll slag you off anyway. That’s how my Mum works.”

Hoseok scoffed. “So what you’re saying to me, Y/N, is that we can see the world together?”

You paused. A slow smile grew on your face. “Yeah. I guess that’s what I’m saying.”

The two of you fell silent after that, gazing up at the sky. It was a perfect moment. People were talking in the background. A football was being passed around. A busker was playing the guitar, but for the time being, it really was only you and Hoseok.

He reached over and began idly messing with your fingers. The grass tickled the back of your palm, and you hastened to bring his hand to your stomach. He simply hummed at the action.

“This is really nice,” he said softly. “I wanna do this all the time.”

“Me too.”

“I wanna do this with you all the time.”

You smiled. “Me too.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t take you on a more extravagant date,” he continued. “It’s just such a nice day, so I thought…”

You nodded. He didn’t need to finish his sentence, didn’t need to explain himself. You understood perfectly what he meant.

---

The whispers were difficult to ignore.

People called you oblivious, but that was not the case. You just pretended like you were. When people saw you as weak, it made it easier to surprise them, catch them out when they finally decide to turn against you.

But this was a whole new level. The class wasn’t even trying to hide their gossip.

Jisoo didn’t walk in with you, having taken the day off sick after a night of drinking. You didn’t mind; you had been to four lectures at this point, so you were becoming familiar with your surroundings. You no longer needed her to hold your hand as you walked through the hall, finding your seat almost immediately.

But people were staring this time.

Eyes scanned your form as you walked past. People leaned across desks and whispered in ears all whilst sharing swift glances in your direction. You raised a brow to yourself, meeting the eyes of someone you didn’t even know the name of; she snickered and looked away.

You tried to play it off as a misunderstanding. It was easier than admitting what you knew to be true - something had happened. Someone had said something, and rumours were spreading, and this was going to end up exactly like how it always ends up in the movies - someone is going to end up crying in a bathroom. A reputation is going to get ruined. You’re going to have to flee the country and-

A piece of paper hit you in the back of the neck.

You picked it up off the floor. That was your first mistake. You should have ignored it, should have pretended it hadn’t even happened, but that would just make it clear that you were aware of what was happening. People would know you were avoiding it, and that would make everything ten times worse.

You flattened the piece of paper out on your desk and read. It was simple: Whore.

But it didn’t matter how simple it was - it stung.

It was the confusion and the hurt all rolled up into one. You looked over your shoulder, trying to pinpoint who the message had come from, but everybody was looking in your direction and everybody was whispering, and it honestly could have been any one of them.

You turned back to your desk, crumpled the page and stuffed it in your pocket. Hoseok and Mr Burk walked in the door two seconds after.

You looked up and met Hoseok’s eye, as was routine at this point. He grinned that cheesy grin, waltzing over with that skip in his step, but he knew something was wrong. He got closer, and he could see the dead colour to your eyes, could see how much you were struggling to give him that warm smile he had been greeted with every Tuesday for the past five weeks.

He frowned, but took his seat beside Mr Burk’s desk nonetheless.

The lesson began. Mr Burk laid out the instructions, but you couldn’t concentrate. You twiddled with your pen, tried to write something to add to the miniscule word count you currently had, but you could hear the whispers in the background. You could hear your name, Hoseok’s name, people snickering, and it made your stomach flip with the need to turn round and tell them all to go to hell.

Hoseok arrived at your desk, having just completed his first rounds of the classroom. You didn’t look up from your page. He didn’t even ask if you needed help. Routine was being thrown out the window as he untucked the seat beside you and sat down.

“You’re not okay,” he said. It wasn’t a question.

You didn’t look up, speaking through gritted teeth. “Hoseok, I really don’t think now is the right time for you to be talking to me.”

He raised a brow, tilting his head forward to get a better look at you. “What does that even mean? I didn’t know there was a right time for us to talk to each other.”

“People are staring,” you said. “Did you not see them when you walked in?”

“People always stare. It’s what happens when you walk through a lecture hall.”

