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TWENTY

Sometimes Hoseok wondered what it would've been like if he'd just stayed in the palace and never went to highschool.

It wasn't like he really had to; he was going to rule the country and everything that he needed to know in order to do that was already taught to him. He wasn't going to get an actual job which required a degree or anything.

Hoseok had to admit that being at highschool did push him out of his comfort zone a lot. Not in a way that was bad, but certainly in a way Hoseok didn't prefer. Group presentations, group projects, basically anything that involved successfully interacting with other people.

But, as he weighed the pros and cons, he knew that coming to SSOA was the best that had happened to him so far. He'd made friends, like Jeongguk, Yoongi, Jimin, and Namjoon. Most of all, he'd met Taehyung and gotten to know him.

As Hoseok sat that day, painting with Taehyung, he stole a quick look at the other boy. He was so sure that Taehyung knew Hoseok sent him glances, but Taehyung never said anything.

Taehyung leaned away from his painting, straightening up and tilting his head at it. He seemed to find it satisfactory before he looked at Hoseok's.

"Hey," Taehyung said, "you're doing pretty good."

Hoseok would beg to differ. "You're just saying that 'cause you're my tutor, right?"

Taehyung frowned at him. He shook his head slowly. "No," he said, "I think you're doing really well for someone who started 3 months ago."

"Thank you."

"And you're really cool, Seok."

Hoseok blinked. "I. . . Thank you. But, why all of a sudden?"

Taehyung shrugged, turning back to his painting. "I just wanted you to know."

They painted in silence for a bit, but Hoseok noticed Taehyung's foot bouncing fast, like he was anxious or something. Maybe 10 minutes later, Taehyung glanced over at Hoseok's work. Suddenly, he leaned closer, pointing at something.

"What's that?" He asked.

"Oh, uh, this?" Hoseok tried to remember what he was trying to do as he painted that. He fumbled for words. Taehyung's face was too close to his and he couldn't think.

Taehyung's eyes met Hoseok's, and then he broke eye contact to look at Hoseok's lips.

"Can I kiss you?"

Hoseok froze. Was this a prank? Was someone going to jump out with a camera and laugh at him for saying yes?

He swallowed, but nodded.

Taehyung leaned in and gently pressed his lips to Hoseok's. Hoseok didn't know how to kiss—he was pretty sure you had to close your eyes or something, but he couldn't actually bring himself to function. He wondered how stupid he looked, eyes wide open and surprised as the prettiest boy at school kissed him.

Taehyung pulled away after a few seconds. He remained close to Hoseok, but this time he looked more hesitant.

". . . I've never kissed anyone before," admitted Taehyung.

Hoseok tried to pull himself together enough to form a coherent thought process. Taehyung just kissed him. What the fuck.

"W-Was that just. . . practice, then?" Hoseok asked. He wasn't sure what answer he wanted to hear.

"No. I like you, Hoseok." And Taehyung said it straightforwardly enough, but then added, "Romantically. As in, I would kiss you again."

". . . O-Oh."

"You like me, don't you?"

. . . This was not how it happened in Netflix shows. Taehyung wasn't supposed to know.

"I— Yes. How long have you. . . known?" Hoseok cursed himself for hesitating. He had to keep his cool, if only a little bit. But Taehyung said he liked him. Taehyung, the most beautiful person with the most colourful soul, liked Hoseok, a blank, uninteresting canvas.

Some part of Hoseok felt unworthy. Another part of him felt greedy for Taehyung's love, and he didn't know which part to listen to.

"I know you liked me since I started tutoring you. I started liking you before the museum trip, I think." Taehyung then paused. His hand drifted upwards and he rested it on Hoseok's chest, above his heart.

"Has your heart ever felt odd?"

Hoseok knew what Taehyung was talking about. "Only around you," he answered.

Taehyung nodded and dropped his hand. "Mine, too," he said.

Then they sat in silence. Hoseok was sure the paint on his canvas was dried by now.

"S-So. . ." he began. He didn't want to mess this up, but he needed to know where they were going from here. "We both. . . uh, like each other?"

"Yeah." Taehyung bent down and grabbed Hoseok's brush off the floor, handing it back to him.

"What do we do now?" Hoseok asked. "I've never. . . I mean, I don't know how this works."

"Neither do I." Taehyung shrugged. "But I really like you, Seok. I wanna take you on dates and make you smile. Bring you flowers and paint for you. Hold your hand under the desk in class. I can only do that if you're my boyfriend. So. . . would you? Be my boyfriend, I mean?"

Hoseok's mother wouldn't approve. No, she would absolutely kill Hoseok for this. But Hoseok liked Taehyung and Taehyung liked him back, Taehyung liked him back! And if Hoseok were to miss out on this opportunity he was sure he'd spend the rest of his life regretting it.

This was his first encounter with love and he didn't want it to be a brief passing. He wanted to love and be loved and he didn't know how to do either, but he could learn.

"Yes," answered Hoseok. The answer felt short to him and he wondered if he needed to say more, but Taehyung sagged in relief, a large smile breaking out on his face.

"Thank god," he breathed. "I've never done that before."

"So. . . we're dating now."

"We're dating now," confirmed Taehyung.

"How do we do that?"

Taehyung laughed, a large boxy smile on his face. Hoseok wasn't sure that what he'd said had been super funny, but Taehyung's eyes were twinkling.

"We'll figure it out together," said Taehyung. "I'm just as clueless as you are."

Hoseok nodded. He slowly let his hand slip into Taehyung's. Taehyung made a surprised sound but Hoseok kept his eyes on his canvas, determined to act like blood wasn't rushing to his cheeks.

Taehyung didn't say anything. He just squeezed Hoseok's hand, and the two continued painting.