“Not like that.” You bit your lip, casting a glance over your shoulder. “People are whispering. About us. I don’t think they’re too happy.”

Hoseok paused. “So?”

“So, I don’t want to make them angry.”

“Why would they be angry? I’m just helping you with your English-”

“Why would they be angry?” you repeated, flicking your eyes to his. “Hoseok, this entire class has a crush on you. The fact that you’re giving me attention is probably pissing them off.”

Again, he paused. You realised with a start that the words you spoke were true, the most likely of circumstances. Jisoo had warned you that there were some jealous people in this class, but you’d always brushed it off, too caught up in the euphoria of having Hoseok beside you to really care what anyone else thought.

But it was clear now that Jisoo hadn’t been lying.

Hoseok leaned forward again, his elbow nudging yours. “I’m really confused right now.”

You squeezed your eyes closed. “Can we just talk after class?”

“No. If you’re upset, I want to fix it now.”

“I have class,” you hissed, nudging his shoulder. “And I don’t need help, Mr Jung.”

“Don’t call me that. That makes me feel like a pervert teacher.”

You sighed, turning to him fully. As soon as you turned in your seat, however, someone wolf whistled from the back of the classroom, promptly causing the surrounding students to burst into laughter. Hoseok’s eyebrows shot up, his eyes snapping behind him. You flushed and looked down.

“See what I mean?”

Hoseok hummed, raising an eyebrow at the girl sitting behind you. His stare immediately made her duck her head down, her laughter subsiding into a panicked yelp.

Hoseok turned back to you. “Ignore them.”

“Oh, I’ll try.” You nudged his knee. He rolled his eyes, shooting you a disapproving look before he stood up and made his way back to his desk. You kept your head down throughout the lesson, scribbling random sentences on your page in the hopes that some of them would make enough sense to let you pass.

It was during the last fifteen minutes that Mr Burk stood up; already this was against routine, as he was usually stationary at his desk until the very last second.

“Alright everyone, we’re gonna read a little bit of what we’ve got,” he announced, and your heart fell. Hoseok’s head snapped up, eyebrows furrowed as he regarded Mr Burk with a frown. Mr Burk didn’t take notice, instead pointing directly at you and saying, “I’ve been very interested to see what you’ve got for us, Y/N. Hoseok says you’ve been working very hard.”

Hoseok winced, looking over at you. You stared right back at him, mouth slightly ajar; he mouthed the word sorry.

It wasn’t enough.

“Been working hard at what? Sucking his dick?” someone called from the back of the room.

The class erupted into laughter.

You bit your lip, grabbing your page from the desk. Your grip was so tight it left indents in the margins; you wanted to rip it up. You wanted to shred the whole thing to pieces and run out the door, never returning, never looking at these people ever again.

Maybe it was dramatic. You were so used to your peaceful little lab life, living in the library with your text books and revision cards; this was so new to you. Relationships were so new to you. Whatever you and Hoseok had was so new, and it was crumbling around you in this very room and you had absolutely no way to get out of it without causing a massive scene.

Mr Burk ignored the comment, tapping on his desk as he waited for you to make your way to the front of the hall. You stood up on trembling legs, biting your lip-

“Awk Hoseok! They can’t even walk after what you did!”

Hoseok’s eyes lit up. “Shut the hell up, Park!”

“Enough!” Mr Burk barked. “Y/N, here now. Let me see what you’ve got written.”

You walked towards him. Hoseok was sat bolt upright, looking at you, clearly wondering whether it was a good idea to run to you or not; you wanted him to. Part of you wanted him to scoop you up in his arms, uncaring about the snickering students.

The other part of you knew that would just make it worse.

“It’s not good,” you said, placing the page on his desk. “I haven’t - uh - I haven’t really got much experience with-”

“You thought Hoseok was tutoring them? Mr Burk, you’re not that oblivious!” That was final straw.

You bit your lip, looked down at the ground, tried to put yourself back together but it was really no use. You turned on your heel and walked out.

There was no dramatic flare. You didn’t cry and yell and scream profanities at whoever had just spoken; you simply inhaled, turned and walked out, because it was easier that way. You could at least look like you had some dignity left.

The doors slammed closed behind you, however, and that was when you started running.

The halls were empty. You could have ran forever. You could have lost yourself amongst lockers and classrooms and empty hallways, but you ran right out the back doors and towards the tiny little hill that you and Hoseok had been laid upon only two weeks prior.

It was as if you wanted him to find you.

In all honesty, you didn’t expect him to come after you. For the time you’d known Hoseok, it had been made clear that he was a scholar at heart; he cherished his studies more than anything in the world. He took up the TA job because it was what he truly cared about.

And yet he was calling your name right now, panting as he jogged up the hill and collapsed to his knees beside you.

“Don’t do that,” he panted. “Please don’t worry me like that. Never again.”

You looked at him, tucking your knees into your chest. There were words playing on the tip of your tongue, but you couldn’t get them out, was unsure how to even phrase what you wanted to say - what did you want to say? Would you break up with him? What were you even breaking up? The two of you had never kissed, had never made anything official - did going out on dates and caring tremendously for one another count as something worthy of a breaking up?

Hoseok looked back at you and shook his head. “I’m so sorry.”

You squeezed your eyes closed. “Awk Hoseok, don’t start that. You know full well you have nothing to apologise for.”

“I didn’t…” He sighed, shaking his head. “I didn’t think they would react like that. I thought people our age were a bit more mature.”

“So did I.” You shrugged. “Guess having a crush makes you do stupid things.”

Hoseok didn’t comment. He knew there was no reason denying anything you were saying; the feelings of your classmates had been made exceptionally clear these past few weeks, and Hoseok was far from oblivious. He would have been able to spot it - he was just too humble to say anything.

He shuffled closer, leaning his back against the same tree you were pressed against. His shoulder brushed against yours. He reached over, intertwined your fingers, let them rest upon his knee as the two of you sat in silence for what could have been forever and you wouldn’t have been able to tell.

“This is so fucked up,” he said finally. “Maybe I should go back in there and-”

“No,” you croaked out. “I want you to stay here. I feel better when you’re around.”

Hoseok’s eyes lit up, gaze snapping to meet your own but you didn’t look back at him. You stared into the distance, meaning every word but too afraid to admit it.

Hoseok inhaled and shuffled closer, winding an arm around your shoulders. You took the opportunity to slowly drop your head against his shoulder.

“I don’t even really know what they were teasing us for,” you mumbled. You were talking just for the sake of it now.

“Was it not obvious?”

You shrugged. “We never made anything official, Hoseok. They were teasing us for something we’re not even sure of.”

Hoseok was silent for a few seconds. “That you’re not sure of.”

You looked up at him. “What?”

“Y/N, I’ve known my feelings for you since I talked to you during that first lecture. None of this has been a mystery to me.” He looked down at you. “But I guess I can understand why it would be a mystery to you. Especially now.” He tilted his head back against the tree. “If they made you uncomfortable, made you think twice about us, I understand. If I didn’t feel this way, I might be a little put-off, as well.”

You narrowed your eyes. How he could say such a thing with such a casual flare to his words confused you - here he was, this man who had changed your life for the better just for being present, and yet he still could not see the way you looked at him. He couldn’t see the way your eyes lit up every time he walked through them double doors, couldn’t see the little skip in your step when you walked through campus with him, swinging his hand back and forth because it was the only way to release the nervous energy that always built in your system when he was beside you.

He was so, so, so smart. He read all the books, wrote all the stories, analysed all the poetry. You wished he would use some of that intelligence to understand just how deeply you cared for him.

It wasn’t meant to be the plan, but you did it anyway. You reached up, one hand gently scraping along his jaw before your fingers rested hesitantly on the junction joining his jawline and neck. His breath hitched, and for a second he didn’t move. He fought against your fingers before finally melting into your grip, turning his head to look at you.

You smiled up at him. You meant it. Even though every bone in your body was still trembling from the humiliation of class, you meant this smile with everything in you.

He smiled back. “Y/N…”

“I don’t know how to make these types of things official,” you whispered. “I just… I think…” You leaned up and kissed him.

You had pined over him for weeks. Every time he dropped you off home after a date, you’d stand in your doorway for a few minutes longer than last time, hoping you could drag out the moment enough for him to get the hint - he never had. He wanted to take things slow, but now seemed like a perfect time to shatter the soft and steady pace he’d been anticipating and replace it with something different.

He didn’t seem to mind.

He shuffled up onto his knees, breaking his arm out from behind you and cupping your face, dragging you into his embrace. His lips moulded with your own. He opened his mouth, panted against you before he closed his lips again and continued the kiss with a new vigour. You followed his every lead, letting him take control of the kiss you had started. Your mind was too hazy by now; you started it, but you were much too wound up to finish it.

He broke away, gasping for air. His mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, his eyelids heavy. You watched his Adams apple bob as he stares at your lips, pondering over whether or not it would be wise to lean in and steal another.

“I was meant to do that,” he whispered. “Y/N, I was meant to do that first.”

You grinned, plunking your forehead against his own. “I got there first. Sorry.”

He shook his head, swallowing again. He opened his mouth to say something, seemed to think better of it at the last second.

“Now,” you continued, “what were you saying earlier about my feelings for you?” He let out a shaky breath, eyes sliding closed. “You’re going to kill me one day.”

---

“I think Charlotte is still a little pissed at you.”

Hoseok rolled his eyes, looking over your shoulder. You and Jisoo were sat on the table of the picnic bench, whilst Hoseok and Namjoon sat on the seats in front of you; Hoseok had one hand on your leg, playing idly with the frills of your jeans.

“It’s been a year and a half,” he grumbled. “When is she gonna get over it?”

“She had the biggest crush on you for, like, four years,” Jisoo said. “I can totally understand why she would be annoyed that you and Y/N haven’t broken up yet.”

“Yet,” Namjoon scoffed, casting a quizzical glance in your direction. “Them two are glued at the fucking hip. I think one of them would die if they got separated.”

“Accurate,” Hoseok mumbled, placing his head in your lap.

You rolled your eyes, running your hands through his hair. “That was so cheesy.”

“That’s just how Literature students talk, my dear,” said Jisoo, nudging you. “But seriously - congrats on the whole year and a half thing. That takes a lot of dedication when you’re so young.”

“I never understood that phenomenon,” Hoseok said. “People always say it’s so difficult to fall in love when you’re young, but I honestly think it’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”

You smiled. “I liked to think I played quite hard to get in the beginning.”

Jisoo howled, slapping your arm. “Oh, yeah, right! Walking into his eight am lecture just to see him really screams ‘Playing hard to get.’”

You nudged her, frowning. “Shut up.”

Hoseok chuckled, wrapping his arms round the back of your legs to tug you closer to him. “I’m so glad you didn’t play hard to get. My poor feelings would have been hurt.”

“Would you have given up?”

Hoseok looked up, resting his chin on your thigh. He narrowed his eyes as if in thought, before he shrugged and said, “I don’t think my brain would let me give up on you, to be honest.”

Namjoon groaned, throwing his head back. “You guys are so gross!”

“Let them live,” Jisoo scolded. “They’re in love.”

“They’re making me ill.” Namjoon sighed and stood up. “We’ve got class in twenty minutes anyway.” He tapped Hoseok’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”

“Don’t make me.”

“You have no choice.”

Hoseok groaned, nuzzling his head in your lap. You watched him mentally prepare himself before he stood up, cupped your face and pressed a short kiss to your lips. “I’ll see you later.”

“Okay.”

He kissed you again, short and sweet. “Later?”

You giggled. “Yes. Later.”

He nodded, kissed you again. “I’ll definitely see you later?”

“Oh my God.” Namjoon grabbed his arm. Hoseok stumbled over the picnic bench, blew you one final kiss before he fell into step beside Namjoon, the two of them making for their first lesson.

Jisoo shook her head, handing you a packet of crisps. “Namjoon isn’t wrong, you know. I also feel ill when I’m around you two.”

You grinned. “Good. That’s the whole point.”

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